Small Diesel Engines - Natural Aspiration vs Turbo Charged?

[Trillium Farm]

1) Possibly, depends on use & maintenance
2) The Turbo is there for the odd time you need more power, but don't want/need a bigger engine. If turbo is on most of the time move up to the next size engine
3) More frequent oil changes and must use better oil; Warm up and cool down a necessity
4) No
These are only my opinions based on my experience, I personally prefer NA ones, less troubles

 

[dodge man]

The wAy I look at it weight is a big factor. In a over the road truck, car etc weight is a factor. Put a turbo on it and you can get by with a smaller engine and less weight. In a smaller tractor it easier just to add a larger engine and sometimes weight is a good thing.

Almost all heavy equipment and large ag tractors have turbos. At some point it cheaper to add a turbo rather than keep making a larger engine.

Yes a turbo is something else to break but it’s proven technology. I woukd get the tractor you need with the power you want and not worry about the turbo issue.

 

[Agvg]

And if it's a proper designed engine you will have much more torque at low rpm with a turbo. On road use a heavy loaded tractor will barley climb hills without turbo, and to get torque on a non turbo you have to have much more rpm that increases wear and uses much more fuel.

 

[cba]

Question #1 - Does turbo charging decrease the service life of the engine?

The "specific power" (HP per displacement volume, HP/Liter) is the generally accepted measure for an engine's life expectancy. The lower this figure, the longer the engine will last. A racing car may have 600HP/L and last a few 100 hours. A passenger car around 100HP/L and last 2,000 hours. Tractors have much lower specific power than cars, around 20HP/L. On one hand for a flatter torque curve, on the other hand for a longer service life of around 10,000 hours.

A turbo charger can be designed solely to improve fuel efficiency, in this case specific power remains the same and engine life is not affected.
Or it can be designed solely to maintain power at high altitude, in this case engine life is not affected either.
Or it can be designed to improve power, specific power is increased, and anything else remaining the same, engine life is decreased accordingly.

In practice, a turbo is designed to do a mix of everything above. Depending on which features are emphasized most, there will be more or less shortening of life expectancy. In the case of compact tractors, engine life is a non-issue, as the engine is designed to outlive the rest of the tractor several times over.



Question #2 - Which engine (of the same HP) gets better fuel efficiency?

The turbo Diesel engine will always be more efficient. How much depends on engine size.

On a very large engine (like a ship Diesel engine) a turbo can reduce fuel consumption by 70%. Such turbos are the size of a jet engine, and one single engine piston can have the diameter of a tractor wheel. On a diesel locomotive, savings may be 50%.

The smaller the diesel engine, the smaller the fuel savings. On a small car, savings may be in the order of 20%.



Question #3 - Are there any significant differences in engine maintenance requirements between the two types?

The turbo generally requires a higher specification engine oil.



Question #4 - Are there any significant differences on how well the DPF functions perform between the two types

Don't know the answer to that.


Thanks in Advance [/QUOTE]

 

[welyell]

Question #1 - Does turbo charging decrease the service life of the engine?

The "specific power" (HP per displacement volume, HP/Liter) is the generally accepted measure for an engine's life expectancy. The lower this figure, the longer the engine will last. A racing car may have 600HP/L and last a few 100 hours. A passenger car around 100HP/L and last 2,000 hours. Tractors have much lower specific power than cars, around 20HP/L. On one hand for a flatter torque curve, on the other hand for a longer service life of around 10,000 hours.

A turbo charger can be designed solely to improve fuel efficiency, in this case specific power remains the same and engine life is not affected.
Or it can be designed solely to maintain power at high altitude, in this case engine life is not affected either.
Or it can be designed to improve power, specific power is increased, and anything else remaining the same, engine life is decreased accordingly.

In practice, a turbo is designed to do a mix of everything above. Depending on which features are emphasized most, there will be more or less shortening of life expectancy. In the case of compact tractors, engine life is a non-issue, as the engine is designed to outlive the rest of the tractor several times over.



Question #2 - Which engine (of the same HP) gets better fuel efficiency?

The turbo Diesel engine will always be more efficient. How much depends on engine size.

On a very large engine (like a ship Diesel engine) a turbo can reduce fuel consumption by 70%. Such turbos are the size of a jet engine, and one single engine piston can have the diameter of a tractor wheel. On a diesel locomotive, savings may be 50%.

The smaller the diesel engine, the smaller the fuel savings. On a small car, savings may be in the order of 20%.



Question #3 - Are there any significant differences in engine maintenance requirements between the two types?

The turbo generally requires a higher specification engine oil.



Question #4 - Are there any significant differences on how well the DPF functions perform between the two types

Don't know the answer to that.


Thanks in Advance

[/QUOTE]

cba - Thanks for the detailed response. I see you're from down under. Having visited Australia (and loved it every time) seven times aboard US Navy ships, I have to ask the ultimate smartass question Do the turbo charger fans spin the opposite direction down there

 

[cba]

Depends if you are driving forward or backwards

 

[Industrial Toys]

Why did Mad Max (Mel Gibson) run a Supercharger and not a turbo on the last of the V8s?

 

[ning]

Why did Mad Max (Mel Gibson) run a Supercharger and not a turbo on the last of the V8s?

Instant throttle response - no turbo lag.
Even with twin sequential turbos you still get lag, especially at low engine/exhaust speeds.

 

[greggyy]

lol...Mad Max is a fiction...did you see the parts where it is turned on and off

And above someone says turbo on or off, they are always on....

And directly above, my 4WD has no lag, and no turbo whistle, most would think it was normally aspirated if they knew no better, and it is circa y2k.

Too the OP, you should probably worry less about if a machine has a turbo, and look closer at how complicated the electrical s are, this is going to give you more grief, unless you buy something with a design flaw, which is not impossible, but rarer.

Maybe the only thing to consider, in this turbo, non turbo, would be are they undersizing the engine and wringing it's neck the whole time. It would be hard to imagine the well proven names putting a model out like this, and to onut this out your prob need to know the mechanics pretty well.

 

[DieselBound]

Weren't those superchargers in Mad Max (not turbos)?