Calling upon my fellow dsmers, please help me i'm going to kill this stupid car :)

[xyexz]

Ok so i'm having the worst time of my life right now with my car.
I'm going to explain everything in detail and hopefully someone can give me some advice.
I purchased the punishment-racing.com intercooler kit and installed it. Went great except I didn't receive instructions with it so I had to go by online pictures and my own logic
Got it installed and then the next day went out to work with it, I have a slight coolant leak in my car and noticed it started to get hotter than usual and forgot to bring water with me.
So I had it towed back to my house and filled it up with some water.
The car wouldn't start, so I got it jumped and it's been starting up fine now.
However when I went to drive it some it starting what I call flogging, basically I hit the gas and it bogs down real bad.
The weird thing is it never did this before I put on the intercooler kit and it didn't do this on my way to work, it actually drove better than it ever had with the new kit, my guess is because my smic was clogged up and ohio weather is getting hotter.
Anyways, something I noticed is that my aftermarket boost gauge wasn't reading any boost at all, doesn't move unless I really get on it and it only registers 4psi maybe tops.
The stock boost gauge however goes up to 14, but no boost is being made because i'm only going like 15mph at 2k rpms.
The car starts to bog onces the needle on the stock boost gauge goes much higher than 0, and this is for any gear.
The higher the gear i'm in the faster it get's to 0 on the stock boost gauge and it hates going up hills.
I've had some people help me out trying to figure it out what it is to no end.
Tried disconnecting the fuel pressure regulator, no help.
Waste gate functions properly, trying applying pressure with air compressor and it opens and closes just fine.
Turbo does make pressure as we found out in idle but only about 4psi which I think is normal operation when in no gear at idle.
Bov seems to be working fine, tried switching out the maf with a different one and that didn't change a thing.
Disconnected my mbc and put everything back like stock.
Disconnected my boost gauge (aftermarket), back like stock and didn't change anything either.
I've checked all couplings for the intercooler and such and tightened things down and still nothing.
All in all it ran fine with the new intercooler setup and now all of the sudden without any other modifications it doesn't run fine.
Any information, things to try etc would be awesome and much appreciated, otherwise don't post any comments.

Thanks in advance,
Brian

 

[olmytsi]

Leak could be a hole in the radiator or the radiator hoses caused during the fmic install.

Bogging is most likely a boost leak. You should do a boost leak test after an intercooler install anyways.

 

[Dream On]

Boost leak test. There may be a hole in one of the couplers. On mine, my fan shroud was cutting into the 90 degree coupler. I caught it before it got all the way through though. If you used the j-pipe gasket and the stock bolts, I'd almost bet that it is leaking also. Mine leaked like crazy until I used RTV.

 

[xyexz]

olmytsi, i've recently replaced my radiator and the upper and lower hoses, i've also replaced a pressurized hose underneath near the oil filter. It still leaks, it's something that at this moment i'm not concerned with as much and technically I guess I should've said it doesn't leak, it uses it. Because I can fill it up when the car is off and then come back a little later to check the fluid level and it's down some but there isn't any puddles in my garage. I've pressurized the cooling system and nothing starts to leak when I get up around 16-18psi.

Dream On, I will check that fan shroud cutting into my 90 degree coupler, that would make a little more sense. Actually the j-pipe that came with the kit was a pain in the ***, the bolts they gave me were never going to work with my 14b, looked like I was supposed to slide the bolt in from the back end of the j-pipe. So I had to use the stock bolts, however the one wouldn't fit because of the extreme angle the j-pipe had to make so I have to use a hammer and a flat head screw driver to get the bolt in there. Because I used the stock bolts the gasket wouldn't fit in there so I didn't use it. I didn't have any leaks in that area that I know of because the car boosted great on my first drive with everything working. Both surfaces were very flush and I tightened everything down pretty nice.

I will check into the 90 degree coupler and get back with everyone.
The thing that doesn't make the most sense at all though is the stock boost gauge, why is it jumping around so crazy? Is the turbo really making that much boost that it's reading?

Thanks,
Brian

 

[1992awdlaser]

The thing that doesn't make the most sense at all though is the stock boost gauge, why is it jumping around so crazy? Is the turbo really making that much boost that it's reading?

Thanks,
Brian

No. The stock boost gauge is very inaccurate. On my car when the wastegate flapper arm was disconnected it was reading 14 on the stock gauge. I knew it couldn't be because of how slow it was then I found the arm was disconnected.

Do a leak down test. Using coolant, bogs when on the gas, only hits 4psi. Could be your head gasket is blown. Could be getting collant in the cylinders which is why it would use collant and bog. And if it is blown it could be leaking boost.

 

[DirtyBirdRacing]

Get a real boost gauge, and then do a boost leak test. If that is ok, then you can do a compression test/leak down test to see if your headgasket is sealing or blown

Bill

 

[tkelly27]

Turbo does make pressure as we found out in idle but only about 4psi which I think is normal operation when in no gear at idle.

Lol, woah. Your aftermarket boost gauge said you're making 4psi at idle? or is that your stocker? That should be a red flag that something is wrong.

In order of importance.

1. Boost leak test (most likely since this changed after you installed your new IC)

2. Real boost gauge set up properly from some source on the intake manifold. Stock gauge is shooting in the dark with a bow and arrow. You should be getting 10-20inHg or so of vacuum at idle (that's why boost gauges come with the other 1/2 of the gauge), even if your engine is completely broken.

3. It's time for a compression check.
"Got it installed and then the next day went out to work with it, I have a slight coolant leak in my car and noticed it started to get hotter than usual and forgot to bring water with me."
all it takes is 1/2 a second of overheating. If it's sipping water, and you've got funky compression on any 1 cylinder, be prepared for it to start guzzling it. If that is the case, I reccomend that you stop driving it 'till you can do a HG.

4. Pull your CEL codes. It's easy, free, takes 30 seconds, amen.

 

[delta448]

Lol, woah. Your aftermarket boost gauge said you're making 4psi at idle? or is that your stocker? That should be a red flag that something is wrong.

I use a 14b and can make my autometer gauge blip up to ~10psi in neutral.

In order of importance.

1. Boost leak test (most likely since this changed after you installed your new IC)

I agree that a proper boost leak test should be priority #1. If you only bog under boost and the MAF isn't the issue, then I think you're running rich under boost, usually caused by a boost leak. Do you by chance have a logger?

2. Real boost gauge set up properly from some source on the intake manifold. Stock gauge is shooting in the dark with a bow and arrow. You should be getting 10-20inHg or so of vacuum at idle (that's why boost gauges come with the other 1/2 of the gauge), even if your engine is completely broken.

Should be steady between 15-19inHg at idle with 8.5:1 pistons and about 13-17inHg with 7.8:1 if the engine is healthy. If the needle shakes or sits below 11inHg I'd start to be concerned.

3. It's time for a compression check.

Sounds like a real good idea to me.

 

[xyexz]

Thanks to everyone who has posted and all their suggestions.
I have an aftermarket boost gauge and it was staying at 0 most of the time until I really hammered it on the road, it would only go up to 4psi at that time, no other time did it move.

Ok so I have found the issue, apparently at first it wasn't that bad but the couple that hooks the pipe that mounts the bov and the pipe that mounts onto the passenger side of the IC had come loose. I was tipped off to a huge boost leak when I heard loud hissing from just idleing but couldn't find anything and though perhaps it was just normal now because of thinner large piping for ic.

So today I spent most of my day at lowes and elsewhere to make a boost leak tester. I took of my coupling that hooks to the turbo for size comparisons at lowes.
When I came home to hook everything up my girlfriend noticed a large gap in the coupling and the piping. We couldn't see it before because the air canister and the bov etc was blocking my view and my guess is it wasn't as bad at first but as I kept starting it up etc it just got wider and that's when the hissing noise started.

I found that with the band clamps that you really have to tighten them down until you can't any further, so lesson learned. I learned as well that my woman is a mechanic

So thanks all and in the future i'll know better what to look for.

Brian

 

[xyexz]

Also forgot to say, tightened everything up and she runs like a dream. Still using some coolant but I can live with that until my new engine is finished.

 

[Dream On]

I would spray some soapy water over all of your connections again and do a boost leak test. Having no gasket on your j-pipe is almost a guaranteed leak. The bubbles will tell.