"Turbo saver" - available?

[markuskj]

Hello gents,

A friend who just bought a Mazda rx7 was showing off a device that the previous owner had installed that semed to make sence. In essence the device, once pressed, allowed you to take out the keys and while the car stayed running for a short time to protect the turbo - i.e. while being able to be locked and left.

I am not sure if I have made this clear enough? Has anyone heard of such a device for the Esprit?

Thanks

Mark

[GreenV8S]

Sounds like a 'turbo timer'.

[Htown]

Here you go Mark...

http://lotusespritworld.co.uk/EModifications/TurboTimer_install.html

Craig
90SE

[markuskj]

Thnaks chaps - that is exactly the item I need! Thanks so much for the replys!

[Dr.Hess]

There are some other things available too. One has a little pump that will pump oil through the turbo for a while after the motor is stopped. I think I would prefer that to letting the car run, but many people like turbo timers. I would also like to see some actual studies on if they do any good or not for prolonging turbo life. I mean, my last 1/2 mile of road is dirt at about 15MPH, plus stopping to get the mail, plus stopping to open the garage door, etc. I figure that is the cool down time. On the other end (at work) there is a 45MPH speed limit for about a mile and a half with ample law enforcement trying to balance the city's budget, so 45-50 is what you have to drive. No boost there, so I consider that my cool down time. Unless you just have to drive with boost then immediately stop, I wouldn't worry about it myself. Otherwise, I'd go with the extra pump method. Accusump also has a turbo luber thingie that plumbs into the oil line. Pressurizes itself when the motor is on, when you shut it off, it feeds a constant supply of oil to the turbo until it is empty. No intervention and you don't have to keep the motor running.

Dr.Hess

[cnh1990]

I'm with Hess on this one.
I only cool down a turbo when coming off a track or hard run with a quick stop. I just don't do it enough.

With my old Esprit getting off the hwy exit to my house I would drive the next mile at 30 mph with no boost this was enough time to let the turbo to cool down and spin down.

[markuskj]

Cheers for the reply chaps, I hear your POV but i am gadget mad and this just sounds interesting so if you recon it wont hurt then i might as well ordr one.

A few quick questions:

1:how do they calculate how long to leave the engine running?

2: How does this work with twin turbos?

Thanks so much

Mark

[cnh1990]

I don't think there are any fancy calculations on how long the timers are set to. The purpose of a turbo timer is to cool down the turbo and not cut off the lubricating oil while it spins down while it free wheels. The turbo at times gets very hot and sometimes the blades are still spinning very fast even when the car is stationary. Just as a household electric tabletop fan is turned off the blades keep turning for a while afterwards. It is not a good thing to turn off the engine immediately after a robust drive. Allowing the car to idle for a minute or two will keep the water jacket circulating if you have one and the oil flowing to the turbo bearings. The last thing one wants to do is cook the oil in the bearings or coke them up to hard crusty coating.

Doesn't matter if you have 1 or twin turbos all the turbo timer does is keep the engine on allowing the car itself to do it normal cool down. After removing the key and locking the car it just keeps the engine going for a bit till it times out and kills the ignition.

All of us that do not have turbo timers have sat in the car idling it a bit after a robust run to cool down the turbos. The ones that do not usually will suffer later for their impatient ways.

I don't mind sitting a bit with the car after a robust run listening to it idle. During this time I check all instruments to make sure everything is as it should be, listen to the engine, sometimes even get out and take a walk around the car to give it a quick once over. Nothing sounds better than a well tuned engine and fine running car.

[markuskj]

Hmm, interesting point you make - according to the link above it says that the Blitz is automatic "working out the correct length of time your engine should be left idling to give the turbo bearings time to cool down, based on the way the car has been driven (the engine speed is calculated by measuring the small fluctuations in supply voltage the engine produces as it runs)." So I assume that there is some calculation done.

I hear what you are saying about sitting in the car, this is no real hassle but it is just that i am unse exactly how long to leave it and this system sees to take the mystery out of it.

Cheers again

Mark

[cnh1990]

I read the vareities of the Blitz turbo timers offered and they certainly won't hurt your car, but they sure make something pretty simple sound complicated. They intergrate a boost gauge that the V8 do not have.

The 4 cyl Esprits all have a boost gauge, I would assume because we run a lot higher boost than the V8's. I think the V8 only run about .5 bar which is not really working very hard. A lot of the 4 cyl cars are running over .65 to 1.2 bar. depending on the chip. I would still cool down a V8 turbo.

No matter what these Blitz people say I consider this item much like a fancy egg timer with a boost gauge. Don't get me wrong the boost gauge is a plus. Most people cool down between 45sec to 3 minutes, some a little longer but not much over that. I suppose the real sure fire way would be to get a pyrometer to measure exhaust and manifold temps. The Blitz adds 30-55 sec per hr of heavy boost over the base time. I suppose if one were in a hurry to exit the car the timer would come in handy or get one for the boost gauge and the timer is a bonus.

In any case if it will certainly not harm the car. Just out of curiosity how much is this device installed where you are living?

[markuskj]

Are you sure the V8 does have a boost guage? If it soes not, what am I confusing with the dial on the left of the console in mine with?

[scoule]

The boost gauge disappeared with the advent of the "new style" dash (in 1998?) Also lost is the oil pressure gauge and voltmeter!

I bet it saved more money than weight ;-)

[cnh1990]

Come to think of it the 96 V8 which was unvailable here in the USA and the 97 which was sold in the USA might have a boost gauge as they still had the older instrument pod. 98 and later had it eliminated with the oil temp and clock. But is does come with lights telling you that you have burnt up or cooked your engine. Another innovation, a light that tells you that you need to rebuild your engine.



>> Edited by cnh1990 on Wednesday 1st June 18:29

[markuskj]

scoule said:

The boost gauge disappeared with the advent of the "new style" dash (in 1998?) Also lost is the oil pressure gauge and voltmeter! I bet it saved more money than weight ;-)

That is strange, pretty essential instruments I would have thought.

[teigan]

the stock esprit boost gauge is highly inaccurate, so the numbers are useless. it does come in handy to confirm the turbo isn't engaging, when trying to maximise fuel economy. as far as turbotimers go, i built my own that keeps the engine running until a surface bolted heat sensor says "stop". makes more sense to me than some pimple of a computer feigning thought. i still want to find a suitable impeller pump to circulate the oil for me, so the engine need not be running. if designed right, the inline pump could also trigger whenever oil pressure went below normal, as when rounding curves or balancing on 2 wheels.

[teigan]

the stock esprit boost gauge is highly inaccurate, so the numbers are useless. it does come in handy to confirm the turbo isn't engaging, when trying to maximise fuel economy. as far as turbotimers go, i built my own that keeps the engine running until a surface bolted heat sensor says "stop". makes more sense to me than some pimple of a computer feigning thought. i still want to find a suitable impeller pump to circulate the oil for me, so the engine need not be running. if designed right, the inline pump could also trigger whenever oil pressure went below normal, as when rounding curves or balancing on 2 wheels.

[markuskj]

That is very interesting. I am movng away from the turbo timer idea on the grounds of insurance invalidation but woudl be keen to see about upgrading the boost pressure guage somehow - any thoughts?

[cnh1990]

Teigan,
Do you not care for the accusump devices for your oiling needs? I've had one they worked fine for your described purposes. My stock boost gauge was pretty accurate. I never actually measured it but during overboost the turbo did cut out when it was supposed to and during warm up it was about the .65 bar marker before full warm up.

>> Edited by cnh1990 on Thursday 2nd June 15:06

[teigan]

i do like the accusump products. dr. hess recommended them to me a while back. kind of overpriced though. the remote control and pre oiler are addons as is the mounting bracket.

[teigan]

i do like the accusump products. dr. hess recommended them to me a while back. kind of overpriced though. the remote control and pre oiler are addons as is the mounting bracket.