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Car not hitting boost??

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04cobra

New Member
My car has felt pretty sluggish lately, usually as soon as I get on the gas the boost basically kicks in after the brief turbo lag...but lately it has not until very late 4k - 5k RPMs.

The car is 100% stock, however it feels as though it is almost running lean. It has 13,000 miles on it. Any ideas of what I could check or clean?

I would normally get it on a dyno, but since I do not have any mods, it should be at least performing like a stock MS3.

1st gear there is almost no boost at all if any, second it kicks on, but it almost feels like it is only at half boost.

Ideas?
 
dmention7

dmention7

Hater
Well, boost is limited in 1st and 2nd... but I'm assuming that's not what you're talking about.

The turbo seals on that car seem like they are dropping left and right, but usually only for people who have modded the exhaust a bit... I wouldn't rule that out though. I suppose the most telling diagnostic would be a boost gauge. Failing that, though, I'm pretty sure the car's computer spits out boost pressure through the OBDII interface, so if you have access to a realtime OBDII reader, that could probably shed some light as well.
 
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04cobra

New Member
I use to get Torque steer in first at least even at half throttle, now it just makes alot of noise and really goes nowhere
 
keke

keke

New Member
So I put on a BPV a couple months back, didn't think nothing of it. Today I went to the dealer so I put my stock one back on. My car felt so slow with the stock one on so maybe I was losing boost with it? I put my Forge back on and I could immediately tell the difference. Maybe getting a BPV/BOV would help you.
 
2

2BAR4WS

New Member
The car is 100% stock, however it feels as though it is almost running lean. It
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Running lean would normally cause you to be faster and spool quicker, not slower.

I'd check your connections on the wastegate. Maybe your vaccum line running to it has slipped off or cracked from the heat.

check for loose couplers that could be causing a boost leak also.

I'd put money on it being one of those 2.



At worst, it's could be a blown turbo seal or a leaky exhaust manifold.


My car felt so slow with the stock one on so maybe I was losing boost with it?
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Sounds like it was probably a faulty or leaky stock unit. I know on my Mazda vehicle it's a common problem.
 
YSOSLO

YSOSLO

is the word, beotch
Just an FYI, my brother-in-law was having some issues with his Chevy pickup and his local NAPA store offered to hook-up their OBDII to his truck if he agreed to buy any necessary parts from them. Just something to consider if it seems like a cheap/quick fix.
 
keke

keke

New Member
YSOSLO said:
Just an FYI, my brother-in-law was having some issues with his Chevy pickup and his local NAPA store offered to hook-up their OBDII to his truck if he agreed to buy any necessary parts from them. Just something to consider if it seems like a cheap/quick fix.
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But that would only be be able to read it if he's throwing a CEL right since they don't have an Acess Port that can read boost. And AutoZone does this for free, even if you don't buy the parts from them.
 
mndsm

mndsm

I'M OFFENDED!
Yeah, if you're losing power, my best diagnosis would be that you aren't spooling as well as you should, methinks there is a leak somewhere. Since we know it's stock, we can assume that you haven't blown the pipes off the intercooler. Stock BPV's have been known to leak like a sieve, that'd be the first place i'd look. Also, the turbo seals are another good (albeit more expensive) place to look. One other thing that you might consider is if the car thinks it's not getting enough fuel, wouldn't surprise me to see it pull timing and run like an Escort with a blown cylinder. Check your FPR/FSU fuel pump, injectors, etc. Have you maybe gotten some bad gas somewhere? Wouldn't surprise me if you went to some knockoff little gas station if they were TELLING you you were getting 92, only to have it filled with 87, or kerosene or some such nonsense.

Last but not least, check the intake. If there is some sort of clog/crushed pipe or something, I can see the thing wheezing, going rich, and running terrible.
 
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04cobra

New Member
mndsm said:
Yeah, if you're losing power, my best diagnosis would be that you aren't spooling as well as you should, methinks there is a leak somewhere. Since we know it's stock, we can assume that you haven't blown the pipes off the intercooler. Stock BPV's have been known to leak like a sieve, that'd be the first place i'd look. Also, the turbo seals are another good (albeit more expensive) place to look. One other thing that you might consider is if the car thinks it's not getting enough fuel, wouldn't surprise me to see it pull timing and run like an Escort with a blown cylinder. Check your FPR/FSU fuel pump, injectors, etc. Have you maybe gotten some bad gas somewhere? Wouldn't surprise me if you went to some knockoff little gas station if they were TELLING you you were getting 92, only to have it filled with 87, or kerosene or some such nonsense.

Last but not least, check the intake. If there is some sort of clog/crushed pipe or something, I can see the thing wheezing, going rich, and running terrible.
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+1 for not spooling correctly, thats exactly what it feels like. SOmetimes it does, sometimes it does not

I usually only fill it up at the BP or Holiday.

Anyone know the optimal RPMs where the power would be the highest? I was at 3k - 3.5k floored it and felt minimal if any boost at all. It felt a littler better in 1st and 2nd this time, but 3rd nad 4th nothin.

I wish i wasnt going out of town next week, because I would bring it to the dealer for them to deal with. How can I know if the BPV is leaking?
 
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04cobra

New Member
dmention7 said:
You should be getting solid peak torque from about 3k-5k.
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Thats what I thought, definetly not. When the turbo kicked in, in that power range it use to push me back into the seat, not even close to doing that anymore. and it really feels like the car is going nowhere.
 
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04cobra

New Member
dmention7 said:
Sure you're not just spoiled by the 5xx hp cobra? ;)
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Haha...that cars slow too...but i know that ones in my head.

The MS3 has always been really peppy, now it seems like im dring a geo.

I think i will take it to the dealer and see what they say, hey why not its still under warrenty. If they dont do anything, I will get it dyno'd. If everything seems fine. I will start to mod.
 
dmention7

dmention7

Hater
yeah, bringing it to a dealer with a nebulous complaint like "it doesn't feel as quick as it used to" is always a crapshoot. If you catch them on a good day, they'll run through some diagnostics and check any symptoms against the TSBs that are out and hopefully do some intelligent troubleshooting. If it's a bad day, they'll have a tech take it for a spin and tell you it's normal.
 
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04cobra

New Member
dmention7 said:
yeah, bringing it to a dealer with a nebulous complaint like "it doesn't feel as quick as it used to" is always a crapshoot. If you catch them on a good day, they'll run through some diagnostics and check any symptoms against the TSBs that are out and hopefully do some intelligent troubleshooting. If it's a bad day, they'll have a tech take it for a spin and tell you it's normal.
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Thats pretty much what I figured would happen. What im going to say is that engine power is cutting out, and the car starts to boost stutters then power kicks back in. I'm sure they will tell me "we could not reproduce the problem."

This is what I always get told. :-(

Whats a good dyno to take it to that does not use a tail pipe sniffer?
 
dmention7

dmention7

Hater
Well, we have that dyno day coming up in mid-october at MAP... they have a new AWD dyno, so I have no idea if they still use a sniffer for AFRs. If that's too long to wait, someone else is going to have to recommend a shop, because I have no idea about what other shops are using either.
 
mndsm

mndsm

I'M OFFENDED!
RS doesn't use a sniffer IIRC... dinno about DB. Josh has always been able to get in to RS on short notice, and he should have his stock #'s for a rough comparison.
 
M

mazdamn02

Guest
Dude... I have a scan gauge you can use. It spits out #s and we can compare it to a working speed 3. Lemme know...
 
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