Turbo is hot..and red, does this happen to you Options

[DSM5]

Ok, my friend has a Starion (i know tis not a DSM but its still turbo) and it gets RED HOT! like glowing. I told him it was normal. Does this happen to you guys also?

[natedogg]

My DSM got pretty damn good gas mileage when it was stock. A helluva alot better than my Evo, that's for sure.

Turbohcar, ncgalant is referring to ignition timing. You are talking about valve timing. While somewhat related as far as engine performance they are two different, independent beasts. You're both on the right track anyway though.

Hot EGT's are usually attributed to retarded ignition timing, which in turn usually indicates a lean condition in the world of ECU's with knock detection/correction. Basically a lean condition causes knock, which is detected by the knock sensor, communicated to the ECU, the ECU therefore retards timing, sometimes enough to eventually cause the flame front to escape out the exhaust valves which then reads as a high EGT.

This same phenomenon can be seen in the anti-lag systems on rally cars, except in this case we don't have a lean condition. We have a stoichimetric to rich condition with super-retarded timing. Basically the fuel is still burning on its way out of the combustion chamber and in the turbine housing allowing it to use some of its stored energy to turn the turbine instead of compress the piston. This obviously will also read as a high EGT, except in this case we are running rich and hearing what sounds like backfire out the tailpipe. You can also almost hear the turbo screaming for its life, not to mention the exhuast manifold.

This is why EGT's can't always be trusted to tell the whole truth. They are usually a good indication of what's going on in the combustion chamber, but they can be wrong. Such as in a case of rich knock. We've seen and heard this on Spy's car quite a few times. Another reason why I think widebands are a tuner's best friend.