Taking care of the turbo - lots of starts/stops

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Hey guys, I just got a new EX-T last week and had a question since this is the first turbocharged car I've ever owned.

I drive a lot, and a lot of it is short trips with starts/stops. I've heard this can be hard on turbos, but this is based on information almost a decade old.

What, if anything, should I be doing to make things easy on the turbo? Letting the car idle a bit before shutting it off? Are there systems in place nowadays to make this unnecessary?

Should I look into getting a turbo timer, or a turbo blanket?
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jk147

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Turbo timer is useful if you drive the car hard and shut off the engine right away after. Oil stays in the hot turbo, cooking without recirculation.

If you do a lot of start and stop trips, meaning you stop somewhere for 10 mins and start the car again.. you are probably better off just leave the engine running and lock your doors. I say this is mostly a non issue if you don't drive your car hard.

I noticed that if I stay under 3k rpm the boost barely comes on.
 

dc2turbo

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unless you are racing the car from block to block. you will not need one
 

KA0S

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You don't need a turbo timer. I've owned shop sponsored turbo cars before, with 70k worth of engine mods, and I used to have a turbo timer. But I was running 27 psi of boost with a large Garrett ball bearing turbo. So this was a different case. The Civic is not a race car, and its designed for everyday use. You're barely "in" boost anyway. This is so you keep your fuel economy.

In other words, don't worry about it. Just drive it.
 


NorthernEX-T

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It still wouldn't be a bad thing to wait 10 seconds or so to idle after a drive though IMO..
 

CivicTouring

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Don't leave your car unattended with the engine running, for one you asking for it to be stolen and two it is likely illegal to leave your vehicle running while unattended.
 

CivicTouring

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It still wouldn't be a bad thing to wait 10 seconds or so to idle after a drive though IMO..
A good rule of thumb is if you ran the engine hard just before parking let the engine idle for 60 seconds before shut down, that circulates oil through the turbo and cools it down so it won't cook the oil. The second thing you can do is run a good synthetic oil that can withstand high temps without cooking the oil, you do both of those things you won't have any turbo issues.

I once a had a 1988 Chrysler Lebaron GTC with the 2.2 liter turbo four cylinder and back then ran Mobil One in it and never once had a turbo issue with that car.
 

Design

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Some good advice in here. Modern turbos are both oil and water cooled. Flow dynamics protect the turbo even after the car is shut off. In other words, convection allows the coolant to continue flowing through the turbo, further cooling it down. On platforms like the CTR or Si, Honda may recommend idling an extra 30 seconds after a spirited or long uphill drive. I 'm not sure if they need to recommend this on the 1.5T (but wouldn't hurt).

Use a good synthetic oil. Change it when recommended. And you're golden.
 

Anekin007

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Some good advice in here. Modern turbos are both oil and water cooled. Flow dynamics protect the turbo even after the car is shut off. In other words, convection allows the coolant to continue flowing through the turbo, further cooling it down. On platforms like the CTR or Si, Honda may recommend idling an extra 30 seconds after a spirited or long uphill drive. I 'm not sure if they need to recommend this on the 1.5T (but wouldn't hurt).

Use a good synthetic oil. Change it when recommended. And you're golden.
Looking at the turbo parts sheet the turbo only has a oil line running through the turbo and no water/coolant line. So the turbo Honda uses are only oil cooled.
 


slowride

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You don't need a turbo timer. I've owned shop sponsored turbo cars before, with 70k worth of engine mods, and I used to have a turbo timer. But I was running 27 psi of boost with a large Garrett ball bearing turbo. So this was a different case. The Civic is not a race car, and its designed for everyday use. You're barely "in" boost anyway. This is so you keep your fuel economy.

In other words, don't worry about it. Just drive it.
100% this
 
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jks

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Looking at the turbo parts sheet the turbo only has a oil line running through the turbo and no water/coolant line. So the turbo Honda uses are only oil cooled.
But Honda water cools the exhaust just before it enters the turbo as a cooling measure for the turbo, so effectively it is both oil and water cooled.
 

Brettjod

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I wouldn't worry about it unless you plan on racing it a lot. Guys have been using the f150 ecoboost with twin turbos and I have heard of any issues in a long time with their turbos. We use my wife's last escape with a 2.0 ecoboost and never had any issues with towing the boat around the mountains. I'm sure they did their homework for every day use. I could only see there being an issue if you race the car all the time. Then it might cause too much stress on the turbo.
 

Anekin007

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But Honda water cools the exhaust just before it enters the turbo as a cooling measure for the turbo, so effectively it is both oil and water cooled.
Air cooled but I wouldnt call it a water cooled turbo since the coolant line is ran though the head/exhaust manifold. Exhaust heat is very hot and it would need to cool down the exhaust manifold before cooling down the turbo. The issue like OP is questioning is when the car is shut off. Air stops flowing and only oil is sitting in the turbo. Traditional turbos has a port for direct coolant flowing inside the turbo. so when the car it shut off the heat from the turbo is absorbed into the coolant. Since Honda chose to not do a direct coolant line there's still plenty of heat in the turbo causing the turbo to cook the oil that's sitting inside as well as wear down the bearings. High tempetures to oil can turn it into sludge. Turbo isn't new to the industry but Honda is taking the cooling part different from other companies. would be interesting to see the long term reliability with their setup.
 

Design

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Very interesting. If convection isn't cooling the turbo after shutoff, I'm wondering if the owner's manual recommends idling a short bit after a hard drive.
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