I don't understand how or why but my turbo is dieing. I run the car pretty conservatively unless I am on a road course. It started losing boost and now the shop says it is down to about four pounds. The shop can't find anything wrong.

Since Buscher isn't ready with the 21G I am going to buy the TME 6.5. To be honest I don't know the second thing about turbos. Since I don't see myself doing the drag thing or plopping three or four grand for a turbo, am I doing the right thing? Anyone with a good idea?

Now I did know enough to let the turbo cool off after a hard run, and not pour sand down the intake. There is no smoke, and the rest of the car is fine.

 

Did you check for any leaks maybe you have a boost leak and your loosing boost its not even your turbo i would check all the vac lines what are your mods ???

 

I checked and rechecked the shop checked and did a pressure test, nada, nothing ...


not much in mods, turbo back with stock cat, water injection currently off, hydra ecu with a lame fuel and spark trim without water, gfb plumb back bov, an aftermarket solenoid or the stock one.

 

Hey check your plugs if your misfiring it wont hold boost for crap

 

I ran a couple of logs before I took it to the shop. No sign of a miss, ie the wide band did not show a missfire. The plug I looked at was clean and good to my eye.
The car still runs well, just didn't have the boost

 

My uncle with a grand national had the same problem. After days of troubleshooting he found he had carbon build up in the wastegate causing it not to close fully. Check it out, its cheaper than a new turbo.

 

I vote broken wastegate (mis-seated valve, broken actuator, cracked housing) or massuve exhaust leak pre-turbo.

 

i second the wastegate issue

 

you know it has got to be something. it's not rocket science. It is kinda funny how the boost felll so quickly. Over the course of minutes (guessing) boost time, it went from 18 to 4. You would think carbon in the gate would be all at once and then build over time as the carbon built up. Assuming a chunk of carbon got lodged in the door. I saw some logs at 16 then 13, then I took it to the shop.

got to believe the shop checked the gate, at one point they fixed it shut to see what kind of pressure they could get...

 

I dought ur turbo is worn out. Did the shop really check the wastegate flap or just disconnect the wastegate accuator to test the wastegate? You would think at WOT, only pushing 5 psi, you would be running really rich with the car used to 20 psi.

 

I was thinking the wastegate aswell...isnt their a bulletin for Mitsu on the wastegate?

Really...how does a turbo "wear out" except for torn bearings inside the CHRA....if thats so, check your oil pressure or oil level on the dipstick

 

i vote for this one too. you said there was no smoke, which is a very good indicator of a problem with your turbo or other things. the only thing i can think of is that your wastegate is stuck open. wait i just thought of this, if his waste gate was stuck open wouldn't he produce more than 4 psi of boost. 4 psi is really really low for an evo. what is everybody elses insite on this thought.

 

I broke my wastegate actuator on my Eclipse before with a 16G. It happened in the middle of an autocross pass. Suddenly the car had ZERO power. I couldn't make any boost. I thought I blew the turbo.

Turns out the rod just stripped right out of the actuator can.

I could floor the car and it would make maybe 4psi by redline. And it took a LONG time to get to redline!

The car sounded like a Honda with a fart can, too.

 

I was out sick last week, but Andre told me about the problem.
First off remove the intake pipe, pressure test the system at 15psi, absolutely no boost leaks to be found.
Put a manual boost controller on the car, no change in boost level at all.
Apply pressure to wastegate actuator to check operation, appears to move normally.
Remove wastegate arm from the flapper and safety wire the flapper close, locking the wastegate passage. No change in boost level.
Then they pulled off the turbine housing, everything was in perfect shape.
Turbo has no excessive thrust play and spins freely.

In 5 years it's honestly the weirdest thing I've seen.

This would only hold true if you had a large boost leak. Lower boost level will result in a lower mass reading and the ecu will inject the appropriate amount of fuel.

 

unless the shop wants him to spend his money for a brand new turbo kit?so the shop gets there profits.you know what i mean...