Old timer at the TA in Gary told me I was killing my turbo

I was changing a oil separator on a Detroit 60 series outside Gary Indiana last summer. This crusty old dude walks over from his Pete, watches me for a minute, and says "you letting it idle 10 minutes before shutdown every time?" I said yeah I was. He laughed and said I was cooking the bearings because the oil pressure drops before the turbo spins down. He showed me his trick: idle down to 900 rpm for 90 seconds tops, then kill it. Been doing it that way ever since, no more hot shutdown issues. Anyone else hear that 10 minute rule was wrong?

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max4721d ago

And that old timer was right. I had a Cummins in my old Ford that I always let idle for 5-7 minutes after a hard run. Thought I was doing the right thing. One day I noticed a little smoke at startup and a whine that wasn't there before. Took it to a shop and they said the turbo bearings were shot. The mechanic told me the same thing - oil pressure drops off fast at idle and the turbo is still spinning. Now I just give it a minute or so at a fast idle, shut it down, and move on. Never had another turbo problem since. Simple fix but it goes against what everyone used to say.