another headache with my car

[matress]

hey guys,
today, my car fucked up... to put it bluntly! i have no idea, what, why or how either which shits me.
the car takes AGES to boost, boost comes on, very very slowly, but only reaches up to about 6 psi... the blow off valve won't really make any noise til about 3 psi where usually it makes noise from about 0 psi upwards.
driving along, you can hear a hissing noise (not induction noise) while it's on boost coming from around the front of the car which makes me think one of the intercooler pipes is completely fucked, or has a hole in it, but would this make the car very slow to come on boost?
i suppose that if all the boost is going out the hole, then it would take longer to spool.
the car drives normally off boost, the only problem is on boost.
is a cracked exhaust housing or manifold a possibilty?
what about a stuck wastegate flap?
I haven't had any chance to check any of these things yet, hopefully I'll get a chance in the next few days.
I was hoping to have the car at Sundays cruise too :cry:
Mat

 

[GSRSOL]

it would be one of your pipes or joiners come loose, or maybe even a hole somewhere?

it couldnt be your wastegate flap jammed cos then youd be boosting through the roof!

 

[Jason Broadhurst]

im going with boost leak, or exhaust leak before the turbo.

check all hose clamps and flange bolts on TB, manifold, turbo etc to see if they are leaking.

you should be able also check the wastegate by manualy opening it, but i doubt its the cause.

rev the motor and back off quickly and you will feel air comming from the boost leak or hear the exhaust leak.

 

[bazeng]

u need another leak test mate =)

could be a i/c pipe leak
or even an exhaust leak??...
but you would be able to hear it badly if it were an exhaust leak..

maybe somebody tried to unbolt your cooler as the car was out of action on the freeway??...

 

[matress]

thanks for the speedy replies guys
the car doesn't seem to have been tampered with at all, it was fine after i picked up the car from where it was sitting, it kind of just happened suddenly yesterday, but got worse the more i drove it.
the air rushing noise i can hear appears to be coming from the passenger side of the car, sounds like induction noise, but of course the air filter's on the other side of the car.
we tried revving the car while one of us was down the front, but because we couldn't get boost in neutral, nothing showed up.
one of my mates reckons i could have lost a blade on the compressor wheel... i don't know what the symptoms of that are, but it isn't a hard job for me to pull off the intake, i just don't have any spare time!!!
Mat

 

[art]

Check your waste gate arm is still connected to the waste gate spring/vacuum unit.

 

[matress]

it is still connected but should i be able to move it with my fingers?

 

[matress]

ive just been outside under the car too, can't see or feel any obvious holes in the cooler piping.

 

[bazeng]

u shouldn't be able to move your wastegate flap with your hand..

 

[matress]

good, coz i can't! :lol:

 

[tharaka]

it could be stuck open like my old turbo, or a crack in the exhaust housing
thats exactly what my old turbo was like
VERY laggy, started to boost at around 4000rpm, full boost by redline
i dont think it even made boost in first :lol:

I was going to say if its a hole in the cooler piping, or any sort of leak between the filter -> turbo or turbo -> TB, your car wont idle properly, and will blow black smoke
but then i remembered you have a wolf running a MAP sensor

put soapy water on your intercooler, and intercooler piping, and see if any of it bubbles when you rev the car a bit

 

[matress]

i tend to think that either the wastegate is stuck open or there's a crack somewhere around the exhaust housing or manifold? I know my cooler piping is a bit dodgy, it's been like that for a while.
I did spill some water on the turbo/manifold the other day when i was washing some spilt coolant off the radiator, there was a lot of steam that came off it
you reckon that could have done it?
whats the easiest way to test if there's cracks? were yours easily visible?

 

[tharaka]

i tend to think that either the wastegate is stuck open or there's a crack somewhere around the exhaust housing or manifold? I know my cooler piping is a bit dodgy, it's been like that for a while.
I did spill some water on the turbo/manifold the other day when i was washing some spilt coolant off the radiator, there was a lot of steam that came off it
you reckon that could have done it?
whats the easiest way to test if there's cracks? were yours easily visible?

nah, spilling water on it wont crack the manifold

you couldnt really see the cracks until baz took the turbo off and showed me
i just thought my car was a laggy pos because of the stock exhaust

check all the other things first, because checking the exhaust housing wouldn't really be easy

i mean, it could also be your timing being pulled (does the wolf do that?) so you're not getting any boost

 

[matress]

you don't reckon it'd be spark plugs do you?
not sure about the timing thing... barry?

 

[tharaka]

you don't reckon it'd be spark plugs do you?
not sure about the timing thing... barry?

you'll know when its misfiring, and from what you described, it doesnt look like it at all

 

[matress]

what about blades missing from the comp wheel?
i might take the night off hockey and pull it apart...

 

[tharaka]

what about blades missing from the comp wheel?
i might take the night off hockey and pull it apart...

i dont see how one can just fall off, or go missing

 

[bazeng]

could be anything matty...
bring it by on the weekend.. ill check it out for you..

 

[matress]

thanks baz, i might take it to pete tonight for a quick look aswell, see if he notices anything straight away.

 

[CLuTZ]

Sounds like you have a hole in your intercooler pipes, or you've blown one off. Because your not running the OEM AFM, your car still idles/runs like shit.