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!HELP! Glowing red hot!

1K views 16 replies 8 participants last post by  Shortthrow 
#1 ·
Hey there, Im a bit freaked out. After a bit of hard driving I had pulled into the drive way only to have a whiff of an odd smell comming from under the hood. When I opened her up this peice left of the turbo http://s88.photobucket.com/albums/k192/tkurzydl/?action=view&current=9000_SiliconHose.jpg (circled in yellow) was glowing red hot! Now this isnt a picture of my engine exactly Im just using it as a reference as to which peice. Now the engine temperature only read about a quarter on the gauge so I assume its safe to say its nothing serious engine wise. But this doesnt seem too normal so I hope someone can enlighten me as to what is happening.
 
#3 ·
That's actually the exhaust housing of the turbocharger which you've circled. It will indeed glow under extended periods of heavy boost. The longer and harder your run it, the hotter it gets! I used to get the one on my '87 glowing bright orange at times. I had an engineering features book for my '87, which had a picture of the engine being tested, and it was glowing just the same. Now if it gets to the point of being white hot and you can faintly see the spinning exhaust impeller inside the housing - then worry. :eek: :eek:
 
#5 ·
Oh, and FYI, I've always followed Jim's advice on turbocharger cool-down periods. Even in just normal driving, I'd let it idle 15-20 seconds before shutdown, and also would drive with as little boost as possible for a few minutes before reaching my destination. The turbocharger on my '87 was one of the few original pieces left on the car when I sold it with 330k miles. I just heard from the new owner last week, and it's still going strong a year later. :cool:
 
#7 ·
Heh, you remind me of my 87 900 - I miss that car...:cry:


I used to live about 30 seconds off the highway, after a large hill - so needless to say my turbo had a lot of glowage, and I always had to idle is for a good 3-4 minutes before shutting it off. After trying real hard I got it orange one day, but never had the stones to go for white hot...:cheesy:

Typically would be glowing a dull red every time I got off the highway - Completely normal.
 
#8 ·
Man, you guys must really give your cars welly. Since I got my car, I have NEVER seen it glow any sort of color. It's alway been dark brown. I have driven it at full whack for a few mins before pulling into a motorway/freeway fuelling station, and opening the bonnet, nope, still no glow. I just wanted to see if it would actually do it.
 
#10 ·
UK9K said:
Man, you guys must really give your cars welly. Since I got my car, I have NEVER seen it glow any sort of color. It's alway been dark brown. I have driven it at full whack for a few mins before pulling into a motorway/freeway fuelling station, and opening the bonnet, nope, still no glow. I just wanted to see if it would actually do it.
Harder to do these days in the UK and still keep your license. Able to give mine some good welly late at night heading east on the M4 just past the Severn Bridge, uphill gives a Saab turbo a chance to blow some carbon out...

I have seen mine after stopping in a pull-over on the autobahn after climbing the hill going west after the Rhein at WOT, looks like a blast furnace in there.
 
#11 ·
i tried taking a picture of mine once....the rotors where red hot :nono; , the turbo was amazing, i popped the hood left it running for 15 minutes in 35 degree air so it would cool down .....

btw i replaced the rotors soon after.. so i wouldnt recommend getting them that hot
 
#13 ·
aside from you being fine, and what everyone else said being right, has anyone noticed that EVERYONE uses that photo for referrence for some reason?
JM2C

-=tristan=-
 
#14 ·
tristan_the_trout said:
aside from you being fine, and what everyone else said being right, has anyone noticed that EVERYONE uses that photo for referrence for some reason?
JM2C

-=tristan=-
Do you mean the one I mentioned from the engineering book? If so, why not, it's an awesome picture!! :D I will have to see if I kept that book or not... shame on me if I didn't.
 
#15 ·
yes, yes, shame on you. :p no, i meant the one shortthrow used to show the turbo. but yeah, i recall the pic your'e talking about and it's amazing :)

-=tristan=-
 
#16 ·
UK9K said:
Yeah, I've tried it at night, was doing about 120 for a few mins, but wasn't glowing at the time I stopped at the service station tho. Was going down the M3 South bound at about 12 midnight, so it was pretty dead.
A powerful Saab is not really working that hard at a steady 120mph.
To make full glowing requires full boost for a long time at WOT, either up a long hill or down and empty autobahn at terminal velocity. Worth seeing one time if you get the chance.
 
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