Well, time to solve the boost problem. Diagnosis will start bright & early at 8am tomorrow. For those that don't know, the deal is the turbo spools and sounds fine; it was replaced by me (painfully) about three weeks ago so I'm sure it's fine. During the replacement, I had a good look at the inside of the crossover pipe so I'm reasonably confident that it isn't collapsed. Max boost is about 1.15 bar. I have tried bypassing the cycling valve with no change. What say you vetrans of 951dom?

 

I got my test pipe out of my car that you could swap in to check if it's your cat.
A tip to check a stuck open wastegate, put your hand on the wastegate dump pipe while the car is on and idling for about 10 mins, if it's hot, or hotter than your cat, than it's stuck open.

btw, are you watching the boston game

 

Are you using the stock boost gauge? If it's the collapsed cat pipe, it will boost fully but not make power. If it is not boosting, you are leaking somewhere. Check all hose clamps and boots.

 

I'm absolutely certain all the clamps are tight; there are a couple of brittle / cracked hoses including the two that go from the air / oil separator to the intake and of course the one from the venturi to the intercooler pipe, but it's plugged off securely at present. Boost reading is 1.1-ish bar on the stock gauge. Personally I suspect the wastegate is stuck because (1) pulling cycle valve line does nothing, (2) car was warehoused for a few months before I bought it, (3) they do that sometimes, (4) according to Clark's Garage, 1.2 bar is approximately the amount of resistance afforded by the wastegate spring - that's very close to the level I'm getting. I'm betting on the wastegate, but that's just me.

And yes I saw every miserable moment of the game. Truly sad. I really didn't want to have to root for the Cardinals, but it looks like I'll have to now (well, I suppose it COULD be the Astros. . .)

I truly hate the Yankees with the intensity of a million flaming suns.

 

When I knocked the guts out of my cat a few years back I found that the parts that came out were more than 50% melted over. There's pics on my web page (restoration page I think). So that was a substantial restriction.

 

sorry to hijack the tread, but got a quick ques to OZ951;
Is this enought clearence between the t04e and the intake when the engine starts to move? I`m also going to do the t04e swap in the winter.

 

Hpw can you be so sure it's fine, maybe there's an installation problem? Was the car building boost before, or not? Why did you replace it?

Can anyone else hear their turbos? I've never noticed mine making any sound.

 

Did you try clamping the line that goes to the WG to see what boost does? Did you check the diverter valve? If you blow into the vacuum line side of it and it holds pressure it's probably fine.

If you think you're WG is stuck open, just pull the pipe that goes from the WG to the cat/test pipe. You'll be able to see if the valve is open.

Another quick check option it to start the car up cold and feel the cat pipe (just before the cat) and the WG to cat pipe. If they heat up at the same rate, you're WG is probably stuck open. If the WG to cat pipe heats up much slower, it's probably fine. Good luck.

 

Yea; the old turbo had something go through it; the intake vanes got shredded. Danno nicely sold me a spare k26 he had lying around so I installed that, cleaned out the induction system, etc. I'm almost certain the turbo is fine because I can hear it spooling and it does build boost, only it stops at 1.1-1.2 bar. It did the same thing before (before the old one got shredded anyway). There's no rattling noise that would indicate a crumbled catylitic or anything and the diverter valve seems (strangely) fine.

Yea, I'm going to do that WG check later today; I'll let you know what I find. If it is stuck open is there any chance of trying to save it or just replace it and don't deal with it?

Is the pipe you're talking about also double-walled by chance? That'd be a good one to drop if so because then I could check the WG and the pipe at one time.

 

Sounds like a leak or faulty wastegate to me... if the wastegate is stuck open, upgrade. Don't bother with the stock POS!

I can hear my turbo spool more than my exhaust note, Peckster.

 

Yea, if that's the case I'd just call Danno and get a Guru probably.

 

Get outta here! I must be going deaf, too many rock concerts in my mis-spent youth.

I need to buy one of those turbo noise makers you put in the exhaust pipe.

 

Yes you can obtain sufficient clearance with a little grinding of that lug, if using a die grinder just take it easy. If filing by hand its still pretty easy. Just make sure that the bracket for the throttle return spring is fixed securely to the throttle body. I recommend loctited screws with a low profile head.

 

UPDATE:

I pulled the cat pipe off to look at it. There's no obvious collapse looking in the ends. I also unscrewed the plug on the bottom of the cat and looked in there; nothing obviously out of place, the interior mesh looks solid and in good condition.

Since the car wasn't building boost prior to the turbo replacement, I'm ruling out the turbocharger itself (plus I can hear it spool under normal driving and I am getting SOME boost - just not much more than 1.1 or so). The "feel the wastegate dump pipe" check on a cold engine looked (felt really) normal - the dump pipe did NOT get hot at the same rate as the header / crossover pipe feeding the wastegate. I REALLY don't want to pull the crossover pipe off, but I suppose that's the most likely culprit now unless there's something hella whack going on with the wastegate and it's closing fully at idle then opening fully under boost or something (maybe a busted wastegate spring would do that?)

Any other thoughts? I'll probably yank the crossover pipe and wastegate tomorrow (got sick of working on the car tonight and I wanted to see the extra innings of the Red Sox game). I'll keep y'all posted.

 

Double check the intake rubber hoses between the turbo outlet and the manifold inlet (at the intercooler etc.). Make sure the BOV (Divertor valve) is seating correctly.