Cooling down turbos

[thebullettrain]

I’m buying a v8 (turbo) soon and one article got me thinking: it mentioned the need to both drive easy towards the end of a long journey and to let the engine idle after a long or hard drive. Similarly, any need to idle before setting off?

Thoughts would be appreciated.

Haha to the jokers!

Edited by thebullettrain on Friday 17th June 22:52

[w00tman]

Do NOT whatever you do, drive east before parking. Only drive west, so the curvature of the earth ensures oil gets to the turbo.

Close call, geez.

[CraigyMc]

w00tman said:

Do NOT whatever you do, drive east before parking. Only drive west, so the curvature of the earth ensures oil gets to the turbo.

Close call, geez.

Depends on hemisphere.

[w00tman]

CraigyMc said:

Depends on hemisphere.

You're absolutely right - very good point.

OP please confirm - are you Northern or Southern Hemisphere? are you planning on circumnavigating the globe?

[Limpet]

thebullettrain said:

I’m buying a v8 (turbo) soon and one article got me thinking: it mentioned the need to both drive east towards the end of a long journey and to let the engine idle after a long or hard drive. Similarly, would anything the same be needed before setting off?

Thoughts would be appreciated.

My modern petrol turbo will quite happily shut down at the first opportunity on coming to a stop via its stop/start system, even if it’s just had a sustained thrashing.

I tend to turn it off manually as it makes me cringe, even though I’m sure the engine designers and development engineers know better than I do.

Thrashing any engine from cold is a bad idea.

[ScoobyChris]

My experience is that as long as you don’t live on the edge of a motorway/dual carriageway that the turbo will have plenty of time to cool down before you reach your destination.

If you do, invest in a turbo timer to keep the oil circulating for a few minutes after you stop.

<PH nosiness … what’s the car?>

Chris

[Monkeylegend]

thebullettrain said:

I’m buying a v8 (turbo) soon and one article got me thinking: it mentioned the need to both drive east towards the end of a long journey and to let the engine idle after a long or hard drive. Similarly, would anything the same be needed before setting off?

Thoughts would be appreciated.

Before setting off you should always drive west, and never let your engine idle.

Also always start your engine before setting off.

[thebullettrain]

ScoobyChris said:

My experience is that as long as you don’t live on the edge of a motorway/dual carriageway that the turbo will have plenty of time to cool down before you reach your destination.

If you do, invest in a turbo timer to keep the oil circulating for a few minutes after you stop.

<PH nosiness … what’s the car?>

Chris

BMW M850i Grand Coupe.

[Olivera]

Generally this advice is many, many decades out of date, as almost every modern car has secondary water and/or oil feeds to the turbo that run for a period after the car has switched off.

[MikeM6]

Just use mechanical sympathy and you'll be fine. Let it warm before giving it death and if thrashing it hard on a hot day, park up and take you seatbelt off before switching off the engine. It will be fine.

[mwstewart]

Olivera said:

Generally this advice is many, many decades out of date, as almost every modern car has secondary water and/or oil feeds to the turbo that run for a period after the car has switched off.

Agreed. A newer 8 series will be a coolant after-run pump fitted as a minimum.

[DickyC]

PH Nostalgia Corner

As it got darker sitting at Maison Blanche one evening I watched the turbos of passing cars cool from red hot then back to red in the duration of a gear change and marvelled at their durability.

It's all such a long time ago.

[jonwm]

They have water still passing through them after shutdown, my old cupra r has this feature even back on a 2004 model, you could hear it after turning the car off if you listened hard enough.

On a non performance turbo like a fiesta 1.0 eco boost I doubt they would get hot enough to do any damage anyway.

Also our environment / fuel / oil is better than lots of places in the world, think of Dubai in the summer and how hot they would be getting then, it's factored in to the design.

[wpa1975]

I have never seen any harm in letting a turbo car idle for a short while after a run.

[Hippea]

I don’t think it’s something to be concerned about on modern turbo cars. I certainly let my old Subaru Impreza WRX cool down for a few minutes

[Jimmy No Hands]

Olivera said:

Generally this advice is many, many decades out of date, as almost every modern car has secondary water and/or oil feeds to the turbo that run for a period after the car has switched off.

Indeed. For modern applications, just not applicable at all really. Won't make an ounce of difference in the long run.

[A205GTI]

Jimmy No Hands said:

Olivera said:

Generally this advice is many, many decades out of date, as almost every modern car has secondary water and/or oil feeds to the turbo that run for a period after the car has switched off.

Indeed. For modern applications, just not applicable at all really. Won't make an ounce of difference in the long run.

This reminds me of the don't buy high mileage cars and french electrics are crap. not realising most companies share car engines/components and as long as serviced regularly most engines will do 250,000 easy.

[Xcore]

Got an old turbo timer in my impreza if you’d like it?!

[ch37]

My Swift Sport manual says to run the car for a minute or two after a drive to allow the turbo to cool, but then it has a stop/start system.

I'd have to disable stop/start or sit on my drive in gear with the clutch depressed for a minute!

I don't really understand how the two are compatible, but hey ho.

Edited by ch37 on Saturday 18th June 12:37

[anonymous-user]

This is probably complete bks but I always understood that it was important not to let a red hot turbo bake the oil inside it because it created carbon buildup.