Turbo Muffler Delete 101: Horsepower, Sound & Installation

Turbo muffler delete replaces your stock turbo compressor outlet with a less restrictive version. 

This allows better flow of compressed air out of your turbo – improving turbo spooling, more power and much better turbo noise. 

A turbo muffler delete is pretty cheap and easy to install. I personally have installed it and to be honest, I installed it without much thought.

I bought a cheap turbo muffler delete at $35 and was pleasantly surprised.. Turbo response was better and the spooling noise is much more significant. 

I feel like turbo muffler delete is underrated. For a mod this cheap, the result was pretty good. Which is why I am writing this article.

Let me share with you everything I know about the turbo muffler delete and we will see if I can convince you to try it too…

I will cover many things like:

1. What’s a turbo muffler delete exactly?
2. HP gain from turbo muffler delete 
3. Sound improvement 
4. Turbo muffler delete installation
5. Some pros and cons 

Turbo muffler delete is a less restrictive tube that replaces a turbo’s compressor outlet. This means compressed air can flow out from your turbo and into the engine easily.

turbo muffler delete can improve power, turbo spooling and sound.

Turbo muffler delete is advertised by manufacturers to improve power, turbo spooling and sound. They are true but you need to set the right expectations. 

From my experience, I didn’t gain any horsepower from the dyno. Turbo spooling did improve – the turbo is more responsive and the spooling noise is improved quite significantly. 

If you are still confused, you must understand how a turbo works. A turbo is a device that compresses incoming air into a high pressure air ball and sends it to the combustion chamber. 

The goal is to increase horsepower because compressed air has much more air – which means more oxygen to be used during combustion.

Most stock turbos have a muffler that’s designed to silence spooling noises. This is done because the majority of drivers don’t like noisy turbos. (We are the weird ones). 

With turbo muffler delete, you are replacing the stock outlet with an aftermarket version that does not silence the turbo. And it’s also wider – allowing more compressed air to travel out of the turbo. 

Here’s a table summarizing everything you want to know about turbo muffler delete.

Turbo muffler delete will not gain you any horsepower. You can expect improvement into turbo boost and reduced turbo lag but no overall horsepower gain. 

The job of turbo muffler delete is to allow more compressed air to exit the turbo at once. This means, your engine will receive more air much quicker.

Will the turbo muffler delete reduce turbo lag? Sure. But will it help you gain more horsepower? No. 

I actually did install turbo muffler delete and tested it on the dyno. The change was insignificant – the horsepower varies by 1-3 horsepower in each pull. 

There’s no aftermarket mods in this world that cost $50 and can give you horsepower. If you are serious about horsepower, look into other mods like catback exhausts, headers or downpipe. 

They cost more, you will need to tune but the horsepower gain is great! 

Your turbo will sound louder, deeper and more aggressive after installing a turbo muffler delete. It’s not as significant as aftermarket exhausts or mufflers but it’s noticeable. 

Personally, I feel like my car sounds more like a diesel engine after performing the turbo muffler delete. 

Not anywhere near the change from an aftermarket muffler but I could notice the change – both on idle and during acceleration. 

I did not record the before and after sound from my car, but it’s similar to the one in this YouTube video: 

Nothing crazy, but note changes during idle and acceleration. Honestly, for its price, I am surprised there’s even a noticeable change. 

Turbo muffler delete is legal. The sound changes are not loud enough and it does not have any impact on emission. 

In most cases, aftermarket mods are illegal because it’s too loud or because it does not pass emission. 

A turbo muffler delete does not make your car extremely loud nor does it change your emission – so you should be safe with the law.

You don’t need tuning after installing turbo muffler delete. It does not tweak your air/fuel ratio and does not cause Check Engine Light (CEL).

Tuning is usually needed after installing aftermarket mod because the air/fuel ratio is skewed and you will run rich or lean if not tuned. 

Fortunately, a turbo muffler delete is not significant enough to tweak your air/fuel ratio – nor does it impact your sensors and cause CEL. Thus, you don’t need to tune for turbo muffler delete. 

Tune only if you install major mods like exhausts, headers, downpipes or getting a bigger turbo. 

Turbo muffler delete will most likely void your turbo warranty. This is not voiding the whole car warranty – just the warranty on your turbo. 

With the Magnusson Moss Act, your dealer can only void your warranty if they can prove that your aftermarket mod is a direct cause of the issue. 

Otherwise, they can’t just void your warranty simply because you have an aftermarket mod. 

However, this does not mean that you can go to the dealer and demand for warranty and be rude. I am pretty sure dealers are experienced enough to link faults into your aftermarket parts and void your warranty anyway. 

By law, dealers can only void warranty for parts that you have replaced (or if it’s a direct cause). In the case of turbo muffler delete, the warranty for your turbo is likely voided. 

However, other components like electronics, intakes and other unrelated stuff should still be under warranty. 

I don’t think turbo muffler delete can cause any damage but it’s always a good idea to be informed. Good for you! 

A turbo muffler delete costs range from $30 – $60 – depending on the brand and material. 

Installation of turbo muffler delete is quite simple. It’s just a matter of unscrewing the existing turbo outlet (AKA turbo muffler) and screwing your turbo muffler delete in place. 

The hard part is reaching your turbo. Depending on your setup, the turbo can be deep within your engine bay – where you need to take off multiple parts before you can reach them. 

If you can’t do this yourself, I am sure any car workshop could do it for you. But be prepared to cough up $50 for the installation. 

Installation price usually depends on your workshop and your relationship with the mechanic. 

If you want to install it yourself, here’s a YouTube video showing you how to install the turbo muffler delete. 

Installing a turbo inlet pipe can be quite difficult – depending on the turbo placement. On many cars, the turbo is deep inside the engine bay – which makes it hard to reach. 

You may need to unscrew and unbolt other components surrounding the turbo in order to reach it and replace the turbo inlet – that’s the hard part.

When you are able to reach the turbo, it’s just a matter of disconnecting the stock inlet and replacing it with your aftermarket turbo inlet. 

It’s easier to see how it’s done than me describing it. So here’s a great YouTube video I found from ECS tuning that shows you how to install a turbo inlet.

To sum up the article, let me list you the pros & cons of turbo muffler delete. This should summarize all the info above and help you decide whether you should install it or not. 

Pros of Turbo muffler delete

• Improved turbo spooling. A turbo muffler delete improves airflow on your turbo outlet. This means more compressed air can exit the turbo at once into your engine. Thus, improved spooling and overall responsiveness of the turbo.

• Improved turbo sound. Turbo muffler delete replaces the stock turbo outlet that’s designed to cancel out the turbo noises. Turbo muffler delete does not reduce turbo noise in any way. Thus, louder turbo sound.

• Turbo muffler delete is cheap. It starts from $30 and can go up to $60. It’s relatively cheap compared to other mods like exhausts or mufflers. Also considering that you gain a noticeable difference from the install. 

• Does not require tuning. You don’t need to spend more money to tune your car after installing a turbo muffler delete. There’s no significant change to air/fuel ratio or CEL. 

• Legal. Turbo muffler delete does not produce huge noise and will not affect emission – making it legal in all states in the US (and probably everywhere else). 

Cons of turbo muffler delete

• Can be hard to install. Turbo muffler delete is hard to install if your turbo is deep inside your engine bay. This depends entirely on the setup of your car. Once you get into the turbo, the actual installation of turbo muffler delete is easy.

• May void turbo warranty. Turbo muffler delete will not cause any damage to turbo but it may void your turbo warranty. It will not void your entire car warranty, just the turbo warranty. Check out Magnusson Moss Act for more info. 

• • Does not provide horsepower. Turbo muffler delete will not provide any horsepower gain. (At least nothing significant). Do not expect this and you won’t be disappointed. 

I genuinely think turbo muffler delete is worth it. For $30 (or even $50), you get an improved turbo response and improved turbo sound – that’s a bargain. 

If you have never installed any mod before, a turbo muffler delete can be a great first one. You will learn a ton of stuff, trying to take off parts in the engine bay and try to reach the turbo. 

Once you install it, the reliability of your car stays the same – so nothing to worry there for beginners. 

What do you say? Should you give it a try?