The AET Blog – Turbo Facts

At AET, we do a lot of work with franchise car and commercial vehicle dealers, handling their out of warranty turbocharger repairs and replacements.

Naturally, dealers want to ensure that they get the right, high quality components for their vehicles, and sometimes ask if we use “official” or “branded” turbochargers in our repair work, which we do.

However, dealers are used to receiving components from their parent brand, supplied in branded packaging that clearly states that it’s manufactured specifically for their vehicle – and when it comes to turbocharging, things are a little different!

At AET, we’ve been working with turbochargers for 40 years – and in that time, we’ve developed a pretty comprehensive understanding about what makes a good turbocharger!

Unfortunately, there are a lot of poor quality turbochargers and components available, and it can be tempting for customers to opt for the cheapest product out there – but this is almost always false economy.

In this post, we take a look at the issue of poor quality components, and why it’s always better (and cheaper!) in the long run to opt for high quality parts.

Whatever vehicle you own, chances are that you want to get the most out of it when it comes to fuel economy and performance – but the reality is that the vast majority of vehicles on the road simply aren’t reaching their full potential.

In this post, we look at ECU remapping, and how making some simple changes to your engine software can be the most cost-effective way to improve the fuel economy and power of your vehicle.

There are a huge number of different turbochargers in use on diesel and petrol engines across a wide range of industries and applications. Whilst all these turbochargers are slightly different in terms of their size, shape and configuration, they all work in the same way, and share the same basic parts.

In this post, you’ll learn more about the different parts and components that make up a turbocharger, and find out what it is they do.

A couple of months ago, we published part two of our history of turbocharging, where we covered the rise of the commercial diesel engines, turbocharging’s impact on motorsport, and its arrival in the passenger vehicle market during the 70s and 80s.

In this post, we’ll be taking a look at the modern era, from the increase in turbocharged passenger vehicles during the 1980s, through the development of the technology during the 90s, and on to the turbocharged revolution that’s happening right now.

For 2014, Formula One is ripping up the current rulebook, and introducing some revolutionary changes designed to really shake up the sport.

Whilst there are new rules covering the chassis and fuel consumption, the biggest change (in our book at least!) lies with the engine. Next year, they’re ditching the naturally aspirated V8s, and replacing them with a smaller, turbocharged V6.

In this post, we take a closer look at the changes to the 2014 F1 engine, before analysing why they’ve done it, and giving our predictions about performance, standings and competition for the year ahead.

The temperatures have dropped and winter is most definitely here – and there’s nothing worse than your car breaking down and leaving you stranded in the cold weather.

All vehicle engines need to be looked after during the winter months, but there are some special steps you should take to help protect and prolong the life of your turbocharger.

Follow our handy guide to winter turbo maintenance, and make sure you don’t get left out in the cold this winter.

A few weeks ago, we posted ‘Turbocharged beginnings’ – the first part in a series of posts outlining the history of turbocharging. We covered the early years of the technology, from invention, through early aviation use, and up to the first turbocharged passenger vehicles.

This post starts where that one left off, and this week, we’ll be looking at the rise of turbocharging in commercial diesel engines, and the increase in popularity of the technology throughout the 70s and into the 80s.

At AET, our teams are here to help when things go wrong with your turbo, but we understand that you’d rather not have to come and see us at all!

In this post, we look at a selection of things you can do to prolong the life of your turbocharger and protect it from failure. Follow these tips, and you’ll probably never have to give us a visit.

Since the invention of the internal combustion engine, mechanics, engineers and scientists have all been looking to develop ways to improve it.

In this post, we look at the early years of turbocharging, from the initial concepts surrounding forced injection, through to the early aviation applications, right up to the first turbocharged cars and automobiles.