Hey, was talking with my motor-head buddy about engines and such and we got to talking about turbo's... he suggested that the turbo engines need to cool down at idle for a couple of minutes after driving to allow the oil to keep circulating and cool the bearings down before shutting down.
I think that is pretty sound advice, I don't believe they have any timer circuitry or any other voodoo to keep the oil moving to the turbo's so, for the sake of the almighty green "save gas this way" screen, I will go old school and let her idle for a bit before shutting down. Isn't that an old Grand National guy's trick as well? Back to old school I go again!

 

About 1 minute is all you need at most. Just long enough for the impellers to slow back down to idle speed. The engineers at Ford apparently do not think this is needed or they would have added a cooldown timer into the PCM. In all honesty, if the engine hasn't been loaded just prior to shutdown, then it probably isn't needed anyway.

 

The Ecoboost turbos are oil cooled and water cooled so it's not really necesarry. And yes it is an old Grand National trick because their turbos aren't water cooled. However some GN owners have been using water cooled turbos for a few years, but not me.

 

I know with my psd the egt's come down very quickly. If you are on the highway pulling hard by the time you slow down and drive a short distance without working the motor hard the temps are down enough not to worry about damage to the turbo. If you are worried just get a pyro gauge installed.

 

and.... in our ecoboosts, the water continues to circulate AFTER the engine is turned off.

 

That's one of the great highlights that Ford advertizes as being better in the EBoost. If I have been driving hard, I will still let 'er idle for a min tops to give it a little extra cooling but other than that, it's not like the old turbo engines...no need to worry as much 'bout this IMO.

As a side note...I do make sure to warm up the engine for at least a couple of mins before driving....definately don't want to kick in the boost too much when she's cold.

 

As noted...water and oil-cooled turbos don't need cool down time, but you should still not rev the motor right before shutting it off. Some of us old volvo guys (old cars, not guys) swap out turbos and don't hook up the water lines....that's a recipe for disaster if you don't let the turbo "relax" a bit before shutting it off.

As a standard practice in any car, if I drive long distances at speed, I'll always let the engine idle for a minute or 2 before shutting it down, turbo or not.

 

Thanks boyz... good advice and it was all in the same direction! I won't worry about it as much, I do tend to warm up some before I head out, I guess it is left over from my 7.3 psd days.