I've recently become the very happy owner of a 1998 Nissan 200SX (an awful lot of car for not much money) - and I want to make sure I look after the turbo properly.
I understand the concept of giving the engine (and thus the oil) a few minutes to warm up before caning the car, and I've also read about "simmering" the turbo after a run by leaving the engine running for a moment or two at idle, which gives oil time to pass through the system and cool the turbo a little before switching off.
I live on the Isle of Man and my drive to and from work involves a small amount of town driving, a blast over the wonderful mountain road (part of the TT circuit), and then a small amount of town driving.
Does that small amount of town driving at the end of the run count as simmering the turbo? In the right conditions I do work the car pretty hard over the mountain, but for those few minutes in town before I get home or to the car park at work, the turbo doesn't get to spin up at all, and the engine generally doesn't see the high side of 2500rpm.
My guess would be that a few minutes of gentle driving achieves the same as sitting at idle for a minute or two, but I'd like to know for sure as the car is a few years old and has clocked up 90000 miles, so it probably deserves a bit of TLC.
(On a wider note, you can dramatically alter the driving characteristics of this car (for the better) by taking out both catalytic convertors (one in the exhaust and one in the turbo downpipe) and replacing them with straight-through pipes, makes it much more like the MkI 200SX with a proper brutal turbo boost, rather than the more subdued and gentle flavour that the MarkII serves up at factory standard.)
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According to the destruction book for my car, 10 seconds idling at the end of the journey is sufficient.
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In the mid 1990s when a Bentley Continental Turbo R was used to set a new speed record of (IIRC) about 145mph average around a race track, it took 14 hours for the turbo to cool down...:-)
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What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
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My impression is that, if the last part of your journey is in a 30 or 40 limit, the turbo will be fine of you just switch off. Simmering is for when you have thrashed down a motorway, turn into a little chef or whatever - needs a bit of cooling time then.
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(On a wider note, you can dramatically alter the driving characteristics of this car (for the better) by taking out both catalytic convertors (one in the exhaust and one in the turbo downpipe) and replacing them with straight-through pipes, makes it much more like the MkI 200SX with a proper brutal turbo boost, rather than the more subdued and gentle flavour that the MarkII serves up at factory standard.)
Presumably you keep the original catalytic convertors for re-fitting at MOT time ...
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(On a wider note, you can dramatically alter the driving characteristics of this car (for the better) by taking out both catalytic convertors (one in the exhaust and one in the turbo downpipe) and replacing them with straight-through pipes, makes it much more like the MkI 200SX with a proper brutal turbo boost, rather than the more subdued and gentle flavour that the MarkII serves up at factory standard.)
Wouldn't that have an adverse impact on emissions and perhaps fail at MOT time?
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Chad and Boxster both ask the same question re the cats (Sorry, horrid Manx Pun opportunity presents itself here ...)and MOTs, which BEGS the question:
We know the Manx folk have different ideas about certain things - like speed limits, birching of young hoodlums etc etc etc etc ...
How much different is Manx motoring law to that of mainland Britain?
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Can't answer any of the questions, but i think that the OP's name is the best i've seen on here. Still laughing as i type this.
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I wonder if this is the same Alex from the IoM who had horrendous problems with a BMW a year or so ago. If so, I wish him luck with the Nissan (well, I do anyway of course). I agree that 10 secs of so at low revs should be enough: I think the thing to avoid is a high speed run immediately before stopping the engine.
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Thanks for the answers chaps :)
As for the MOT question, we don't actually have an MOT on the Isle of Man, hence no emissions test.
You can be done for having a car in an unroadworthy condition same as the UK, it's just that the onus of responsibility is on the owner to maintain his car properly.
I checked up on this before having the cats removed and I was assured it was completely legal to take them off, and keep them off.
The guy at the garage who did the work said it was pretty commonplace for people over here to de-cat performance cars.
(And yes this is the same Alex who experienced the nightmare of BMW ownership about a year ago :D)
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I've always thought:
"simmering" = inappropriate!
In this context, surely it's cooling?
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I have a Saab 9-5, which has now done 156,000 on the original turbo which is still (appreantly, and frantically looking for piece of wood to touch!!) in good working order. The only special care I take is when pulling straight off a motorway or similar high speed road into a "switch off situation", by which I mean a service area or similar, when I simmer the turbo for a minute or so. I never bother under any other circumstances.
My recipe is simple. I stick to fully synthetic Mobil 1, and I change the oil and filter every 6000 miles (as opposed to manufactures recommended 12,000). Every other change I (or the garage) use a flushing agent. IMHO this is a far bigger factor than the simmering.
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I have a Saab 9-5, which has now done 156,000 on the original turbo which is still (appreantly, and frantically looking for piece of wood to touch!!) in good working order. The only special care I take is when pulling straight off a motorway or similar high speed road into a "switch off situation", by which I mean a service area or similar, when I simmer the turbo for a minute or so. I never bother under any other circumstances. My recipe is simple. I stick to fully synthetic Mobil 1, and I change the oil and filter every 6000 miles (as opposed to manufactures recommended 12,000). Every other change I (or the garage) use a flushing agent. IMHO this is a far bigger factor than the simmering.
The SX has got a full dealer service history up to 74000 miles, and had the oil+filter changed religiously every 6000 miles.
The guy who owned it before me I know personally, and he changed the oil (fully synth) and filter three times in the 13000 miles he covered in it.
I've had an oil and filter change done (again fully synth) since I got it, and intended to have this done every 5000-6000 miles, so if your experience is anything to go by Mike, maybe I'll get 150,000+ out of my original turbo as well :D
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