Greg H.

but hits .7 bar boost. By sputtering I mean it feels like the fuel or ignition is cutting out. Any ideas? This is a car I'm looking to buy and its going into the shop. The owner thinks there's something wrong with the turbos. I'm thinking its a minor problem.

Greg H.

911/Q45

Spark plugs, distributor cap and rotor, fuel filter? How many miles on car and can you document replacement of the previous items? Let him think it's the turbos and bargain hard! It wouldn't pull .7 with bad turbos.

Dan89_930

Rev limiter? Took me a couple of times hitting the rev limiter to get used to the fact that the rpm's get to redline much more quickly in my 97 993tt than in my '89 930.

Chances are 911/Q45 is spot on.

Dan

viperbob

It can be a bunch of things... It will need a full diagnostic most likely. Off hand, I would look at the divertor valves, air line leaks, knock sensors, or even simply the plugs. Of course there is the fuel filter, injectors, et al... Most likely, nothing major though...

How many miles on the car? What has been the service history?

EThec

My car sputters as well at higher rpm. it will pull hard, a full .8 bar up to around 5700-6000 rpm then sputter. But, that's just beyond the peak hp/rpm so upshifting puts the rpm's right back in the full boost range ......... admittedly i don't know if it should be sputtering or cutting out a little higher up, but if you're past the peak rpm/hp why wouldn't you want to shift?

EThec

........ is your car doing this above 5700 rpm? Or is it doing this at lower rpm's? Is it normal for the hp to really drop off and sputtering to occur above 5700 rpm like i described above?

Greg H.

Thanks for all the responses. This is a car I'm trying to buy and I haven't driven it yet. I was relaying a description from the current owner, but EThec's sounds about the same.

Evidently, the owner doesn't put his foot into it all that often, did a couple of weeks ago and discovered this problem. He said it was not normal, took the car to the dealer who told him he needed new turbos. He didn't think that was right and has made an appointment at a highly regarded independent for a second opinion. Since I was eventually planning on doing the hybrid turbo thing, I'm kind of hoping the dealer is correct. But I think all the advice above is probably more correct - its something other than turbos. I have to wait until the 18th to find out.

BTW, the car is a 96 and has about 32K on it. As I said, I don't think this guy hot rods too much. My bigger concern is that it is a semi-daily driver and with that kind of mileage it hasn't been driven long distances. He said it just had the 30K service and I'm wondering if it isn't ignition related as I don't think they replace ignition stuff at 30K. At least they didn't on my last car.

Greg H.

Greg H.

Oh - I thought I'd let you all know - it was the wastegate. The sputtering was the ECU reacting to an overboost situation. Since wastegates aren't serviceable (normally) the car needs new turbos. Darn.

Greg H.