Care and feeding of your turbocharger

[flyking1]

Hi All, I have a Maverick on order with the Eco Boost engine. This will be the first turbocharged vehicle I've ever owned. Does Ford offer any suggestions on how to care for the turbo? For instance, a friend of mine drove a turbo Volvo about eight years ago and he told me Volvo recommended idling the car for two or three minutes before shut down after a long drive to give the turbo time to cool down. I guess this was to reduce wear on the turbo bearings? Anyway, is there anything I'm supposed to do to help extend the life of the turbo?
Thanks from a newbie.

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[ColoradoShooter]

I think this turbo might be water cooled, but for sure the bearings are oil cooled. No special care needed.

 

[93nighthawk]

2-3 minutes might be a little long to let it cool, more like 30sec to a minute is more than adaquete ti cool the Turbo oil so it does not bake the bearings. Also you want the oil up to temp before stomping on it to protect the bearings.

That is all I can think off the top of my head.

 

[old willie]

I used to have a turbo Porsche, and the reason to let the engine idle for a few minutes when it was driven hard, was to let the turbo slow down becase when you urn off the engine, you stop the flow of oil to the turbo.

 

[Flomounier1]

No idea honestly. All I can say is don't drive through a deep puddle if you just exited the highway. One of my friends has an Ecoboost Mustang and he popped the hood once after a 50 mile freeway drive cruising along at 70-80mph and the turbo was glowing red hot. The car never had any issues though.

 

[CMOS]

Full Synthetic oil is a big plus for this motor.

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[icegradner]

Hi All, I have a Maverick on order with the Eco Boost engine. This will be the first turbocharged vehicle I've ever owned. Does Ford offer any suggestions on how to care for the turbo? For instance, a friend of mine drove a turbo Volvo about eight years ago and he told me Volvo recommended idling the car for two or three minutes before shut down after a long drive to give the turbo time to cool down. I guess this was to reduce wear on the turbo bearings? Anyway, is there anything I'm supposed to do to help extend the life of the turbo?
Thanks from a newbie.

Several Ford certified techs at dealers (Ford Boss on Youtube for one) have recommended ignoring the recommended oil change frequency for smaller Ford turbo engines, saying you should change it more often if you don't want to kill the turbo chargers prematurely.

 

[austinzone]

I used to have a turbo Porsche, and the reason to let the engine idle for a few minutes when it was driven hard, was to let the turbo slow down becase when you urn off the engine, you stop the flow of oil to the turbo.

you arent serious are you?







the speed of the trabo is tied directly to the exhausts. more exhausts = more trabo speeds.

it doesnt - maintain any higher speed - than what the exhaust is currently outputting. if your car is at idle - than your turbo is spinning at whatever equivalent to idle speed. granted - after you shut your engine off, the turbo spins for a little while - and longer if it has balls.

the reason you let it idle for a few minutes is to cycle oil through it (and maybe coolant), let the exhaust manifold (and hence the turabo) cool off, which in turn will reduce the level of oil coking in the turbine and oil lines. this extends oil life and traubouo life.

 

[old willie]

the speed of the trabo is tied directly to the exhausts. more exhausts = more trabo speeds.

it doesnt - maintain any higher speed - than what the exhaust is currently outputting. if your car is at idle - than your turbo is spinning at whatever equivalent to idle speed. granted - after you shut your engine off, the turbo spins for a little while - and longer if it has balls.

the reason you let it idle for a few minutes is to cycle oil through it (and maybe coolant), let the exhaust manifold (and hence the turabo) cool off, which in turn will reduce the level of oil coking in the turbine and oil lines. this extends oil life and traubouo life

Ok, that is what I said, but you said it much clearer.

 

[NJBob]

My son has a Dodge Neon SRT4 turbo. One thing he has is a turbo timer. When you shut the car off it still runs a couple of minutes. Granted he did alot of work to it. Even has a button that squirts Windsheild washer fluid on the intercooler. I have a F-150 Ecoboost don't really do anything special.

 

[Trucklet]

you arent serious are you?

You guys essentially said the same thing

 

[NoVaJimmy]

Several Ford certified techs at dealers (Ford Boss on Youtube for one) have recommended ignoring the recommended oil change frequency for smaller Ford turbo engines, saying you should change it more often if you don't want to kill the turbo chargers prematurely.

I agree with this, the turbo on my 2014 Escape 2.0 ecoboost had to be replaced under warranty just after 30,000 miles. I always followed the factory maintenance schedule and maintenance was performed by Ford. When I asked the service advisor if this was a common problem he said that the turbo used is not particularly great quality compared to other manufacturers and that I should use full synthetic instead of Ford's recommended synthetic blend and also think about cutting intervals in half. I started doing my own oil changes with Pennzoil ultra platinum every 3,000 miles and almost 100k miles after the factory turbo was replaced it still ran great before selling it for the Maverick.

 

[austinzone]

You guys essentially said the same thing

that guy: need to wait for the turbo to slow down

me: need to wait for the system to cool down and get fresh oil circulated around


you dont 'need' to wait for it to slow down - the turbo isnt just sitting there spinning at a faster speed for a while.

lets say you go rip down the highway at 130mph and then come to a complete stop. turbo is now at same RPM as if you had been sitting in a parking lot at idle for 10 minutes. however it would be much 'hotter'.

reading is fun.

 

[buccad]

Modern turbo vehicles don't usually require a manual cooldown period or a turbo timer; they have the ability to continue pumping coolant through the turbo to cool it once you shut off the engine in order to increase the life of the turbo.

I don't know about this engine for sure but all turbo VAG products do this.

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