2.8 Diesel Turbo Charging

[foster]

I was wondering if someone could give me advice on turbo charging my 93 2.8 diesel 4runner? it has done 400,000kms, I really want to turbo charge it so that I can go up steep hills without any trouble. I only want to be running 5-7 psi, what problems am I going to come across?

Cheers 

Adam

[Manxman]

The std 2.4 turbo will do, but there are 2 things you should know:

Your motor is aged and prob worn, and may not take the extra stresses well without at least a set of rings, and prob a lot more.

Heat is the biggest enemy of these iron head motors--the 2.8l and 3.0l motors

were deliberately NOT turboed by Toyota to avoid warranty and long term problems.  

These motors are luggers, not powerhouses, and extracting more power is relatively futile, because of the cost.  Note: You WILL need a boost compensator for your fuel pump.   There's few spare ones left, let alone one that works.    

You can do it, and you will have some improvement, but you may cook your head or worse, and you will exascerbate any problems the motor now has.

I recommend against it, but you may make your own choice-you have been warned.

 

.   

[foster]

will things like a bigger radiator be required for this job? I do believe at some stage I will have to rebuild my engine. If I rebuild my engine, will there be a problem turbo charging it or leaving it as is?

[Manxman]

The head will not/cannot conduct heat away fast enough to let a bigger radiator help.   There are NO alloy heads for 2L,3L,5L motors.  Only the 2L can be turboed with any degree of safety.  Basically, you can't far exceed the power output of a std 5L motor, as they are the most powerful "safe" version.   They built a new motor to turbo the 3.0l, with very good reason.    NB a 5L motor is very close to the thermal limits of the head, and are "known" to give trouble if driven too hard for too long.    Consider a transplant before a rebuild, but I doubt you'll get far without a much later engine--which will have the horrible efi, with all it's risks and problems.   If you're going bush you need your engine to keep going under all conditions.   EFI is, IMO, very quick to fail when it does, and driving out of the remote bush in limp mode, if it runs at all, may be so difficult/slow as to kill you.   You may have to get it towed to a major town for repairs, which will be expensive.    At least, it being a Toyota, there will usually be skilled mechanics with parts to do the job rurally.     Other makes are not so blessed.