My lady friend just bought a 2003 WRX and I want to help her take good care of it. I know a thing or two about caring for cars and I know how turbos work. What I'm sketchy on is how to maintain them. Nowhere in the manual can I find anything that says to leave the car running for a certain amount of time for it to spool down or anything like that. I'm wondering if this is necessary on these cars even after hard driving. Can anybody give me a lil bit of info?

Thanx

My ride - 93 Impreza L sedan 2wd

Oh, and it looks like she might even let me tune it a little, so I may have future questions for you WRX guys.

Thanx again!

 

You will find some people here that say the engine does not need to be left running to cool the turbo down. This being said, you will also find many people here that install a turbo timer first thing. From what I know, which is cursery at best, is I feel better about letting the turbo timer run the car for bit after I get done driveing. Even with all the advancements in turbos it still stands to reason that once you turn off you car, all the pumps stop driveing the fluid through the motor as well as the turbo. If adding a timer and or letting the car cool down before stopping the motor treats all the components beter then why not. That's my .02

 

Instead of buying a TT why not just let the car idle for a bit after driving it hard? As far as i know oil continues running through the turbo until it has been cooled down

 

I idle for 30 seconds after a particularly 'brisk' ride home, otherwise just shut it off...

The consensus of the experts when I researched this topic last year after I bought the car was essentially this...let it idle for 30s to a minute if you were really on the turbo right before stopping, or take the last 3-5 minutes of your ride home easy and you can just shut off...There is supposedly a coolant reservoir just above the turbo and as the car cools down coolant is still flowing through the turbo for several minutes after shut off...

If you like the idea of a TT of course, it will never hurt....and perhaps those of us who didn't install one will wish we had 5 years from now...

 

yea no big deal, either get a TT or just wait 30 seconds to 2 min after u drive u car hard depending on how hard u were pushing ur car. that is how u take kare of a turbo car.

 

Thanx alot guys. That helps me out.

Later

 

So what are you going to do? Personally i wouldnt worry ...maybe just let the car idle for a bit...a TT just isnt worth the $

 

Yeah, I will just tell her to be sure and let it idle for about 30 seconds after she's been driving hard. She wants to put in a two guage A-pillar pod with oil pressure and volt meter and some Recaro buckets like we saw in the Lancer Evo VIII. I will tell her to skip the TT and save her money for those things.

 

well she doesnt really need teh gauges if its stock...but if thats what she wants tell her to go for it....its her money

 

See, I thot those things had full guages from the factory. Ok, I need to get her to spend the money where she needs it then.
Like buying me full guages for my car,

 

Don't let this one get away Shiseiji...

 

I'll try not to.

 

the factory gauges are an option but too expensive...and when you said lady friend....you meant?!?!?!:-)

 

Yes factory gauges are expensive...can do much better by buying nice aftermarket gauges...