Opinions on Turbo Timers?
 

Do I really need one? If so which one would you recommend and why?

Advantages/disadvatages to having one?

Just a little run down on my set up if this will help

Custom SS tubing equal length manifold
GT28RS
Greddy EMU
550 Injectors
Treadstone TR8 Intercooler

While i'm slowing learning turbos please remember i'm a noob for the most part.

i always thought they were a waste of cost, time, and complexity added to the car. if you've been driving hard just let the car idle for 30 seconds

They're totally gay, unless maybe if you have one of the 2 remaining aerodynes.

I didn't realize it was that short of a period of time. What temp should the turbo be before you turn off the car. I could install a temp sensor and monitor it for the correct temp and then shutdown. Where should temp be measured from?

I always let my turbo civic's egts drop to at least 700 before I shut the car off. I have an oil/water t3 on it without water run. No issues on the turbo and its been in use for 30k so far.

Funny, I do the same thing. Except my EGT probe is *exceedingly* slow, so it's usually 800° for me. I find that:

1- When I get home in the evening, my drive from the front gate to my apartment is sufficiently long and slow that I'm already below 800° before I get to the garage, particularly if I stop to get the mail on the way.

2- When I get to work in the morning, I have a shorter "slow" portion, so I usually have to wait about 30-45 seconds after I pull into my parking space. If I've been datalogging, it takes me longer than that to save the data and upload it to the network (I have WiFi in the car, and a WAP installed inside the office that's reachable from my parking spot- ditto in my garage at home)

3- If I've really been flogging it and then I pull into a restaurant parking lot or something, it can take up to two minutes to cool down. I use this time to pause and reflect on the purity of my soul and the state of world affairs. :bigtu:

Thanks guys this is a big help and a good reason for me to add an EGT to my list of Gauges.

By your responses I get the sense that no one but you guys drives your respective cars. Since that is not my case (3 sons who all have a "heavy foot" and the "so what, it's dad's car anyways!" attitude) I did buy one of those gay turbo timers. :)

FWIW, I went with the pen style one.

I just installed a relay on a 90 second timer. Every time I shut the car off it stays idling for 90 seconds. Cools things down, gets people asking questions, and doesn't cost enough in gas for me to care.

The first mistake was letting the sons drive the car :)

You got me there! Too late for me now. :)

the other thing that worried me was what if you were overheating and wanted to turn your car off NOW, wouldn't that be annoying if you pulled over real fast, took the key out, popped, the hood and hopped out of the car to see what was up and you're still running. i'm sure there is a defeat, but if someone else were driving you might be sol

Sorry to beat an old thread.. but what if your car was on FIRE!? and some stupid little gizmo continued to belch 115 octane fuel into the underhood fire?? :eek:

http://www.jugrnot.com/Dsc00670-2.jpg

Point in case. Might not look too bad, but the insurance company decided it did over $35,000 in damages to the car. Total loss. :td:

Who's supra is that?

We all have our reasons to like or dislike turbo timers, but I just pulled my GReddy off after 50,000 miles to do some other work.

There is no shaft play in any direction and I can spin the turbine by blowing on it.

I'm crediting the turbo timer for this:bigtu:

Man that's wierd. I went thru two greddy turbos in half as much miles. Good for you though :)

And I can't spin even the smaller BB garretts by blowing on them, let alone the sleeve bushing ones. you must blow better than me.

I use an apexi pen style timer. It doubles as a a/f gauge when calibrated properly to one of the LC-1's outputs. As for the shutting the car off if you need to instead of it running, just drop the e-brake and it kills the motor. I bought my timer for $40 used on ebay, not bad for a/f gauge that could also prolong the life of my turbo.

yes tim......you do blow.

Dont alot of turbo timers have little buttons that you could just shut it off or not even have it run the car after shutting it down? I remember getting pulled over in my buddies supra and him reaching overs pushing a button on his Apex pen style turbo timer and the car instantly shutting down, After the key was turned off of course :)

A properly installed turbo timer will, at a minimum, be interlocked to the clutch pedal and emergency brake. This is a safety feature, to prevent some kid from getting into your car while it's still running, putting it into gear, and crashing into something. While the timer is active, stepping on the clutch or releasing the emergency brake will turn off the engine.

So if your engine bursts into flames while you're driving down the road, turning off the key and pressing in the clutch is likely to be an instinctive reaction. This will shut off the motor.