$100 fix for flooding problem
 

I had thought that Mazda had the rotary flooding problem handled in the second gen 7. Obviously I was wrong after reading several stories here. I have a third gen that has never flooded and maybe the reason is the turbo timer. Everyone here knows what it does (or at least should). If someone else has suggested this as a solution sorry to repeat. I haven't had the car flood yet, maybe I will install the timer to make sure it doesn't. Of course my wife hates the TT on the FD and WRX, but hey, I would rather avoid fouling the plugs and all.

newbie question, since i don't know much about turbos. i know that the turbo timer will run your car after you leave it, but is it possible to have one even if the car doesn't have a turbo? or simply any car can have one? if so, its a great idea. where can i get one for 100 dollars?

Any car can have the turbo timer because it is hooked to the electrical system, not the turbos themselves--its greatest benefit is too allow for cooling turbos and stop coking after hard runs by not letting the car shut off for a prearranged amount of time after the ignition is shut off. Apexi and Greddy make them, check any aftermarket tuners site (I recommend Ari Yallon at Rx-7.com ). Maybe this will help some people.

thanks, it's definitely something to look into.

I'll keep asking... won't the emergency start procedure work on a flooded engine? What's the big deal?

Megareds, I don't know if it is a big deal or not to go through the routine, but I keep hearing bitching about flooded engines, so I thought this might help. Some times the threads I have read seem to indicate that the manuals procedure doesn't work that effectively. Some people might think that spending the 100 is worth not worrying about it at all. Also some turbo timers give additional info (0-60 and quarter mile times amongst other things) and some people may like that feature.

For one, I would never spend $100 for what my hand can already do & for another they are illegal in most (if not all) of Canada.

Turbo Timers?

Unnecessary, even on turbocharged cars.
Subaru specifically mentions not using one. As does Audi.

Snake oil for cars.

Well, yes and no....they DO perform exactly as advertised, i.e. they run the car for a set period after you shut it off. Now, are the needed? Not for most modern water-cooled turbos...maybe if you go with an oil-cooled aftermarket turbo or something. However in this case, there's no question of turbo coking, etc...its just being suggested as a way to do an end run around the flooding problem.

jds

I am not going to argue the merits of turbo timers here. If Dave at KDR suggests I put it in, I do. He has done me no wrong yet, and I doubt very much it is a big deal for him to soak me for the $40 or so for the install, consider I have spent over 10K with him on my FD. Bureau13 is correct in understanding the spirit of my suggestion. If used in this application, it will help prevent the flooding problem. An end run is a great term.

If it fixes the flooding issue on the rotary then I would have to say it has finally found a suitable use :)

For turbos, I consider them to be like putting a "pre-luber" on your car. Not necessary these days ;)

LOL, a lot of people spend $100 for what their hand can do, but I'm WAAAAY outa line and way off topic. Never mind... :D

How hard is it to install a turbo timer? I wouldn't want it installed on my dash, maybe under to do its job to make sure the car gets up to operating temp.

haha... Hookers and Turbo Timer a-like! :ROFL:




Why spend money on a turbo timer when you can sit there for about 20-30secs and then turn the car off yourself?

^^ That better 8_wannabe ;)

[QUOTE]Originally posted by MyRxBad
[B]haha... Hookers and Turbo Timer a-like! :ROFL:

Yeah, both are presumably illegal in Canada. Hmmm, we're finding a lot of parallels here.

Now back to our regularly scheduled program.

Instead of a turbo timer, how about the following:

1) Look at the little needle on the coolant gauge.

2) If the little needle on the coolant gauge is past the quarter FS point, shut off your car.

3) If you reach this step, return to step 1.


What is the big damn deal about this????? Why would you need a mechanical device to do what your eyes can tell you to do just by looking at the engine temp? Besides, 95% of the time, the car is already warmed up, and you'd just be wasting gas! Sheeez! Let's put this one back in the mole hill category where it belongs!

Wow, what a huge waste of gas an extra minute of the car running is, much worse than the already bad consumption. I keep reading about people with flooded engines, so obviously this isn't some phantom issue. How many threads and how many people responding to those threads that the same thing happened and they got fouled plugs and a trip to the dealership. Now maybe the work is free, but my time (and hopefully your time) isn't. How many trips is $100 worth. I say one morning--for me, not even that. If everyone was disciplined then no one would have flooded engines. I had an idea that may help some people and take the thinking about starting and turning off ignition quickly out of their hands. I don't care who doesn't like it, if it helps one person avoid a pain in the ass situation or two then I am glad I posted here. BTW, my10ae, the TT in my FD is mounted under the dash on the driver side and out of the way and out of site, in my WRX it is actually mounted in the glove box and out of site as well.

Senseny:

I appreciate your post to help fix a "potential" problem with our 8's (rotaries). $100 is cheap money when it comes to dealing with the hassle to get down to the dealer, blah blah blah (if the car floods). Let me know if you go with a turbo timer. My cousin was an Installation Manager at a local Circuit City for 6 years so I trust him. If you go with this mod, mind sharing your info so I can pass it along to my cousin. He is specifically looking on how to bypass the "chip" in the key for the ignition to keep running once the key is removed.

I appreciate the suggestion..

Kevin

No one else thinks a timer would help the flooding issue? I for one see that $100 and cheap insurance for my 8. As soon as I get some info to get one installed, I'll be all over it...

Sorry, that is a false statement, yes subaru has a cooling line running even after the car is shut off however it is still always a good idea to idle the car after a hard drive.

I have told my wife several times not to cold start the car and turn it right off. Well last night she did, and luckily the car didn't flood. This wouldn't be an issue if I had a timer. I'll probably get one installed in the near future. Maybe it'll help avoid tension in the marriage. Even if it isn't the perfect solution, if you aren't thinking and turn the car off quickly the timer will remind you to switch back to the on position for a little while. And for the times the car is adequately warm, just drop the ebrake after turning off the ignition and the tt will shut down allowing you to avoid the wait.

If you ever owned a turbo car you will know that 20 - 60 seconds get annoying after a while. Especially people riding with you or when you are in a hurry.

The turbo timer is for after the car is driven not when you first started up. Not to warm up but to cool down.

I can see how it would reduce the chance of flooding by burning off excessive fuel in the chamber before shut down and keeping the chamber warm from short drives.

As does AUDI's with Biturbo engines (TT, S4, etc)...