Turbosmart Dual Stage

[98tsi757]

i recently installed the boost controller. my low is set at 10-11 pounds and holds rock solid. my high on the other hand will not go above like 16. if i turn the low up to about 13 the high will go up to maybe 17, but that is defeating the purpose. i dont think i have any boost leaks, due to before i hade a hallman on and i held solid at 20 lbs, and the fact that it does hold at 10/16 pounds. any ideas?

 

[JayRolla]

I will tell you now that you can still hold 20psi and have a boost leak. The turbo will just have to work harder to reach the set boost making it over work and you can hurt it. So do a boost leak test anyways. I dont think that would cause you MBC's to do that. How did you hook it up?

 

[98tsi757]

i used the existing hoses that i had on the hallman. electrically i know its right, the switch works fine.

 

[90gst_sean]

With that boost controller you have to set your low boost setting then your high boost, and in that order. In this way the two controllers work off each other. If you change your low boost settings it will throw off the high controller settings. I'm fairly sure you can change your high boost settings with no affect on the low controller setting, but not the other way around.

To change your low boost, you have to start all over and adjust the both of them starting with the low setting first.

This could be your problem, sorry if you were already aware of this. If you already knew this, than its probably a boost leak or a bad controller.

Turbosmart should warranty the controller for the life of the product as long as you are the original owner.

Good luck, and don't forget to let us know what the problem turns out to be.

P.S. I just reread your original post and it seems I should have read it better the first time. From the sound of it your likely setting the controller right, but are running out of settings on the high end of the controller its self. You said if you raised the low setting you are then able to get a higher setting off the high controller. It sounds like a controller issue to me.

I have one of these dual stage controllers on its way in mail, I will check if mine acts in a similar way and get back to you.

 

[90gst_sean]

I gave your situation more thought last night.

If you are experiencing a lack of range in boost settings do to the dual stage controller itself not having the ability to span the low and high boost settings you desire, leaving you wanting more out of the high end setting. I've come to the conclusion that your stuck with setting ether the low boost setting exactly were you want it or the high boost setting, and then maxing out the available span between the two settings on the controllers (each nob is accentually a control in side one box).

The way I see it, and this is purely speculation; as I don't actually have my Turbosmart controller yet. How ever I do have a copy of the instruction manual. In order to get the highest amount of top end range out of the high boost control nob, you will need to max out both nob's , as they both feed off each other. In other words your high boost setting is going to dictate your low boost setting because if you set the low nob to anything other than max boost you will be subtracting each click in the negative boost direction from the high boost nob's available range in highest setting. Obviously there is a narrow band of available boost range between the two boost setting nob's; and if true, this is very disappointing. There is a predetermined PSI span between the two.

Maybe this will help clarify. Try setting your low boost control setting. Then max out your high boost controller nob. Next, check the high boost value and if its to low, raise your low boost setting a click or two. Then making sure your high controller is still maxed out, check again. Continue like this until you have your desired high boost or until you run out of low end boost control. If you do run out on the low end, you have reached the limits of you controller; and should have both nob's maxed out to their highest settings.

 

[98tsi757]

i will give this atry in a couple days. we are having the weather from ernesto for a few days. if this is what i have to do, i will be disappointed. my target was to be around 10/20. guess i might not be able to reach that.

 

[90gst_sean]

I'm sorta hoping your problem is more to do with a boost leak than the controller itself. I should have mine tomorrow and was planning a similar setting as you; 9-low / 17-high.

Its seems to me this set up or something close would be rather popular all around and making a dual stage controller with out the ability to span ten pounds is not to smart. Hopefully you will get yours dialed in, and if not, I will be playing with mine here this next week end so maybe I'll be a better help by then.

Good luck with the storm. Up here in Seattle we can't help but get exited about bad weather when it roles in. Although, we never really get any thing dangerous; so...

 

[98tsi757]

well the storm has passed. alot of flooding and power outages in the area, but we escaped un harmed. did find a couple leaks in my car tho. but i guess thats what 8 inches of rain in 12 hours will get ya. hopefully tomorrow i can get out to mess with the controller.

 

[98tsi757]

so have you installed your turbosmart yet? just wondering how it is working for you.

 

[90gst_sean]

Yes, the boost controller is all hooked up now. I just got my car back up and running after a load of work. I've done so much to it over the period of my last no start, diagnosing the problem once I got everything back together was hard. It turns out the eprom I purchased and had dsmlink installed on was the latest problem I ran into. It took me about a month to come to terms with its failure and put my old ecu back in. I really didn't want to have to pull link before I got a chance to it. I looked every were else hoping to find a problem. I even had 550 injector all ready installed as well; but had to pull them along with dsmlink... I have no other way to tune for them.

I've really just started tuning the car. I rebuilt the engine, so I've been more focused on braking it in than learning to set the duel boost controller. It seems strange though. At the moment, I have both the nobs turned all the way left; I think thats the lowest settings.?. With the dash switch up or down, I get about 8 psi. I really cant tell whats on or off. Up or down? Maybe you've figured things out more. Like I said I really haven't played with it much yet so I'll let you know how it turns out, if your still interested.