New Turbo (No boost)

[starfish]

I installed my new turbo(T3/T4 ebay special).With out any piping hooked up to the ITM I started the car.At first the turbo didn't spin at all then I gave it a little throttle and she stared goin.But shes not spinnin like she should.I can take my finger and stop the impeller while the car is runnin.when I open up the throttle I put my hand on the out take of the turbo and I dont feel much air blowin out.Any ideas whats holdin this impeller back?When I turn the car off it spins freely.

my dump tube is off my wastegate and I can clearly see that my WG is not opening.

 

[dented_coffee]

bent fins maybe or its just very poorly made. put your o2 housing on it and the down pipe. the turbo does need at least the o2 houseing if im not mistaken. if its the poor construction of the turbo. not to be an azz but you get what you pay for. try to return or exchange or eat a loss.

 

[Dewayne Waldron]

Some of the time with the cheap knock off turbos the wastegate actuator can get stuck. Hook an air source up to the wastegate and try to force it open. If that dosn't work then I would get a refund.
Like stated before, You get what you pay for.

 

[starfish]

I'm not too famillar with the term o2 housing What do you mean

 

[Dewayne Waldron]

that's the dump.

 

[rstare]

Hook up the rest of your piping.
The wastegate will only open when it reaches the pressure of the installed spring. You can't reach manifold pressures above 0psi without any load. So, like I said, hook up your intake piping and you'll be fine.

Edit: By the way, 420a's don't have a O2 housing.

 

[starfish]

Cool! Finally got some boost.7lbs at Wot .She pulls real hard untill about 5000 rpm then it seems like the motor wont make any more power.Is that normal for 7lb wastegate spring?or could it be something else?before I put on the turbo she pulled real hard all the way to 6500 rpm(afraid to push it further).any reason why there is no power over 5000 rpm?motor is stock but lot of life left in her.

 

[david-b]

Remember once you hit full boost the turbo is not going to spin any faster. The motor itself should still get some more power of course, but it's not going to get such a huge gain like it did when the turbo was building boost.

What is it doing, cutting out?
I would check for boost leaks

 

[starfish]

the motor keeps pulling till about 5000 then stops pulling but keeps on reving.after 5000 feels like a dead spot no power.car allways pulled hard all the way to 6500 before turbo.car pulls harder with the turbo but once it reaches 5000,no more power.and waste gates not opening yet only reaching6lbs boost.even at 6lbs boost it still should make power past 5000rpms,right?once it hits 5 grand levels out(stops pulling).I dont know how else to explain it.

 

[rstare]

The wastegate is opening, otherwise you'd keep making more boost. You have a 7 pound spring, I'm assuming your wastegate is connected to your turbo and your boost gauge is connected to your manifold. There will be a pressure drop.

It's probably still pulling, it just doesn't feel as dramatic because the power is leveling off at the top.

 

[starfish]

I guess that sounds about right.I better stop messing with it and just drive it nomally before I really screw something up(like the stock bottom end)!Thanx for the help.by the way I was goin down the highway this mornin.and my oil line goin to my turbo blew.On my axle boot there was about 3/4 of a inch stickin out.It kept spinnin around chewin at my line little by little.Lost about a gallon of oil but I shut it down and managed to fix it on the shoulder.good thing I still had 3 ft of hose left over still in my trunk!and about 10 zip ties!!

 

[tec_41]

Yikes, good thing you noticed...Are you using a braided feed line with AN fittings? I suggest that if you aren't

 

[starfish]

Turbo seems to be boostin better now.Maybe the cheap ebay turbo just needed to be broken in.Boost comes on earlly, about 2500rpm until about 5000rpm then I loose the hard pulling that comes on earlly.When I had just the headers and no turbo she used to pull hard all the way to about 6500rpm, but not any more.I used to be able to catch tire spin right through 2nd gear(maybe just a freak) but now I got that dead spot around 5000rpm.could it be a exaust issue?Does any body know how I can get my top end power back?I used to have 4into 1headers directly into 3inch pipe(no cat) straight back to modified harley davidson muffler.now I have 2 1/2 comin out of turbo,2 1/2 flex pipe welded to 3inch Magnaflo cat(need for inspection) welded to my 3in pipe and HD muffler.Could it be to much back pressure with the HD muffler?How I made the muffler:I cut 6 in out from the center of the muffler.Inside the muffler there are baffle plates with a 1 1/2 in hole in the center and a 1in hole on the side.When I cut the muffler open I left 4 plates in and took 2 plates out.then I welded my 3in pipe (chrome roll bar from my blazer)directly to the muffler.Could those plates be creating to much backpressure for the turbo?could that be why I have no top end power?It used to be a real tire killer,but now I almost have to pop the clutch to get the tires spinnin and I can forget about 2nd gear spinnin now.If I take off the HD muffler and put on one of those big hollow can mufflers would that give me more top end power?

 

[david-b]

For turbos, the free-er the exhaust flow the better. However, I don't think that's your problem. I had a 2.5" exhaust with a cat and lo-flow crappy muffler and it ran fine.

And if you lost a gallon of oil in one shot the motor would have been toasted.

Also can you split up your posts to make them more readable? Hard to follow what you're saying sometimes when it's all bunched. Thanks.

 

[starfish]

sorry I'm kind of commputer challenged.I pulled right over as soon as I started smellin the smoke burn on the cat .Probably lost about 2 quarts before I shut her down the rest I lost when I had to cut the piece out and splice the two together.I had about a quart in my hair I could have squeezed out!I consider myself lucky that I caught it in time!Motor never got hot ,just lost my oil pressure.

 

[tec_41]

Honestly outside of when I'm in boost, my car doesn't have a whole lot of power either. I doubt I could chirp 2nd...but that might be due to the clutch being a little soft. I still bream em' loose in first gear. But once I'm in boost the car still gets going pretty good so I don't think much of it :S