turbo not boosting...

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kenyon93
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turbo not boosting...

Post by kenyon93 »

this isnt my car but its my buddies and we work on it quite a bit to get it running good but it never really has. its a 1993 legacy sport turbo (ej22t) with 189k miles. we cant figure out why its not grabbing boost. its got a manual boost controller wrx tmic and thats all thats done do it. and put an ebay wrx uppipe on it cuz the other one was cracked in half pretty much. we checked every vacuum line at least 20 times and replaced any of them that looked bad or cracked, cleaned maf, spark plugs wires, fuel pump 8 months ago, fuel filter 5 months ago, air filter 1 month ago, and i think thats it. but we pretty much checked and tried everything we could think of of why it doesnt grab boost and pull. right when the boost guage starts reading boost and is climbing it kinda throbbs as if theres a boost leak which we checked everywhere we can think of and it all looks good. then yesterday we brought everything back to stock, no intercooler or mbc and still doesnt grab. the wastegaste doesnt seem loose either. my friends were saying maybe fuel issues, but the only thing left would be injectors and the car seems to just drive fine, just not in boost. can anyone throw some ideas out there that maybe we missed something? PS: we have it set to about 9 lbs and it reads 9 lbs but it starts choking, and the boost guage is off a vacuum line off the intake manifold which means its getting 9 lbs in there but its not getting to the cylinder? its getting stressful but thanks ahead of time!
Legacy777
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Re: turbo not boosting...

Post by Legacy777 »

Welcome to the BBS.

Have you checked the ECU for any stored codes? Is the check engine light on? Instructions to pull the codes are on my site: www.surrealmirage.com/subaru/engine.html

You mentioned the boost gauge is hooked up to the intake manifold, is it hooked up to the intake manifold vacuum/boost port on the passenger side front intake runner? Did you tee into that line and still allow the vacuum/boost reference to go to the MAP & pressure exchange solenoid?

Have you checked the spark plugs & wires, or have they been replaced recently?
Josh

surrealmirage.com/subaru
1990 Legacy (AWD, 6MT, & EJ22T Swap)
2020 Outback Limted XT

If you need to get a hold of me please email me rather then pm
kenyon93
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Re: turbo not boosting...

Post by kenyon93 »

there is no engine lights on. we tee'd next to where the stock tee is that goes to charcoal canister and fcd i think it is. and with ngk plugs gapped to 0.0025-27. but an update on it: we were driving and the pully (harmonic balancer) was wobbing and making a knocking noise. scared the shit outa me at first. but we took off the harmonic balancer and the key was bent up a worn... the timing was almost a tooth off. the next day we ended up buying a new harmonic balancer and key and put the timing back as best as we could but the slot for the key in the crank was worn pretty good so it had a small bit of play in it but better then before. it grabs boost a little better now for sure but i can still feel the dead spots.
Legacy777
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Re: turbo not boosting...

Post by Legacy777 »

So is the keyway on the crank itself damaged?
Josh

surrealmirage.com/subaru
1990 Legacy (AWD, 6MT, & EJ22T Swap)
2020 Outback Limted XT

If you need to get a hold of me please email me rather then pm
kenyon93
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Re: turbo not boosting...

Post by kenyon93 »

dam i wish i could get pictures but i cant for while. looking from the front of the engine, the left side was worn and looked nasty but the right side was straight edged still so we lined the timing sprocket and key up with the right side till it was prefect. but the keyway was bigger on the crank than on the timing sprocket because it was worn on the left side. so im guessing its a little off again cuz there was a little bit of play in there. the only way we could get it perfect is get a new cank or weld the key in i guess
Legacy777
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Re: turbo not boosting...

Post by Legacy777 »

Yeah....all you can really do is get it as best you can and torque the hell out of the crank bolt.
Josh

surrealmirage.com/subaru
1990 Legacy (AWD, 6MT, & EJ22T Swap)
2020 Outback Limted XT

If you need to get a hold of me please email me rather then pm
kenyon93
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Re: turbo not boosting...

Post by kenyon93 »

ok. so u think that was the boosting problem the whole time? funny thing is, is that it run perfectly fine unless boost kicks in. but its weird after we made the timing a little better, it grabs boosts better.
Legacy777
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Re: turbo not boosting...

Post by Legacy777 »

I really don't know. However I know with troubleshooting a problem, if you find a so-called "unrelated" problem there's no point in continuing to troubleshoot until you fix that problem as it very well may be causing the issues you were troubleshooting.
Josh

surrealmirage.com/subaru
1990 Legacy (AWD, 6MT, & EJ22T Swap)
2020 Outback Limted XT

If you need to get a hold of me please email me rather then pm
kenyon93
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Re: turbo not boosting...

Post by kenyon93 »

ok thanks! ill keep ya posted if it just blows up or something lol
Dave_J
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Re: turbo not boosting...

Post by Dave_J »

While some have had problems with the sparkplug gap set at 0.041, I would not set them smaller than 0.035 inch. Try them at that and see.
Retired US ARMY SIGNAL CORP
65 B-Cuda Formula S, 78 Dodge Little Red Express Truck, 08 Suzuki Burgman 650 Super Scooter, 94 Legacy Touring wagon.
MeinKreuz
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Re: turbo not boosting...

Post by MeinKreuz »

I had this problem on my powerstroke one time, where the psi gauge on the boost gauge kept throbbing. I ran some diagnostics and test an figured it was one of the injectors. the reason it was throbbing was because when it hit the cylinder that wasn't working it dropped pressure and raised again when it hit a proper working cylinder, causeing the turbo to spool weird. I would pull all the injectors and just swap them all, should solve your problem.
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