turbos

[corvairbob]

say i'm absolutly new to the turbo thing. here in this forum i see talk of turbs and stage one turbos? i have an 04 high output 2.4 turbo and i'm now wondering what it is? i see talk of boost gages and i don't see one on my car? where do i look? i'm getting 27 mpg on 6500 miles what can i do to increse this? i drive 955 highway miles. is there a kit i can get for my laptop to connect to the pt to tune it, or is there a kit i can get that goes into the pcm to tune it better? than stock. i hear here about a timer that keeps the engine running after the key has been turned off to help save the turbo. what is it and can i make it or where can i get one? after it gets 10000 miles on it i plan on switching to mobil 1 synthetic oil does anyone see a problem with this? thanks a bunch bob p.

[ElectricBlueGT]

Bob,

Your GT has the high output turbo is rated at 220 HP, compared to the 180 HP turbo available in the Touring and Limited Editions.

The PT does not have a boost gauge as standard or available equipment from Chrysler. You will need to buy one if you wish to monitor this parameter.

Your mileage average is pretty good. To get better mileage, keep your foot out of it and use cruise control, but what's the fun in that?

The Stage 1 upgrade from Mopar will increase your HP to 235 and increase your torque from 245 lb-ft to 260 lb-ft. You can add a Psi-Fi Power Paq or a combination of the Greddy e-manange and e-01 boost controller for further laptop tuning. However, a wide-band air-to-fuel sensor will be needed to keep everything safe.

You can pick up a turbo timer to keep your engine running for a few minutes after use. You can search for those as I do not use one or have heard of a preference.

The switch to Mobil 1 or any other full synthetic oil will keep the turbo running longer. Even though the turbo is oil and water-cooled, the synthetic oil will help prevent coking of the turbo bearings. You should not have a problem with the synthetic oil as I run Mobil 1 in both of my GTs.

Scott

[corvairbob]

hey scott thaks for the information. you where very helpfull. i'm not going to install any gages just was wondering if i was missing somthing. and the turbo that came with this car will go with it. i'm not into that high preformance just what i got. i'm more into high mileage. maybe other will use that info better me. but all of it helps. bob p.

[MichaelDay]

Unfortunately, if you are into high mileage, the high output engine is not the best place to start. I average a whopping 17.3 mpg on my '03 GT. You would have to drive VERY carefully with the Stage 1 kit but if you do you would see an improvement in mileage. There is no reason to wait until 10,000 miles to switch to Mobil 1. Most folks switch at about 2,500-3,000 miles.

If you drive for economy, which you obviously do, and you let the turbo cool down for about 3 minutes after you run it on the highway, the turbo timer will not be necessary.

[corvairbob]

thanks. i run x-way 95% of the time however because i never had to just let a car have a cool down cycle before the timer will most likely be the best option for me. i would think the drive from the x-way to the housr about 2 miles and then let it idle while i drive into my drive (i back into the driveway) may be enough to let the turbo spin down, but i'm not sure. when i was in the army the turbos on the trucks required 5 mins spin down time not for cooling the unit but allow the unit to slow down enough for it to almost stop before stopping the engine. it was an oil to the turbo problem. i'm guessing this is the same problem for car turbos. thanks bob p.

[SteelBlueGT]

Dont let the cool down cycle bother you, your engine can take care of most situations without additional cool down time. If you run it hard on the highway and then aburuptly turn it off yes you would be in some trouble evenutually. I live a few miles from the highway exit and that is more than enough to cool it down. I just don't get on the turbo on my way home from the highway exit. Always have fresh clean oil and you will have no problems.

[hyracer]

corvairbob,

Actually your getting excellent MPG on your GT already, most posts (especially with auto equiped cars) are much lower than that. There are just a handful of us that average between 28-30 MPG. I have Stage 1, a Power-Paq, and a host of other mods and still average 28 MPG at the same time making somewhere between 260-270 HP. So it is possible to have your cake and eat it too...

I have also found my mileage will drop if I cruise above 65 MPH. Once I start driving at 70-75 MPH I'll drop down to about 26 MPG. In our backward state of Oregon the freeway speeds are set at 65 MPH so excessive speed is no problem (except for the occasional blip to 85-90 when passing). In more liberal states that allow 75 MPH you'll see your milage drop a little.

Deen

[quicksilverdon]

My first turbo, too.
If you had a boost gauge, what good would it do without being able to control it?
I agree with no need for timer - I just go easy as I approach home.
I changed to synthetic at 1,000 miles and will stick with it.
You're doing about as well as you can expect, mileage-wise. My daughter has a GT and uses the "plus" grade of gas, not premium, and all seems fine. That doesn't impact mileage, but is a cost factor.

[Cal Cruzer]

quote:Originally posted by quicksilverdon

If you had a boost gauge, what good would it do without being able to control it?

Same reason you have a fuel gauge, oil pressure light/gauge, exhaust temp, tach or any other gauge you could elect to install. While the boost gauge is a tuning tool, it is primarily a system monitor. But you do have to know what you are looking at in terms of parameters.

[SteelBlueGT]

I dont see why U cant use a boost gauge like in the old days we used a vacuum gauge to get maximum MPG! Just use it in reverse and instead on getting the highest vacuum reading strive for the lowest amount of boost and that should get you pretty good mpg and little fun!