Ok so here is the problem, I have been driving my eclipse again since March and now since the weather is a little warmer, my turbo heats up glowing red hot. Also, when I shut it off after driving awhile, it takes a few minutes to restart. It recently also started stalling when stopped for a second, but will start right back up.When the weather was a little cooler it did not do this. The idle has also always been crappy when the vacuum for the turbo is hooked up. As soon as you unplug the hose for the vacuum the idle levels off. I do not know much about this car since I purchased it the way it is, but I have had Porters performance work on it and they really couldn't figure it out either, I assume they are not familiar with non turbos being converted. The engine was rebuilt just last fall. My husband refuses to let me drive it until I figure out why it is doing this, since he doesn't want to ruin the engine. I would appreciate any suggestions or advice, besides getting rid of the car. I have quite a bit of money wrapped into it and I love the car.

The link for the engine pic is http://www.dsmtuners.com/gallery/files/2/9/3/6/9/eclipseengine3.JPG

What kind of EGT's is it running? Is the timing being retarded too much and causing the EGT to run really high?

I didn't see an egt gauage so she wouldn't be able to tell you that. Updating your profile would make it easier for people to help you out because then they would know what has been done to the car. Hard part is you bought it modded so you don't you might not know every single thing the person before you did. What do you mean by the vaccum for the turbo? Are you talking about maybe a hook up for a manual boost controller or for the internal wastegate?

The vacum hose that comes of your waste gate (the thing attached to your turbo) is part of you boost controller, which is fixable by disconneting the boost controller and the hose from the wast gate needs to discharge in you intercooler piping that comes of your turbo (NOT the one with the filter). The fact that your turbo is turning red is because the engine is working hard and i am not sure if you beat on it a lot or not. I have seen manifolds and turbos turn red, but that is because of high horsepower and constantly running at WOT.

Ok 4g63 guys your shooting some pretty weird answers here, Its awesome that you want to learn about our cars but dont post if you dont know what your talking about.



OP: How much boost are you running? And can you post a few close up pictures or the way the vacuum lines run? I have yet too see a 420a at low boost make the turbo glow red hot.... If you go for just an easy drive does it still get the hot? If it only happens when you boost it then it is probably high EGT's which is bad.

Sounds like overheating to me. The colder weather probably band-aided the temp's during the chill season.

I'd check thermostats, coolant, fan solenoid, etc..

Yeah I might even try checking the lines to the turbo. If it's a 16g that is oil and water cooled and you had a leak in your water line feed it would cause the turbo to get hot and that would cause the whole engine to overheat too as thats engine and turbo collant.

We are boosting at 7. All the fans and coolant stuff has already been checked. All of the vacuum lines are running to one spot off the back of the air intake. In order, it starts at the turbo then goes to the boost controller, then it tees off to the blow off valve, and goes to the back of the air intake. The boost controller does not adjust, according to my husband, and he says it should. He also said it is oil cooled. Also, what could you explain to me what "not enough timing advance for that boost level" is.

Where is the boost gauge hooked up to? I don't see a line for that? When you disconnect that line your internal waste gate's signal is not interrupted so it will only run whatever psi the spring inside the actuator is set too. So something might be wrong with your manual boost controller where it's causing the engine to over boost and that could cause you to run lean and then have high egt(exhaust gas temp). This is a shot in the dark though everyone can speculate about what's wrong but the easiest way is to try and eliminate as many variables as possible till the problem goes away then start adding stuff back on till you figure out what's wrong. Like if it were me I would get a wideband from someone and a egt with gauge and watch those two as yoru car gets into boost and see what your dealing with.

I see you have the vacuum port on the turbo plugged,Try unplugging it and run a line from there to the wastegate and take off the boost controller. Do you have a boost gauge?

Tifflusk said:

Also, what could you explain to me what "not enough timing advance for that boost level" is.

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Timing advance is at which point the ecu decides it's a good time to fire the spark plug.... if you're boosting 7psi and your timing is all conservative and crappy like it most likely is (from the factory ecu)... then it is actually not advanced enough to where all the combustion is happening in a CLOSED cylinder... and some of the flame front is coming out of the exhaust valves.... thus causing heat in the manifold/turbo.

I am not a 420a expert but it's not like it's a motor that is unconventional. A motor is a motor and EFI is EFI.

Most stock ecus run really wimpy timing maps... and I imagine a nt ecu is no exception.

Also, that turbo seems to have a really good pressure source that is capped off with a nipple right on the compressor cover... I would use that for the boost controller's boost source.

Right now, I am suspecting that the boost controller is not connected properly on top of whatever issue you're having that is heating your turbo up so much.

bling5tatus said:

Timing advance is at which point the ecu decides it's a good time to fire the spark plug.... if you're boosting 7psi and your timing is all conservative and crappy like it most likely is (from the factory ecu)... then it is actually not advanced enough to where all the combustion is happening in a CLOSED cylinder... and some of the flame front is coming out of the exhaust valves.... thus causing heat in the manifold/turbo.

I am not a 420a expert but it's not like it's a motor that is unconventional. A motor is a motor and EFI is EFI.

Most stock ecus run really wimpy timing maps... and I imagine a nt ecu is no exception.

Also, that turbo seems to have a really good pressure source that is capped off with a nipple right on the compressor cover... I would use that for the boost controller's boost source.

Right now, I am suspecting that the boost controller is not connected properly on top of whatever issue you're having that is heating your turbo up so much.

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Our motors stock make their power from timing advance basically, Which is one of the reasons we can put down 275hp at 9psi, But we cant boost any higher than 15 before we have to start RETARDING timing. Thats why i highly doubt it is a timing problem, That and the fact that there is many turbo 420's on here and i have never heard this be related to timing.

another problem you have is the botom port on your bov, it doesnt get hooked up to the mani with the top port like you have it. You have to let it breath freely. I have the exact same one and even talked to turbonetics on what to do and they said leave it open. Oh and if that is a rubber elbow off the turbo get rid of it and buy one that is reinforced for a turbo. It will blow and make your car run like shit, been there done that

RSTeclipse97 said:

another problem you have is the botom port on your bov, it doesnt get hooked up to the mani with the top port like you have it. You have to let it breath freely. I have the exact same one and even talked to turbonetics on what to do and they said leave it open. Oh and if that is a rubber elbow off the turbo get rid of it and buy one that is reinforced for a turbo. It will blow and make your car run like shit, been there done that

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What are you talking about?? The vacuum port on the bov has to be plugged in to work rite.

No, it generally has to be left open.

VelocitàPaola;151493759 said:

No, it generally has to be left open.

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Wait, we are talking about the port on the side/top(depending on bov) is supposed to be left open??

Car_guy_09 said:

Wait, we are talking about the port on the side/top(depending on bov) is supposed to be left open??

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In this picture you see how there are two nipples on the BOV... they aren't both supposed to be supplied with a vacuum. Like the Greddy type-s... but are you guys talking about the same thing? how can you see the connections of the BOV from the picture? Look close, it looks like only one vacuum is going to the BOV anyways. The boost controller is in two different positions in the picture.

I also had my BOV Tee'd with my boost controller from the same vacuum point. I read somewhere here that it is recommended to run two separate vacuums for the BOV and BC. So I tee'd off of another nipple from my intake manifold( one nipple on the intake mani is directly to my BOV and the other vacuum comes off of another nipple from the intake mani and goes to the boost controller), might wanna try that out too. I wish I could show you a picture but i took my car apart, but lemme go and check my old pictures.

Oh ok, I see what you guys are saying.....I thought you meant no vacuum source hooked to the bov

Car_guy_09 said:

What are you talking about?? The vacuum port on the bov has to be plugged in to work rite.

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You see i do some things about some things. I say that you found what we were talking about so its cool. Actually acording to the directions that came with my bov i was sapose to hook the botom nipple to a boost source such as the ic piping befor the tb and i did and it works but turbonetics told me to leave it open to vent so i just switched it to see how it will work now. Seems to me the directions should be changed and there should just be a bleed off valve or something so that the tech guys and directions actually match

RSTeclipse97 said:

You see i do some things about some things.

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But yet you miss a whole word....

How many items on your car require a vacume source from that one tee, YOur best bet is to run a second tee.

As for the glowing red hot side turbo, I noticed that mine tended to do this when more oxygen was presented in the exahust flow from a leak (ie small whole or crack somewhere near the turbo outlet or manifold)

A boost gauge with a vacume read out is essential, so if you dont' have one yet, get one.

Car_guy_09 said:

But yet you miss a whole word....

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Hahah yeah your right you got me on that

BigRand said:

As for the glowing red hot side turbo, I noticed that mine tended to do this when more oxygen was presented in the exahust flow from a leak (ie small whole or crack somewhere near the turbo outlet or manifold)

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It also depends on the style of driving. If you are driving WOT for 5 minutes and pop the hood most all turbos are going to be glowing red. But, it you are not driving with this way, then that may be an indication that something else is potential wrong. It is possible that the engine is heat soaked and has to cool down a bit before you are to start it as well.

Good luck

eclipsers-t said:

It also depends on the style of driving. If you are driving WOT for 5 minutes and pop the hood most all turbos are going to be glowing red. But, it you are not driving with this way, then that may be an indication that something else is potential wrong. It is possible that the engine is heat soaked and has to cool down a bit before you are to start it as well.

Good luck

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heat soaking is more of a intercooler term your engine doesn't heat soak. The engine is producing the heat something that heat soaks does just that is soaking up surrounding heat from something else. The engine could overheat but still don't think it would cause this.

Slippi84 said:

heat soaking is more of a intercooler term your engine doesn't heat soak. The engine is producing the heat something that heat soaks does just that is soaking up surrounding heat from something else. The engine could overheat but still don't think it would cause this.

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It can happen to engines just like it happens to intercoolers. Engine can soak up the heat just like an intercooler can. It was a suggestion that possible could be an issue.


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