No Boost - No Power At WOT

[nurseryboy]

Hey guys,

I have a 96 Talon AWD that is all of a sudden having some issues with boost. About two days ago, I went to pass someone, and found out that I barely had any power. The boost went up, but the power actually went down some. Since then, it seems to be getting a little worse. The car idles fine and drives fine, if you don't give it too much gas. But as soon as you do, you can hear the turbo spool up and all, but there is no power. Also, when in neutral and I give it gas pretty hard, I can barely get the BOV (aftermarket) to go off. You really have to strain to hear it. Normally it is pretty loud. But the car just bogs down.

What I have been reading so far is that it is most likely a boost leak, but I wanted to confirm that with you guys. I am off to get the parts for the leak tester, so hopefully that will shed some light on the problem. But I thank you for your suggestions as well.

Matthew

 

[FutureGSXOwner]

What clutch/flywheel combo are you using? Be sure to check for any possible clutch/flywheel slip as well as the boost leaks..Slippage could be robbbing you of some pretty substantial power.

 

[JessesTalon]

ur knocking...


or your cas somehow might of got loose and moved counterclockwise which would do EXACTLY what you stated above... assuming you have a 1st gen...

if you have a 2nd gen maybe your just knocking... get a datalogger or a knock box to find out, cuz if your timing gets pulled you will feel the boosting, but you will NOT feel any power...

 

[me612]

sounds to me like your timing is getting pulled. Same thing happened to me. At moderate acceleration the car felt fine, but give her a lil gas cuz you wanna pass someone and it feels like the thing just doesn't wanna move. There'd be times at stop lights where I'd take off and I'd be getting passed by old ladies in their Kia's. How much power loss are we talking? Like a little, or substantial? If a lot is missing, you can quick check your ignition timing. If you don't have a timing light, see if you can't get ahold of one or rent one from Napa or something. Check your timing and make sure you are around +5 before TDC. If you've never checked timing on these before, I'll try to explain it briefly. Jack up the car and remove the driver side wheel. Behind the plastic splash guards in there is a big pulley that is connected to the crankshaft. On the very edge of this pulley, you will find a nice little notch marking. Take some chalk and color over that line so that you will be able to see it better. Then get a timing light, hook it up to the battery, and hook the inductive clamp around the #1 cyl spark plug wire. Then start her up and let it get to normal operating temperature. Then, making sure all the accesories your car may have are turned off, shine the timing light down onto that pulley from the top of the engine. You'll see your little white mark, and it should look like its just sitting in the same spot. Well next to that white mark will be a little graph with numbers on it. This graph thing is on the timing belt cover. Just make sure that you're around +5 before TDC. If it's off, then I'm not 100% sure on how you adjust this on a 2g, because I don't believe they came with adjustable CAS's. But check that. If it's off, then start looking into threads stating how to adjust it and you should be set.

 

[nurseryboy]

Thanks for the info guys. I just got done trying the boost leak test, and didn't find any. Then again, the boost guage (stock) never showed the boost going up while I was pumping the air into it (with an electric pump). I double-checked everything that I made for the tester, and everything was put together right.. so I'm not sure what was going on.

As for the flywheel/clutch, the car is an Auto. But, I did have the tranny replaced about two months ago, but everything has been fine since then. No slipping or anything.

And yeah, the power loss is substantial. The car feels like it has about 60 HP or so. The car will build up speed a little if I don't give it much gas, but as soon as I do, it almost flatlines in terms of speed.

Would timing being off make me loose boost? Like I mentioned before, I can barely build any boost even while in neutral. I didn't know if timing would effect that.

In any case, there is a local guy that has all the tools for checking timing (IE timing light), so I will try to see if I can go over this evening and have him check it out. Maybe he can find something.

Thanks for your help guys. I appreciate it.

Matt

 

[nurseryboy]

Still no luck. Timing is fine, but it is still having the problem.

I am trying to get hold of another local mechanic who can hook up to the ECU to see if we can get anything from that. Maybe some codes are available.

Someone else mentioned that it could be the wastegate. Has anyone heard of a malfunctioning wastegate affecting a dsm like this? Also, could the turbo itself cause such a problem?

I'm still sticking to the thought that it is a boost leak, even though the leak tester didn't show anything. Logically, that seems like it would cause something like this. But maybe there are other causes as well.

Thanks again,

Matt

 

[me612]

This does not sound like a boost leak. Was the boost gauge that didn't go up the stock one, or an aftermarket. The stock one isn't going to move because it works off an electrical signal, not actual boost. Anyway, im still saying it sounds like timing. Make sure your belt didn't slip. Check the timing marks. Also when you said you checked the ignition timing, what was it at? Should be right around 5 BTDC. I suppose it could also be a dieing turbo, but every turbo that I've seen that was about to die, you could predict it from a little more smoke coming out the tailpipe, also when it spooled it sounded different, and wouldn't build full boost while driving. Also in neutral just reving, you are not going to build much boost because there is no real load on the engine. So don't worry about that. See if you can't get ahold of a logger and see your knock count, cuz like i said, it sounds like you're timing is getting pulled bad.

 

[nurseryboy]

Ok. The gauge is the stock one (yeah.. I know) so I guess that is why it wasn't showing any boost while doing the leak test. As for the timing, I took it over to a local guy and asked him to check the timing, and I actually left for a few minutes because I had to run to get some stuff at the store with my bro. When I got back he told me that the timing was fine. , maybe he didn't even check.

I have made an appointment with another place that specializes in imports (they have done work on the car before) for Monday. They have all the diagnostic tools, and I am sure they can check the timing accurately.

What would cause the timing to be off? Hopefully nothing too bad.. . I haven't even had my car back from the mechanics for a month yet from getting the tranny fixed.
Also, would the computer bypass the boost then to play it safe? Thus the reason for me not getting any power?

Thanks,

Matt

 

[CatchMe]

Check your wastegate acuator/rod. Your wastegate could be stuck open.

 

[nurseryboy]

Hey guys,

I just got done talking to the mechanic. He has found the problem.. sort of. It looks like the wastegate selinoid is not getting a signal to open / shut (or whatever the signal is for). He said that there is no signal whatsoever being sent to it. He isn't sure what would cause the signal to not be sent from wherever.

Any ideas of what could cause the signal to be stopped? Also, what sends the signal?

Thanks a bunch,

Matt

 

[nurseryboy]

I have another question regarding the wategate solenoid problem. If I would get MBC, would that bypass the solenoid? So then it wouldn't matter if the solenoid wasn't getting the right signal?

Thanks,

Matt

 

[me612]

Please clarify, but I'm guessing he is talking about the boost control solenoid. Right? If so, then a MBC will fix that issue because it doesn't run off any electric signals.

 

[nurseryboy]

He told me it was the solenoid that controls the wastegate. So I'm guessing that is the boost control solenoid?