While looking over the Operators Manual ( Yea... I couldn't sleep again ) I saw several mentions of 'priming the turbo'. Does anyone ever actually do this as instructed ?? I could see it if you were servicing the turbo. Roger. Pittsburgh, PA
All u really have to do is.. disconnect the electric shut off {or pull the shut off cable} & spin the engine until u see oil pressure on the gauge.. THEN start it.. They're just MAKING SURE u have lube oil at the turbo before the engine starts... I think its more of a CYA situation than anything else.. Isnt it funny that.. the hardest working component on the engine is also the most fragile.. Did u know that theres an automatic oiler that can be mounted to a turbo.?? MOST people don't. Its rarely talked about but could save someone a lot of money, if u find yourself replacing turbos often.. 50% of all turbo failures are causes by a lack of oil, during hot shut downs.. This "oiler" mounts between the oil inlet pipe & the turbo.. When the engine is running, it fills a "glass bottle" & when its shut down, the oil filled bottle drips oil into the turbo when theres no oil pressure feeding the bearings.. {just thought I'd share} The other 50% is bad air filtering.. either dirt, sand or foreign objects get introduced into the air inlet & destroy the impeller.. But to answer your question>> No.. nobody does THAT.. lol
I have a 580 sm and unhooking the wire was a pain so i cut it and mounted a switch in the cab. Was room to slide wire behind the front lower glass and mount by the fuse access. Makes things a lot easier.
I like the switch idea! I'm messing with some electrical issues now so i'll look into adding a switch. Has anyone ever added a boost gauge to the intake to monitor the turbo? As thepumpguysc stated it works hard and there isn't any gauge or light to let you know when things are going south. My 580SL has 6500 hours. While it still seems run strong, it's new to me and I have no idea of the care/use and repairs that it has seen. One has to wonder as to how much the turbo has degraded over the years. Any pics of that turbo oiler??? I will need to pull the exhaust side off the turbo soon to replace two missing bolts on the muffler mount bracket. I'll be able then to give the turbo a good visual inspection.