Ok, first of all, I'd love to hear which "expert" recommends installing a turbotimer, given that I have yet to meet a SINGLE person who HAS to boost ALLLL the way to their destination, then promptly turn off the car w/o even a second of driving in vacuum. I'm ALL ears

Second, you guys are confusing two VERY different things & purposes. The purpose of a turbotimer is NOT the same as the purpose of fans & popping the hood. Allow me to explain.

Using the fans & popping the hood will undoubtedly decrease underhood temps. That I'm sure of. And like many have mentioned, it prob helps reduce coolant temps quicker than if you left the hood down and the fans off. Yet all this is done essentially for cooling plastic and rubber components, as I mentioned earlier and DigDug reiterated. Cooling the block a bit faster is actually pointless, as the block isn't in danger of being damaged if you don't cool it down in a rapid fashion. Because what you're forgetting/mixing up is that turbotimers, on the other hand, are for TURBOS. Not engine blocks. Hence the name

Here's a lil history for ya... A major problem that old school turbos had was coking of the oil in the turbos center section. When an engine was run hard then suddenly turned off, the remaining oil in the turbos center section was heated to the carbonization point by heat soak. Because the turbocharger spins at such a high speed, it could also spin after the engine was shut off after a hard pull for several minutes. The turbo would spin during this time while red hot without any lubrication; this was not the greatest thing for the bearings. After many cycles of this sort of abuse, the coked oil would eventually block oil passages within the turbo causing bearing and shaft failure by lack of lubrication. So for turbos cooled/lubricated by oil ONLY, a turbotimer allows the engine to idle after key removal so the rapidly spinning turbine can slow and the internal parts can cool down. This dramatically helps turbo life.

Having said this, this most common automotive failure mode for turbochargers has since been eliminated with the introduction of water-cooled center sections. So if you have an oil AND water cooled turbocharger, not only are turbotimers useless; they can actually be *detrimental* to the turbocharger. When the car sits at idle, no air goes through the radiator. If no air goes through the radiator, the coolant just gets hotter and hotter, until heatsoak, at which points the fans come on. Sitting at idle makes the engine hotter. Period.

Two important bits of hard data:
- 1) Water cooled turbos rarely, if ever, die due to oil coking in the bearings. And synthetic oil almost guarantees it will never happen.
- 2) Idling the car always drives up both coolant and oil temperature.

#1 shows why a turbo timer doesn't help. #2 shows why it's not even a good idea. Put them together, and you realize why the fans + popped hood have NOTHING to do with a turbotimer, as you aren't doing SQUAT to the oil temps by turning the fans on - unless you got fans on your oil coolers too

So in summary:
- Turbotimer on an oil-only cooled turbocharger: good idea
- Turbotimer on an oil AND water cooled turbocharger: bad idea

~Ramy

 

What is with everyone and letting their cars sit and idle....wether it's for warm up or cool down.....JUST DRIVE THE DAMN THING!!! Don't boost until it's warm, stop boosting before you shut off. Pretty simple.

 

That's what I've been doing for YEARS... I never waited for warmup, as by the time I got outta my neighborhood, the temp gauge was already on its way up haha. Just drive smart...

 

This man is correct. If you drive the car hard, just dont boost about 2 mins from reaching your home.

 

If no air goes through the radiator, what is the point of having a cooling fan? Not one cooling fan, but 2. Here's a clue....convection cooling.

Or maybe it's the brother-in-law effect. The designers brother-in-law probably makes cooling fans.

 

turbo timer for sale... who wants it?

greddy full auto

 

I'll concede, the turbo timer may not do much for the turbos, but keeping the engine running at idle definitely will provide some cooling effect. Otherwise why would EVERY car on the road have at least one cooling fan (except early VW's). You're not gonna claim it's a scam by the entire automotive industry are you?

 

The point of the cooling fan is to run when the car is ON. There are temp sensors, and when the temp reaches a certain level, the fans kick on to help aid cooling. Again, this is when the car is ON.

You ever notice how while idling, the fans tend to come on much sooner? It's because idling increases engine bay temps DRASTICALLY. The fans are a last ditch efforts to help salvage a bad situation (heat soak) which you've induced by idling/standstill.

 

Last time I checked my turbotimer did keep my engine running.

And I can't say I've ever climbed out there to seee when the fans come on while the car was moving, so I wouldn't be able to make a comparison there.

What I do know is that the fans come on "as a last ditch effort" when the car is sitting and idling because the fans are better than nothing. Due to an brain fart, my FD sat idling for nearly 4 hours once and it didn't come anywhere near overheating. As amatter of fact the temp gauge read lower when I finally got into the car than it did when I parked it. Hardly a last ditch effort

Look in this forum. Every time someone mentions an overheating problem the first thing everybody asks is "Are your fans running?"

To try and sit there and insinuate all the automakers and engineers throughout car history have put these huge fans on a car if they don't do anything is ludicrous.

You want to get rid of your turbotimer, you knock yourself out. I'll keep mine.

I'm done with this.

 

Dude I dunno WHERE you think I'm saying that fans are pointless... All I'm saying is that leaving your car idling INCREASES underhood temps, which CAUSES the fans to come on. There's a reason why they came on, even though they weren't on seconds ago while you were driving. I think you have a problem understanding the cause & effect relationship here...because it's almost like you're implying the fans are the PRIMARY source of cooling, which they're NOT. They AID the radiator when the heatsoak decreases the efficiency of your radiator. Idling heatsoaks you. Don't leave the car idling, you won't heatsoak, and the fans won't NEED to come on.

As for manufacturers, they make fans because they know there are fluctuations and wide ranges in ambient temps and driving situations. If there was no such thing as stop & go traffic, I guarantee you there would be a considerably decreased necessity for the fans - which you see as being the end all/be all...

EDIT: Here's a little food for thought for you hardcore "I love turbotimers" guys: https://www.rx7club.com/showpost.php...3&postcount=39. Hope it doesn't happen to you!

 

Please explain how cooling the coolant in the radiator with the water pump off helps cool your engine. Or are you just referring to engine bay temps? Or do you actually believe than the ambient air in your engine bay cools or heats the interals of your engine block?

I've sat in the car myself monitoring the water temps with the fans on and the fans off and my temps climbed just as high either way (around 105C) it makes perfect sense.

Edit- But hey WTF do I know. I’ve only had this car for nine years and I have always cruised the last couple of minutes to my destination. I have never done the fan switch mod, nor added a worthless turbo timer. My first engine lasted to 108K my last second to 52K And the only reason the second one blew is because my wastegate line came off otherwise that puppy would it gone for much longer. Neither engine ever showed sign of coolant leak failure which can be attributed to hight coolant temps.

I must be doing something right. The fact is this forum is great for info but also for paranoia. That is the truth. These car’s aren’t made out of paper: mod it right, maintain it right and the car will treat you good. Living is Southern Cali has allowed me to check out other people’s rides while in shops. And man some of the things that many owners do is pathethic. These are the types that come in the forum and induce the paranoia..

I'll just keep doing what I have been doing so far it has worked great for me.

 

So to sum up... According to this thread.

1. Dont get a turbo timer (which i have always thought are kind of useless anyways)

2. Start car, let idle stabalizes (10-20 seconds) then drive >3000rpm and >0psi until car is at operating temperature.

3. Before you get to your destination... drive >3000rpm and >0psi for the last few minutes before shutting the car down. If car is really warm, open hood and let the fan run with the car turned off.


-Ben

 

Im talking about heatsoak and heatsoak only. It seems like alot of people here dont think that popping the hood with or without the fans on show any type of temperature reduction. I may not be an FD veteran but that is common sense. If you're driving for 30 minutes in warm ambient temperature, then shut the car off and leave, you can bet your *** the water temp will rise higher because the heat is trapped. There is no other way to put it. The temperature will rise. If you run the fans or pop the hood, the temps hardly ever rise, i watch this countlessly on my car through my temp gauge.

I mean there are alot people in drag that after each pass, pop the hood to cool it down. There were several cars that developed warmed heads because the driver didnt pop the hood to cool the engine down after a pass.

And our cars are not known to be significantly prone to NOT breaking. We need every piece of help we can get.

Thats all im saying

 

Hell yeah popping the hood will certainly have an affect on heatsoak. But for street cars in a street environment every time you park: to run the fans and open the hood is just an overkill. The temps only rise to about 105C without the fans. The best thing that one can do is to control engine temps while the car is ON, have the fans come on at 85C bigger oil coolers, thicker radiator, vented hood. Therefore upon shut down the lower that temp is the lower your heatsoak will be.


Drag racing is a whole different ball game. WOT, high RPMS, quick shut downs, high intake temps, not only make you slower but also can lead to detonation. In race environments I would do everything possible to keep the temps down. But for street use? Nope not at all.


But it really does not matter. Runing the fans does not hurt anything. But like I said I’ve owned this car for 9 years and put on 100K miles on it (I love it and drive it every chance I get). I don't see any reperocussions based on my shut down techniques and this what I have always done, it’s what I will continue to do.

 

Second half of #3. If your cooling system is working properly and unless you have been boosting like crazy and the turbos are about to melt off, it does not make a damm difference in temps if you have been driving for 20 minutes or five hours. The cooling system is designed to keep your car at a constant temp.

 

in my book, turbo timer is only for a show if you have the stock turbos (or any water & oil cooled turbos). Any other than those, get a turbo timer. Maybe 30sec at the max

 

Ok, so anybody wants to buy my Greddy turbo timer? It came with the car anyways...Well alot of the cooling steps seem a bit ritualistic but none the less they do work. I've never read anything about the fan mod and turbo timer stuff but what I have been doing since I got my FD (which is about 6 months ago) was stroll before I went to my final destination if I ever drove long and pop the hood up to let the hot air get released.
I'm glad to hear that many of you have done that and have got nothing but good results in your under hood temps...pretty much I'm glad I did something right from the very beginning. Oh and I got a question...so does having a vented hood help a lot then? Does it's function the same as popping the hood up after a long/hard drive?




~Shar


***Wow didn't realize that this is a year old thread***

 

I ended up using the turbo timer to run the fans with the engine off...

 

One trick I picked up several weeks ago while doing a tunnel run in London is to pop your hood, turn off the engine, but keep the fans running on high for 3-5 minutes. Then turn the engine back on for a minute or two, than off again.

This will cool the coolant in the radiator significantly, than swap all the cold(er) coolant with the hot coolant in the block. This worked wonders for me as I was seeing temps of 100+ on my PFC by being stuck in traffic w/o a vented hood. Made a world of difference during our 5-10 minute waypoint stops.

Now... whether going from hot to cold like that is good for the block or not is another matter...

 

Okay I figure I would weigh in here. I have a Turbo Timer and use it. However I have it set up to put the fans on high for 90seconds then turn off AND I have done a little mod to the hood to get the heat out. Works for me Note super-dog looking on approvingly

 

With an EWP, you can have the coolant circulate and leave the fans on for cooling with the engine off.

This would be the only way I left my fans on after running the vehicle.

 

my alarm has a built in turbo timer, although i only use it to keep the fans going.
I just take it easy the last few minutes before i get home.
I turn the car straight off, then turn the key so the electricity is on but dont start car. This makes my turbo timer come on - but only the fans as the engine isnt started.
so i just leave my fans going for a couple of minutes.

 

SUPER DOG!
I too was wondering about a vented hood, possibly carbon fibre?
Another very helpful thread discoverved today.

 

dboinger, you are misconstruing a usually true statement to be true in the specific instance of the FD.

The FD generates a LOT of heat. sitting at idle has shown (even with the fans on) to actually heat soak and raise engine, coolant, oil, and engine bay temperatures in most cases. However, if you have just completed a hard, high boost run... then ANYTHING will begin to show lower temperatures. However, driving around will provide BETTER cooling.

But the point here is not what works after a hard run, it is about what works after driving CORRECTLY for the last few minutes of a trip in an FD.

This is for a stock FD and not immediately after driving the **** out of the car.

If you drive outside of boost for the last few minutes of your trip, shutting the car off immediately will not hurt it, but will actually be better than idling it.

If you really want to help your car, shut it off and pop the hood open for an hour.

But really dude, You may have just learned something new in science class, but you don't need to come on here and tell the people that have already done tests to prove you wrong... that they are ignorant.


Go do some real world testing and then start on your convection [oven] statements.

 

I think some of you guys aren't looking at the right place for the agreement on wether or not the turbo timer does help. As someone stated above it is because the oil in the turbo's will cook if left in there because the turbo's get 2x or maybe even 3x the temperature of the block or anything else for that matter in the car when you have been boosting hard.

The process of leaving the car running on idle will cool the turbo's down and you can't say that things just get hotter on idle so you don't need a turbo timer since you aren't monitoring the temperature of the turbo. You are monitoring the underhood temps and engine temps which have nothing to do with turbo temp.

Leaving the car idle will let oil and coolant circulate through the turbo's which will cool them down eventually. If other things under the hood get too warm then yes the fans will kick on too keep your engine temps down which will then help more to cool down the turbo's quicker.

I do agree with most of the guys on here who say that just cruising for about a mile or so is the BEST solution to cooling everything down because then you even have the air circulation going through everything. In my opinion a turbo timer is more for an every day car where you don't have time to sit around the car to let it run because even if you haven't been boosting hard just running on the highway will make the turbo's spin quite fast.

I have a Laser turbo and they even state behind the sun visor that when doing spirited drives you should let the car run for atleast 60sec on idle before shutting it down.

I might be a newb with FD's but i've been driving turbo cars for about 7years. That's my rant for the day, now you guys can bash my response hahah.