[QUOTE]Originally posted by BigBoogieman
[B]The fact that you can't leave them in gear is exactly why they are not standard equipment. Mitsu would never allow that. They are nice for showing off (like when you ahve a date or when people are looking at your car, as stated earlier) but don't depend on them. How jacked up would it be for you and your date to come back outside and your car be rolled down the hill?

The oil will burn if the car is shut down improperly, it's called coking. It isn't that big of an issue with full synthetic oils, but still.........idle your car for a few. Not only will it screw the ball bearings in the turbo (but we have Mitsu turbos, not Garrets), but it will also gum up the shaft on the center section of the turbo, causing.........well.........friction (more heat, slower rotation, more wear). That is where shaft wobble comes from. Well, it comes from excessive friction, not necessarily from not timing your turbo.

Josh

 

even if I did have a turbo....the extra minute or two can be spent making out with my girl which I do anywayz..... hahahahaaha!

 

Also companies won't ever put them in the car as an OEM part because if you get out of your car and leave while it is still running, you are inviting a theft. Even if he can't get your car to go because the timer kills the car when he drops the e-brake, he doesn't know that until after he smashes out your window. All it would take would be someone to go to the car company and say " You out the timer in my car, that made the thief want to steal it. Fix my car under warranty." Then that would be the end to OEM turbo timers. I would guess it would probably take about 1 week after they came out on the market.

Josh

 

With synthetic oil a turbo timer is not really necessary because the oil will not coke on the bearings like conventional oil.
It mostly turns to ash if it burns. Turbo timers are from the 80's when turbos had issues like this.

That said, I do infact have one. Even though it is not a big deal, it's just a little extra insurance.

 

Major hassle to have.... I hate not being able to leave the gearshift engaged. Sometimes the e-brake will just not hold. Also, I don't like to leave the car running & some folks have experienced electrical problem due to incorrect installation instructions or just plain wrong parts...

 

The hassles are easy to fix - just turn it off. When I go to the car wash, I just turn it off. If I am getting gas, I let it run while I pay, wash my windows, whatever. If I am in a hurry, I just reach in and turn it off. Not a big deal. To me, it's more important to just be able to get out of the car and carry on with what I'm doing than to sit there for 1-3 minutes...

 

I have had 11 turbo cars, and put lots of miles of hot, hard driving on them.I have always used synthetic oil, and have always ended my drive with a cool-down period for the last 15 minutes to destination.

I have never used a turbo timer, and have never had any turbo failures or issues. In fact recently when I pulled my turbo off of my Syclone at 74K miles it was still in awesome shape without any coke deposits, and bearing and end-play were both in spec still.

BTW- I have a great book on "Forced Induction Performance Tuning", and it actually talks about the importance of oil/turbo cool-down, and the fact that idle conditions alone do not provide enough oil flow for proper cool down.

The author says that running the car in a cool down mode at say 1500 rpm minimum, or greater, is the best tactic to avoid coking.

Just thought I would throw this info in there because there are alternative views that say sitting at idle(manually, or via turbo-timer)is not sufficient for proper cool down.

Its a little scary to think that people that own, and rely on, turbo timers may actually be more likely to drive the **** out of their cars up to the point they park thinking that the turbo timer will make everything alright. These folks could be in for a rude surprise downstream.

Drivers relying on sensible manual cool down know what they are getting when they shut the engine off.

Personally I have never owned a turbo-timer, and see them as a waste of money. I am usually a pretty liberal guy but in this case I am pretty rigid in my views.

My opinionated .02

N10S

 

N10S - good advice, thanks.

 

N10S - well said, my views exactly!

Dude, Is this the book : ?

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/AS...812889-1007806

 

I used to have a better system for a Saab Turbo I once owned. It was a turbo-oiler electric pump that would pump oil from the pan right into the turbo bearing. It had a timer on it so you could run it between 1 minute and 20 minutes. You could also prelube the engine prior to starting. I believe the company went out of bussiness? But the turbo never started dry and never had a chance to coke during shut-off thermal soak. Today, I guess one could build their own system. Another option would be to use an accumulator. Moroso makes a 1.5 and 3 quart unit that would store oil under pressure to slowly feed the turbo after shutdown. Of course you have to add the extra oil to the main sump.

 

i bought mine for convenience. don't need it, but i just don't want to sit in the car and sit for a min every time i stop... easy, cheap, convenient.

 

Its a luxury not a necessity

I have and HKS type 1

I use it to improve my shifting times and stuff

fastest 0-60 ive had was 4.31

After that one i made sure that it was calibrated and it was!

Im not saying its completely acurate but im pretty sure that i made a sub 5 0-60

 

But if you're just turning off your car for a minute or two (say to get gas) you don't have to worry about the turbo cooling down, do you?

 

too many variables, thats why, its not factory equiped....

 

It's a waste. Just run the engine easy for the last few miles before you park it.