Turbo timers

[Cuppa]

What are members views on the necessity for turbo timers on factory standard motors?

I was discussing this elsewhere, & felt that if they were necessary that Nissan would have fitted them.
I also read a report of their potential danger. Apparently it was a turbo timer, & vehicle knocked into gear which resulted in the crushing death of Malcolm Douglas.

Does Nissan make any explicit recommendation for 'idling down' of their turboed motors prior to switching them off. I often forget & nothing nasty has happened, although I would hopefully be more mindful if I had been pushing it hard.

Cuppa

[threedogs]

Would never fit one , I idle down till exhaust temps drop then turn off. Doesn't take long.
Sure if you have a turbo drift /hoonmobile where temps are sky high fit one.
Not sure you can get a patrol to temps like that even on the HWY M2cW
Something else to go wrong

[Winnie]

Just idle for 30 seconds when you pull up and all will be sweet?

If you're happy and you know it tap a post!

[taslucas]

Yeah think the reason they are not fitted from the factory is a legal reason to prevent accidents as stated above.
Vehicles fitted with remote start have to have a host of safety features to comply with the law.
Maybe it's not cost effective to have all these extra features just to have a factory turbo timer??

FanTapstic!

[Alitis007]

Mazda fitted factory turbo timers to the series 8 rx7 and Nissan fitted them to the 180sx, they are good if you wire them correctly! The earth wire needs to be connected to the handbrake wire so when its down the timer won't work (no earth/ground)

If you have ever seen how a turbo and exhaust glow it takes longer then 30 seconds to cool it down, even if your engine combustion temps reduce doesn't mean that the turbo has cooled. No turbo timer can size bearings and make seals hard and also potentially crack housing, i cracked 2 turbos on one my first cars (1984 Nissan EXA Coupe) even tho i left it count down from a minute. On my toy i have an auto counting timer that starts off from 1 min but increases the longer i drive over 3,000rpm.

[Alitis007]

Yeah think the reason they are not fitted from the factory is a legal reason to prevent accidents as stated above.
Vehicles fitted with remote start have to have a host of safety features to comply with the law.
Maybe it's not cost effective to have all these extra features just to have a factory turbo timer??

FanTapstic!

I have remote start on my toy, i turned off all the safety neutral switches off coz it was a pain when you where getting into the car and bumped the brake pedal it would shut the blooming motor and defeated the purpose of using it in the first place !!

[the evil twin]

What are members views on the necessity for turbo timers on factory standard motors?

I was discussing this elsewhere, & felt that if they were necessary that Nissan would have fitted them.
I also read a report of their potential danger. Apparently it was a turbo timer, & vehicle knocked into gear which resulted in the crushing death of Malcolm Douglas.

Does Nissan make any explicit recommendation for 'idling down' of their turboed motors prior to switching them off. I often forget & nothing nasty has happened, although I would hopefully be more mindful if I had been pushing it hard.

Cuppa

Hiya Cuppa,

At least 95% (prob close to 100%) of after market Turbo timers are illegal under ADR's. Legal to sell them, legal to fit them to Boats, Trains, Planes, Gensets etc etc but not Automobiles. They contravene the engineering ADR regarding vehicle systems and engine operation etc with the key in the off or acc position/removed.

Factory Turbo Timers on the very rare marques/models that have them have additional safety's etc that satisfy ADR's.

Yes, I have one on mine (fitted by prev owner).
Yes, it gets used in the context that I am not the only driver (on it's shortest setting) however I monitor water and EGT temp and switch off accordingly.
Yes, they have been a major contributory cause to some accidents over the years.
No I wouldn't fit one specifically but seeing as it is on there it can stay.
and No I don't feel they are a necessity or all that helpful on a daily driver.

[Winnie]

They all say not to leave the car until it has stopped running... Yeah right lol.

If you're happy and you know it tap a post!

[MEGOMONSTER]

Very interesting topic. Damned if you do, potentially damned if you don't.

NCOT/COT

[Alitis007]

They all say not to leave the car until it has stopped running... Yeah right lol.

If you're happy and you know it tap a post!

Last time i checked it was within 5m

[threedogs]

May be a bit of wank factor to.
Like most say not really worth it with common sense
Bit old school as they were all the rage 15 yrs ago approx

[megatexture]

I know its illegal to leave your car unlocked in qld even at a servo when going to pay but not sure about when its running

[june]

my workshop manual states that if prolong highway driving you should idle down. hence thats why i have one.

[threedogs]

Hwy driving, if I pull over for a pit stop I tend to leave it idling

[Ben-e-boy]

I dosnt hurt to idle any motor down. I have one on mine and I dont shut it down until temps are well below 150 degrees.
I live in a very hilly town, coming out of the main street you have hills of about 20% gradient. More often than not I reach my destination with in the CBD with egt's of over 200C to hot IMO to shut it down.

[Maxgq]

So whats the verdict? Good/Bad?

[macca86]

I'm voting good if you don't want to sit in your car for 2 mins after to a long run.

[june]

x2 i got better things to do than sit in car after driving long stints

[Maxgq]

Yea thats true, how long should it be set on? Mines on 0.30

[Alitis007]

I leave them on for 1min minimum depending how long and hard you have been driving!

[macca86]

I've got mine on 2 mins

[june]

same here. 1 minute is standard setting on mine.

[Sir Roofy]

If you where running 400 -500 horsepower and running longdistance
you most likely would need a timer,you dont need one in a patrol just to run up the road to work
or the shops ,as td stated its a wank job,you know where your work is ,you know where the shops are and you know when looking for a camp spot you just back off before you get there,these modern diesels dont need much of a warm up
and dont need to idle down to much other wise you do more damage by letting them sit to long

[Sir Roofy]

mazda fitted factory turbo timers to the series 8 rx7 and nissan fitted them to the 180sx, they are good if you wire them correctly! The earth wire needs to be connected to the handbrake wire so when its down the timer won't work (no earth/ground)

if you have ever seen how a turbo and exhaust glow it takes longer then 30 seconds to cool it down, even if your engine combustion temps reduce doesn't mean that the turbo has cooled. No turbo timer can size bearings and make seals hard and also potentially crack housing, i cracked 2 turbos on one my first cars (1984 nissan exa coupe) even tho i left it count down from a minute. On my toy i have an auto counting timer that starts off from 1 min but increases the longer i drive over 3,000rpm.

mate its all good and well what your saying,but were not talking performance street cars that leave rubber on the road

[Cuppa]

Thanks all, I won't be fitting a turbo timer. And as long as the motor remains factory standard I don't see a lot of need to fit a pyrometer either. It's rare for the truck to get used 'hard' so I reckon just leave it as is.

Cuppa

[Alitis007]

mate its all good and well what your saying,but were not talking performance street cars that leave rubber on the road

I get what your saying mate but know differently from experience, even standard turbo motors not driven hard will start to glow the back of the turbo soon as you creat boost so its your choice as the operator how you choose to maintain and operate your vehicle!

[Squalo]

I wrote this elsewhere on the same topic:


IIRC, at idle a turbo is still doing 15,000rpm on a diesel (ballpark figure), so even if you let your EGTs drop to the lowest they can get to before shutting off, your turbo shaft will then need to shed the heat generated by spinning at 15k, and that heat will be dissipated into the turbo housing... where the oil lines are...

The theory behind the timer is to run the engine at idle for long enough that the exhaust temp comes down, which in turn allows the impeller housing to cool down before oil flow through it is shut off. If it's left hot the oil can burn inside the galleries (known as 'coking'), and over time this will impede oil flow to the impeller shaft bearings, with predictable results.

I can't see how EGT can be used as a threshold for safe turbo shut-down; gas cools far more quickly than metal or water. So 200 on your EGT gauge at shut-down is not reflective of the heat retained in the turbo housing, not even close. The probe in the manifold housing doesn't read temp from the coupling; it reads temp from the tip of the probe.

It's probable that modern materials, engineering tolerances and oil compositions make idling down the temp largely unnecessary, but I am certainly not taking chances... I run my timer at 30 seconds and almost always let it run out (unless I've just arrived home as the last minute or so of the drive is very low rpm and mostly downhill). When I go wheeling or up the beach I bump it to 3 or 5 minutes.

[Dominator]

I have my 'turbo timer' running off my EGT gauge. It is set to shut down at 140deg pre-turbo. While I know what your saying Squalo I still think EGT has to be a more accurate way of allowing the turbo to cool down. I have found that if I go to the shops and take it easy while looking for a car park, it does not need to idle. But I live 100m from a 100kph road so I can't just take it easy for the last couple if mins and I mostly have exhaust temps of over 200 deg when i turn my car off so the car will run down for up to 5 mins.

And Cuppa, you might be quite unpleasantly surprised with how high EGTs can get on a factory tune, especially on a DI ZD30 . A pyro is pretty cheap insurance if you ask me.