GEN 2 are red turbos normal?

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James Min

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Merry Christmas eve everyone. Happy Holidays.

Is it normal for Turbos to be glowing red after driving? This is my first turbocharged car.

A week ago, after some hard riding around in the snow (5-7 mins), I realized I had red hot turbos.

I went easy on the car and it seemed to be fine. No codes or any lights.

Flashfoward today:

After work, on my way home, for the last couple minutes until my house, (not even 2-3 miles) I put my truck in sport mode and gave it some juice. While the truck acted fine, when I got home I realized my turbos were once again glowing red.

I did not drive at super high rpms but mid range to maybe up to 5k. (no redline or super high rpm). I was stopped at couple red lights too. Just some WOT

I understand turbos are meant to be hot when the car is in use but I don't quite understand how it is this glowing red when I didn't even push the truck hard like last time or even for a period of time. I live in Seattle where the weather is not hot and this was at night time so I cannot imagine what the turbos look like after a baja run in the desert.

So my concern is:

Is it normal for the turbos to get heated this quickly or is there something wrong with my car?

What are the optimal temperauture gauage readings for a raptor gen 2? And if my aftermarket cold air intake is not giving enough air, it would throw an error code to let me know right?

thank you for any feedback on this. Cheers to the end of 2021.

the 1st pic is from last week and the 2nd pic is from today.
IMG_1654.JPGIMG_1728.jpg
 

Terry

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It's normal after driving the truck hard with turbos providing a lot of boost, otherwise it shouldn't happen. It's a good practice to let the truck idle for a few minutes after hard driving to let the turbos cool. There is a chance that oil will coke in the turbo and eventually cause turbo failure if they don't cool before turning off the ignition. The turbos are water and oil cooled but the engine has to be running to pump coolant through them.
 

dspangler

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Merry Christmas eve everyone. Happy Holidays.

Is it normal for Turbos to be glowing red after driving? This is my first turbocharged car.

A week ago, after some hard riding around in the snow (5-7 mins), I realized I had red hot turbos.

I went easy on the car and it seemed to be fine. No codes or any lights.

Flashfoward today:

After work, on my way home, for the last couple minutes until my house, (not even 2-3 miles) I put my truck in sport mode and gave it some juice. While the truck acted fine, when I got home I realized my turbos were once again glowing red.

I did not drive at super high rpms but mid range to maybe up to 5k. (no redline or super high rpm). I was stopped at couple red lights too. Just some WOT

I understand turbos are meant to be hot when the car is in use but I don't quite understand how it is this glowing red when I didn't even push the truck hard like last time or even for a period of time. I live in Seattle where the weather is not hot and this was at night time so I cannot imagine what the turbos look like after a baja run in the desert.

So my concern is:

Is it normal for the turbos to get heated this quickly or is there something wrong with my car?

What are the optimal temperauture gauage readings for a raptor gen 2? And if my aftermarket cold air intake is not giving enough air, it would throw an error code to let me know right?

thank you for any feedback on this. Cheers to the end of 2021.

the 1st pic is from last week and the 2nd pic is from today.
View attachment 334251View attachment 334252
Here is more info on this that you can read:
https://www.fordraptorforum.com/threads/red-hot-turbos.81595/

https://www.motortrend.com/news/1702-video-developing-the-2017-ford-f-150-raptor-exhaust-system/
Check out the 34 s mark….. way back in 2017, ford had the “trombone” idea… that never made it on the 17-20s, right?
 

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nikhsub1

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It's normal after driving the truck hard with turbos providing a lot of boost, otherwise it shouldn't happen. It's a good practice to let the truck idle for a few minutes after hard driving to let the turbos cool. There is a chance that oil will coke in the turbo and eventually cause turbo failure if they don't cool before turning off the ignition. The turbos are water and oil cooled but the engine has to be running to pump coolant through them.
Actually modern turbo motors circulate coolant through the turbos after the engine is shut off.
 

Zeusmotorworks

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For the most part, turbo coking in production automotive applications is 1980-1990s speak (I’m stretching it just a little bit). Although it is still probably not ideal to just shut it down with a couple glowing “cherries” under there, designs are much different with everything being turbocharged these days and 100-150k warranties.
 

Terry

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If you're driving it hard, especially when towing, I'd err on the side of caution and let it idle before switching off the ignition. Ford's system doesn't actually pump coolant through the turbo - they rely on coolant being drawn though the turbos by heat differential. EcoBoost engines are known for turbo failures so it's your choice!
 

goblues38

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red turbos are 100% normal under any significant high load situation.

as discussed. early turbo cars of the 70's - 80's were all oil cooled. Shutting a car down when red hot allowed the oil to stop flowing and just cook inside the turbo and the bearings usually took the most damage.

many Porsches and Diesel trucks during this time used after market devices called Turbo Timers to have the car run for 1-5 mins after you turned the key off and left the car.

in modern turbo cars, they have added water cooling and after run pumps that continue to flow oil and water after the car is shut off.

Still, not a bad idea to baby the car for the final 1/4. ice before you park it. Since I can't really go crazy in my subdivision with any wide open throttle, this is not an issue for many of us.
 
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