If you really believe the turbo is at fault, then take the turbo out and remove the housings. Then check the housings for any obstructions and then measure the exducer and inducer dimensions.

I doubt EricR is getting full boost, 21-23psi, by 3500rpm. Of course, if he ever gets his car up here I would like to see it try .

 

The problem lies within the turbo or the kit, either way its the only thing left. I don't know why anybody hear believes that a turbo can't fail especially one from AMS. I hope you read my first post on all the problems that I had from them. These guys aren't perfect and bad turbos have been sent out by other venders in the past, i.e. Burshcur was notorious for this.

Also, what good is measuring going to do at this point. Once we remove the turbo, it will be sent either sent back to AMS as an entire kit or just the turbine. Either way its their product and hopefully they stand behind it. At this point they can try to remedy the problem with another different turbo kit, or buy their product back.

 

There is no way the turbo kit itself can be causing the conditions which you are complaining about. If any thing I would suspect the install.

What progress has your shop made in obtaining the OBDII scan tool to test the items suggested by Martin above ?

If you take off that tubro kit its like cutting off your nose. I know these conditions can be frustrating but its a great turbo kit and there is no problems with it. I would suggest you take the car to a skilled mechanic with a full facility of diagnostic equipment for a 2nd opinion.

 

Al,
Tuning Techologies is a new shop (only a year old)but they are skilled. They always have at least 5 to 7evos there getting everything done from turbo kit installs to complete engine rebuilds (mine for example). They checked everything yesterday with an OBDII scanner. At idle or a little above the egine load was at 50% (should be 20%) and the short term fuel trims were at -25%. They disconnected the turbo kit and the short term fuel trims went almost to zero and the engine load went to 20%.

If this turns out to be the turbo after all, a few folks are going to owe them an apology...

 

If there is no obstruction in the turbo and it spins freely, it's not the turbo. If it is hard to spin and the blades are rubbing then yes it is the turbo. Something internally could be wrong with it.

The problem is, many of us have asked on a few occasions if it spins freely and where is the answer? None yet. What about the gaskets like somebody else mentioned? Could there be a leak?

 

I have tuned over 15 evos with the AMS turbo kit including my own evo. They perform flawlesly. Assuming the turbine wheel is still spinning on its shaft, there is nothing that can go wrong on a turbo kit - it consisits of tubes and pipes.

 

My thoughts exactly

 

You should definitely not use a standalone as a band aid, but they are definitely my choice. My AEM has made my car 10x more driveable than the stock ecu. That includes, part throttle (no more bucking and misfires) and idle (no more stalls). Of course this is because I am using a MAP and temp sensor. AEM with a MAF sensor is pointless.

If you are not willing to learn the system it WILL eventually give you a headache though, because it is impossible to tune for every possible condition without experiencing it first. If you are willing to spend time with it, it is the best thing ever. Keeps me occupied.

The only thing I can think of is that the turbo itself is having problem keeping your airflow normal. The fact that the car runs perfectly fine without a turbo proves that it can't be anything else. This is assuming you did not change anything else (i.e. injectors/engine management) when switching to no turbo. To isolate it further you should stick the intake on the pipe that comes right off the turbo outlet. That will eliminate the IC piping/IC as well. I don't know how possible this is though Of course the ultimate test would be a different turbo.

 

Angel,

As been said above the turbo is not an electronic device. I have installed more than 10 turbo kits.

If the turbo spins freely then I am afraid that the turbo is fine. If the turbo is bad I would like to know on what ground TT is claiming that it will cause all these issues. There must be a scientific full answer behind that from them.

I truly think that you should take your car to your home and figure out what’s going on slowly trying not to spend all this money.

I don’t think that TT is over charging you in anyway but soon your bill will jump from 1K to 2K then to 3K.

Take your car home put your stocker on (sell the kit or return it and call it a day)....

Good luck

 

I believe your turbo could be at fault. I was just giving you an option if AMS won't provided you another replacement w/ out proof. Your going to be taking it off anyway.

Have you guys removed the filter or air box to see if you can spin the turbo? If it spins you could still have a casting issue in the housings.

Just trying to help .

 

I appreciate everyone's help and opinions. On Tuesday, when AMS opens up shop again, I am sure Tuning Technologies will get on the phone with them to try and resolve this issue. If this turbo is so great, why wont it work with the stock ECU and a piggy back ECU like the Xede. If this turbo can only run with a stand alone system like an AEM EMS on speed density, then I believe AMS is misrepresenting their product on being able to run on stock ECU'd Evos. Just my 2cents...

 

This is not true either. My AMS gt35r kit ran decently on my stock ecu with a dynoflash and AFC. It WOULD stall occassionally and give me misfires at part throttle every now and then, but it was still very driveable and gave me up to 30mpg on the highway. The AEM just fixed all the quarks that my car use to have that is all.

The time in my sig was run on the stock ecu actually. I have only been able to manage a 11.6 @ 122 so far with the AEM. AEM takes a bit longer to tune right though.

 

Our kit has been installed on as many stock ECU cars as it has standalones. now that you have the OBDII scanner I am sure martin is going to want to talk to TT and get this worked out. Like we have said time and time again if something is wrong with the turbo we will replace it. we are simply trying to prevent more downtime for you by making sure everything else has been looked into. we are not in the buisness of "misrepresenting" products or offering poor Customer service. we all take great pride in our jobs and want to help you figure out this matter. We never said it couldnt be the turbo, its just not very likely at all and we want to check the more obvious reasons.

Eric

 

Do you know how turbo's work? This turbo is on many cars with stock flashed ecu's. Turbo's don't know the difference whether they are on a car with stock ecu or standalone's. The tune is what helps the turbo perform well. When the car is properly tuned you should have no problem with ANY turbo unless it is a very LARGE turbo which in that case it does need an EMS to tune it. A turbo just spins faster when more exhaust gases are passing threw it.

Turbo's do fail or have issues, but for the most part it's not normal when they are brand new. In some rare cases it does happen, but you will normally see or hear it(not spinning freely or metal scraping metal). If the turbo spins freely and there doesn't SOUND like there is a mechanical failure with it, the tune is where you should be looking.

What rpm is your idle set at? 800-1500rpms?

When the car is running rich at idle, is the turbo and manifold just hooked up or is the complete turbo back exhaust hooked up too? If your car is not running correctly when backpressure is present then something is wrong with the tune at idle.

Man, I can't wait until we find out what is causing this because it has many people scratching their heads.

 

Like I said above I have tuned a lot of evos with the AMS turbo kit with excelent results. Of course any mechanical problems or install errors (such as bost leaks) may render the kit hard to tune, however with proper tuning the stock ecu can run the turbo kit with very decent idle and driveability.