I have had my wrx a little over a week now and i am just wondering is it really vital to have a turbo timer when the uk weather is so cold anyway. yes i agree if you have been racing your car aound its not the best idea to just turn the engine off!!! but if you have been just driving the car as a normal car (not pushing it) then should you still give the turbo time too cool?

Mike

 

Yes! been talked to death on here! my uk turbo has a sticker on the drivers door stating " under heavy highway driving allow the car to idle for 1 minute before turning the engine off" Wont do it any harm to let it idle for a minute or two whenever you take it for a drive

 

Also i dont think the process is required for the turbo to cool as such. Its to let the turbo spool down before you turn the engine off.If the turbo hasnt spooled down and you turn it off it will be starved of oil reducing the life of the turbo greatly! i think thats correct im sure some one will put me right if im not.

 

Yes i agree under heavy driving to allow the car to cool but just for an example a 10 mile trip would this be needed?

 

Well what i do is after any drive ,i take it easy 5 minutes before im gonna stop like never taking it above 3000rpm then let it idle for a minute when i do.Good habit to get into for sure

 

IMO turbo times are a complete waste of time, just drive off boost for a while before you turn your engine off

 

thanks mate just what i had been doing!

 

it is not the distance driven, it is ''was the car on boost' just before turning it off, so you could have pootling about all day and then decided to give it some up your street before parking, then you would need to allow the turbo to slow down, the reason being is that most turbo's use a 'floating' bearing, much the same as a big end bearing in that it is metal against metal with a layer of oil in between, if the engine is shut off whilst the turbo is spinning at high speed, the oil flow will stop and the residual oil could burn off due to the temp of the turbo spinning allowing the bearing to technically run dry and risk scoring the bearing faces.

 

If timers were needed dont you think subaru would of fitted one standard?

 

useful if you're late for work

 

^^^ Good point.

I rarely use mine (it was on the car when I bought it), but occasionally after some "enthusiastic" driving, I like the extra fail-safe of allowing the car to tick over unattended for a few minutes. Yeah, it may not be necessary, but it can't hurt....

 

I have mine simply because Im too much of an idiot to remember to let the car idle for a bit when I stop

 

and the look on peoples faces when you walk away with the engine running is worth it

 

Spot on... Nothing more needs to be said...

 

Except for this pefectly valid point also

 

Thing is - if that was true wouldn't subaru have fitted FMIC, bigger turbos, decats, sport cats, bigger exhausts, higher flowing injectors, bigger brakes, coilovers, and the entire whiteline catalogue?

 

Why would Subaru fit something that has the possiblity of reducing profit. At anything from £700 to £1500 approx, for a new turbo upto £50 for a Turbo timer seems a good idea. Up here in the North of Scotland mine is also used first thing in the morning to warm the car up to allow it to de-ice or in summer to run the air-con to cool the car down.

 

i live in the cold north as well and i get by without one

the threrad says "are they really needed"

absolutly not

 

Somebody raised a good point with me and that was that they could be seriously dangerous. God forbid that you were involved in an accident and needed to shut the engine off sharpish (upside down in a ditch) and the thing keeps on running because of the turbo timer. Could be a bit dicey!!

 

Doubt it. The vast probability is that the fuel cut switch will engage or the engine will naturally stall. As it is, I very much doubt you'd apply the handbrake if your upside down in a ditch before you turn your ignition off!!

 

Turbo timers are a waste of money. I rarely if ever sit there idling after a drive, just drive off boost for the last bit of the journey.I usually throw it in neutral and glide to my stop and turn the engine off as soon as I've fitted the disclok. I don't drive it like I stole it either

 

They are activated off the hanbrake switch then o.k . The guys talking boll**ks then. Still seems like a waste of money to me though i just drive off boost last 1 mile journey !!

 

yeah, if wired in correctly there is a wire that clips to the handbrake switch. The timer only works when the handbrake is applied and then the ignition is switched off.

I'm not going to insist that a Turbo timer is the most essential thing in the world, it isn't - but as I said, I've got the horrible habit of pulling straight into the drive and turning the car off.

 

Ok, so we're having a bit "of fun" to a destination that is as yet unknown. At what point is the "one mile or so" driving off boost? Or are we always driving home....?

Sorry, devils avocado strikes again!

 

I'd have to agree they aren't necessary but surely they must prolong the life of the turbo?
I am terrible for just turning the car straight off when i get home.
How do these work with the alarm? (sorry to hijack)

 

With mine, the alarm arms itself once the central locking is triggered, so it's no problem...
I think that we (Impreza drivers) are more susceptable to damage caused by driving through a deep puddle (more likely to cause damaging thermal shock to the turbo housing), than worrying about synthetic oil solidifying in the oil-ways, but still - can't be too careful....
And besides, how much of a tool would I look if I had to sit with the car for 5 mins after every journey. "Sorry, just need to get cool oil into the turbo bearings" (in his best anorak voice). Oh, my lord, what have I become?!?!

 

Waste of money, newage cars continue to cool the turbo after the engine has stopped anyway.

 

Hmm,after doing some small mods to my engine regarding temp probes i think you lot would be amazed at how hot the turbo and engine get in such a short time and what temps it reaches.

i use my alarm timer, 30 seconds,after seeing my temps,its vital,it doesnt matter if its cold out, 15-20 minutes of running the engine sees the same temps as 5-10 mins of summer running

 

Thats what I read too, somewhere on here too IIRC
Something about recirculation.

 

This is what I had read, taken from another thread. But seems to have been repeated a few times in a few threads, including a link showing you a system set up on the newer Scoobies (or I was dreaming)

"although subarus dont need them because your stock IHI turbo is oil and water cooled so you could just shut your car off"

Obviously shutting down straight after a 7k caining would just be stupid.