Hello all, I tried searching and although everyone says be prepared to be familiar with the engine bay, I haven't seen exactly what they mean. I am in the process of going turbo, and for atleast a couple months, this car will be my daily.

Now, I am one of those people that at every gas station when I go to fill up, I always pop the good and check all fluids, make sure there isn't any leaks, and usually check tire pressure. With the addition of turbo, when else should I be looking at that could go all catastrophically wrong?

Also, with the addition of all the gauges that I am also running to get more of an idea of what is going on at all times, what oil temp, oil press, and water temps are actually safe? Almost immediately after finishing this project I may have to do a sizable road trip, but I feel relatively safe with highway cruising out of boost. What do you guys think? Thanks a lot for any input you may have.

 

No input?

 

Honestly as long as you're checking all those things frequently, you're golden. Make sure you listen to things. If it sounds wrong, it problably is. Also watch for loose bolts. Things will vibrate loose especially on the turbo manifold, turbo to manifold bolts (if not using vband), wastegate bolts (also if not using vband).

For temps and pressures. For coolant anything below 220 is fine. Mine doesn't get over 210 most days but I'll be getting another radiator to help keep it lower. Cruising coolant temp stays at 190ish. Oil temp 212-230. I'm not completely sure, I've read different things on what people think is ok. Mine is usually around 222 on most days. Even if your FI, I don't think oil pressure should vary much from factory spec, which I don't know off the top of my head.

 

as far as gauges and temps goes:

get an oil pressure gauge that goes to 120 psi, 100 is not enough IMO. on start up with 0w-30 oil i see 90 psi regularly. also these motors run very oil pressure in stock trim. if you are metric i'd say 5 bar?

temps vary alot with ambient temps for me. in Texas summer running the car hard on canyon roads i've sen up to 260. that's too high for my taste. most consider 285 about the safe limit, and even then you are breaking down the oil. 300F and over is no no. you have to figure the turbo is going to throw more heat into the oil. if you live in the south or on a mexico bordering state you should consider an external oil cooler. or a much larger capacity oil to water cooler to replace or add in addition to the stock donut. i say leave the stock donut (bring oil up to OT sooner) unless you need the clearance for a manifold or something. i've read 185 is the ideal temp for most oils, but its hard to calculate the right cooler size to do that for different seasons.

water temps stay below 225. and unless you have an aftermarket cap, anything over that is over heating. again, turbocharging is going to throw more heat into the coolant as well. typical for me NA is around 200 on summer days, 205 to 210 with AC on. winter time (right now) nothing over 190.

 

Excellent guys, thank you for all the information!