Turbo timer yes or no ?

**SKIDMARKS** · Wednesday 7th April 2010, 09:02

I can't see any previous posts about this. Thing is took my lad out for a short full throttle blast in it the w/e and pulled into the drive and he was surprised I switched the engine straight off.
As he and his brother have both had a variety of very fast turbo motors between them over the years ( Japs ) they have always fitted turbo timers.
I had forgotten this and as this is the first turbo'd car I have owned I did'nt give it a thought as to cooking the turbo.

Anyone one else use one, or suggest to use one ?

P2 T5 btw

**Loadsamiles** · Wednesday 7th April 2010, 09:17

Just don't rag the ass out of it in the last minute of driving.

It is illegal in the UK to leave a vehicle running whilst unattended, and may invalidate the insurance.

there are not many cases of cooked turbos on T5's and most make it to at least 150,000 miles.

**princepugh** · Wednesday 7th April 2010, 10:15

The handbook does mention allowing a brief cooling period following 'heavy load' driving conditions. As per loadsamiles, taking it easy in the last few minutes of the drive should suffice.

**p fandango** · Wednesday 7th April 2010, 10:15

i used to have one on my 850 & did come in handy, my only concern is i'm not sure how compatible it would be with a P2 with them being a smarter ECU & having a transponder on the key. The alarm on them is a Thatcham Cat 1 which has 2 circuit imobilisation & might confuse the system trying to keep it running while the alarm/ECU is trying to shut it down

**t5_monkey** · Wednesday 7th April 2010, 11:10

drive up your own street slowly and idle with it on drive driveway for a minute before you jump out ?

**Vikingxl** · Wednesday 7th April 2010, 11:53

Im with everyone here just take it easy on the last 5 min of the drive and you should have no issues

**lance** · Wednesday 7th April 2010, 15:19

This is a big issue on the S4 im running I always drive slowly the last mile literally tickover in 5 th/6th up my road I then switch everything off except the engine unclip belt get out of car get anything I need out of car including myself then switch off after 30 seconds of daudling!

**SKIDMARKS** · Wednesday 7th April 2010, 17:17

At least with a timer, if it is possible to fit, taking fandango's comments into consideration, would run long enough to cool it.

I know from my lads turbo's they do vary a fair bit in cooling down times dependent on how little or hard they have been ragged, so am guessing without one fitted it is a bit of estimate as to how long to cool down for.

**p fandango** · Wednesday 7th April 2010, 17:21

Originally Posted by SKIDMARKS

I know from my lads turbo's they do vary a fair bit in cooling down times dependent on how little or hard they have been ragged, so am guessing without one fitted it is a bit of estimate as to how long to cool down for.

LINK this is the one i had, altho it was under a different branding. Its got an auto mode so the time the engine left running after you've turned off depends on how the car's been driven

**Loadsamiles** · Wednesday 7th April 2010, 20:35

Originally Posted by p fandango

i used to have one on my 850 & did come in handy, my only concern is i'm not sure how compatible it would be with a P2 with them being a smarter ECU & having a transponder on the key. The alarm on them is a Thatcham Cat 1 which has 2 circuit imobilisation & might confuse the system trying to keep it running while the alarm/ECU is trying to shut it down

Yes they will work on a P2.

The police use them (they have a legal exemption)

The car only uses the transponder at startup.

The way they work is to simply bypass the ignition switch. The police devices have an interlock so if anybody touches the vehicle controls they will immediately shut down. The reason they have them is to keep all the vehicle systems running when they bail out for a chase or are on the scene attending to issues.

As I mentioned before, Our cars don't seem to be suffering any kind of major turbo failures from them being cooked, nor are we all frying our oil, or superheating our coolant. You could fit one as a gimmick just for the hell of it, but unless you live at the top of a high speed hill, you really arent going to be risking your turbo.

**p fandango** · Thursday 8th April 2010, 05:09

Originally Posted by Loadsamiles

The police use them (they have a legal exemption)

there must be a loop-hole, Turbo Timers have been around for many years now & companies like Clifford wouldn't be allowed to sell them as a feature on there alarms if they didn't know a way around it. Plus F*rd would be forced to recall all the Phase 1 Crocus ST's that don't turn themselves of when you get out if you've got keyless entry

The way they work is to simply bypass the ignition switch. The police devices have an interlock so if anybody touches the vehicle controls they will immediately shut down. The reason they have them is to keep all the vehicle systems running when they bail out for a chase or are on the scene attending to issues.

the one i linked to turns off as well if the controls are touched while in countdown

As I mentioned before, Our cars don't seem to be suffering any kind of major turbo failures from them being cooked, nor are we all frying our oil, or superheating our coolant. You could fit one as a gimmick just for the hell of it, but unless you live at the top of a high speed hill, you really arent going to be risking your turbo.

he's already said he's turned it off once & new to turbos so not that much of a gimmick, doesn't hurt to be extra carefull

**Loadsamiles** · Thursday 8th April 2010, 10:22

Originally Posted by p fandango

there must be a loop-hole, Turbo Timers have been around for many years now & companies like Clifford wouldn't be allowed to sell them as a feature on there alarms if they didn't know a way around it.

The Police have some sort of exemption. The system is called "run lock"

I'm not dismissing the idea of a turbo timer completely, just questioning the necessity for it in a situation where there doesn't seem to be an issue.

Our turbos seem quite adequately cooled (air, oil, water) where some are not, some are even heat wrapped and take an eternity to cool down.

So in the light of the lack of real need for the system one has to weigh up the implications of cost, legality, and invalidation of insurance should the car be stolen.

On the question of legality....
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...side-home.html

**SKIDMARKS** · Thursday 8th April 2010, 12:19

Originally Posted by Loadsamiles

The Police have some sort of exemption. The system is called "run lock"

I'm not dismissing the idea of a turbo timer completely, just questioning the necessity for it in a situation where there doesn't seem to be an issue.

Our turbos seem quite adequately cooled (air, oil, water) where some are not, some are even heat wrapped and take an eternity to cool down.

So in the light of the lack of real need for the system one has to weigh up the implications of cost, legality, and invalidation of insurance should the car be stolen.

On the question of legality....
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...side-home.html

Absolute joke... driver gets £30 fine and a stealer gets a slap.. mind you that's if they manage to get off their asses to investigate. Neighbour up the road got burgled a week ago and still no show from ploddy.