Turbo timer...

My parents just bought a 1995 Mitsubishi RVR. It's got a Starbo B-10 turbo timer. I haven't had any experience with turbocharged cars before, and only have a rough idea of what a turbo timer actually does (that's my first question - what exactly does it do?).

After I know what it does, I guess I need to know how to do it (try to ignore my complete cluelessness on this topic).

On the thing, this is written (incase you need to know):

STARBO
power metal oxide
silicon field effect
transistor switched
relay turbo timer
B-10

and:

MOS POWER FET SOLID STATE TURBO TIMER

[ ] [ ] [ ] [ ]

POWER 1 2 3

{ } { } { } { }

OFF |_ POWER ON _|

^ that's my attempt at a diagram of the other face of the thing.

[ ] = light
{ } = button

I'm not so clueless as to not know what the button between "POWER" and "OFF" does :p The other 3 buttons though, between "POWER ON" and "1", "2" and "3", light up their respective lights. What do those numbers mean? What does turning the on do?

Thanks in advance for any help you can give me.

P.S. If anyone knows where to get any "Starbo" information, that'd also be appreciated - it's not often google comes up with next to nothing.

A turbo timer lets the car idle after the ignition is switched off for a set period of time (usually 1-4 minutes) to allow oil flow through the turbo center section. The non-loaded engine can then cool the turbo enough to prevent bearing damage from coked oil (oil that has burned into a nasty sludge, which chokes off proper oil flow over time). I've never heard of Starbo before, but I did find a cached webpage on Google from a dead site with some manner of explanation on how to set it up...click here (http://216.239.53.100/search?q=cache:GlbcSb2MuLsC:sswain.tripod.com/supra/starbo.htm+starbo+turbo+timers&hl=en&ie=UTF-8). Hope this helps.

Thanks for the reply. I've since tried out the turbo timer, and the "1", "2" and "3" I mentioned are actually "1", "3" and "5" minutes of idling after the ignition is switched off.

Also, the handbook that we got says to let it idle for "around 1 minute" when "you have been driving fast (over 80 km/h), up / down hills ... etc". Is it better to err on the side of caution and use it quite often? Or go by what they say and use it only when you've actually used the car?

ive got a starbo b12 and dont have any idea how to use the thing. it came with the car and hasnt got any instructions.have you any idea how to work it?thanks

I have never heard of that kind of turbo timer... but in my last car i had a greedy turbo timer and even not driving the car hard the turbo will heat up rather fast .. so if you drive the car hard or not it is a good thing to let the car run for at least 1 min ... if you do drive the car hard i would recomend setting the timer for 3+ min....

Since my last post,ive been messing around with the turbo timer and sorted out how to use it. well dont know exactly how to use all the different features on it but know how to use the turbo timer bit, which ive set to 3mins. so if any1 needs any help on how to use a stabo b-12 turbo timer send me a quick post or email.thanks