Water injection in turbos?

[Welshbeef]

So seen it on the RB5 model ad also re reminded of it on the top gear show his week

Anyway is there an extra tank under the bonnet like the screen wash specifically for the water injection and if so how long does it last ? Or is it a case of you can choose when to turn it on?
Or is it on always to make it pump out the most power all the time?

[nottyash]

There will bean extra tank, I think SAAB used it prior to an intercooler to make the combustion more dense. So it must be an advantage

[Dave Hedgehog]

my scoobys had it on the intercooler, to help cool down the intercooler air

made fook all difference imo

water injection into the engine on the other hand

[Urban Sports]

My Dad fitted one to a SAAB 99 turbo years ago.

This is all I know

Sorry.

[tercelgold]

Doesn't the BMW M550 D XDRIVE have this. Water cooled intercoolers.

[R300will]

i remember having a ismilar discussion on a previous thread.. The arguments for water injection into an engine are that it boosts performance dramatically and economy also. However, most people are stupid and will forget to fill it up and break the dam thing. Such a shame

[GarryA]

tercelgold said:

Doesn't the BMW M550 D XDRIVE have this. Water cooled intercoolers.

If so that would be charge-cooling.

[shalmaneser]

GarryA said:

tercelgold said:

Doesn't the BMW M550 D XDRIVE have this. Water cooled intercoolers.

If so that would be charge-cooling.

+1 what beemer are doing here is totally different.

[tercelgold]

GarryA said:

If so that would be charge-cooling.

So an extra water pump but no reservoir?

[Dave Hedgehog]

GarryA said:

tercelgold said:

Doesn't the BMW M550 D XDRIVE have this. Water cooled intercoolers.

If so that would be charge-cooling.

scooby one

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQfi9MNJSB0

[Crafty_]

Two things being talked about here..

Intercooler spray - a sptay nozzle is aimed across the front of the intercooler to reduce charge temps, as per subarus etc. Some are manual (you press a button), after market ecus will allow you to automate it based on parameters (e.g. charge temp over a certain temperature and doing a certain amount of boost).

Water Injection - A fine mist of water is sprayed into the inlet to increase the density of the inlet charge, help prevent detonation etc - aquamist are probably the best known name.

[williamp]

I remember reading about f1 cars using water cooling in the early 80s on the bMW Turbo engines. Paul Roche (sp?) commented that it did increase power by making the air more dense, but you very quickly reached a limit before performance dropped off dramatically because, afterall "water doesnt burn"

[WeirdNeville]

Dave Hedgehog said:

GarryA said:

tercelgold said:

Doesn't the BMW M550 D XDRIVE have this. Water cooled intercoolers.

If so that would be charge-cooling.

scooby one

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQfi9MNJSB0

The Scooby system is simply a washer jet spray onto the intercooler to cool it down by evaporation!
"Charge coolers" just use water to pull heat away from the intercooler heat exchanger rather than putting it out in the airflow. Can be useful for tight engine installations (Ships, MR2's...) and it's more efficient than Air-Air intercoolers, provided you can dump the heat fast enough from and even bigger water-air radiator somewhere (or just accept that it's a system which will gain heat and use the water as an extra heat sink).

Neither of these have anything to do with water injection, which is injecting water (vapour hopefully) INTO the engine to prevent pre-detonation and lower inlet charge tmeperatures.

[myles1972]

The Subaru intercooler spray is ideal for when the IC suffers from heatsoak when sat in traffic, or I presume if the car is sat at the start of a quarter mile strip.

From most Impreza sources it appears that it doesn't have any improvement in an everyday application.

[Vladimir]

I remember considering a WR1 and thought the water cooling sounded dead cool. That is all.

[myles1972]

Vladimir said:

I remember considering a WR1 and thought the water cooling sounded dead cool. That is all.

I looked at a black Type R Impreza back in 2000, and considering the car was £15k I was most taken by the IC spray as well!!

[WeirdNeville]

myles1972 said:

Vladimir said:

I remember considering a WR1 and thought the water cooling sounded dead cool. That is all.

I looked at a black Type R Impreza back in 2000, and considering the car was £15k I was most taken by the IC spray as well!!

On a Subaru it's really a solution to a problem that shouldn't exist - top mounted intercoolers are prone to heat soak.

You can always rig one up with washer jets and a second washer fluid tank. I nearly did it for the Front Mounted Intercooler on my 200SX just by relocating the headlight washernozzles to spray on the intercooler. Then I realised it would have been stupid.

[RizzoTheRat]

Hopefully you longer than the 90 seconds the water injection runs for on the harrier

On evaporation systems, or ones that ingest the water, do you need to use demineralised water rather than tap water?

[anonymous-user]

water injection is for pussies, methanol is the way.

[paulmoonraker]

The one on the STi is just a novelty it makes no difference, but does make getting the double buggy into the boot awkward...