I went along to my local car alarm supplier today, and stated that I wanted a new alarm one which works with my Greddy Intelligent turbo timer.

My turbo timer basically works out how hard I've been driving and then works out how long the car should remain on tick over accordingly.

Now after a breif conversation, and me actually explaining to the alarm fitting that with a Clifford alarm you can set the alarm and walk away with the turbo timer fitted, he has turned to me and said I'd be better off with the turbo timer that comes with the alarm.

Reason being it is free first of all, and I can sell the greddy one on. But becasue I don't actually want to leave me car for any more than 1 min on tick over, as the abient temp under the bonnet after one minute will counteract any benfit of leaving the car on tick over any longer.

Now, at first I ignored him thinking he was just trying to save himself some work by not mating the greddy to the alarm, but I started to think was he talking sense?

How long should you leave a car on tick over for?

I know that after a normal bit of driving it isn't required, still that said I've set my turbo timer to at least run for 20secs.

But after a bit of spirited driving, my turbo timer has worked out I should leave the car running for 6mins plus.

I can see the chaps point that after 6 mins the under bonnet temps would be a bit on the hot side of things.

Opinons guys?

 

IMHO i think turbo timers are bad news! Because once you pull up the car starts to hot up again! If you remember the golden rule being don't thrash your car for the last 3/4 miles and stay off boot you can turn your car off after pulling up and turn off after 10 seconds easy and the car is at its coolest point!

I used to have 1 on my cossie but soon ripped it out and put it on ebay!

Turbo timers are easy to hot wire a car also if you didn't already know that!

Sorry if you think i am being rude buddy but would like to give you good advice and possible save you money!

 

Wouldn't say there bad news the whole idea in my eyes of a "turbo" timer is to make sure that the blades of the turbo have stopped spinning whilst the oil is still being pumped through. If theres no oil and the blades are still spinning the life of the turbo will shorten?

 

Also bear in mind, Turbo Timers can cause problems with insurance companies, as Cossie has said, they are nt always that hard to get round!
I thought about getting one, but use the last mile or so to cool things down, and switch off when I get on the driveway.
Thats only my two pence worth, and I am only a new boy after all!

 

never use mine for daily driving, the less people who know i have one the better IMO, i do use it on trackdays though, deffo worth the money then

 

Hence the 10 seconds before switch off as you are totally correct about the oil!

 

I wouldnt, theyre a Japanese market-led gimmick. Remember Tamagotchi Pets? Water cooled turbochargers simply dont need this..

 

As above BIN IT.

Its not as if you drive straight off the race track and turn it off................

Even after a spirited drive you normally get to a built up area and drive slow/off boost until you get home. Common sense really.

Its really amuses me to see dicks at the petrol station or supermarket with there timers on HAHA

 

Is this right for all models? Are all the turbochargers watercooled?

 

waste of time and money imo.
Invalidate insurance as a by-product.
Ebay it and get pissed on the £30.

 

Newage cars have water cooled turbos, making a turbo timer useless cos the water continues to cool the turbo even after the engine is stopped.

 

What about classics ? (I'm still learning about Scoobs!!)

 

Nope you don't need a turbo timer either buddy! IMHO

 

My UK Turbo 2000 wagon had a sticker on the door that said something along the lines of after extended highway driving to idle for 30-60 secs. Neither of my Bug's or my Hawk have anything like that, and I don't think there's anything in the manual either. Same as the debate about warming up the engine before warming up. Just take it easy when the engines cold, and ease of if you've been driving enthusiastically. When I've been driving at speed on motorways, I ease off for a minute, before pulling off, or going into services. The airflow through the grill and rad will cool things down just as well as sitting idle for 30-60 seconds, imho.

 

Waste of time and money IMHO. Put it on Ebay for someone else. I leave the car running a few seconds while I put the Diskloc on then the car is switched off. I also like to leave the car in gear when parked up, something you won't be doing with a turbo timer.

Ease off before you park up and you can switch off straight away.

 

Aye.

Is anyone actually stupid enough to hammer their car all the way into their driveway

Show of hands pls...

 

Best thing to do with a turbo timer is throw it to f*ck!

Unless you're on track, you only need to let the turbo have a rest for 1 minute after abuse. If you slow down and cruise off boost for a mile or two before you get home, there's no reason to even let it idle. Just switch it straight off, as you havn't been using the turbo anyway.

It's always a good idea to keep driving while cooling the car down anyway, as you don't get any air into then engine sitting on your drive!

 

The Clifford system used to work with the Intelistart function of the alarm system (remote start/stop). If the car is tampered with whilst idling it will shut off the engine.

It was always the case that a system which enables the vehicles ignition to stay on/engine run without the key in the ignition barrel will void the Thatcham approval of the Immobiliser.

Also I believe it's against the law to leave a motor vehicles engine running whilst unattended, often known as 'quitting'.
Not sure how some manufacturers get round this though as remote start is a common feature on prestigious cars today.


Is it against the law to leave a vehicle running ? - Yahoo! Answers

 

I always have turbo timers...

When there's times you cant wait for it to cool down its always handy..

I have ours running from 1 min to 2.30 mins depending on how hard the wife drives, lol...

 

Are you saying that the turbine blades stop spinning when the car is only idling? How does that work?


Whole reason behind them was to prevent the oil carbonising due the oil just sitting there and cooking through the residual heat of the turbo unit.

As suggested, only really a problem at track days etc and with todays modern oils, not really an issue on most turbo cars. A minute or so of slow driving (off boost) will be more than ample for the turbo to reduce in temperature and make it 'safe' to switch the engine off.

At the end of the day, oil should be changed after every track day regardless, but that's a different topic.