Thoughts on Turbo Cool down time.

[Duane in Miami]

How long should I let the turbos cool down after running the car hard. I am thinking of getting a Turbo timer. Any thoughts? :eek:

[Duane in Miami]

Wow this board seems quiet. :thumbup:

[Loren]

Duane,

Well the board just opened publicly last weekend so it's not quite a week old. We have a few TT members but not a lot yet. Feel free to tell your TT friends. We are also looking for a good moderator for this forum preferably someone with a lot of TT experience.

Here is my 2 cents on turbo cool down time...

When you drive hard on the track or just a spirited drive through the mountain passes it is always best to bring the car back to "normal" operating temps. This goes for engine oil, coolant, brakes and of course turbos. The last thing you want to do to your car is park it, shut it off and crank the handbrake on. All of these can lead to premature failures caused by excessive heat that parts were not designed for. So it is always best to drive "normally" for a few miles or park and idle the car for 2-10 minutes. How long depends on your cars current temps. For instance after running 20 or hot laps at the track it usually takes my (normally aspirated) car about 5 minutes to reach normal temps.

As to turbo timers... that is your call. If you really don't have time cool your car down then I guess they could be useful. I (personally) just have a problem walking away from car with it still running.

Hope this helps some... :D

[clord]

Duane....I agree with all that Loren said. My personal experience is with a 944Turbo driven hard on the track. My routine was to do as much cool down on the track as possible and then let it idle in the pits with the AC on....that ran both fans (on the 944) and would run the 996 fas at high speed for better cooling. I would watch the oil pressure at idle and finally got to learn when the oil temp had dropped somewhat by watching the pressure(since we don't have oil temp guages). It's less of a problem now with water cooled turbos....but you cant' be too safe on this issue. A coked turbo bearing will wear itself out very soon.

[Guest Guest_David (Va)]

Duane

Manual recommends 2 minutes @ idle

[NASA racer Pete]

Duane

Manual recommends 2 minutes @ idle

Also, remember that it's better to "cool" the car down while in motion so a few miles of out of the boost relaxed driving does more to lower the temps than sitting at idle.

I follow the rule that if I'm driving hard and then IMMEDIATELY stop, then I let it idle at least 2 minutes. If I've been driving semi-hard but have driven gently more than 2 minutes (which works out pretty well given the downhill residential streets I have to drive through to my house) then I only let it idle about 30 seconds or less.

If I've driven very casually to the grocery store, I don't let it idle at all.

[ron996tt]

i wouldnt use a turbo timer because you have to hack into factory wiring

[contigo]

Go with the manual recomendation 2 mins at iddle

[cesko]

i wouldnt use a turbo timer because you have to hack into factory wiring

Not true. You don't always have to hack into the wiring. Most reputable turbo timer companies will offer a wire adapter that will connect right up between the ignition and the wiring.