The need for speed of a lot of people has made them them to turbo charge their cars. So, like in the movie Fast and Furious, theyre turbocharging it up where its not illegal and theyre having a fantastics time unless they have forgotten to look after their revved-up engines. Without this nifty gadget called dump valves their turbochargers are prone to damage. That works well with petrol-infused cars. What about turbo diesel dump valves?
Let us discuss what a dump valve does. A dump valve serves as the absorber and of extremely high pressure, which it releases to the atmosphere or back to the inlet. Its the bypass valve that protects the cars turbo from taking so much pressure than it can handle.
When the car is in full acceleration, it creates pressure called boost. When the driver suddenly slows down, the throttle butterfly closes and air gets compressed but there is no other escape route. The unused boost then goes back up through the intercooler, creating pressure at the back of the turbo. This pressure acts as a hold on the turbo and tries to stop it from spinning.
How does it perform its purpose? The dump valve will be the leeway, the escape hatch if you want to put it that way. It releases the pressure in two ways: into the air outside or back to the air intake system.
Atmospheric valves dump the extra boost to into the air giving out a whoosh sound that the drivers love. Re-circulating valves dumps back the unused boost with no sound at all.
As a result, this add-on provides significant decrease in turbo spool up time and there is noticeable improvement in the cars response between changes. Since there is little lag on the turbo, the next boost is timely. This means increased torque at lower revs.
What about turbo diesel dump valves?
If you are asking if you can use a petrol dump valve in your turbo diesel car, the pointblank answer is NO. Petrol dump valves are useless to your car because diesel cars have different engine set-up from petrol turbo cars.
Turbo diesel cars do not have the same throttle plates as in a petrol turbo car that control the engine speed. In a diesel car, the engine requires all the air that the turbo charger can give it. It thrives on compressed air for its cylinders to function optimally. A diesel dump valve will only provide the sound but no performance gain.
Diesel dump valves therefore, are not really needed because your turbo diesel car thrives on the high pressure build up. Should you want to install a diesel dump valve in your turbo diesel car, you only get the ‘woosh’ sound when you shift gears.
There isn’t much point in arguing about the necessity of the dump valves in a turbo diesel car. You could install if you want the performance sound but ultimately, it’s down to personal choice as not everyone who drives a turbo diesel wants to fit a dump valve. Some may even find the sound to be repulsive!