Thread: 300 TDI Turbo Timer

After a decent run when the engine (turbo) has been getting a work out you really should allow it to "warm down" a bit. Remember that when you turn the engine off teh flow of oil that cools the turbo (and everything else) stops.

The timer means you don;t have to sit and wait in your car, but can get out lock up and walk away.

My 95Tdi Defender has an ARB Turbo Timer which can be set for anywhere from 30 seconds to 5 minutes ! As you can guess it normally stays on 30 seconds but I might bump it up a bit after a big run. Can;t see when 5 minutes would be needed though !

My Turbo Timer was already fitted when I bought the car. If it hadn't been, I PROBABLY would have fitted one as I think they are worthwhile.

Mm I have had 6 land rovers with 200tdi and 300tdi and I have never had a turbo timer.
See the point in theory but I have never had a problem in any of my engines past or present and I am rough on engines. I slam to a stop and turn of the engine always have.
If a car came with one I would not take it off and use it but I would not buy one.
Just my personal opinion.

Ali

The Land Rover owner's handbook recommends 10 secs of idling to cool down.

It takes about that long to apply the handbrake and remove your seatbelt, so no timer is needed. If you had to sit idling while your passenger or remote opened the garage door, that would be sufficient.

One of the forum members did a test a couple of years ago measuring the EGT every fifteen seconds. When he pulled off the highway into a 60km/h zone, the temperature dropped dramatically. Slowing down to turn into the driveway slows it down even more.

In most situations, that 10 seconds recommended by Land Rover would appear to be plenty. The sort of situation where you might want a bit more would be pulling into a service station on the side of a highway.

Timers are unnecessary on modern, small turbos. They were more useful on the older, larger ones that took longer ot cool down.

when i was truck driving i was allocated a new UD truck (PE6DT engine) and naturally i started to cool/warm/spool/idle it down after running after a while it developed a head gasket problem and when the head were taken off it was found to be glazing up due to the idle time.
after this i just used to idle it for up to 15 seconds it was fine, so when i bought my Patrol with a SD33T engine i didnt idle this much either, basically just didnt shut it down straight away and about 30 sec after a run. interestingly the hand book had no time listed at all to idle it down.
now i have the 300TDi in some literature somewhere i see it says 10 seconds for an idle down and i pretty much just do that. faffing around getting glasses ,wallet putting seat belt away shutting off systems including the air cond compressor is about this long.
going by a recent thread on this forum it might be better to get a pyrometer to measure if it needs an idle down or not and when you can in fact shut it down

Not needed and it's illegal in some states.

As the fella's above have stated, it's so easy to just idle the car for 15-30 seconds or so after a Highway run then into a servo, and running around town it isn't needed at all. This is from my observations using a pyro.

Turbo timers are basically illegal as you are not allowed to walk away from a vehicle with the engine still running. From a SA Police page:

Turbo timers are not to be fitted to vehicles
manufactured on or after 1 January 1972. Australian
Design Rule 25 requires that the normal function of
the engine only occurs when the ignition is in the
‘on’ position.

An EGT gauge is a better way of judging the time is ripe to shut down your engine.

if you've got the manual if you gear down appropriately it doesnt matter if you've been running the pyro up at 650 on the highway, with the engine on overrun all its blowing is air through the turbo and gearing down unloaded from 100 takes about 1K which combined with an idle time of long enough to apply the handbrake, check neutral, remove seatbelt, scan the gauges and read the odo is enough to have the EGT under 200. If it works on an R series mack hauling a GCM of 46T It'll work on a landy.

The best use I found for the 5m setting on a turbo timer is for using a glind type shower attachement. you get back from the drive set the timer for 5 minutes throw the towel over the front grill and have your shower.

Hello, I have a 1995 TDI and going well.
I have never had a problem. In my case, I live in a 50km/h zone and it's essentially at almost idle for most of the last 1/2 hour home.

Anyway, by time you slow down enough to pull into your driveway sensibly and park the car, you will probably have had the turo at idle for at least 10 seconds or more.

Unless you are thrashing the vehicle or on a race track, I would not waste my money on a timer and instead, just apply some common sense driving. I leaving the vehicle running unattended in NSW is an offence also.
Jason.