No More Boost!??

[eclipsegst3131]

let me begin by saying that my car (93 talon tsi awd) has been running mint lately, until today. yesterday i drove my car regularly with a few rips through 3rd 4th and somewhat 5th racing a kid on the highway. whatever. today it was holding boost fine, then i went to leave the tolls on the highway and in 3rd i step on it. it builds boost fine and then around 5k at 13lbs it stops, not like fuel cut whatsoever, i've fealt that before many times. it just sputters and struggles. so i got to drive my car to and from school very very slowly. i checked out my pipes and clamps and everything seems mint. now i can't even go up to 0 on my boost gauge or it sputters like crazy. any help, i'd enjoy it.

any info you need just let me know.

 

[92awddsm]

Check to make sure the mas is still plugged in. Next, perform a boost leak test and fix all of your leaks.

 

[eclipsegst3131]

mas is plugged in, and just to make sure its mint, i unhooked it and it ran like so that is knocked off. boost leak test came up good....i'm totally stumped right now. any help is more than greatly appreciated since this car is my only ride to and from school 25 miles away and i need it for tomorrow morning

 

[fourreGsixty3]

Actuator arm still attached? Pull the intake pipe, and check to see if the turbine is freely moving. I would say during the weekend pull the turbo off and check the flapper to be moving, and check the hotside fins.

Dustin

 

[eclipsegst3131]

yeah i checked the intake side, free moving perfectly. when i get the chance ill check the actuator. doubt ill ever get time to take the turbo out and check the hot side. im going to try another boost leak test tonight tho after i check the arm. its just weird how it all began, it was running perfect and then BAM started cutting out on me. ill write back when i get some results. any other solutions feel free to post it up

 

[eclipsegst3131]

so i finally get home, and i went to check the wastegate actuator. i tried moving it and no matter how hard i try it doesn't move (yes im pulling the right way) also, the point where the actuator connects to the turbo it is cocked about 15 degrees from being perfectly flush up and down. should it be flush or what? thanks

 

[fourreGsixty3]

It should be hard to move, but it should move some. Here is a link to a decent 14B pic>>>http://www.dsmtuners.com/gallery/showimage.php?i=63774&catid=searchresults&searchid=14718

Dustin

 

[spocks90talon]

my car did the same shit last week, try reflashing the ecu(pulling the negative off the batt) and see if it helps, mine ended up being the knock sensor but that fixed it temporaly.

 

[eclipsegst3131]

It should be hard to move, but it should move some. Here is a link to a decent 14B pic>>>http://www.dsmtuners.com/gallery/showimage.php?i=63774&catid=searchresults&searchid=14718

Dustin

i've put just about all my weight into the thing and it won't budge for me.

 

[eclipsegst3131]

my car did the same shit last week, try reflashing the ecu(pulling the negative off the batt) and see if it helps, mine ended up being the knock sensor but that fixed it temporaly.

its worth a shot i guess. i'll try it today, how long did you unhook it for?

 

[eclipsegst3131]

so to give an update on my unfortunate situation. i disconnected my neg terminal for about 45 minutes. connected it back on and it wouldn't start. great i think. get another car and jump it, turns over perfectly. i let it idle for a few minutes and then went to take it out. i hit the brakes and the car stalled as soon as my foot pressed the pedal. jump it again. this time when i hit the brakes i was revving it up too. this is the awesomely strange part now. when i hit the brakes, all the dash lights and stuff turned on as if the car had stalled out, yet the motor was still running, and a large puff of smoke came out the exhaust. anyone wanna inform me of my stupid fcked up car and this nonsense

 

[fourreGsixty3]

Wow, Im not sure about your current situation, but your actuator arm should move. I am right handed, and can move it by pulling it towards the exhaust manifold with my left hand.

Dustin

 

[spocks90talon]

when you reconnect the battery after reflashing the ecu you should let the car sit and idle for maybe 5 or 10 mins till its warmed up all the way, this lets the ecu recalibrate so to speak, you basiclly wiped the memory of the ecu so its gotta learn how your car runs all over again, try unhooking and battery again but this time only for 2 or 3 mins(thats all it should take) then start the car and let it run at idle till its at normal operating temp, then try to drive it, oh and are you recirulating your bov like you should be? do you have a boost gauge, if you do whats your VAC at idle, between 15 and 20 is usally alright. if its not withen that check your vaccuum lines. and was your car boosting after you reflashed the ecu?

 

[fourreGsixty3]

It should only take 30 seconds of it being unhooked.

Dustin

 

[eclipsegst3131]

ok i did what was said and its perfect running. except its still sputtering at anything 0 and up. i think i forgot to add though that i have an exhaust leak that is fairly good in size on my exhaust manifold. i put the 2g em on an it leaks at the bottom of the head flange and at the back of the turbo flange. i took them off and tried some high temp rtv and that helped reduce it slightly to what it is now. since i've taken off the em and replaced it back on a few times to see if i wasnt getting it right i decided just to cover the areas with muffler weld. most of it has broken off everywhere though. if i had an exhaust manifold leak that would cause it to run crappy right? im going to order new gaskets from my work and put the 1g back on it. im looking at selling the car but i want it to be running perfect when i do. what a stress case...

 

[fourreGsixty3]

I could see it running a bit crappy. On a side note I have a HUGE crack in the center of my EM, it idled like crappy (before I pulled the engine), but it boosted fine, and it ran well under high rpm's 12psi of boost, reg. driving, the only time it was crappy was at idle, but perhaps your leak is larger then mine, and its your problem. When you put the 2G EM on your 1G did you grind the driver's lower edge of the flange a little bit to fit inside the "hood" on the engine mount. If not this could be why you have a huge leak with the 2G manifold.

Dustin

 

[slipstream808]

Did you check your plugs and wires?

As for the manifold that will cause you problem. I'd fix that ASAP.

 

[fwdeclipse]

If your saying it sputters bad when you hit 0 and you cant build any boost.You say your turbo still spins freely and all of that.It seems like one of your innercooler pipes have blown off somewhere.

 

[spocks90talon]

you said you did a boost leak test right? whats your vaccuum at idle? you can still rev the car up right? it doesnt stop and not go above a certan rpm range does it? check your caps on your ecu too just so we can knock that out of the way. try changing the exhaust mani and see if it helps but the only way that would be the problim is if it isnt sealed at all and all your exhaust gas is leaking out. which you would know cause you would be smoking bad and have a very loud exhaust leak. if its none of that stuff, check your knock sensor, if it has a black goo coming out the back of it, its bad. if you need one i have a brand new one for sale $75 never been taken out of the box. let me know if you want it

 

[eclipsegst3131]

you said you did a boost leak test right? whats your vaccuum at idle? you can still rev the car up right? it doesnt stop and not go above a certan rpm range does it? check your caps on your ecu too just so we can knock that out of the way. try changing the exhaust mani and see if it helps but the only way that would be the problim is if it isnt sealed at all and all your exhaust gas is leaking out. which you would know cause you would be smoking bad and have a very loud exhaust leak. if its none of that stuff, check your knock sensor, if it has a black goo coming out the back of it, its bad. if you need one i have a brand new one for sale $75 never been taken out of the box. let me know if you want it

my vac at idle is about 16-17. i can hit my stutter at 4800 but it sputters asap because it makes boost after a second or two of sitting there. my ecu looked mint nothing out of the ordinary with it. i never grinded anything down on the 2g em. i haven't yet checked my knock sensor, its raining pretty hard today so thats about the only thing i can't do right now. as for the boost leak test, i'll try another one asap when i get the chance to do so. i have gone thru all my clamps and couplers and they all are awesome right now. im going to fix my manifold asap as well. full time school and work kind of puts a struggle on fixing this beast.

and today when i got it running mint after disconnecting the neg terminal, i drove it pretty hard and it boosted to about and had a sputtering effect the whole way to it, and now it sputters bad like before even trying to make 1 pound.

this sucks

p.s. just did my plugs about month and a half ago and have less than 500 miles easily on them. ngk iridiums. wires are bosches and i changed those roughly 5k ago. ill pull those when i can and check them too.

 

[spocks90talon]

no CEL codes right? my best guess would be a boost leak somewhere but since your vac is good that confuses me you dont have a datalogger do you? if so check for knock. other than that i dont know grab a timing light if you can and check base timing, also with the timing light attached rev the engine till it sputters like you said and watch the timing marks see how much it gets pulled when your revving it, this can tell you if your ecu is pulling the timing because of knock, ive never done it but my freind says it works. good luck!

 

[92awddsm]

no CEL codes right? my best guess would be a boost leak somewhere but since your vac is good that confuses me

If you have a boost leak before the throttle body, it will not effect engine vacuum.

As far as the crack in the ex manifold, it wont cause the problems you have. A failing o2 sensor will not cause the problems you are having either. When you go to wot, the system goes into open loop which no longer uses feedback from the o2 sensor to make a/f corrections. All a/f corrections in open loop are made based on airflow readings from the mas.

I suspect you have a boost leak somewhere in the system. A visual inspection rarely locates boost leaks. You can tighten clamps all day long but that wont cure a boost leak at the im gasket, injector seals, pinholes in couplers, etc. The only real way to test for boost leaks is to pressurize the system and pinpoint the leaks using soapy water. Here are the directions for making and using a boost leak tester.

 

[slipstream808]

Oh, and not to sound like a "know it all", but get rid of those damn irridiums. Get some regular BPR7's.

 

[eclipsegst3131]

i have a boost leak tester. only problem is me getting the time to do it. i have the keydiver chip and it converts the boost gauge to a knock gauge. at wot i haven't seen any knock but at part throttle not making booost i get alot of it at lower rpm's. ill have to try and fit the test in asap. i just want to fix this beast so i can finally sell it.