so i am terrible with electronics and lately my turbo timer isnt engaging...the buzzer turns on and all of a sudden the car just shuts of completely...its set up to go only if the e-brake is engaged...im not sure if brakes going bad could cause it or could there be a short somewhere in it

it shouldn't have anything to do with whether the brakes are good or not. It should be hooked to the e-brake switch. I would guess it is mounted at the base of the e-brake handle.

Here is a pic of the e-brake handle on my car:


I know it will look different on your car but it will give you an idea. you can see the switch mounted at the base.

Just curious, but why are you using a turbo timer?

Just a little background, turbo timers were invented long ago when most turbochargers were oil cooled only in order to help idle the car in order to keep temps down & prolong the life of your turbo.

Pretty much all modern day turbo cars are oil & water cooled, and continue to route water/coolant through them after you turn the car off. Turbo timers really aren't necessary, as a water/oil cooled turbo should maintain a fairly long life (comparatively to an old oil-cooled only turbo) without one.

I believe you have a turbo swap, but I'm about 99.999% sure the Garrett cartridge you're currently running is water cooled as well (all the Garrett GT-series snails are to my knowledge).

It's your vehicle, so of course you're free to do as you like, but if I was you, I might consider selling the turbo timer, forgoing the electrical headache, and saving a few bucks in gas not spent on excess idling, but that's just my $.02 take it for what it's worth.

recon has an aftermarket turbo idk if its just an oil feed only or coolant and oil feed. but i agree turbo timers are pretty useless to me

just ground it, thats what i did to mine. i mean if some tries to steal it or whatever they wont go very far lol

iani1.1 wrote:recon has an aftermarket turbo idk if its just an oil feed only or coolant and oil feed. but i agree turbo timers are pretty useless to me

just ground it, thats what i did to mine. i mean if some tries to steal it or whatever they wont go very far lol

Yeah, I think he's running the BNR kit, which is basically a customized Garrett GT28, and plums into the factory oil & water lines:

http://bnrsupercars.com/

So yeah, oil and water cooled like pretty much every other modern turbo out there.

Here are a couple of decent links that pertain to water cooled turbos & turbo timers:

http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=465156

http://www.turbobygarrett.com/turbobygarrett/tech_center/faqs.html

Here are a couple quotes I pulled to accentuate the point about water cooled turbos:

"The heat contained in the turbo charger will begin to vaporize the coolant at the turbo charger after the engine is stopped. This hot vapor will then enter the coolant reservoir tank which is the highest point of the coolant system. At the same time the vapor exits the turbo charger, coolant supplied from the right bank cylinder head flows into the turbo. This action cools the turbo charger down. This process will continue until the vaporizing action in the turbo charger has stopped or cooled down."

"Running at full speed and full load then immediately shutting down (heat soak) can be extremely hard on a turbo. Water-cooling of the turbocharger's center housing has essentially eliminated the need for turbo timers or extended idling periods."

"The need for a cool down procedure depends on how hard the turbo and engine is used, and whether or not the turbo is water-cooled. All Garrett turbochargers must pass a heat soak test and the introduction of water-cooling has virtually eliminated the need for a cool down procedure."


So yeah, on a modern water-cooled turbo, a turbo timer is pretty much just a waste of gas & extra weight IMO. Although as an alternate use, you can set one up to do the opposite of their former use: allow you to start the car on a cold day and walk away from it without leaving the key in the ignition, which could be nice to help the car heat up; but there's really no benefit of running one just for the sake of a modern day turbo, as water-cooling as made them fairly obsolete.

Just my $.02

yeah i run the bnr stage 3, but i run it just as another safety measure on the turbo...with the speed i feel better safe then sorry....so i try to baby it as much as i can

With turbo cars I just make sure I don't beat on it and then immediately shut it off. I try to stop driving hard a little ways before I get to my destination so everything has a little time to cool off before I shut the car off.