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How To Make The Most Of Your Turbo Engine

8K views 17 replies 7 participants last post by  Get Inline 
#1 · (Edited)
1. Use Ethanol-Free Fuel: I would recommend using 91 octane regardless of how you drive. Try experimenting with both and see which one is more efficient if you are not convinced. A sensibly driven engine using 91 octane should be able to easily outweigh the added costs of using premium fuel while having more power on tap and keeping the inside of your engine cleaner.

2. Adjust Your Driving Habits: As you may have noticed, turbo engines behave and respond much different from NA. You may notice some turbo lag when stomping on the pedal. Because of this, I recommend to always roll onto the throttle in one linear motion rather than stomping on the pedal, as this gives your turbo more time to spool resulting in better response. You may also notice that even though you have the pedal all the way down to the floor, the engine will not shift at the 6000RPM redline. This is because the stock tune is optimized to make healthy torque in the lower RPM, meaning the engine will run out of breath past 5000RPM. Plus, Turbo engines run rich at high RPM's to protect the engine internals from the heat and stress of the turbo, so always short shift at least 500-1000RPM even if you are racing. If you tune your ECU, you will notice that the engine pulls harder to redline.

3. Allow Engine To Cool After Hard Driving: Never turn the engine off right after driving it hard. Always allow the engine to idle for a couple minutes before shutting off to cool the turbo.

4. Good Ol' Italian Tune-up: Don't be scared to bring the RPM's up from time to time! This will keep your injectors clean as well as limit the amount of carbon build-up on your intake valves. Carbon likes to form when the temperature in your intake valves fall below 400F, so an occasional stint of hard driving helps bring the temps of your intake valves up thus limiting the amount of carbon build-up.

5. Drive Highway At Least 30 Minutes A Week: The more you drive highway, the better. There are many benefits to highway driving, but mainly this helps keep fuel dilution of your engine oil low.

6. Use Fuel System Cleaner Every 50,000Miles: This, along with some hard acceleration is a great way to keep your fuel system and injectors clean.

7. Oil: I would recommend using Motul, Liqui Moly, Pennzoil Ultra Platinum.. - to name a few top-notch oils. Stick to Mann oil filters. Don't be scared to use 5w40 if you drive in a hot climate. Change oil more often if you drive in the city.

8. NEVER Idle Your Engine: The less you idle the engine, the better. It is especially bad if you just started the engine and It is running rich/retarding the timing to help warm up quicker. Just drive off right away, and drive normally until the engine is fully warmed up.
 
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#2 ·
1. Use Ethanol-Free Fuel: I would recommend using 91 octane regardless of how you drive. Try experimenting with both and see which one is more efficient if you are not convinced. A sensibly driven engine using 91 octane should be able to easily outweigh the added costs of using premium fuel while having more power on tap and keeping the inside of your engine cleaner.

2. Adjust Your Driving Habits: As you may have noticed, turbo engines behave and respond much different from NA. You may notice some turbo lag when stomping on the pedal. Because of this, I recommend to always roll onto the throttle in one linear motion rather than stomping on the pedal, as this gives your turbo more time to spool resulting in better response. You may also notice that even though you have the pedal all the way down to the floor, the engine will not shift at the 6000RPM redline. This is because the stock tune is optimized to make healthy torque in the lower RPM, meaning the engine will run out of breath past 5000RPM. Plus, Turbo engines run rich at high RPM's to protect the engine internals from the heat and stress of the turbo, so always short shift at least 500-1000RPM even if you are racing. If you tune your ECU, you will notice that the engine pulls harder to redline.

3. Allow Engine To Cool After Hard Driving: Never turn the engine off right after driving it hard. Always allow the engine to idle for a couple minutes before shutting off to cool the turbo.

4. Good Ol' Italian Tune-up: Don't be scared to bring the rpm's up from time to time! This will keep your injectors clean as well as limit the amount of carbon build-up on your intake valves. Carbon likes to form when the temperature in your intake valves fall below 400F, so an occasional stint of hard driving helps bring the temps of your intake valves up thus limiting the amount of carbon build-up.

5. Drive Highway At Least Once A Week: The more you drive highway, the better. There are many benefits to highway driving, but mainly this helps keep fuel dilution of your engine oil low.

6. Use Fuel System Cleaner Every 50,000Miles: This, along with some hard acceleration is a great way to keep your fuel system and injectors clean.

7. Oil: I would recommend using Motul, Liqui Moly, Pennzoil Ultra Platinum, AMSoil - to name a few top-notch oils. Stick to Mann oil filters. Don't be scared to use 5w40 if you drive in a hot climate. Change oil more often if you drive in the city.
Some good tips listed here.
Except for calling AMsoil a top notch oil.
 
#4 ·
Well I'm not sure about top-notch, but it's definitely not a bad oil. Better than Mobil 1 without a doubt.

I would add to use Top Tier Fuels, regardless of turbo or naturally aspirated ...

https://www.toptiergas.com
The NA SKYACTIV motor is designed to run only on 87 octane fuel, so using anything else is a waste unless you have an ECU tune. Plus basically all new engines are direct injection, meaning the point on that website about keeping your intake valves clean is absolute nonsense because the top tier fuel does not pass through your valves anymore like it used to with port injection. Plus, regardless what fuel you use, even if it's 87 octane that will still keep your valves clean as long as your engine is port-injected. I am all for using top-tier fuel, but only if you have an ECU tune/ a car that either recommends or requires 91 octane fuel. After all, I did suggest 91 octane fuel (which is what you would consider a top-tier fuel) In my very first point. Regardless whether you use 87 or 91, I still think that choosing whatever in your area that happens to be ethanol-free is more important, as these fuels improve efficiency and are better for your fuel system. For example, Shell 91 in Canada is ethanol-free and has lots of good engine detergents, and this is what I use exclusively in my BMW. Great stuff.
 
#5 ·
Regarding #1

"1. Use Ethanol-Free Fuel: I would recommend using 91 octane regardless of how you drive. Try experimenting with both and see which one is more efficient if you are not convinced. A sensibly driven engine using 91 octane should be able to easily outweigh the added costs of using premium fuel while having more power on tap and keeping the inside of your engine cleaner".

Ethanal-Free Fuel: I would agree that generally speaking it is better to use. Depending on the cost vs. gas with ethanal it will most likely cost you more to fill up and for a lot of folks it is hard to find. In far more places than not, higher octane fuels will never pay for themselves when comparing increased gas mileage. You will always come out ahead $ wise using regular opposed to premium. The (very small) increased miles per gallon using premium will cost you more to use. I do most certainly agree you will see increased HP with premium but most people will find that if they are trying to get the most for their money at the pump they will come out ahead using regular (87).

If you are using Top Tier fuel it doesn't matter whether using premium or regular, both are equal when it comes to helping keep your engine clean.

FWIW - I use premium, I like the extra power if offers but if I were trying to save as much $ at the pump as possible I would run regular. It's top tier only for me. Running "Johnny's cut rate gas" to save a $ or two is the worst thing you can do for your engine, actually your entire fuel system.

As far as Full Synthetic Oils go, we all have our favorites but it's about the same as splitting hairs when comparing the 5-6-7-8 top quality oils. I'd suggest picking one and then staying with it. Between Wal-Mart and Amazon you can find a great deal on your favorite and buy an extra "jug" when they offer a rebate. The last two Pennzoil Ultra Platinum 5qu. jugs were $14 each from Amazon with the rebate. You usually see Amazon and Wal-Mart offer them a couple of times a year.
 
#6 ·
For me, I've experimented between basically every type of fuel available in my area (87 and 91 with ethanol, + shell 91 without ethanol) And I found that my fuel economy went down the drain when driving even relatively spirited using 87 octane. It wasn't really any better with ethanol blended 91. The ethanol-free 91 I used got far more consistent numbers regardless of how I drove and I found the fuel savings almost entirely negated the added price premium. I noticed a more healthy power increase by switching to ethanol-free 91 than I did going from regular 87 to 91, plus the engine ran better.
 
#9 ·
The next best choice IMO is Petro Canada 91.

I am not sure which car you drive, but if you own the NA 2.5L don't bother using anything but 87 fuel. This engine will not adjust timing for higher octane fuels meaning you will not get any sort of improved performance or economy. All the 87 octane fuels are basically the same. If you drive the NA motor, I would strongly suggesting getting the OV 91 octane tune.

I've tried lots of different fuels with my BMW, which recommends 91 octane. Esso claims their 91 octane fuel is ethanol-free but it sure didn't feel like it to me and I did not notice improved MPG like I did with Shell. I took a look at some forums in regards to this topic and someone else said the exact same thing. Petro Canada was very good, almost if not just as good as Shell's V-Power.
 
#17 ·
8. NEVER Idle Your Engine: The less you idle the engine, the better. It is especially bad if you just started the engine and It is running rich/retarding the timing to help warm up quicker. Just drive off right away, and drive normally until the engine is fully warmed up.

@Get Inline

What's wrong with idling engine? What does idling do?

I live in SoCal with LA style traffic. Everyone here practically is always idling their engine in bumper to bumper traffic
 
#18 ·
Well if you are sitting in traffic there is obviously not much you can do to avoid it. I mean idling your engine like, sitting in a parking lot or especially when you have just started the car in the morning.

Idle means exactly what it implies - the engine is idling, or standing by waiting to be properly used. It is not good for the engine at all to idle for prolonged periods of time, especially when the engine is still cold and therefore running richer than usual to warm up your cats, wasting all this fuel and wearing out your engine even more in the process. You actually use roughly the same amount of fuel when idling as you do driving a steady 60MPH on the highway..
 
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