Originally posted by "Someone"
Originally posted by cyanide
a turbo is oil cooled and after hard driving needs some time to let the oil cool down. if you turn off your car with hot oil still present in the turbo the oil could coke up and blow your oil seals. a turbo timer is an added safeguard. stock turbo cars are engineered for abuse so you can turn the car off after running it hard (not recommended by myself however).
or you can take the advice of a well known online auto magazine and move into the 20th century
Originally posted by "Someone"
The whole area of turbo timers and when it is safe to turn a turbo car off is full of misinformation. There is no need for turbo timers in turbo cars.
The misinformation dates from when turbo bearings were solely air-cooled (ie not water cooled) and when poorer quality oils were being used. In normal driving even after travelling at highway speeds there is no need to idle down a turbo car at all. If you must stop immediately after hard driving (which when you think about it isnt very often is it?) simply keep the car idling for a minute or two before switching off the engine locking the car and walking away. More often simply drive more gently for a few minutes before you reach your destination.
You are the best turbo timer - you know what oil you are using you know how long since that oil was changed you know how hot the day is you know for how long you have been driving the car on high boost and so on. To be really effective a device would need to monitor each of these factors - its much easier that the driver simply uses common sense.