SaabCentral Forums banner

How long do you idle your turbo...

3K views 10 replies 10 participants last post by  Joshinator99 
#1 ·
I've been trying to idle the car for 30 seconds after each drive. I think the operators manual recommends idling. Are others doing this? How long? What's best? Anyone know?
 
#5 ·
I been doing this for a few years now with my cars, minimum 30secs, however it always turns out to be a minute which is crazy, sometimes longer if I just gone all out, you know times when saying hi to the redline on some occasions...but I don't think it hurts to let it idle for a while, I think it's good for the motor also to settle down and of course turn the climate control off etc.

If you drive slow and never accelerate hard then you'll be fine.
 
#6 ·
Directly from the Owner's Manual (p. 18)

Taken directly from the 2011 Saab 9-5 Aero Owner's Manual, on page 18, "After running at high engine speeds or with high engine loads, operate the engine briefly at a low load or run in neutral for approx. 30 seconds, before switching off in order to protect the turbocharger."

This indictes to me that the manual dictates the idle cooldown to be not too necessary under normal usage, and if so, not too long of a idle is necessary. One thing that I learned from this that surprised me is that the idle needed to be run on Neutral -- I've been running it on P (park) for cooldown for the duration that I've owned my Aero. D'oh! Hope that it emulates the same thing...Does anybody know why the idle should be in Neutral gear instead of Park?
 
#7 ·
it says this in my Volvo manual too. all turbos need this because you need it to be thoroughly oiled and sometimes running them hard will cause them to burn off any oil if you stop them too soon. I know specifically of one guy who didn't do this after a track session and his turbo completely locked up and grenaded.
 
#9 ·
You are looking at turbo speeds as high as 150,000 RPM. If you have just been beating on the thing and then park the car and shut it off, Your turbo is still spinning at that point. If you shut it off during this time, you also cut off the oil supply and the shaft of the turbo could go dry and burn. This is the reason for the extended time of running to allow it to idle down.
 
#10 ·
AC problems

Hello, Im new to the site, I have a 2001 SAAB 95. Love it, but I have a probleem with my AC. My ac works but it will only blow through onto the front windows (defroster I believe) But when I push the button to let the AC blow through the vents that blow onto me directly and to the feet it doesnt go through it stays on the defroster and keeps blowing even though i pressed the vent button to blow on me and it shows thats what I pressed. My mechanic is a little well not good with saabs even though he is a saab mechanic so I figured I can post here cause I guarentee someone has had this problem. Plus knowing saab it could be expensive so it wouldnt be good for my mechanic to think its something else. So that is the only problem I have with my saab that the ac works but not 100% because it wont blow onto the floor or me. I appreciate some help, thank you.
 
#11 ·
In the "old" days, regular dino oil would burn off in the turbo if you just shut the car off after running it hard. The oil residue would eventually damage the turbo.

It's still a good idea to idle the car before putting it away after a drive. Even with the full synthetic oil, its still a good practice.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top