Question on lubrication for turbo...

[Johansson]

In what order should the pump, filter and cooler be connected?

When looking on Nick Haddocks cart it seems that he put it like tank-filter-pump-cooler-turbo-tank, but since the membrane pump we both use doesen´t like higher temps than 77 degrees C I would like to put the cooler before the pump.

Does the cooler create too much back-pressure if it is placed after the turbo?

//Anders

[Xama]

You can put the parts that come before the turbo in pretty much any order. The one thing you want to leave is the turbo -> tank. You also want your turbo oil outlet to be as close to vertical (down) as possible.

Any restriction in the outlet will cause oil to back up into the tubo, possibly causing oil leakage round the bearing seals and knackering the bearings.

This is the same reason that they say you should have the oil outlet pipe enter the tank and finish above the level of the oil, so you're not having to pump it "into" the oil, it's just falling from the pipe.

[NanoSoft]

If I were you I would probably go tank-pump-cooler-filter-turbo-tank.

It depends on what type of cooler you are using. You most remember that in order for a pump to start pumping oil, it most have oil at the suction end with no air. If you have a cooler between the pump and tank it has to be filled with oil and this means the tank and cooler have to be above the pump so oil will flow down to the pump so it can start pumping.

In my old turbo jet I had two filters. One right after the tank so that if the bearing in the turbo are wearing the metal shards won’t ruin the pump. I also had one right before the turbo just incase the first missed anything and incase the tubes or cooler had any dirt in them.

Hope this made since and helped.

Nanosoft

[Johansson]

It made lot of sense, thanks.

How hot does the oil get? In the order you said, the heated oil from the turbo goes more or less directly into the pump. Because it is a membrane pump (sucks well and can run dry without damage) the membrane can be damaged if the oil temperature rises above ~80 degrees celsius.

//Anders

[NanoSoft]

I am not sure how hot the oil will get. If you are worried about ruining a pump then I’d go with a big tank. The bigger the tank the better. I had a three-gallon oil reservoir and a membrane pump without a cooler and it sustained no damage. Of coarse the most I ran the jet was 5 min. Also it can't hurt to add a temp gauge to the tank to monitor the oil temp. That way if the oil gets to hot you can turn it off.

Nanosoft