Diesel technology has advanced quite a bit in recent years. Diesel was once associated with massive amounts of harmful emissions and extremely low efficiency, but technological advances have cut down on emissions and created high-efficient common rail injection systems that have boosted the maximum miles per gallon you can expect to achieve on a diesel engine.

Of course, you still need to take the proper maintenance steps to keep your diesel vehicle running at peak performance. How exactly can you accomplish this? One of the best ways is to make sure you have functional, efficient diesel turbochargers in Corpus Christi, TX.

What to know about turbochargers

Any time you have a turbocharger that’s working harder than it was meant to work, there’s going to be an increased amount of heat, because the turbo is not working within its allotted efficiency range. Turbochargers will start getting out of that efficiency range if you’re using an increased amount of fuel, as this creates hotter exhaust gases and faster turbine wheel spins.

Many of today’s OEMs are using variable geometry turbochargers as a way to reduce emissions through reducing the spooling time. With aftermarket turbochargers, there are some custom tuners who believe the boost of the turbocharger is more important, and as such they are primarily looking for higher boost pressures out of their turbochargers. Of course, increased boost pressures come at extremely elevated temperatures, which results in horsepower decreases.

Choosing a turbocharger for your diesel application

It’s important to remember that the turbocharger is essentially the heart of a diesel engine. Depending on how it’s currently functioning, this will impact the performance, drivability and overall usability of the vehicle in question. Therefore, if you find yourself in a situation where you need to select a new turbocharger for your engine, it’s important you know where to look so you can get the best results and keep your engine running efficiently long into the future.

You’ll need to apply some basic formulas to calculate the needs for your turbocharger. One common example of such a formula is as follows:

Engine size (cubic inches) x engine rpmx0.5 (for four-stroke engines) x volumetric efficiency (the amount of air the engine takes in vs. its theoretical capacity) x pressure ratio. Take that resulting factor and divide it by 1728 (converting cubic inches to cubic feet), which will give you the airflow rate (CFM).

Of course, such a formula will only give you a very general estimate as to the size of turbocharger you’ll need. Plus, to use that formula, you’ll need to either know or have an estimated guess as to some of the values there. So while this formula might not be perfect for all applications, it’s at least a good point to start with.

If you’re interested in learning more about how to choose the ideal turbocharger for your diesel engine, we encourage you to contact Coastal Diesel Injection today and we’ll tell you more about our services for diesel engines in Corpus Christi, TX.