Water and Turbos?

[carts]

Logic would dictate that cold water hitting a hot turbo could cause damage to the turbo, cooling it too fast. Is this the case? Or do 4wd turbo manufacturers take this into account when making factory or aftermarket turbo kits?
The reason I ask is cause i am thinking of fitting a snorkel so I can get more adventurous in water crossings, but I am wondering if it is worth it, based on the assumption that a hot turbo shouldn't be immersed in water. Any ideas or opinions?

[V8Patrol]

Modern turbos are either oil or water cooled so they dont run any where near as hot as they used to.

Cast iron doesn't like being red hot then dumped into cold water at all but its a part of all motor vehicles whether its road or off road driving, we all drive in the rain and water does hit things in the engine bay that dont like cold water but it wont blow up because of a bit of rain, same applys for river crossings.... if you drive into it at gross knotts then ya asking for trouble but if you drive normally then the water is "splashed " around inside the engine bay and the hot cast is cooled gradually enough to be safe.... its the "plunging" of hot cast into cold water that does the damage.

If your worried about cracking a turbo then you should be equally worried about the cast iron exhaust manifold, cast iron block/heads etc. I ran cast exhaust manifolds for a few years on the V8's in the Patrol, I've cracked 1 manifold in all of these years and it really was a freak accident, the water was just over the front diff and I only moved foward about a foot when the wheels fell into a 3' trench in the river. Both manifolds were fully immersed but only 1 cracked !!!

I wouldnt be too worried by it, just take ya time as you should when doing deep river crossings.

Kingy

[DR Frankenstine]

yep ive never cracked a turbo doing water crossings either.

[bogged]

you should get out and walk the Crossing first, that would give the turbo time to cool down enough..

As others have said, they are pretty good now, but I always wait.

[GUJohnno]

If you do a lot of 4 wheeling you should definately get a snorkle fitted. We have helped 3 vehicles in the last couple of months stuck in the water that have swallowed water. All were petrol and all didn't have snorkles. Then they have to strip and dry thier inteiors. If they had've been diesels they would have been up for compete re-builds.
Stop for a few minutes before doing a deep river crossing and not only will the turbo cool down but also your gear boxes and diffs. There's no need to rush, so take it easy and your truck will last much longer for it.
John.

[carts]

Thanks. All your advice has been well noted. The snorkel seems like a goer.

Cheers
Aaron