does anyone know what a simple hks turbo timer goes for now a days? theres a handful on ebay for 30 bucks but i have the feeling those are fakes. ive seen prices from 88-190 so im not sure on this. also HKS doesnt seem to list the turbo timers on their website anymore.

any idea what a normal price for one is?

 

with a water cooled turbo, you really don't need a turbo timer. soooOoooo the 80's called, they want their blinky lighted toy back

 

im just tired of sitting in the car for 5 mins letting it idle everywhere i go. the woman is getting annoyed too. and thats the worst part of it all.

 

i have one ill sell for 15 plus ship. Guy i bought it from hardwired the fd harness adapter to the hks harness, not sure if same or not for fc but you could rework it. pm me with cell number and i can send you a pic.

 

one thing I dont like about them, there is a forum member here who had a fuel leak and his car ended up catching fire, when he turned the key it kept the car running and car burnt to the ground

 

i take it that was an issue with the FPD crapping out? that prospect scares the **** outta me...awesome

 

It's hard to tell real and fake HKS parts on eBay due to all the copies... I would say if that's really what you're going for try to find an actual HKS dealer that way you know it's genuine. Just for a note type 0's only come in red numbering, and type 1's only come in white.

 

and i've had a throttle stick on a customer car with turbo timer. bouncing off the 8.5k rev limiter for 15 seconds while i had to find the timer. i told him to get rid of it but of course the next time i saw it, it was still there. strangely he saw this whole thing happen and still opted to not listen.

they're just retarded and unnecessary unless you're running an oil only turbo. stock turbos do not need them AT ALL. they do more harm than good.

 

so do you all just drive hard and shut the car off not letting it idle at all?

 

so don't, the oil cooler doesn't work when you're stopped, so you're just heating up the oil, and wasting gas and annoying your GF.

 

I tend to drive easy right before im going to stop, no need to drive like a douche through my neighborhood, when I stop I pop the hood and sometimes put a fan under the car but im a little sick in the head

 

this isnt about the oil cooler functioning, this is about the turbo being cooled by the oil, or at least ive been lead to believe that

 

 

i just don't worry about it with a hybrid or stock turbo. drive it whatever way you want and shut the car off whatever way you want, you will not notice a difference either way you go.

 

It's ok to drive it hard, just don't do it right before you're about to park. Drive conservatively during the last 5 min or so and you'll be fine.

 

Your turbo is cooled by water. All good-quality modern turbos have a wet bearing. Only the cheapie stuff has an ancient dry bearing (oil only).

See this link and read the paragraph on Oil & Water Plumbing:
http://www.turbobygarrett.com/turbob...Tech%20101.pdf

See this video if you would like to see the thermal siphon effect in action. Yeah, it's a science geek thing.

 

Exactly how hard are you driving in what is presumably a populated metropolitan area (really the only place you find parking lots) before parking?!

As has been covered in this thread, your FC has a water cooled turbo unless it was downgraded. In the 30 seconds or so it takes you to park, it has been cooled. And will continue to cool after the car has shut off via convection.

If you are truly driving hard enough to actually necessitate a cool down period on a water cooled turbo, and I mean turbine housing bright orange driving hard, then you are cooling down in the pits at the track anyway, so I don't see why your "woman" would have issues with it.

 

kind of interesting you say that. your website says the direct opposite. which is actually what sparked me letting the car idle down

 

it's a good practice but not really a necessity.

i've even had oil only turbos on the dyno where issues arose and had to be shut down immediately. they take it but the oil passages do coke up with oil which hurts the longevity of the turbo long-term if done repeatedly, even with an oil only turbo it takes many many abuses like that to see the effects.

 

Don't worry about the turbo timer. I have an HKS one with FC harness from 2003 sitting on the shelf. My oil only turbo has survived many normal driving and drag strip excursions. If you have a stock turbo, you have even less to worry about.

So, drive your car like you would a non-turbo vehicle. Don't make your passengers sit in the car for the turbo to cool down. If your exhaust smells anything like mine, I understand why she would be pissy about five minutes of idling. It makes you stink.

 

That was written 15 years ago, when aftermarket turbos without water jackets were very common, which is probably why the confusion resulted. I've made a note to update that page to be a bit more clear.

 

waste of money!

I can give another turbo timer horror story, my fd came with a greddy timer, so I left it in there , well one time I shut it off and the timer counted down, and it didn't shut off! instead the turbo timer started smoking and melting!, killed it, and luckly it didnt catch fire, but something inside of it was melting and burning up! could of easily started an interior fire.

one legitimate use I could see for a turbo timer, if your the kind of guy who likes to start the car move it 10 ft then shut it off cold, and flood it, ( say shuffling cars in a tight driveway) it could be useful to use the timer to warm the car up so it doesn't flood next time instead of letting it run for a while with key in ignition sitting with the car. id still check to make sure it shut off on its own tho.

 

Turbo timer:Park car,listen to the rest of that Kick *** Heavy Metal song on the stereo..Shut car off.

 

15 years ago is after this car was manufactured.

 

nothing wrong with changing your mind about something you found to be unnecessary, he is mainly referring to aftermarket turbos anyways and not the stock HT18. but i somewhat disagree, oil only turbos are still the majority. you however must know how to care for those turbos if you want them to last. even the more popular ball bearing coolant cooled garrett GT3xR series turbos have their own issues.

i have no personal preference but i did just have an engine nearly destroyed by a GT3574R when the ceramic bearings failed(this is the third time i have seen a 35R's bearings fail, all in different cars), the compressor shed metal into the engine and scarred up the virtually irreplaceable irons. personally i have had less issue with oil only journal bearing turbos, but the cost is lag(Borg Warner is doing a fine job at combating that though).

if your turbo choice is journal bearing, supports your goals and has a coolant cooled cartridge then you are set. BB turbos work well, great in fact but i just don't trust them for longevity any more(when a ball bearing fails the failure is much more dramatic than a journal bearing failure).

anyways back on topic..

turbo timers= oil only turbos run decently hard before parking
coolant cooled cartridge turbos have no special needs besides perhaps not doing a hard pull and immediately shutting the car off

both things have one common denominator, not doing full boost and shutting the car off immediately. if you drive conservatively for the last mile before parking then there is no special care needed for ANY turbo when shutting the car off.