Thread: Hybrid Vehicles

Back in '85 I bought a brand new Toyota 4x4 pickup. It had the 2LT engine (turbo charged). It had 70 miles on it as it was ordered for a salesman's demo car and he'd had it two days.

Never had a problem with it. However my dad wanted me to paint his pickup so we swapped while I fixed his up. He was in an accident where a rig towing a trailer slammed into the rig in front and the trailer was swung over the center line and dad hit it head on.

The shop got my rig fixed except that there was a vacuum connection was broken in the wreck and it activated the Turbo. There wasn't a dealer in the US that had that vacuum unit. It had to be ordered from Japan!! Took 3 months to get here.

There's a small grade on the highway 12 about 12 miles out of Walla Walla with the turbo I could pull that at 60-70 MPH in 5th gear with the turbo. Without it I had to drop to 4th and it would barley pull at 50 MPH.

I was sure glad to get that vacuum unit put in.

Ended up selling it to my nephew, he got a coolant leak and it over heated and warped the head. He has a friend who is a professional diesel mechanic and he helped him over haul the engine. The parts came from Australia. But it's back on the road.

Originally Posted by tcrideshd

Most of the newer have an external trans filter now. As for an oiler for the turbo, most go well over 300 k in miles without issue, you may not need power such as in a diesel truck but the efficiency of an engine with a turbo makes them desirable. As for the 1985 truck, I was running gmc at the time so never had one with the 6.9 yet the international engine was well regarded and the 7.3 offering was and is still the gold standard. What a turbo does to any engine is what anyone wants to boost economy and performance, get good air to the engine for improved burn. You can change air filters to do this but not quite as much. But the fact is if it has a torso it will run better and more efficiently. It’s ok if you don’t like them, it really is but it’s not because they don’t make the product better.

I have a couple Toyotas. And they both have internal filter only. A good drain works well enough. Although your only swapping out lil more than a third of the fluid. Which makes you have to drain it again to get a higher ratio of new to old fluid. No beef with turbos here at all. But I rather have a 6 cylinder with no turbo than a 4 with turbo. Gas mileage be damned. Lol.

I have had a few turbos and not had issues with them personally although 3 guys at work have had the eco boost fords and 2 of them have had issues. I live 3 miles from the freeway and I figure that 3 miles at 30 mph and idling at stop signs works to cool things down after a hard higher speed pull. A VW I use to own had a very small oil pan compared to the truck at 11 qts.
One of the things I did there was to use an over sized oil filter to increase the capacity.

I don't haul heavy loads on a regular basis any more so my present truck is a 3.6 no turbo or electric restart etc. I do notice a big drop in MPG when I work it hard but that is not often and works out good in the long run.

Only 47,000 miles on it now so I will have to see what I think in a few years.

This thread got me reading about turbos. I found out that my fun car has water cooled turbos and an electric water pump that runs after you shut down the engine, if need, to cool them turbos down.

Turbo(s), water cooled. Sounds like a fun car indeed. And a little German maybe?

Originally Posted by MikeB52

Turbo(s), water cooled. Sounds like a fun car indeed. And a little German maybe?

You are correct

Turbos like superchargers just add another level of complexity and another thing to go wrong. Unless you abuse the vehicle and follow a few guidelines they should not be a big issue unless you have one of the few engines with known issues.

That being said, in the long run they will be more expensive to maintain. Volvo these days uses a 2 liter 4 turbocharged. The fancier model has a supercharger too. I wouldn't want to have to work on that baby.

Well, since I could not find a hybrid in a size vehicle I wanted to drive We wound up with a non turbo 2021 Subaru Forester Sport the other day. Plenty of head room for my 6 ft 2 in frame even with a sun roof and the most unobstructed view of the outside world I have seen in a long time. Only downside is, like all new cars, they are filled with buttons that you have to learn the functions of.

Bob

Nice choice Bob.
Good utility vehicle that works with snow!
Friend of the wife has one and loves it.

The wife has an Outback now. We both have had our share of Subaru's over the years.
They are simply outstanding vehicles that provide years of rock solid dependable service.
The buttons will be a breeze.
Good luck and enjoy!

Pete <:-}