Anybody know if there are drawbacks to using an oil only turbo vs an oil and water turbo both of the T3 variety? The oil only is easier to plumb obviously but anyone know anything else about the differences.
I've got two turbos right now, both T3s pulled from volvos. One is oil and water that I could get to work and the other is oil only and is in very good condition.
Thoughts?

Oh, yeah,
you guys wouldn't happen to know perchance what the stock wastegates are set at for these two turbos?

-Icarus

 

Any added cooling is a good idea. If you want to put forth the extra effort...Pick the one that has both oil & water.

It's a more complex install but probably worth it due to all the obvious reasons...easier on the oil, reduced temps., longer turbo life etc...


Don't know about the wastegates though.

 

buy the water cooled turbo no matter what... you don't have to hook it up if your lazy (like me) but if you ever feel not lazy, it leaves the option open. Water cooling is obviously the better choice, but leaving the water unhooked is not really any different than running just an oil cooled turbo... Just turbo time sufficiently and it'll live a long happy life!

 

my motor ran hotter with the water cooled ihi compared to a oil only t3

 

How much hotter did it run?

What are you using now?

 

thats probably because that lil ihi is such a tiny turbo that it restricted the exaust and kept most of the heat in the engine and manifold... any other theories

 

Well... Your adding an item producing heat to an existing cooling system that was designed for the engine only.

I don't believe this to be a problem really. The added heat created by the turbo will manifest itself through your water temp guage.

Even though your engine might run slightly hotter, your turbo will be much cooler.

In another post tread, someone mentioned that they wired their cooling fans to come on with ignition. Might help with disipating the added heat.

Still waiting to hear from Hotrex about this.

 

water cooled turbos don't suffer from coking as much. You don't need to idle it, at least not as much as a regular one. This is heresay, but it makes perfect sense. I got a water cooled turbo, and It doesn't look like it will be any trouble to hook up. Just two fittings and some extra hose. Definately worth it.

 

they live longer because they run cooler than oil only turbos... and probably lower your charge temps as well.