Turbochargers are regularly exposed to very high temperatures. A turbo uses the hot exhaust gases to spin its turbine blades and in turn forces more air into your engine. Just how hot can this area get, though, and can a turbocharger blanket help? Rob Dahm decided to find out.
The goal of a turbo blanket is to keep the two sides of your turbo in their respective happy places. The hot side will want to stay hot, while the cool side prefers colder air. Additionally, the rest of your engine would like to cool off a bit. If you slap a turbo blanket over the exhaust side of your turbocharger, you should be able to control under-hood temperatures that much better.
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Does it all actually work? With the help of an infrared camera, Dahm discovers that, yes, a blanket can work wonders for temperature regulation. The differences in temperature displayed on the IR camera are rather drastic when the engine is run with and without the blanket.
It's not likely that you'll need such a blanket if you're running a stock engine and turbo setup. Once you start upgrading engine bits, though, it might be time to consider a turbo blanket due to all the extra heat you'll create. A good blanket could save you from cooking components that were never meant to be exposed to so much heat.
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