In The Club

[Bomber]

Got the car back tonight. Initial thoughts were it felt laggy. WOT felt fine. The boys just had to tweak the tune a little to suit the preload which must have been slightly different. It made the same power, as you'd expect.

Took it up a long steep hill near my place and fed the boost in progressively and up came the code again :(

Other than the tensioner guide fix, we've achieved nothing. The car actually feels slower other than in race mode.

Unless it's a collapsed cat (is 100cpsi metal so unlikely) or something stupid, I just don't know what to do except follow the same advice I gave to Gunna. Step away from it for a while for your own sanity.

Today has really knocked me. I'm fkn gutted tonight :(

I don't think there will be any updates for a while boys so take care.

[GeGe6]

Hope it turns your way soon!

[MattyP]

Mate this is sh*t news.

Step back that's for sure and I know how you feel. I'm 12 months into my celica build and it's just dragging on like you wouldn't believe.

You'll get it sorted. Just stay on your tuner and make sure he gets it fixed

[Bomber]

Bought a new boost solenoid today and swapped it out. Denied :(

It's ridiculously laggy since I got it back. Worse than when the 7psi actuator was in it for the week or so. The boys have sent the tune file to Rob Herrod to have at look also to rule out anything there.

Logically, we're getting down top a few items now and unfortunately, one is expensive to replace...again.

1. The Cat

2. Rule out tune issues

3. The Turbo

I may take the cat off myself tomorrow morning and take a look. The car has got louder - almost N/A load so who knows, maybe the cat has sh*t itself

[Bomber]

Exhaust had cooled down enough this afternoon so unbolted the flange and had a look. Cat is spot on.

With my head under there I did notice the actuator has a lot of thread showing. Even if the arm is on a slightly different orientation, the rod length looks to be quite a bit longer than I remember it being with the other housing. Given how laggy it is, I'm starting to wonder if the preload is insufficient. That, or we've got a dud actuator. It does crack ok at WOT but that could be it just blowing open.

A quick run again and on a slow feed in building boost, it threw the P1288 fault code again.

When I was replacing the boost solenoid today, I had the airbox off so checked the Turbo. It feels mint. No tight spots - virtually nil end float. I also checked out the rear when the dump was off it on Wednesday and it also looked spot on. Again rotated the wheel - felt perfect.

Despite the fault code to me it still feels mechanical. I do remember MTA saying he does set the preload pretty hard.

Given I've replaced the boost solenoid and ruled out a problem with the cat, before I go pulling off what I still think is a perfectly functioning Turbo, it might be worth rolling the dice with another actuator and make sure we get the preload right.

We will have details back tomorrow about the tune file also so that may rule that out (other than a tweak for the code) also.

When it wasn't laggy for the couple of weeks it felt awesome. No codes came up then either.

I'm determined to get it right. You could pull the Turbo only to find the actuator was the culprit all along and rip up more money. Luckily I'm on Holiday at the moment and my labour is free. I'm just about out of options I can do though to fault find.

["Captain Retard"]

This is totally left of field but didn't you have a timing chain drama, is it possible it could have jumped a tooth, sorry if I'm thinking of someone else.

Anyway this is just for you, good luck with it all !!!

Edited 04/09/14 11:24 AM by "Captain Retard"

[Bomber]

^^^ it was only the top part of the guide mate and after it broke off (on the Sunday morning) the car was strong the whole way home and for the week after.

[Bomber]

Car is back in shop and after it'll be like....

[JETURBO]

Hey bomber it should be fair easy for your tuner to see if hes getting commanded boost like previous and at least compare the graphs

Whose tuning ? Hi torque ?

[Bomber]

^^^ yes mate. Just been hard to get the car back in with Power Cruise on next weekend. It's one of the downsides unfortunately of going to a popular shop as they're pretty much always smashed - especially at this time. That said, they messaged me this morning to get the car back in which I wasn't expecting. I'd basically put the cue in the rack until after P/cruise.

It's sooo laggy after the housing swap that either the actuator has near completely failed or the preload is non-existent. Given the bullsh*t I'd had with housings (this is my third) I made absolutely sure this one was spot on. Seat was machined 20 thou to ensure it didn't catch, new bush, shaft & flapper fitted. It was checked with bearing blue prior to fitment and seats perfectly.

As you know with fault finding mate sometimes you have to go back to what you specifically swapped out and check those components plus think about what has changed. The tune didn't, other than a minor massage, but the hardware did. It didn't throw the code until this week also.

The car basically ran fine for two weeks but then went back to the 'a' and 'b' version. The former was nice and responsive, the later not so much so. This was then accentuated with the housing swap.

We kinda ruled out the actuator because it was brand new. But, when you think about the car was fine then the fault presented again you naturally start looking at hardware. We've got a new boost solenoid on it now and the cat was spot on. That really only leaves the actuator or the turbo itself as the last remaining mechanical issues that would cause it not to make boost down low. As the turbo spins freely by hand with no apparent faults, the focus has to be on the actuator and pre-load.

Look, if it turns out it was just a dodgy actuator I'm still happy to have gone through the housing swap and got a genuine garrett one back on that I know is 100%. If it's tune related, that's' ok too because the boys will sort it.

Hopefully I'll have some good news this arvo.