How important is it to let a Turbo deisel cool down after a spirited drive?

This article made me realise that I've picked up loads of bad driving habits over the years.

Are you guilty of any of these things or is it just me?

3) and 4) are key with TDIs, most likely petrols too

Skoda dealt with some of those things with Twinchargers with DSG.

You just feed it with oil and 99 ron.

and drive it, when you want to stop, you turn off the key and get out the car.

george

I always let her run for a moment before I drive Nd always use little throttle until she's warm.

The problem I have is that I don't have to drive far, 5 miles to work. And driving gently doesn't allow her to warm up properly. I can avoid this by using a little more throttle. But then I'm stressing her when she's cold!

Viscous/viscose circle!

You need a little twist and go scooter to get to work.

In our current warm spring climate that is seriously never going to happen!

I always let her run for a moment before I drive Nd always use little throttle until she's warm.

The problem I have is that I don't have to drive far, 5 miles to work. And driving gently doesn't allow her to warm up properly. I can avoid this by using a little more throttle. But then I'm stressing her when she's cold!

Viscous/viscose circle!

Just make sure you take it out for a good run fairly regularly

I do give her a good run every 5 days or so. Tbh I think I look after my car. I certainly do a better job than a lot of people I know.

I cringe when I see people start their car in minus temperatures and rag it off!

Poor engine is trying to pump thick chewy oil around it often under heavy load.

Always careful not to rag the car from cold and give it a proper cool down after every drive, bit of mechanical sympathy works wonders lol.

On a day off, it gets an "Italian tuneup" lol ;-)

Poor engine is trying to pump thick chewy oil around it often under heavy load.

Umm, no!!

Modern, multigrade oil - cold oil is thin, hot oil is thick, so for example 5W-30 is at SAE5 viscosity at 0c and SAE30 at 100c.

Nah, don't have to, the only turbodiesel I drive has a delay switch, similar to a turbo timer.

Umm, no!!

Modern, multigrade oil - cold oil is thin, hot oil is thick, so for example 5W-30 is at SAE5 viscosity at 0c and SAE30 at 100c.

I stand corrected! Still, cold oil must be bad for engines?

I have a steering lock on mine so on a morning i unlock the steering lock and then start engine and then i remove it off steering wheel so car is always running for at least 10 seconds before it moves,

I try and leave it running for a few seconds when i come to a stop just to let everything return to at least idle speed before i turn it off, longer if its had a decent spirited run,

My dad used to be turning key off before he even stopped on drive sometimes it used to drive me nuts, just give the poor thing a few seconds to return to idle before turning it off, lucky new car has a key in dash job now so he has to stop now before he can take key out

#3 is absolute codswallop!

The whole turbo still spinning thing and coked up oil is a myth! Theoretically if you were driving at the redline and killed the engine immediately while still moving then it might spin for a few seconds, but nobody does this in the real world.

As for bringing turbos back down to temperature again, a turbo charger with hot gasses still running through it in a heat soaked engine bay, surrounded by heat shields is going to lose hardly any temperature at all.

No7: Most gear sticks are part of a remote change system, especially in front wheel drive car.

...if you were driving at the redline and killed the engine immediately while still moving then it might spin for a few seconds...

+1

Turbos stop spinning very quickly as no compressed air is being consumed. Compressing air is hard work so the compressor wheel is acting as a brake.

Number 10 - dirty car. Oh dear

Chris

i had an mr2 with a garrett gt3071r turbo fitted, that spun for about a good 7 or 8 seconds after turning the engine off, could that just be because it was aftermarket?

Personally I think the problem with turbos on modern diesels is they don't get hot enough. The turbo on a diesel engine gets nowhere near as hot as that on a petrol in any case.

I've always taken the attitude that I'll use good quality oil & filters and change them regularly, but drive how I like, and have never managed to kill a diesel engine or turbo in 20 years of this, and I've kept some of them to almost 200k. I probably shouldn't tempt fate here, but even my current 2.0 BKD has stood 65k of thrashing with no funny noises or overboosts from the turbo, whereas some gently driven BKD's have had stuck vanes and turbo failure in as little as 30k!

Is the red line not a goal???? :wonder:

I kid. most of the Vag cars i have owned have a good power band well below the red line.

Is the red line not a goal???? :wonder:

Nah - it's a built in feature that tells you when you need to change gear

Chris

Driving a car kills it. They only live so long.

When it's dead you can buy another.

i had an mr2 with a garrett gt3071r turbo fitted, that spun for about a good 7 or 8 seconds after turning the engine off, could that just be because it was aftermarket?

Was it a ball bearing turbo?

Most turbo shafts 'float' on oil, so no ball bearings. Also, it might have been spinning but in relation to its maximum RPM was probably only spinning very slow, certainly not fast enough to produce any sort of compression.

No, I was just killing me softly with his song.

by the time you drive into your estate or road from a dual carriageway or motorway the turbo would of surely cooled down enough to not wait further for turbo cool down?