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Hey guys a guy who goes to class with me down in fredericksburg drives a Saab Wagon...the one that matches the wrx wagon and he said he bought a turbo timer (pen style) off of ebay and it seems to work pretty well but does anybody have any thing to say about these before i decide to go the cheap route and purchase one of these for my vehicle?!? Anybody ever heard of any problems with these at all? Just wanted to ask i know it is a basic part that should cause no problems but just asking to be double sure! Thanks!

I don't know a pen type from any other type of turbo timer, but the application and function is the same, unless you get one with an integrated boost gauge or something.

Turbo timers are a good way to help gradually bring temps of the turbo and block down after tracking it. In normal driving, it is not necessary to have that precaution, as you don't get that hot.

Also, the turbo on the subarus have a coolant line to them. When the car shuts down, bubbles work their way out and the system equalizes. This moves some of the coolant trhough the hoses after the engine is stopped. This helps distribute the heat around.

If it were me, I would skip installing one and the risk of messing up the wiring harness and hassle.

One final drawback is that it makes tuning and diagnosing a bitch if you cant turn it off. Also not so convenient at gas stations.

If I need to spend the time to remember to reset/turn off the timer more times than the timer would work, I could just use the extra time to let the engine idle when I need it.

But hey, Im a function guy and could give a crap about form, bling, or aesthetics.

Yes I was told by Andrewtech that turbo timer + subaru = not needed. Use the $ somewhere else.

Yes, the turbo timer was only needed on oil cooled only turbos. All Subaru turbos (and pretty much all aftermarket ones) now come w/ oil and coolant lines so the timer is not necessary. It is good to not run the turbo hard right before you are getting close to your destination but that can't always be helped...but that is what the coolant is for

TT's are used almost exclusively on oil only cooled turbo cars (Evo's, GSX's etc.) Subaru's have never needed them for the reasons listed above. Every once in awhile I'll go on boost within a mile or two of my house; if I do that I just let the car idle for a minute or two and then let the conduction do it's job for cooling down the turbo the rest of the way.

Sabre wrote:Subaru's have never needed them for the reasons listed above.

The JDM's did (so basically for anyone that was doing a earlier JDM or USDM pre-04 swap). There earlier turbos were oil only. Some people have installed oil only turbos in place of their stock oil/coolant turbos (why? I don't know...cheap price and more power I guess) which do require the turbo timer. Just to clarify.

Interesting to know, I had no idea the JDM stuff was different. Then again, they get the nice twin scrolls and such, so I shouldn't be too surprised...

Sabre wrote:Interesting to know, I had no idea the JDM stuff was different. Then again, they get the nice twin scrolls and such, so I shouldn't be too surprised...

Just to note...this is for the older JDM stuff. The newer JDM stuff is twinscroll w/ both oil and coolant lines (what we should have over here already ).