What is "turbo" on a car?

Answer 1

Most cars today it's called a power adder, it makes a four run with the V8's, best of both worlds.

there are also smoke turbos to reduce soot in trucks

and they name is used on some motors and transmissions, like turbo350, turbo-hydromatic

Answer 2

My car is turbo so I can explain this fairly well. A few things to know before I explain.

The turbo or turbine is mounted on the exhaust side of your engine. (If you were to follow your muffler and pipe all the way up to your engine the turbo will be mounted in line, next to the engine.)

The engine and intake is pressurized when the turbo is "spooling" or spinning. If there are any leaks "boost" won't work.

When the exhaust flows through the turbo it spins a metal propellor with big fins. On the other side of the propellor is another propellor with bigger fins that pushes more air than it takes to move the smaller propellor.

The air that the bigger fins create builds pressure.

There is a pipe that runs from this side of the turbo into the intake manifold (the manifold is where air and fuel is mixed)

Now normally the air and fuel from an intake manifold is drawn in by the suction of a piston drawing itself down but in a turbo engine the pressurized intake "forces" the air to go into the cylinder.

Why does this produce more horse power??

When the higher volume of air is drawn into a cylinder and is further more compressed by the piston it causes a higher explosion. Remember without air there is no fire and with more air there is more combustion.

Of course the higher the ratio of air to fuel "lean" the higher the risk of blowing an engine or burning up a valve so that is why it is important to make sure you tune a turbo car or turn up your fuel.

For a detailed explanation and motion picture diagram go to www.howstuffworks.com
search: turbo

Answer 3

A turbocharger is a compressor that takes energy from the exhaust gases and uses that energy to compress fresh air and feed the compressed fresh air into the engine. That increases the oxygen in the engine, which increases its power; it also causes a larger volume of exhaust gases which pass through the turbocharger and cause it to work even better. (That's what a turbo 'spooling up' is; it's increasing the output and using the increased output to increase the output even more. Clever, eh?)

Another way to boost engine output is a supercharger. Instead of using the energy of the exhaust, though, a supercharger is a compressor hooked up directly to the engine. This means it boosts power immediately, without 'turbo lag'. A turbocharger needs about 2500 RPM before it boosts engine output, but a supercharger is at full boost by only 1000 RPM or so. I test drove a supercharged Mini Cooper S a few years ago, and it went like stink!

Answer 4

A turbo is something that makes the car go faster, by providing more oxygen to the engine. It will spool up (you can hear it, it will sound like a whining noise) and it provides a big boost to a car's horsepower.

Answer 5

Davids answere is correct. Turbo does compress the air going into the engine intake manifold. Engine operate by compressing air and fuel, then exploding this combination which then forces the pistons to move.

Answer 6

a compressor, compresses the air to the cylinders increasing power.

Answer 7

its when the car speeds up

Answer 8

a boost