I am hoping to be buying a subaru impreza turbo within the next 7-10 days. I have seen alot in people's posts mentioning things like 'always warmed up & cooled down' ... now i get the idea of this but can someone explain this in detail to me as i've never owned a turbo before.

 

It basically means dont rag it from cold, give it say 5 miles for the oil to start to warm up to temperature, and before turning off, let the engine idle for 1 min after hard driving so the heat is taken out of the turbo otherwise you can fry the oil in there.

Tony

 

Warming up means getting the car to the optimum running temp before giving it some stick. Cooling down means letting the car idle or run at a low speed before switching off. This is done to cool the turbo down so no damage is caused. As when you switch the engine off the oil and water is no longer pumped through the turbo.

 

With ANY egine, you shouldn't rag it from cold, the vast majority of wear occurs when the engine is cold as the oil needs to be at a certain temp before it provides optimum protection. The only way of knowing for sure when the oil has warmed up is getting an oil temp guage- IIRC it varies depending on the grade of oil, the ambient temp and driving conditions. I give mine 10 miles before using boost.

Cooling down is required cause he turbo reaches VERY high temps and if you turn the engine straight off after sustained period of on-boost driving, the oil can't dissipate the heat meaning it cooks on the turbo, which will eventually ruin it! Driving off boost for a few miles will do the job, or letting the car idle on the drive for a minute or so. I usually do both, takes me a few minutes to faff around with the steering lock anyway!

Ns04

 

Where are you located Mark? I have a UK subaru impreza turbo up for sale:

http://bbs.scoobynet.co.uk/showthread.php?t=500315

Let me know if you are interested.