Turbo blanket negatives

[Austin26]

What are they? I can't easily find anything concrete that the additional heat doesn't hurt the turbo or cause any other problems. I've read a couple companies' sites that claim the heat won't damage your turbo but they're the ones selling the product.

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[Slyder]

A quick and simple explanation that I found (it also explains it better than I could):

Turbochargers work on the basis of heat energy and keeping the turbo as hot as possible. By containing as much heat as possible within the turbine housing, the turbo is able to spool up quicker, run more efficiently, and produce a faster response along with more power faster. However, as turbocharger temperatures increase, so does the temperature of everything surrounding the turbo such as wires, hoses, intercoolers, radiators, and oil pans. As a result, this could lead to surrounding components to deteriorate, corrode, and run inefficiently.

I have had a PTP Lava blanket on my Sti for about 6 years now with no issues. I mainly got it because my car has a top mounted intercooler and I wanted to reduce the under hood heat some.
Quick video explanation.

 

[AcenTitus]

I read the headline and immediately envisioned a flannel blanket that was overhauled somehow. I look forward to seeing the turbo blanket sold with the rest of the branded camping gear that I absolutely want in the Amazon store.

 

[rotorwrench]

I read the headline and immediately envisioned a flannel blanket that was overhauled somehow. I look forward to seeing the turbo blanket sold with the rest of the branded camping gear that I absolutely want in the Amazon store.

Peter, Peter, Pumpkin eater. Let the the dude ask a legit question without having to get a douche response.

 

[Austin26]

A quick and simple explanation that I found (it also explains it better than I could):

Turbochargers work on the basis of heat energy and keeping the turbo as hot as possible. By containing as much heat as possible within the turbine housing, the turbo is able to spool up quicker, run more efficiently, and produce a faster response along with more power faster. However, as turbocharger temperatures increase, so does the temperature of everything surrounding the turbo such as wires, hoses, intercoolers, radiators, and oil pans. As a result, this could lead to surrounding components to deteriorate, corrode, and run inefficiently.

I have had a PTP Lava blanket on my Sti for about 6 years now with no issues. I mainly got it because my car has a top mounted intercooler and I wanted to reduce the under hood heat some.
Quick video explanation.

Thanks for the feedback. I was aware that turbos basically like heat but there must be a limit and I didn't know what that limit is for the Ecoboost turbos or if this was a non-issue, which it very well may be.

Ha, if Bronco Nation made a turbo blanket it would indeed look like one of their flannel shirts they're required to wear. Nothing says individuality and freedom like their director forcing them all to wear flannel / plaid shirts in company pictures.

 

[AcenTitus]

Peter, Peter, Pumpkin eater. Let the the dude ask a legit question without having to get a douche response.

Genuinely zero douchiness intended on my end. I literally just learned that a turbo blanket was even a thing. This is a forum where people routinely delight in the mania of John Bronco and multiple wtf gifs. If my amusement at how I initially and honestly was confused by the term is offensive in a way I don’t understand, by all means, admins please delete it. Meanwhile I’ll also be enjoying the answers to the question because I’m here to learn about it too.

 

[AcenTitus]

Thanks for the feedback. I was aware that turbos basically like heat but there must be a limit and I didn't know what that limit is for the Ecoboost turbos or if this was a non-issue, which it very well may be.

Ha, if Bronco Nation made a turbo blanket it would indeed look like one of their flannel shirts they're required to wear. Nothing says individuality and freedom like their director forcing them all to wear flannel / plaid shirts in company pictures.

I just realized I’m literally wearing flannel and a Bronco t shirt right now. I have been assimilated. And I’m cool with it.

 

[vintage]

Never heard of a turbo blanket. I believe my last car with a turbo was a RX-7. Learn something new every day. Thank you for the schooling.

 

[dcg2]

I like to give my a turbos a pillow as well. Really tuck in 'em good.

 

[rtaylor]

A quick and simple explanation that I found (it also explains it better than I could):

Turbochargers work on the basis of heat energy and keeping the turbo as hot as possible. By containing as much heat as possible within the turbine housing, the turbo is able to spool up quicker, run more efficiently, and produce a faster response along with more power faster. However, as turbocharger temperatures increase, so does the temperature of everything surrounding the turbo such as wires, hoses, intercoolers, radiators, and oil pans. As a result, this could lead to surrounding components to deteriorate, corrode, and run inefficiently.

Not a fan of that explanation. The "blanket" keeps the exhaust heat contained in the "hot" side of the turbo so it doesn't transfer as much heat to the cool side, intercooler, or other engine components. This also keeps the exhaust gases hot (higher pressure) for quicker and more boost.

 

[Slyder]

Not a fan of that explanation. The "blanket" keeps the exhaust heat contained in the "hot" side of the turbo so it doesn't transfer as much heat to the cool side, intercooler, or other engine components. This also keeps the exhaust gases hot (higher pressure) for quicker and more boost.

It's not the 'best' explanation but it gets the general basic point across and I linked the video for a visual.

 

[Slyder]

Thanks for the feedback. I was aware that turbos basically like heat but there must be a limit and I didn't know what that limit is for the Ecoboost turbos or if this was a non-issue, which it very well may be.

Ha, if Bronco Nation made a turbo blanket it would indeed look like one of their flannel shirts they're required to wear. Nothing says individuality and freedom like their director forcing them all to wear flannel / plaid shirts in company pictures.

I'd consider it more of a non-issue than anything.

 

[PecOBX]

Interesting. I have never owned a turbo before and had never heard of this. Since I’m getting the 2.7L I will look into this. Is this an expensive project?

 

[Drex]

I do back up power generation, a lot of it. We were installing turbo blankets on small diesel stationary engine generators (30-800kW) for decades. Thousands of them. Not for performance issues, an E/G runs at one speed and it is optimized for it. We ran them as a safety feature, keep people from burning themselves on the housing. We aren't just religious on our preventive maintenance, we are fanatical on it. Oil/coolent changes, monthly testing, all standardized. We found that we were replacing a significantly higher percentage of turbos (and I do not have the numbers, I was just informed it was substantial) that were wrapped. Burned out bearings from oil coke gumming them up and cracked housings. The supplier sent a technician to replace one that failed in warranty (most others were replaced in house as the failure was after the two year warranty). They refused to warranty it because of the blanket on it when the tech arrived. He and his company informed us that the excess heat from the blanket caused the failure. That is when the data was examined. We no longer blanket the turbos unless they are factory added because there were designed for it.

Yes, you can get better performance if you keep heat in the turbo, in a race car that is regularly rebuilt, no big deal.

Yes, you will literally cook your oil into sludge with heat soak after shutting down.

The Ecoboost engines have heat shielding to protect the melty bits under the hood and heat management to allow the turbo(s) to live a long time. Adding a blanket to get slightly better spool response throws all the engineering Ford did in the trash and can be very hard on them. Temperature could climb high enough to flat out crack a housing before you boil your oil to the breakdown point.

People will blanket them, people will brag about how they got 100k miles out of them. People will bitch that their Ford Ecocrap engine ate a turbo at 25k miles. All sorts of permutations. I mildly mod my stuff, tune and cams in the motorcycle, hand built (and a frigging work of art) stainless crossover pipes in the AMG exhaust, tune in the WRX (going to an E30 tune when I can find my OBDII cable), but I will not be blanketing my turbo in the Bronco. I suggest that you do not either.

 

[DaveH]

Interesting. I have never owned a turbo before and had never heard of this. Since I’m getting the 2.7L I will look into this. Is this an expensive project?

I don't see one for the 2.7, but here is the 2.3: https://www.ptpturboblankets.com/co...g-focus-rs-lincoln-mkc-ecoboost-turbo-blanket

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