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Turbo spooling but not boosting

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sillylepricon37

10+ Year Contributor
128
0
Dec 17, 2008
Rapid City, South_Dakota
Big 16g Turbo- Spools but does not boost. It will idle forever and be fine...we pull the car out of the garage and take it around the block for 5 min and pull back into the garage. pop the hood. the turbo is glowing red. after only 5 minutes. it will spool. you can hear it. but it will not boost the car. and the blow off valve is not releasing air. no matter where you tune the bov. spent 2 hours tuning it and it still sounds the same every time. oil lines and coolant lines are hooked up correctly. has minor minor shaft play.



tell me what you think. but how much money should i get back from the guy who sold me the turbo.??
 
I would do a boost leak test, and check the wastegate, but also check your exhaust to make sure your catalytic converter isn't clogged either.
 
well the reason i think turbo is because in 5 minutes literally, the turbo is glowing red....the wastegate is good and i have a minor boost leak but that will be fixed soon.
 
What psi does it read and what gas are you using? You may be knocking real bad and retarding timing which could be why it doesn't boost like normal. Turbos do get red hot occasionally. There is 1500* gas inside of the turbine housing which is pretty damn hot.
 
I don't see how it could be the turbo itself, especially the wastegate. If it was the wastegate the exhaust would be bypassing the turbine, so the only way it could possibly glow red is if your timing is ridiculously low. You're working the turbo really hard for some reason such as a massive leak. Do you have a logger of some kind to at least see timing and airflow, and maybe knock?
 
there was 2 ways you could hook up the stock boost controller. there was a way to make it run 8 psi, cap the wastegate i think? and 12 psi which is just stock. either way it does the same thing. but its at 8 lbs. the guy who helped me with the timing said it was dead on. it is not knocking at all, its a fresh motor. is it a possibility that a bearing is seized up in the turbo?

also i am running 91 octane. (pump gas)

i talked to my buddy, he has a 60-1 turbonetics ball bearing turbo. he said it takes him a really long time to make his turbo glow red, and thats running 38lbs. he said he had to beat the shit out of his turbo for a long time to get his to glow like mine is right now. we litterally were in the car for 5 min. we hit 4.5k rpms max. there has got to be something wrong with the turbo. he lit his cigarette of the manifold and said in 4 years he has only done this once before LOL.
 
First go check for boost leaks(and the obvious blown couplings). Do you have a boost gauge(aftermarket one hooked up to a source on the intake)? Whats it showing. Can you datalog? Post up a log. Your either running super lean, running NO timing, or your just knocking out the butt and causing what i just stated. Lastly go and check for BOOST LEAKS. There is NOTHING wrong with the turbo.
 
there was 2 ways you could hook up the stock boost controller. there was a way to make it run 8 psi, cap the wastegate i think? and 12 psi which is just stock. either way it does the same thing. but its at 8 lbs. the guy who helped me with the timing said it was dead on. it is not knocking at all, its a fresh motor. is it a possibility that a bearing is seized up in the turbo?

also i am running 91 octane. (pump gas)

i talked to my buddy, he has a 60-1 turbonetics ball bearing turbo. he said it takes him a really long time to make his turbo glow red, and thats running 38lbs. he said he had to beat the shit out of his turbo for a long time to get his to glow like mine is right now. we litterally were in the car for 5 min. we hit 4.5k rpms max. there has got to be something wrong with the turbo. he lit his cigarette of the manifold and said in 4 years he has only done this once before LOL.

A. There is only one way to do it right. Compressor cover/j-pipe/nipple directly after turbo---boost controller---wastegate. The "---" represents vacuum line.

B. There is mechanical timing and ecu timing. Mechanical timing needs to be set correctly so you don't damage the car or have it run poorly. Did he use a timing light to set the base timing? The ecu timing (don't know the exact name unless it's base timing) is when the car decides to ignite fuel mixture in the cylinder. Advanced timing has fuel ignited earlier which allows more fuel to combust and stay in the cylinder longer causing more power to be produced. Retarded timing is just the opposite. Fuel ignites later and if real bad, the fuel will still be burning after the exhaust valves are open and going into the turbine housing causing the red hot cigarette lighter.

C. Knock is fuel detonating which is engine damaging. Caused when people attempt to run too much boost on an octane lower than what is needed. Hot intake charges can help cause knock too. Once knock happens, see B.

D. Your buddys car is also not having problems unlike yours. Ball bearing turbos have less resistance in them as well so they won't heat up as much from usage, but will still be hot from the exhaust gas. Like I said in prior posting can be up in the 1500* range. Your exhaust may be in the 1700* range if you are lean or knocking.

E. Was the turbo new, used or rebuilt. How many miles? Just putting that in there before I go and say that it's not the turbo. If there was a problem with the turbo to the point of it going red hot, it probably would have killed itself.

Myself and a few others have stated already that it sounds like you are retarding timing severly. We don't know why, which is why you need to get it logged. Do you have a wideband or EGT gauge? MAKE SURE you boost leak test and fix ALL leaks. Keep testing until there are NONE left.

Oh, and start using correct grammar please...
 
Need more details like LiQuIdX is asking for above.

You say its not boosting? How do you know that? Stock boost gauge at zero? Is there a rev limit somewhere there usually isn't? Could you only get it up to a certain speed? If so, might be a TPS problem or your ECU is bugging out. Grammar and more Details sir.
 
Okay i recently pulled my turbo off and that is not the problem. So the turbo is ruled out and you guys were right. Now where do i go from here?
 
I would think that you are working that turbo really hard, or the exhaust is really restricting it for some reason holding the hot gas in and restricting the turbine. This is only a guess and may not apply to you at all. Just trying to help
 
Yeah. seems like its either my exhaust, or timing. the bov is not releasing pressure no matter where its tuned at. no clue why and i have no idea if it helps you all figure it out.
 
I think its still pulling timing.
Checked the cat, its good.
Mechanical Timing is dead on.
Replaced the Knock Sensor.
Turbo seems to be fine. Spins freely
Wastegate is opening to early
Manifold Is still glowing.
I got the Boost Controller and Wastegate hooked up correctly.
The BOV is releasing air.
Spark Plugs in the correct Firing order.
Checked the injectors.
New ECU

I swear this car is cursed and only god knows whats wrong with it.
 
I had a problem similar to this, and it was because the CAS went bad and caused it to retard the timing about 20* at cruise and about 15* at wot. I would check your CAS.

CAS is Cam Angle Sensor correct? If this messes with the ignition timing, the ignition timing is not adjustable on a 99
 
Hey guys, quick question. I just recently had a newer transmission put in my car with a stage 2 clutchmasters new clutch, had the rear main done also,starter,motor mounts. But anyways when I got the car back I waited a good break in period of 600 miles or so before I boosted.. Then just the other day I went to give it a boost. And there's nothing. I don't know whats going on.. maybe stuck open wastegate? The BOV still is letting out pressure so i know theres air flow in there, and you can hear the turbo spooling.. I'm changing out all the intercooler piping and current greddy fmic thats on there now.. hoping that will help. But any other ideas?

Thanks!
 
Hey guys, quick question. I just recently had a newer transmission put in my car with a stage 2 clutchmasters new clutch, had the rear main done also,starter,motor mounts. But anyways when I got the car back I waited a good break in period of 600 miles or so before I boosted.. Then just the other day I went to give it a boost. And there's nothing. I don't know whats going on.. maybe stuck open wastegate? The BOV still is letting out pressure so i know theres air flow in there, and you can hear the turbo spooling.. I'm changing out all the intercooler piping and current greddy fmic thats on there now.. hoping that will help. But any other ideas?

Thanks!

Check for boost leaks before changing anything.
 
It is your turbo. my oil filter came off my car and it starved my turbo from oil for a few seconds and my bearings went out. mine still make the sound like it was spooling and it still have vacuum but would not go into boost.
 
Mine just did that. My Turbine shaft was snapped in half.

Sounded like it was spooling, built no boost.

So i checked it and it was for sure snapped in half.

Jared
 
A. There is only one way to do it right. Compressor cover/j-pipe/nipple directly after turbo---boost controller---wastegate. The "---" represents vacuum line.

Hey LiquidX, a little bit offtopic but I thought it was better to take go from the cold side of the intercooler. Because I thought that gave a more accurate value of what the boost is that is going into the intake manifold, and closer to what would be on the boost gauge.

Otherwise. What kind of turbo is it? Has it worked previously? I have been able to get my car to boost a little bit even when my internal wastegate flapper was not even hooked up to the rod off the actuator. So if you are showing no boost, then you need to check the wastegate, and boost leaks. This should be done before even trying to drive the car for the first time after any major (even minor) work.
 
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