Hello all, brand spankin' new to the forum! I have been following here for a while out of my love for Evos, even before I bought my 2010 Evo x SE two weeks ago. I'm in need of some guidance. I have searched the forum and scoured the internet and haven't found any answers. I've been tuning for a while now, mostly with German cars, so I'm not sure where to start looking on my new Evo.

Problems #1: When launching (sst) at WOT the car bogs, like really bad. Best description, letting out a clutch really slowly, then lightly engaging around 3200rpm. Compared to any car I've owned before (including a '92 Escort), it feels the slowest off the line. Feels amazing when the turbo spools up around 4500, but it taks forever to get there.

Problem #2: Car bogs on upshift in any mode in any gear at WOT. Best description, feels like shifting a manual car and letting off the gas before pushing in the clutch.

I bought this car from a dealership and test drove it with the dealer with me, so I couldn't hammer it too hard and didn't notice these problems until I had a chance to open it up.

Hoping it's something simple like MAF or custom ECU flash that it came with (UMS tuning), that I'm planning on removing before I take it in for service. Please don't say it's the tranny . Still under warrantee, but hope I don't get too much grief from the service department for the mild mods it has. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Even directing me to the right thread would be great. I'll take the "noob" slam if I must.

Sorry for the long post. Thanks for reading.

Piece,

 

1st gear TPS limiter. It closes the throttle in first gear. This is now able to be tuned out.


Not sure why it's doing this but might be because of:


It has a tune on it already? Sounds like it needs to be checked out.

 

How often do you launch control the car?

Yes, the shifting in these SST evos can vary drastically depending on how various throttle, airflow/torque limits, and other secondary tables are set. If a custom tune was already done, it's hard to tell what they did to make it better or worse than how it was set from the factory.

When I first got my Evo X MR the 1-2 and 2-3 shift were somewhat jerky and the car would really bog off the line. I've done my typical adjustments and the car is like night and day already. Smooth shifts with the appropriate amount of clutch pressure in every gear and even coming off the line without launching it is livable now. Mivec and proper boost control adjustments can also make a huge difference with power delivery, 20 psi is available in 1st as early as 3400 last log I checked. For reference I see 20 psi around 2700 in 4th gear in comparison. I'm still testing things at moderate boost but hope to have some good before and after data down the road once all these tables are hashed out.

I would consider having Razorlab or someone else that knows SST to adjust the tune and see how that effects the car.

 

I appreciate the input guys. Haven't tried the launch control yet, I don't want to beat it up too bad. I think my first order of business should be to take it to the tuning shop that flashed it. I really want to take it into the dealer since it is due for a service anyway but I'm affraid I might get into warrantee trouble with the flash on it. Does the service department regularly check for ECU upgrades? And how strict are they about upgrades and voiding the warrantee?

 

The launch control is drastically different then simply flooring it WOT off the line. Flooring it off the line includes the delay of having to wait for the engine to Rev first. If it was a manual, you would have revved the engine before starting to let the clutch out. Since the SST doesn't allow this (without engaging launch control), it has to interpret your intentions first. So basically what is happening is:
-You hit the full throttle
-SST interprets this as a large amount of throttle
-instead of slow engagement, it allows the engine to rev higher first while slipping clutch
-revs reach 3-4 before clutches lock
-zoom


It takes awhile to get used to and understand what the transmission is trying to do. That's why launch control is closer to how you would truly launch a manual off the line. Try it, you will like it.

 

My guess is pig rich shifts like i was seeing

 

Thanks for the input. Planning on taking it in in the next few weeks to the tuning shop to get it checked out. I'm hoping that it is just a A/F issue. Anyone familiar with UMS Tuning in Mesa, AZ? I've personally never heard of them before I bought this car.

I did get to play with the launch control a little, makes a huge difference. Having the RPMs up helped keep it from bogging. I'm comparing this thing launching to my A3 I just unloaded that had a DSG (auto tranny). With a APR upgraded ECU the only engine mod I had on it, I couldn't floor it off the line without wheel spin (granted it's only FWD). It would push me back in my seat pretty good at low RPMs.

 

New discovery. Found a boost control solenoid zip-tied by the fire wall but no boost controller that I am aware of. Questionable wiring and loose vacuum hoses. Not sure what brand it is. Looks like a Perrin but there is no name/label on it. As I've read around the net that a boost controller and a ECU tune's not a good combo. Hoping this is the culprit. Plan on having all this stuff removed before I take it in for my 10k service.

 

And I can't imagine this is right. There is a vacuum hose attached to the boost solenoid and the other end that Ts out: one with the restrictor pill and the other with the red marked tip are not hooked up to anything.

 

Works reliably for me... lol

 

My Advice is to search the how to section for a post on how to install a 3-port boost control solenoid as it should contain pics of the stock setup... If you have a 3port solenoid you should get tuned for that.... and without knowing what your current tune looks like things could be all jacked up at the moment.. whatever route you go (back to stock setup or properly plumbing what you have now) you need to verify the tune is setup for it.

 

As Mad just stated, keep the 3-port and get tuned for it. A 3-port is NOT a boost controller, its a solenoid for better boost management (to reduce spikes and dips); 3-ports still utilize the ECU boost parameters, so your good to go

 

Thanks Mad and sstevojr, I'll have to look into the 3-port, not familair with them. For now, I did take my car in for a oil change and had my mechanic take out the solenoid. No more fuel cut on WOT upshifts and it actually feels smoother (less peaky). Looking into getting a Cobb AP in the near future. Would a 3-port still be beneficial if I was running the Cobb?