Mine is my DD. I start and go but keep it below 3K until she's warm. I don't have to worry about cool down after boost because I live in an area that takes a good 5 minutes to get to from anywhere that I could boost.

 

I just drive it, no abuse but no worries either. It was made to be driven, and I was made to drive it

 

Absolutely agree!

 

I have 03 gt2 and if I run it hard the fan will come after I shut it off do I still need to let it run for awhile???

 

I'd say not necessarily. I have found that the fan coming on after shutoff isn't always tied to how hard you drive the car. In fact, it seems to be as much a function of the outside temperature and shading. If it's hot outside, and/or I park in the sun, the fan seems more likely to come on for a bit after engine shutoff. Perfectly normal I think.

 

What temp is considered operating?

 

The fan coming on is a function of engine bay temperature. There is a thermostat in there that activates when a threshold temperature is reached in the engine bay. I think it is something like 150F but I'd have to check. After running the car hard, you should still let the car idle for awhile afterward to allow the turbos to cool since they are reliant on oil circulation for their cooling. It is more important if you have ball bearing turbochargers (which the stock K16 and K24 turbos are not)

 

How long for most of you until the oil pressure drops. After warming up for a couple of minutes, then mild driving, mine is taking about 8 to 10 minutes. I'm running 5W-40 full synthetic. Does this seem to be a normal time? No, I don't get on it until it gets good and warm.

 

HI,That sounds about right.....

 

The Turbo is just a car. Granted short trips aren't the best thing but you bought the car to use it. If that use is 2 mile grocery run, well, so what?

To help mitigate the effects of short trips, when you can treat the car to a longer drive, long enough the engine gets fully up to temp and stays there for a while. And schedule shorter times between oil/filter services.

I have to admit I have a second car and use it for short trips. However, even so I have some mechanical sympathy for the car and try to take the long way or combine short trips so the car/engine gets up to temp, at least the engine gets hotter than it would if I did each short time without combining them.

However, the 2nd car sometimes is in the shop and I have to use the Turbo for my everyday car. Even though I sometimes can't combine trips the Turbo still has to cover about 60 miles each day for my work commute, mostly freeway driving. Also, I alternate between this 2nd car (an 02 Boxster) and my 03 Turbo so both cars see some longish drives.

In your case, and this is what I do, let the engine idle until the idle slows down to near the hot idle speed and the engine smooths up some. Then dirve the car pretty easy -- avoiding high rpms (>4K though I tend to stay below 3.5K) and high loads -- until the coolant temp gage has been on the '180' mark for a while and the oil pressure at idle shows the oil's hot.

For reference: My Turbo's hot oil pressure at idle is around 2 bar. I run Mobil 1 5w-50 (not a typo for 15w-50!) though to the best of my recollection the oil pressure with Mobil 1 0w-40 or 5w-40 does not differ enough to allow me to be able to tell which oil is in the engine if I didn't know because I supply the oil.

Once the engine's fully up to temp the car can get used like you want or need to use it.

Now I always allow the engine a 'cool down lap' -- easy driving on city/surface streets -- and some idle time to give the engine and turbos time to shed some heat if I've been pushing the car hard.

And lastly, I change the oil/filter every 5K miles.

Sincerely,

Macster.

 

Whew and I thought I was ****!