I was in a petrol station the other day and the guy in front of me was being told off by the lady at the till for leaving his engine running.
He said his ignition was off and he showed her the key to prove it but he said that the turbo had a temp sensor that kept the engine ticking over untill it had cooled down.
Sure enough, it cut out as he was explaining it.
Is this a common add on? Have you come across it?

seen a few with them, mate has one on his car

How long should you leave your engine running after a long run to make sure the turbo has cooled down enough?

not sure about that, but what you are reffering to is called a turbo timer, my turbo cinq is gonna have one :slayer: lol

Lenny

turbo timer does it to a preset, the longest i saw it run on his was maybe 90seconds, i think i used to wait a few minutes depending on the run,

I remember seeing an RX7 with a turbo timer, sure it lasted about 5 mins lol :O

don't have a turbo timer on my car though, I just sit there and wait

What if its a turbo diesel, do i need to let that cool down

you should do if you've been driving it hard, yes.

my mates 220 coupe has a turbo timer, the amount of time the engine remains running depends on how it has been driving for the past 5mins or so. if it hasn't done much boosting, then it's 10seconds - if it has been driven hard, it stops on for longer.

still, it is illegal to leave the car running unattended.. so turbo timers are a bit of a dodgy area - and tbh, the petrol station attendant was quite right. the signs up say "SWITCH ENGINE OFF" not just the ignition.

arc said:

you should do if you've been driving it hard, yes.

my mates 220 coupe has a turbo timer, the amount of time the engine remains running depends on how it has been driving for the past 5mins or so. if it hasn't done much boosting, then it's 10seconds - if it has been driven hard, it stops on for longer.

still, it is illegal to leave the car running unattended.. so turbo timers are a bit of a dodgy area - and tbh, the petrol station attendant was quite right. the signs up say "SWITCH ENGINE OFF" not just the ignition.

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I spose if you've just pulled into a motorway services maybe it should be left for about a minute before you pull up to the pumps?

Thanks for the replies, I wasn't sure if I was posting in the right area but it isn't a model specific question so hopefully it's ok here .

yes you should leave ANY turbo car to idle for a bit before knocking it off. especially after a spirited run.

its to try and cool the bearing in th turbo down with the oil circulating around the engine (which is about 80-90degrees or so, wheras the bearing couldbe as much as a couple of hundred degrees), to stop it crystalising on th bearing, meaning a dead turbo in a very short space of time.


you get turbo timers, which just run for a set amount of time
and turbo timers wtih a temp gauge (rare) which will have an auxilary temp sensor somewhere in teh oil plumbing after the turbo oil drain line.

either way, its no excuse to leave it running in a petrol station, esp when you normally have to wait about 20mins for a pump

I usually leave the car running for a bout 30 secs before I get out and fill it up, which isn't too long to wait for other users unless they want to buy me a 400quid turbo

i know someone with a starlet gt and the turbo timer is on for around 30 seconds

well my starlets off the road atm, so got 2 cars now and starlet is gonna be used as track car instead of a daily driver