Boost Issues

SashET · Post by **SashET** » Wed Sep 06, 2006 11:18 am

Hi All,
I have a problem with my car where I cannot hit boost in 1st or second until some really high revs (like 4k onwards). I have done my homework by reading through the old forums and thought that it might be the divider in the exhaust manifold that had melted over. I took it apart and indeed it was (I don't know how to post pics so I can email them to those interested). I had a spare manifold that I die ground back far enough to stop the restriction and bolted the whole thing back together. It went a little better but still no boost in 1st or second. I was reading another thread about blown inlet manifold somewhere so I'm starting to head down this track now but I need to know a few things first;

- The carbon canister has 3 lines going to it. One from the fuel tank, one from inlet manifold (after the butterfly which is what my boost gauge is connected to and the other should go to the throtlle body before the butterfly somewhere). I dont have this 3rd line at all, if someone can post or email me a picture of where this hose goes, I'd greatly appreciate it (please make the picture perfectly clear as to where it goes). I'm thinking this might be a source of a boost leak.

- I do hear a gush of air as I approach zero on my boost gauge which I thought was just the air going into the engine but now starting to think this might be the blown inlet manifold gasket, plenum gasket or the throttle body gasket. I have check all the piping and thats definatley not leaking. Any thoughts/suggestions here?

- This might be a stupid question but here goes anyway; Can you make boost in nuetral just by revving the engine? I had read that the t2's are supposed to start making boost at 2.7k. Any thoughts/suggestions here?

- I have a studdering problem when approaching zero on the boost gauge which I'm starting to think might be related to this. It's definately not the 'wiggle the ecu wires' as I've tried that several times. I have a spare ecu which I might try for this but some thoughts would be great. Also, I have the ecu in diagostic mode all the time, could this be effecting anything?

- Last time I cecked my spark plugs (like last week), they did seem to be a little white which suggests running lean (according to the haynes manual). Could a blown inlet manifold making the car lean at idle as it sucks in un-metered air and doesn't add fuel to compensate. When on boost, it blows the air out the blown part of the gasket. They are gapped to 0.8mm. Any thoughts/suggestions here?

- PCV valve is working correctly (letting air in from the crank case/rocker cover to the inlet after the butterfly but not the other way around i.e. boost pressurizing the crack). I'll still take this out and give it a good clean with degreaser and make sure its still working correctly.

- TPS (switch type only - not variable) is switching off at 1.2k or so revs which seems to advance the timing by 5 or so degrees so I think this is working fine. I've watched it using the timing gun and slowing throttling.

- Timing is set to 15 degrees btdc. There is a special way to do this (i.e. looking through the top pully or something - which pully?) so if someone could explain which pully and exactly how/where to look through, this would be great.

- I am also looking into buying new coil for this. A HEC-715 I believe was the recomended type from the old forum. Any thoughts/suggestions here?

- While I'm at it, if someone could take a picture of all their vacuum hoses and email it to me (maybe with some pointers/arrows/text boxes), this would be great.

Car Specs:
ET 86
Completely stock apart form a manual boost controller/bleed valve
NO afm relocation yet
t2 (oil cooled only)
low mount manifold
boost gauge
Run it on regular unleaded
battery in the boot (I have read the tread on this and will be making some changes - thanks ben)
wiper washer relocated in the boot too
lowered - really low
gearbox/drive shaft leak - performance plus with this mod!

Anyway, apologies for the really long post, but I really need help now cause I'm starting to exhaust (excuse the pun) all possiblities.

Cheers
Sash
PM or 0415 620 909 or copy both emails please.

sash.neskovski@ap.csplc.com
sashndan@optusnet.com.au

Post by **The Renegade** » Wed Sep 06, 2006 11:40 am

Hi Sash,
It's really hard to dignose this without being there in person (well, it is for me anyways) but here's a couple of ideas.

The very 1st thing I'd do is completely remove your boost controller. This could be the root of all your evil.

On my 1st Exa when the exhaust divided melted over a chunk of it (about 5mmsq.) fell in to the turbo. I was lucky, it happened at or near idle, but if it happened during boost it could do some damage. The result for me was very very sluggish boost, if any.

Good Luck.

BQ.05.TD · Post by **BQ.05.TD** » Wed Sep 06, 2006 4:30 pm

make shore ya actualator isnt faulty. i though i had blown me turbo the toehr day cause i could only get 2psi at like 6000 rpm in 3rd gear. but it was my actualator rod it had come of the wastegate.

and yes check ya boost controller

angel · Post by **angel** » Wed Sep 06, 2006 10:48 pm

BQ.05.TD wrote:make shore ya actualator isnt faulty. i though i had blown me turbo the toehr day cause i could only get 2psi at like 6000 rpm in 3rd gear. but it was my actualator rod it had come of the wastegate.

and yes check ya boost controller

maybe even take the vac line of the acuator, and see if it boosts then, offcourse dont thrash so it boosts to 20psi,
And yes the HEC715 bosch is the correct and excellent choice

SashET · Post by **SashET** » Mon Sep 11, 2006 8:37 am

Ok, I've taken the boost bleed valve off and returned it to normal (i.e. strainght hose from the turbo to the actuator) and no difference. It still surges/jerks when approaching zero on the gauge. I can still hear the boost but cant feel it. I also bought a HEC715 and tried fitting it on the weekend. Took the transister thingy off the old coil and tried running the two without success. The car would not start. I got the coil for $43 from repco because the packaging was open so I was happy, but when the car wouldn't start, I took it back and claimed it was faulty. They has given me another one so I'll have to try that tonight. Is here a special way to hook these up with the power transister thingy? Please help, no boost=no fun!

angel · Post by **angel** » Mon Sep 11, 2006 9:37 am

SashET wrote:Ok, I've taken the boost bleed valve off and returned it to normal (i.e. strainght hose from the turbo to the actuator) and no difference. It still surges/jerks when approaching zero on the gauge. I can still hear the boost but cant feel it. I also bought a HEC715 and tried fitting it on the weekend. Took the transister thingy off the old coil and tried running the two without success. The car would not start. I got the coil for $43 from repco because the packaging was open so I was happy, but when the car wouldn't start, I took it back and claimed it was faulty. They has given me another one so I'll have to try that tonight. Is here a special way to hook these up with the power transister thingy? Please help, no boost=no fun!

with the coil side of things, all you have to do is make a straight replacement of the coils, but you must keep the transistor or it wont work.

Post by **etking** » Mon Sep 11, 2006 1:15 pm

also stop running it on normal unleaded, Premium atleast ... i run BP ultimate 98ron in mine...

id check the actuator, can to physically move the actautor rod with some pliers or something? maybe its stuck...

SashET · Post by **SashET** » Mon Sep 11, 2006 1:32 pm

Regular unleaded should be fine for this car. I'll try the premium unleaded and see how that goes, but I'm doubtfull anything will change because of this. I have moved the wastgate rod backwards and forwards using a pair of pliers so I know that works. I will take the dump pipe out and see how much the gate is actually closed (i.e. use a feeler gauge to check for gaps). Any other suggestions?

BQ.05.TD · Post by **BQ.05.TD** » Mon Sep 11, 2006 4:14 pm

SashET wrote:Regular unleaded should be fine for this car. I'll try the premium unleaded and see how that goes, but I'm doubtfull anything will change because of this.

NO NO NO u must use at least 95 octane. if its a leaded model u have to use high octane fuel as leaded fuel had a higher octane back in the day. and if u dont use it then u will get detonation and pinging real easy

NZLeprix · Post by **NZLeprix** » Mon Sep 11, 2006 5:19 pm

Yes.. this must use premium fuel.
My JDM Import one says to use 97octane in the fuel filler.. and fuel in Japan is way better quality than we get in Australia or NZ

SashET · Post by **SashET** » Mon Sep 11, 2006 7:27 pm

OK OK, I'll use premium from now on. I made a bit of a breakthrough today. I pulled out my spare ecu and wacked it in early this morning. Nothing changed. When I got to work, I was playing around with some of the wires connecting to the ecu (some have tape around them, not sure why). Then I went to work. On the way home, the car was way different, didn't studder once and boost was starting to come on. I can get her up to 5 psi now in second, third, fourth & fifth and shes starting to go good (boost controller gone now!). But still no boost in first gear. This has me scratching my head as to why. I still can't work out where the top line on the carbon canister connects to before the throttle, anyone? I've blocked it off for now. Good news, I managed to get the coil to work (can't really feel any difference from before). Anyway I'll keep plugging away at it until I get this thing running well. Cheers for the help so far.

Sash

Post by **The Renegade** » Mon Sep 11, 2006 7:43 pm

BQ.05.TD wrote: NO NO NO u must use at least 95 octane. if its a leaded model u have to use high octane fuel as leaded fuel had a higher octane back in the day. and if u dont use it then u will get detonation and pinging real easy

Actually, there's no difference between the leaded & unleaded engines.
Remember, these things all came from Japan where they have unleaded or unleaded.
But, the 95RON is a good idea, and if you're running more boost, more octane is your friend.

Post by **The Renegade** » Mon Sep 11, 2006 7:48 pm

NZLeprix wrote:Yes.. this must use premium fuel.
My JDM Import one says to use 97octane in the fuel filler.. and fuel in Japan is way better quality than we get in Australia or NZ

Mine recommends 95RON.
I agree that they have better quality fuel in Japan, but 97RON there is 97RON here.
The difference is that 97RON here is mega super ultra premium, but over in Japan it's probably just premium.

Post by **The Renegade** » Mon Sep 11, 2006 7:53 pm

SashET wrote:OK OK, I'll use premium from now on. I made a bit of a breakthrough today. I pulled out my spare ecu and wacked it in early this morning. Nothing changed. When I got to work, I was playing around with some of the wires connecting to the ecu (some have tape around them, not sure why). Then I went to work. On the way home, the car was way different, didn't studder once and boost was starting to come on. I can get her up to 5 psi now in second, third, fourth & fifth and shes starting to go good (boost controller gone now!). But still no boost in first gear. This has me scratching my head as to why. I still can't work out where the top line on the carbon canister connects to before the throttle, anyone? I've blocked it off for now. Good news, I managed to get the coil to work (can't really feel any difference from before). Anyway I'll keep plugging away at it until I get this thing running well. Cheers for the help so far.

Sash

It's possible that the loom near the plug is where the problem lie.
Check it under the carpet, and the pins on the plug itself.
Also check for corrosion, as sometimes if the car looses a window or has a bad leak and the floor gets enough water in it, the plug might get wet and it will get corrosion on some of the pins.
Or, if theres been passengers with heavy feet, the loom gets damaged.

BQ.05.TD · Post by **BQ.05.TD** » Mon Sep 11, 2006 7:59 pm

The Renegade wrote:
BQ.05.TD wrote: NO NO NO u must use at least 95 octane. if its a leaded model u have to use high octane fuel as leaded fuel had a higher octane back in the day. and if u dont use it then u will get detonation and pinging real easy
Actually, there's no difference between the leaded & unleaded engines.
Remember, these things all came from Japan where they have unleaded or unleaded.
But, the 95RON is a good idea, and if you're running more boost, more octane is your friend.

but in jap there shittes fuel is like 97-97 octane. and there best is 101-103 octane. thats y all STIs evos etc make less power over here cause they have to de-tune them for out shit fuel.