Vaprotection, what load weight are y'all carrying? The load has a lot to do with engine life, especially on something like this that uses a non commercial engine. Thanks for your input!
I never saw in this entire 3 page thread, the answer to the question "is there anything we can do to prolong the life of the turbo?"
Maintenance? driving a certain way? anything?
I never saw in this entire 3 page thread, the answer to the question "is there anything we can do to prolong the life of the turbo?"
Maintenance? driving a certain way? anything?
Maintenance- using only the proper spec MB approved synthetic oil. I change mine ahead of schedule, as I did in my 1.8T Mk 4 GTI and that engine is now shy 200k on the original turbo (and running aftermarket chip..)
And I’d add..not flogging the Van just after startup. Let it warm up. On the backside, sit idle and cool off for 1-2 min before shutting down, esp if it’s hot out. If an overheated turbo is shut off and starved of circulation, the oil will eventually carbonize, and clog up the internals, bearings etc.
Maintenance- using only the proper spec MB approved synthetic oil. I change mine ahead of schedule, as I did in my 1.8T Mk 4 GTI and that engine is now shy 200k on the original turbo (and running aftermarket chip..)
And I’d add..not flogging the Van just after startup. Let it warm up. On the backside, sit idle and cool off for 1-2 min before shutting down, esp if it’s hot out. If an overheated turbo is shut off and starved of circulation, the oil will eventually carbonize, and clog up the internals, bearings etc.
I agree on the warm up. On start-up, my van sits until idle drops to <1,000 RPM. But cool down is '80's Saab old school IMHO. Back then turbos kicked in at relatively high RPM, so hard running was implied, and the oil cooling systems were somewhat primitive. Metris' turbo kicks in in the 1,450 RPM range -- it's much more integrated into the powerplant, as opposed to being a bolt-on power booster. Ford Ecoboost is directly analgous. Having said that, if I thrashed Metris (high altitude, high speed, high ambient temperature) I'd cool it down. I just don't drive that way (anymore).
On the early maintenance, I'm ahead because 12 months is happening well before 15,000 miles for me. Had my plugs done at ~28,000 second Service A. Nonetheless, I am not too worried about changing oil early (like the old days) for one BIG reason -- Metris holds over 8 quarts of high grade synthetic oil. My 2 liter Ford held 4.5 quarts. It seems pretty obvious (though I don't claim to know for sure) that MB got to the 15,000 mile maintenance interval in part with that huge oil capacity. Engineers correct me, but I'd think the oil would "wear out" less in any given interval of time if there is more of it?
I never saw in this entire 3 page thread, the answer to the question "is there anything we can do to prolong the life of the turbo?"
Maintenance? driving a certain way? anything?
Have owned a number of turbo charged vehicles, prior to my Metris, and one supercharged vehicle.
For prolonging the life of the turbo just change the oil when due and use the factory recommended oil.
Something "extra": For cars fitted with just oil cooled turbos the factory -- at least in one case -- called for a 2 minute idle before shutting off the engine to give the turbos (the engine was fitted with 2 turbos) time to cool.
Most of the time I drove the car at an easy pace the last few minutes to where I was going and didn't let the engine idle a full two minutes. But when on the open road and after pulling off for say a fuel stop I let the engine idle 2 minutes before shutting it off.
(Actually in this scenario I did the same for my N/A vehicles, as well.)
The turbo in the Metris is AFAIK not water cooled just oil cooled. But like with my previous car if I have driven the van some distance (a mile or two) on surface streets before reaching my destination I don't let the engine idle much. But also like with my previous car on the open road and when I pull off for fuel or any reason I will let the engine idle a couple of minutes to give the turbo time to shed some heat. At idle the combustion gas is as cool as it gets and it will remove heat from the exhaust turbine which helps prevent the heat from "cooking" the oil in the turbo bearings.
Water cooled turbo is nice, for sure. The Metris is my first turbo charged vehicle since my 2018 MINI JCW. I believe this had a water cooled turbo. With the JCW engine compartment packed I could see nothing. And unlike some car makers BMW appears to be not as sharing of info about its engines. At least this is my experience with the BMW engine in the JCW.
At any rate, I looked through the Metris owners manual and saw nothing regarding letting engine idle some before shut down. I suspected at the time it was because it was (probably) not necessary.
Even so with a N/A engine when I pull off the freeway to refuel or for some other reason I let the engine idle some before shutting it down. I'll continue to do that with my Metris. There are other parts of the engine which can be quite hot -- exhaust valves can run near red heat -- and letting the engine idle a bit gives these valves time to shed heat.
With most modern cars have start stop shut off and turbos, I think the day of letting them idle is long gone. That been set, be mindful. Don't red line it into the drive way and shut it off, that will be bad.
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