so today out of no where my car starts acting up. i have a 90 eclipse gsx. i have an exhaust, big16g turbo, exhaust mani, and o2 housing. when i was driving home from school for some reason my car stopped pulling as hard. whenever i would hit the gas i would feel the normal boost up till i got up to like 5 psi then the car would lag. i thought it was a boost leak so i tested it and found nothing i disconnected my boost controller. is the big 16g wastegate set up at 8 pounds? so there were no boost leaks but my car still stopped pulling after 5 psi. could i have an exhaust leak? i stuck a football in my tailpipe and my car didn’t studder or anything. isn’t it supposed to? thanks for any help i will take it easy on the car until i figure out the problem
sounds like an exhaust leak or boost creap at the wastegate.
i don’t think it is boost creep because it did just start today. if it is a boost leak. i think it would be at my flex section because the rest of my exhaust is one piece. how hard would it be to replace just the flex section on an exhuast that is one peice. i know that i will have to drop it but is the rest just welding.
having a leak AFTER the turbo will have no effect on how hard the car is pulling. the leak would have to be between the head and the turbo itself. its that or the wastegate is weakening and letting out boost for some reason.
does any one else know what it could be, i didn’t really know if the exhaust leak would do it, but i can’t really think of anything else. i will drive it some more and see
well i would listen to him (focusinprogress) he knows what hes talking about
There are many contributing factors. Exhaust leak pre-turbo. ie. a huge crack in the manifold, wastegate flapper falling off, turbine housing crack, turbine damaged/missing, turbo blown, boost leaks.
If you don’t know where to start come by the shop or setup an appointment.
i do to an extent lol. driving isnt going to help BTW, if its acting up that badly, chances are continuing to force it to reciprocate will ultimately kill the car. if you can and have the time, take off the turbo and manifold and check for black spots on the manifold(cracks/holes) and check the turbine itself for shaft play and whatnot. also check the flapper valve (wastegate) to make sure its working properly
check your knock sensor. if its bad it will pull timing under load and cause the car to spudder (ing timing) and cause weak boost and power. also check your plugs for failure. if one is not firing under high stress(boost) it would put you down a cylender.
Emery
I highly doubt its the wastegate. How much boost do you actually see? High counts of knock tend to close the gap on spark plugs and cause a misfire. Pull the plugs out, check em, and relplace them with one heat range colder plugs and regap them to .028. I believe stock ngk numper is bpr8es, one range colder would be 7’s.
I’m sorry but you are wrong.
The stock plugs are BPR6ES. One colder is BPR7ES
If you have any cracks in the turbine (exhaust) side of the turbo you will see less boost and the harder you drive the worse it will get as with the extra load comes extra heat and the extra heat expands those cracks. When the cracks expand exhaust energy is able to bypass the wastegate flapper and thus bypass the turbine wheel. This sounds like more of the scenario especially because you said you didn’t find any boost leaks (assuming you checked properly).
While the knock sensor creating phantom knock is a possible cause, it doesn’t happen nearly as often as this does. Check your knock sensor to see if it has gooed all down the block and if it still looks whole check else where. if you have access to a logger you can check for knock while you drive.
I’m also willing to bet you have boost leaks somewhere, if you didn’t find them, we have open appointments right now, I guarantee we will find them.
ok, so i drove my car around today again, and i think that it is the clutch going, when i slam on the gas, in high boost my car feels like it stops pulling but the rpms are still going up, if it is the clutch then it isn’t slipping very much. for the turbo car’s the does the clutch usually start slipping when at high boost, thanks so far for the help
is ur boost still crapping out?
none of this makes any sense.
ok, basically my car drives fine until i get like over five psi, which means that i’m slamming on the gas. now it looks like my rpms are still going up but my car isn’t pulling as much as it used to. i drove my friends na car but the clutch was almost toast so i know what it felt like slipping. so does a turbo car usually have the clutch slip when it boosting.
its not supposed to. you should really just stop by hybrid or have an experienced friend drive it and see if it is indeed the clutch
so is there anyone in the lancaster area that thinks they might be able to help me. sorry but i’m low on funds and can’t really stop at hybrid or anything so if anyone wants to come over and take it for a ride it would be appreciated.
Listen, if your broke that is fine, stop by I will go for a test drive and hopefully I can point you in the right direction
^told ya. don is the man
one way to rule out the clutch is to go about 30 mph… put it in 5th… and slam the gas… if the rpms climb higher then the car is accelerating… the clutch is slipping… you need a high load on the clutch to determine slip… I had a similar problem to yours… car wasn’t pulling up top… I misdiagnosed it as a clutch… but the probably causes have all been mentioned in here already…
manifold cracks, boost leak, knock sensor etc… i’d put money on the fact it’s probably pulling timing for some reason.