D-TTrain

Hi mne, (or anyone)
I have never owned a turbo before so I need to ask some basic questions about the TT's Turbo and it's proper care and handling.

First of all,a fter a hard run I understand the thing to do is to let it idle a few minutes to cycle oil past the bearing s and properly cool it down. The question I have is this: Let's say you did a hard run then drove the car very sedately for a while afterwards for a few miles. Would this give the turbo a chance to cool off? IOW, does the turbo only kick in at a certain RPM or a certain amount of throttle? Or is the turbo ALWAYS operating, just at different levels? I may get my 180TTQ this weekend and I want to make sure I take proper care of the turbo. I plan to do the Garrett chip and Borla exhaust thing ASAP since it is a Q. So assuming this, my turbo will require even more special care than a stock TT would. So any feedback would be greatly appreciated. TIA!!

mne

and generating even more heat. When you're not under a load (boost) the turbo is just a flow-thru for exhaust gasses. The impeller is spinning, but not at 200,000 rpms. Your fine to drive slowly instead of sitting in the garage and letting it idle for 3-5 minutes (big yawn). Thats the way I do it too. Or coast with the car out of gear if you can. And any car, turbo'd or not could benefit from such treatment after a hard run. Lets things stabilize and hot spots dissipate. Conversely when starting a car, its a good idea as well to let it sit and idle a bit. But its excrutiating for me to allow it for more than 20-30 seconds. Others can do it for minutes... they're a better man than me Charlie Brown. The ECU inside your car decides when the turbo spools up, start compressing, how much it should compress and how long that cycle lasts. Anytime you're accelerating you're under boost directly proportionate to the amount of throttle you give it. Maintained speeds in a well thought out system are seldom, if ever under boost (on flat ground). A well planned sytem is there to make power when you call upon it but to stop making power when its not needed. Its an assist, and not a stand-alone or auxillary power plant. Invest in a combo boost/vacuum gauge. Its an interesting thing to watch cycle and the closer you keep it to "0" vacuum/boost, the better gas mileage you'll get, and the longer things will live. Hope this helps.

D-TTrain

Yes it does help, THANKS!! You da man!! ) (nt)

Steve

I've been driving turbo engines for years. Yes, it is a good idea to do a cool down after sustained high speed driving. For example, I would never shut down immediately after pulling off an interstate after a 60 mph run. Let it cool down by idling a few minutes or driving moderately a few minutes. You are trying to dissipate the tremendous residual heat in the turbo when the engine stops. When it's running along at high speed everything is fine, oil is circulating through and lubricating and cooling.
The residual heat after shutdown has the effect of "cooking" the oil in the turbo bearings or in more extreme cases damaging the turbo rotor.
That turbo is running directly off very hot exhaust gas, some turbos even glow red hot on the exhaust side in extreme situations. Many turbo car owners swear by synthetic oil because of its much greater heat tolerance. The turbo is running all the time as long as the engine is running but it is not giving full boost effect all the time.
The ECU controls that. There is no way of disengaging the turbo mechanically. I understand some cars have a special little pump that runs after you shut the engine just to cool the turbo. Nearly all big industrial turbocharged engines have this feature called a "PP" (pre and post run)cooling system.

tbone

15-20 minutes of Highway Driving at 70mph? 10-15 minutes of Lots of in-town stop and go, never accelerating hard or getting above 45? or Stop and go trying to blow away that Mustang that keeps coming up next to you at each stop light?? (Fast 0-60 runs)

mne

Make a habit of always driving slowly 2-3 mins. away from your stop. And all will be fine (nt)

Chuck C.

The manual suggests not idling after start, because lubrication isn't good at idle. How reconcile?(n (nt)