I've been battleing with the slow spool on this T04B from Bulls-eye for almost 2 months and I'm almost out of ideas. I've done intake leak test, checked for exhaust leaks and compressions tests till I was pale in the face. THERE IS NOTHING I CAN FIGURE OUT!
It's taking to redline to make 20psi in 1dt gear and in the higher gears its taking untill 5500, by 5th it can hit 2psi by 4500 but thats not good for me.

I did a 12.7 on a 1.7 60 foot and I have more then the required supporting mods,
EMS, Cams, FMIC, 2g manifold and 02 etc etc...

I'm a the point where I'm going to exchange this turbo before my warretny runs out becasue there is seriously nothing else I can think of.

I've had many people look at my logs from the track and my tune and they all say something must be wrong with the turbo becasue even on a crappy tune this thing should still spooler faster then it does. You can see on my logs it takes like half the gear to build the boost and by the time it gets up there I have to shift and start all over again.

When I baught this turbo I was told it would hit full boost by around 4000rpms.. i could even live with 4500 but 5000-5500 is rediculas, it spools like a t66 or something,.

If anyone has any ideas PLEASE let me know!!!! I'm desperate here and I really dont want to have to exchange it!!

Have you tried tightening the adjustable actuator arm? I've been having troubles with slow spool on my Bullseye turbo as well, but it's from the 38mm internal wastegate (standard with their turbos) blowing open way too soon. After tightening the adjustable actuator arm a good bit I was able to get the spool down a little bit, but it's still not acceptable for a turbo of this size to get full boost ~20psi at 4300rpm! I know it's the wastegate blowing open because after wiring the wastegate shut I was able to get ~20psi by 3800-3900rpm.

The best advice I can give you is to try tightening the hell out of the adjustable actuator arm. This will of course raise your boost, but I just don't use any sort of boost controller except for the adjustable actuator arm. If no positive results come from tightening the actuator arm, try wiring the wastegate shut. BE CAREFUL WHEN DOING A PULL WITH THE WASTEGATE WIRED SHUT! You need to keep your eyes glued to your boost gauge so that you don't overboost.

I'm thinking about just going externally gated because I've had terrible luck with internal gates, but that's an expensive option to trying to fix the internal gate

Thanks I'll try that. The AEM is good at protecting from overboosts so maybe I'll try that. If it is the wastegate that will really make me mad because I paid 125 dollars for it and for 75 bucks more I could have gone with an external gate and avoid this problem entirely. I will try making it shut. Thanks.

Do they offer any kind of refund if this is determind to be the problem? Have you spoken with them about it?

Somethings definatly wrong. I also had kinda slow spool up but that was on a basically untuned car. I was still hitting full boost by 4,000rpms.

TSIsean said:

Do they offer any kind of refund if this is determind to be the problem? Have you spoken with them about it?

Click to expand...

No, I don't believe a refund is offered, but I have spoke with David from Bullseye about this problem. The first thing to check is what I suggested. If that does not help your case, I would contact Bullseye and let them know your situation. If worse comes to worse, you'll return your turbo and they will send you a new one since your's is still under warranty.

let me tell u what it is

i had this problem, 2-5psi by redline


my problem was a stripped out wastegate arm, the arm attaches to the flapper by a rod that goes through the housing by a start pattern sort of teeth system.

My little teeth stripped out, meaning that even though the arm wasnt moving, the flapper rod rounded off, and the flapper was opening up and i couldnt not make boost

my solution???


Pull the turbo off, and WELD the arm to the ROD that goes through the turbo, pull that little dinky tiny bolt out and just weld the arm and rod together....

I get 22psi by 3800rpm in 3rd now stating at 2000rpm

nazthug said:

let me tell u what it is

i had this problem, 2-5psi by redline


my problem was a stripped out wastegate arm, the arm attaches to the flapper by a rod that goes through the housing by a start pattern sort of teeth system.

My little teeth stripped out, meaning that even though the arm wasnt moving, the flapper rod rounded off, and the flapper was opening up and i couldnt not make boost

my solution???


Pull the turbo off, and WELD the arm to the ROD that goes through the turbo, pull that little dinky tiny bolt out and just weld the arm and rod together....

I get 22psi by 3800rpm in 3rd now stating at 2000rpm

Click to expand...

Interesting i may just have to do that as i am too having problems with the wastegate even though i get 20psi by 4,000 but my problem is that i am getting some sort of boost flutter from 19psi and on and it only happens in 2nd gear and sometimes in 3rd. Sounds kinda like compressor surge

As for the posters question the answer is simple your wastegate flapper is not closing all the way. I too had this problem as well

nazthug said:

let me tell u what it is

i had this problem, 2-5psi by redline


my problem was a stripped out wastegate arm, the arm attaches to the flapper by a rod that goes through the housing by a start pattern sort of teeth system.

My little teeth stripped out, meaning that even though the arm wasnt moving, the flapper rod rounded off, and the flapper was opening up and i couldnt not make boost

my solution???


Pull the turbo off, and WELD the arm to the ROD that goes through the turbo, pull that little dinky tiny bolt out and just weld the arm and rod together....

I get 22psi by 3800rpm in 3rd now stating at 2000rpm

Click to expand...

The arm needs to be able to push the flapper open, how can it push it open if its welded as one piece?

He is welding the flapper arm lever to the flapper pivot shaft. It can still move fine.

Does someone have a pic of this or a better description becasue that doesn't make any sence to me. I still don't see how this stops the wastegate from opening prematurly.

ok, this is the setup

the flapper is attached to a rod that goes through the housing. The rod is then atached to the little arm that attaches to the actuator long arm. The little arm is attached to the rod(that goes throgh the housing) via a sort of gear design, it meshes together.

This pattern wore out on my setup, and was stripped out, allowing the flapper move open even though the arm and wastegate actuator were in the same position

By welding this stripped part(the rod through the housinng to the small arm on the outside) allows no movement of the flapper as long as the actuator is not moving.

This makes it much more reliable, the little gear mechanism is too weak in my opinion, take a look at i(where the small nut goes through the small arm into the rod) and you will see what i mean

Mine stripped out...so i welded it, the flapper still opens, the actuator is still alowed to work like normal, just doesnt allow any more flapper play

Naz, I'm not sure why your wastegate assembly stripped out since that was an isolated incident and you fixed it yourself. If anyone has an issue and thinks its the turbo call one of our techs at 231-788-5209 and we'll take care of it.

it was no biggy, it was isolated so far to myself only, and i figured that welding it would solve any problems i could ever have again, so it wasnt a biggy....


But i was just offering others to look at it if they are having HUGE spoool up problems, like 3-4psi by redline, not just slightly slower, because in my case, it was just opening up 1/2 way the whole time around

Yeah, if the wastegate isn't closing all the way it will be slow to spool. It usually takes a little adjustment to fix it. In your case, maybe that bolt backed out a bit and caused it to strip the spline out of it. Anyway thanks for the update.

1029TSG said:

In your case, maybe that bolt backed out a bit and caused it to strip the spline out of it. Anyway thanks for the update.

Click to expand...

I believe I was one of the first 20 or 30 folks to buy a T04B, but just as an FYI - my flapper bolt was extremely loose when I received the turbo. I put some high temp threadlocker on it and tightened it down, so no harm no fowl - but I could rotate it by hand when the turbo arrived.

I imagine this is something that has been looked into in later turbos that were shipped.

Ok guys here's an update.

I'm covering every basis on this one so I took off my manifold and turbo last night and had the missing exhaust manifold stud drilled out and new one put in just to make sure (it wasen't even leaking exhaust but I'm making sure).

While the turbo was off I examined it closely. The flapper closes fine, the puck is in perfect shape. Nothing looks to be out of the ordinary. I reinstalled everything today and took it for a boost. Still not spooling. 11psi by 4000rpms in third. So I do an intake leak test, no leaks. I have an EMS so I am sure on these numbers, I'm not guessing from a boost gauge and a tach. These are spot on.

I called the bullseye turbo tech guy, Dan, and he says the oil pressure might be too high becasue of the removed balance shafts casueing it to spool slower. I ran this by a friend of mine and neither he or anyone at his shop had ever heard of too much oil pressure causeing a turbo to spool half as fast as it should. He said that before he had the restrictor in his turbo oil pressure was really high, too high and all it did was hurt the seals, when he put the restirctor in, it diden't change the spooling properties of the turbo whatsoever.

But, wanting to cover all my basis, I rigged up a T to connect an oil pressure sending unit onto the turbo where the line feeds the houseing. It was around 42-44psi.

Tonight we are installing the turbo on my friends fully built talon with 9:1, eagle rods, AEM etc. so if it doesn't spool on his car I'll know somethings up!

If anyone has any ideas please let me know, I'm trying anything here to avoid having to send this thing back. I don't want anymore downtime but my warrenty is running out and I want this taken care of.

I have some ideas that might help.

1. Let's go back to the boost leak test, are you 100% sure that the system is leak free? Up to 20-25 psi for a reasonable amount of time? This is important, you must eliminate boost leaks first.

2. I don't know how to do this because I've never had to do it but if you can some how, without using the actuator or welding, shut the flapper in ways that it will stay shut under any circumstance and test run. I assume you know this will give you all out boost so watch the boost gauge and feather the throttle. If spooling problem persists after the flapper is FORCED shut, with no intake leaks and exhaust leaks, it would be pretty clear that the problem is related to the turbo itself. If problem fixed, go to 3.

3. Re-attach the arm and adjust it as tight as you can but leave the actuator nipple open and test run. Again, all out boost....If problem persists, the flapper is being blown open by the force of the exhaust gas. If problem solved, the actuator is opening prematurely by the intake pressure source. To verify this, attach an air pump with gauge to the actuator nipple and see how much pressure it actually takes to open it. In either case, should be addressed with the vendor.

Good luck, hope this helped.

oldman,

I appreciate the ideas but all have been done. We've done sooo many intake leak tests I can do it in my sleep now.

I wired the flapper shut with steel wire and it still boosted the same as having the actuator disconneted from the vaccum line and on fully tight.

TSIsean said:

I wired the flapper shut with steel wire and it still boosted the same as having the actuator disconneted from the vaccum line and on fully tight.

Click to expand...

Then it's pretty clear it's the turbo.

Yup definitly. Just spent a few hours swaping it over to my friends car. It spooled slightly faster (a few hundred RPMs) but that's more then likely because of the 9-1 compression. It was spooling slower then his 60trim.

I have to say I'm pretty damn disappointed in Bullseye Power. We initially started to try them out, after many of the PTE turbos have been going to hell lately... To give you a background on my experience with them: 3 Different Cars: 1 Bullseye H3, 2 To4B Vtrims.

1) They all spool very, very slowly. We initially had the problem of the wastegate flapper being stuck open, fixed that with some various washers for the most part. One of our V-Trims required a new exhaust side, Bullseye power said they had a problem with machining or something, and after a few heat cycles, the flapper seizes up.

2) Did a boost leak test, found there is a ginormous boost leak coming out of the compressor housing, unlike many other turbo manufacters, there is no ring or sealant inside of it. Check to see if there is a huge boost leak out of your compressor housing.

3) Bolts get stripped out from the exhaust housing. Called them up, they explained that they use pure steel exhaust housings so they expand and contract more then competitors turbos, therefore, they have a tendancy to seize up. All three turbo's we've had have had broken bolts. Super.

4) Gasket problems. First H3, blew two gaskets. V-Trim turbo's, blown a total of four of them. Bullseye now sells upgraded gaskets, but this does us, little to no good, becuase the exhaust housings like to have bolts seize up!

5) The H3 turbo died less then a week after being installed, smoking, tons of shaftplay. Sent it back in for the warranty...

6) Bought the oil drain kits from bullseye (yes, three of them, and they weren't cheap). NONE of them fit. They offered to send us replacements as they said the guy they had produce them cut them too short, but we had to send the other ones back in first... Seriously who wants to wait two weeks turn around time for a mistake that they are aware of, and shoudln't have taken place...

Should have just saved the money and bought a straight garret, or a Forced Performance turbo...

What's 'ole 1029TSG, Dave Hall, had to say about your continual issues? Doesn't the "No hassle warranty" come into play here?

Just for an update guys I sent the turbo back and they said it was in perfect working order but the tech said he would install a new compressor wheel that should spool a little faster.

I got it back and the the whole compressor side is differant. Wheel and caseing. I installed it tonight and there is no differance. While the car was down I cleaned the intercooler so there were no blockages.

Right now I'm getting about 11psi in 3rd gear by 4000rpms and 20psi in 4th gear by 4000rpms which if fine in 4th but in 3rd I still think it should be spooling faster.

The tech tells me there is absolutly nothing wrong with my turbo but this still doesn't seem right and even with just a street tune there is no way it's going to spool that much faster with a pro-tune, maybe a few hundred RPMs here and there but not a few thousand.

I guess I'm stuck with this turbo untill I can afford to get another now, I don't think they're warrenty allows returns.

Only way I can keep this thing even closed to spooled while racing is with my 2step rev-limiter so I'll be saving up for a new clutch too, .

TSIsean said:

Just for an update guys I sent the turbo back and they said it was in perfect working order but the tech said he would install a new compressor wheel that should spool a little faster.

I got it back and the the whole compressor side is differant. Wheel and caseing. I installed it tonight and there is no differance. While the car was down I cleaned the intercooler so there were no blockages.

Right now I'm getting about 11psi in 3rd gear by 4000rpms and 20psi in 4th gear by 4000rpms which if fine in 4th but in 3rd I still think it should be spooling faster.

The tech tells me there is absolutly nothing wrong with my turbo but this still doesn't seem right and even with just a street tune there is no way it's going to spool that much faster with a pro-tune, maybe a few hundred RPMs here and there but not a few thousand.

I guess I'm stuck with this turbo untill I can afford to get another now, I don't think they're warrenty allows returns.

Only way I can keep this thing even closed to spooled while racing is with my 2step rev-limiter so I'll be saving up for a new clutch too, .

Click to expand...

That sucks man i have the vtrim too and i don't have those problems. I just get a boost flutter/surge problem.

I had a V-trim but a full garret T-4 with a .58 a/r exhaust housing and tial 38mm WG


I got 22psi by 3,900 rpms in all gears except first.. first gear I got full boost by 6,000 rpms.




so do not let someone say 11psi by 4,000 rpms is normal