Stage 1...shorten life?

[Mr.Blonde]

Will the stage 1 upgrade shorten the life of the turbo? With the higher boost, etc...?

[Steve03GT]

quote:Originally posted by Mr.Blonde

Will the stage 1 upgrade shorten the life of the turbo? With the higher boost, etc...?

In my experience, the only thing that shortens turbo life is abuse, e.g., going WOT on a regular basis -- especially without a cool-down period before turning engine off, not using synthetic oil, etc.
A guy I knew, who had a twin-turbo Porsche, had a saying, "The candle that burns brightest, burns shortest." I've always remembered that and have had good luck with my previous turbo cars.

[DTs_PTGT]

Steve03GT,

Are you saying we shouldn't open our cars up (WOT) on a regular basis? I thought the 2.4 in our cars had been built to handle the extra demands of a turbo?

I'm only asking becuase I thought these cars were built so we could use our turbos regularly w/o toasting the motor. Otherwise, why would the PCM be so finicky about how much power it will allow to be generated?

Just to be clear, I do allow for warmup and cooldown at every start and shutdown and I will be switching to Mobil-1 at my next oil change (at 5700 miles now, probably change before I go camping this weekend).

[Steve03GT]

quote:Originally posted by DTs_PTGT

Steve03GT,

Are you saying we shouldn't open our cars up (WOT) on a regular basis? I thought the 2.4 in our cars had been built to handle the extra demands of a turbo?

I'm only asking becuase I thought these cars were built so we could use our turbos regularly w/o toasting the motor. Otherwise, why would the PCM be so finicky about how much power it will allow to be generated?

Just to be clear, I do allow for warmup and cooldown at every start and shutdown and I will be switching to Mobil-1 at my next oil change (at 5700 miles now, probably change before I go camping this weekend).

What I'm saying is the obvious, if you race everything from a tricycle to a F-60 Ferrari, then yes, the life expectancy of the turbo will be shortened - just like the candle's.

[DTs_PTGT]

I didn't say anything about racing, and I'm not going WOT from a dead stop. Usually I'm going from highway speeds to > highway speeds.

[Dalite]

quote:Originally posted by Mr.Blonde

Will the stage 1 upgrade shorten the life of the turbo? With the higher boost, etc...?

Stage I on a stock setup will offer the highest performance with the minimum chance for damage.

Each addition of external "performance" mods will lessen that margin of error.

The newly announced Stage II upgrade will now use the stock turbocharger, and will give up to 260hp.

Since this is a speed density system, no matter what you do to the engine, it will perform as long as the data the PCM gets is in the range of the look-up tables programmed into it.

The down-side of that is that as the engine wears, "performance" add-ons are installed or any change that causes the sensors to report data outside of the range of the look-up tables in the PCM, performance will start to go downhill. This is not due to the wear, add-on or sensor age; it is a function of the PCM and the inherit shortcomings of a speed density system.

Hopefully DCX will provide the dealers with flash upgrades that offset the natural aging as the engine gets more time on the clock.

The main thing that will shorten the life of the turbo is too much turbo spooling and too little cool-down.

Synthetic Oil and proper cool-down are still more likely to extend it's life than the Stage is likely to decrease it; as long as they are followed in both cases.

[Kirby]

I would think that stage I should be sold with a STRONG recommendation for a turbo timer!!

[Dalite]

It is a real shame that a turbo timer isn't provided by using the PCM and the data it already has in it's bowels when the car is shut off. It has the ability to recall the driving history since startup, control all engine functions, talk to the security system, lock the doors, even to being able to easily give a message to the driver to place in neutral and handbrake (MTX) or in Park and parking brake (ATX) before exiting the car.