On Friday, March 17, 2006, at 02:59 PM, Bobbyhotrods@comcast.net wrote:
> The issue of ceasing to oil a hot turbo is before me. I understand
> most guys let the engine idle until things cool down, but this might
> not always be possible. Frying my T4 2000 miles from home would make
> me sad.
> I can imagine a couple of different supplimentary oil supply deals.
> Does anyone have any experiance with this and perhaps know an
> elegantly simple solution? Has anyone seen this problem actually
> occur, or am I thinking too much?
> Thanks, BJ in Beantown
I've heard those stories -- but haven't had any issues with turbos
cooking in the 1 1/3 million miles I've put on turbo engines. They've
all been diesels, and save for the Duramax in my pickup nowadays, all
have been on medium-duty trucks (Cummins 5.9L 190 hp in our Ford F700
went 700,000 miles without issues, the Cat 3126B 215 hp in our '99
C6500 has about 360,000 miles, the 3126B in the '03 C6500 has 155,000
miles).
We don't have a "idle before shutdown" protocol -- in fact, we turn the
motor off at every stop - sometimes 15 stops a day in a 400-mile run.
Usually those stops aren't more than 15-30 minutes, though, then
restart and drive some more. When the trucks leave the office first
thing in the morning -- and when the return at the end of the route --
we've got a 1/2-mile driveway to the main highway, so they get some
warmup/cooldown during that one or two minutes. We use Rotella 15W40
exclusively, changing about every 10,000 miles.
On the pickup -- I've been a little more vigilant on cooling down --
for instance, when stopping for fuel on a cross-country run pulling the
trailer full of racebikes, I'll let the motor idle for maybe one minute
before shutting off. The pickup gets Rotella synthetic 5W40, oil
changes every 25,000 miles. By the way, the synthetic oil gave me a 5%
increase in fuel economy -- the oil costs twice as much as
non-synthetic, and I get my money back.
I've never used any supplement/additive. I've never had undue starter
motor replacements due to frequent starting of the engine. I've never
had an engine use more than about 10% make-up oil between changes.
One guy's opinion -- YRMV.
Jon Wennerberg
Seldom Seen Slim Land Speed Racing
Marquette, Michigan
(that's 'way up north)
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