Have any of you guys considered putting in a turbo timer?? A friend of mine was stressing to me the other day the importance of letting the truck have some cool down time before turning the engine off. He then suggested that I look into getting a turbo timer that would allow me to walk away from the truck with it still running and then the timer would turn off the engine at a programmed interval. If you have one, would you suggest other get one and if so, which one.

Jonathan

 

It is not recommended to drive your truck on the freeway for a couple hours, pull over and shut the engine off. Usually that does not really happen. In city traffic the EGT runs ideally between 400-1000 degrees. I noticed, that the temperature drops really quickly when you idle at the light for example. What I've read before that the recommended exhaust temperature to turn your engine off is under 400 degrees, and I never had to run my engine on for more than 30 seconds on my driveway or gas station, etc. to cool down to that temperature. So if you ask me, I'd say that save the money, and get gauges instead, so you will know when to turn the key off.

 

I installed a "turbo saver" (name of the item) years ago. It is an awesome unit. It is very easy to install. It consists of the control unit, wiring harnesses that connect directly into the main ignition harness of your vehicle, a momentary mini switch that dictates how long the truck will run (1-15 minutes depending on how many times you depress the button....1 push equals 1 minute of run time) and a micro kill switch that you can hide way up in the dash that will disable the vehicle from starting.

The only wire you need to splice is the wire that runs to the brake pedal switch (24 gauge wire).

The unit works like this........after you stop the vehicle, engine and key are still on. you depress the momentary switch once for each minute of runtime. Once that is done you remove the key, lock your doors and walk away. NO ONE CAN STEAL YOUR TRUCK since the key is out and the moment you depress the brake pedal the circuit is interrupted and the vehicle shuts off..... VERY COOL UNIT. Trouble free for 4 years now.

I highly recommend it! Like the post abve says, it doesn't take very long to cool down the engine.....MAXIMUM 2 MINUTES AFTER A LONG HARD PULL. I do not use it very often, but it is nice to have incase you need to stop quick and get out quick.

Good Luck

 

Sounds like both ideas are good. I like the idea of having the gauge because sometimes I am just driving lightly around town and I'm sure it doesn't need that much of a cooldown. But then sometimes I am driving hard on the interstate and get off and stop immediately(at a gas station for example). I hate to just sit in the truck and wait for cool down when I need to get going. I will keep thinking about these options.

Jonathan