Quest for lost power!!!!

[Joolz_850R]

Just thought I would update.

As some of you may be aware, I am considerably down on power from the HLM day.

I have tried a couple of things like changing the pipes that run from the turbo to the actuator and BCS.

I tried replacing the BCS with a MBC just for trials.

Due to lack of time I have not managed to get anything sorted.

Ive finally got the car booked in to JAM Sport (RS focus specialists) to start by having a smoke test on all the pipe work on Saturday12th.

Fingers crossed.

[T5frankie]

i know where they are i went in their to get a quote, next door is good for part worn tyres, still not sorted it then?

[Joolz_850R]

No Frank, afraid not. Ive just been mega busy with work and need the car pretty much most of the time. The car drives really well considering the power, so not sure what it can be. Ive secured some time at the weekend so hopefully make some headway. Ive read about what you are doing with yours.......Whats the goal? LOL :)

[T5frankie]

No Frank, afraid not. Ive just been mega busy with work and need the car pretty much most of the time. The car drives really well considering the power, so not sure what it can be. Ive secured some time at the weekend so hopefully make some headway. Ive read about what you are doing with yours.......Whats the goal? LOL :)

im going to get 400 bhp mate, i need to get my other engine in though first

[Joolz_850R]

im going to get 400 bhp mate, i need to get my other engine in though first?????**&%$ surely a nightmare in fwd?? I'm only jealous though lol

[si850r]

?????**&%$ surely a nightmare in fwd?? I'm only jealous though lol

Hes getting an xtension on the steering rack so he can sit in the rear seats and steer, this enables more weight over the rear wheels...

[kee1173]

Hes getting an xtension on the steering rack so he can sit in the rear seats and steer, this enables more weight over the rear wheels...

oooooooooooooo thats not nice........F**Kin funny tho....LOL

[T5frankie]

Hes getting an xtension on the steering rack so he can sit in the rear seats and steer, this enables more weight over the rear wheels...

whatever that means? its fwd

[kee1173]

looking at it now have nt a clue... but had just taken last round of morphine an after that everything seems Funny ....LOL

[Joolz_850R]

Managed to get my car in jam sport this afternoon. They told me that the smoke test showed that there was a leak under the car coming from the intercooler. THey could not diagnose if it was the pipes or intercooler:( THey said it was a mission to get to the lower part of the intercooler stating approx 2 hours labour to get it out.

So Is there a quick way to remove the undertray? Also expecting the worse, does anyone have an intercooler gathering dust underneath their garage bench... LOL. I guess it would make sense to change all the pipework while im at it. Was there a homemade RIP kit made out of the existing pipework with some mods?

Any help pls

[Dan850r]

There is a drain hole in the intercooler anyway, try blocking off the pipes going to it then smoke test it again

[Joolz_850R]

Cheers Dan,

When you say a drain hole, im assuming that it is normally bunged? Can you get access to it easily?

[Dan850r]

im not sure how it works to be honest, i put a screw in mine lol. ive had a look at the spare in the garage and its just open to air, some say its not big enough to cause any trouble but even so i didnt want it there, apparently to do with moisture and freezing temps and letting it drain away.

[Joolz_850R]

Picked up a replacement intercooler and some extra hard pipes today from Lakes Autos on the A1. Just need to get the car in bits now....hopefully make a RIP kit from the bits and pieces I've now got! :)

[GazT4R]

There is a small hole in the bottom of the interboiler to allow the oil residue to get out. It's small enough that the turbo can easily cope with the small amount of lost boost.
Removing the front undertray takes about 1 minute. Two bolts either side and it then unclips. You then have direct access to the bottom of the IC.

[Joolz_850R]

Removed undertray and checked out the intercooler. It all looks in really good order.

I made up a makeshift pressure tester and charged the inlet system to approx 15 psi. Only thing leaking was the drain hole in the bottom of the intercooler. So I paid 50quid to find out nothing new GRRRRR. While i was at it i put a bit of pressure on to the actuator and it seemed to function ok. Only thing I can think of now is to remove the heat sheild and see if the actuator is setup incorrectly?????

As a side line Jam sport said it would take approx 2 hours to diagnose the leak coming from the cooler......As you say gaz it took a couple of minutes to clearly see everything!!!

[merc85]

Just a thought , have you checked the diapham aint split in the re circ valve??

[T5frankie]

do a 0-60 and 0-100 test and see what times you get just in case the result was wrong last time cos you say your car feels quick

[Joolz_850R]

Just a thought , have you checked the diapham aint split in the re circ valve??

Not yet. Is it just a two bolt operation to get this out?

My car sound like it is whistleing slightly, but not a clue where from?

I cant remember what yours sounded like frank as my face was stuck to the rear window!!! LOL

Ive not carried out a 0-60 but Im pretty confident now that it is nowhere near right. I have not been in another car other than yours, but from what im being told i am way of the mark.

Interesting thing is im getting no codes signifying over fuel or lean, but my economy is really crap.

Im trying to get out on the evening but its too dark by the time I get home. Try and make some time at the weekend.

[Joolz_850R]

Managed to spend a bit of time on the car today. I took the heat sheild off and checked the actuator. The spring clip was corroded through and has snapped leaving a piece inside the locating bar!!!.....Anyways, i put approx 4-5 psi on the actuator and a few turns were required to set it up. Took for a run and hooked up a temporary boost gauge to the vac tree. The car was pulling about 5 psi. (Approaching half way into the white) I put aprox 10 PSI onto the recirc valve and the pressure stayed spot on so no leaks there. I tried as best as i could to conduct another pressure test in the inlet system. Apart from blowing through the oil filler there were no detectable leaks.

I am now at a total loss as to what to do. I would like to get it over to HLM but thats gonna be real tricky with work commitments at the mo.

Anyone got any other ideas????

Im starting to think turbo is not producing pressure. I can only think to try a very careful run with the actuator pipe detached..........

[T5frankie]

your actuator should be set to 7.5psi

[Joolz_850R]

Cheers for that Frank. I thought it was 4 or 5. Im doing it really crude with a bike pump and a not very accurate pressure gauge:) Ill try upping it that bit more tomorrow. I was being very carefull becasue i reckon I put about 3 turns from where it was originally. As a reference there is about 1/4 of the peg visible through the clevis on the actuator.

[T5frankie]

what was it set at when you first tested it before adjustment?

[Joolz_850R]

Idid not check the pressure that it was originally set for. but the peg was more like 3/4 visible through the clevis hole. I know this is not the best way to measure but gives a rough idea of how much it has moved. The actuator was not loose but it did not need to move much to actuate the wastegate. Ive just been reading a post on here from July last year and sounds like the guy was having similar issues and never really got to the bottom of it.

[Jamest5r]

your actuator should be set to 7.5psi

Only with your 18t and the boost you want to hold, normally about 4psi.

[T5frankie]

Only with your 18t and the boost you want to hold, normally about 4psi.

hamish set it to 7.5 mate, so a 15g is about 4? my t5-r seems very slow in comparison to my v70

[LiamT4]

Have you checked your cat? A blocked cat can cause a drop in power, i thought someone had already mentioned it, maybe it was on another thread.

[Joolz_850R]

Have you checked your cat? A blocked cat can cause a drop in power, i thought someone had already mentioned it, maybe it was on another thread.

No I havent. What do I check for? A guy here at work mentoned that he knows a couple of guys with saabs that had a similar issue and turned out to be cats in both instances.

[T5frankie]

No I havent. What do I check for? A guy here at work mentoned that he knows a couple of guys with saabs that had a similar issue and turned out to be cats in both instances.

a cat wont lose you 90 bhp if its knackered

[LiamT4]

a cat wont lose you 90 bhp if its knackered

Depends how knackered, if its blocked you can lose a lot of power.

I should have said, check your cat and silencers, i remember a friend having a baffle come loose on the backbox on his car, restricting the air flow throught the exhaust and it lost loads of power.

You going to need to get underneath and see if theres any rattles or strange noises coming from the exhaust.

[T5frankie]

Depends how knackered, if its blocked you can lose a lot of power.

I should have said, check your cat and silencers, i remember a friend having a baffle come loose on the backbox on his car, restricting the air flow throught the exhaust and it lost loads of power.

You going to need to get underneath and see if theres any rattles or strange noises coming from the exhaust.

if your cat gets really knackered like that your car will not run right it would splutter and cough and backfire maybe etc

[LiamT4]

Not yet. Is it just a two bolt operation to get this out?

My car sound like it is whistleing slightly, but not a clue where from?

I cant remember what yours sounded like frank as my face was stuck to the rear window!!! LOL

Ive not carried out a 0-60 but Im pretty confident now that it is nowhere near right. I have not been in another car other than yours, but from what im being told i am way of the mark.

Interesting thing is im getting no codes signifying over fuel or lean, but my economy is really crap.

Im trying to get out on the evening but its too dark by the time I get home. Try and make some time at the weekend.

How crap is your mpg and are there definatly no leaks from the intercooler, as it sounds very familiar to the problem my bro had on his 200sx .


if your cat gets really knackered like that your car will not run right it would splutter and cough and backfire maybe etc

You'd think that (and it took a while for anyone to find the problem), but my mates car ( a fiat turbo, i think it was) seemed ok untill the revs built up then it would really struggle.

[Volvostorm]

I had a blocked cat on V70 at the garage I was working at, the car wouldn't even run for longer than 2 seconds!

[LiamT4]

I had a blocked cat on V70 at the garage I was working at, the car wouldn't even run for longer than 2 seconds!

Well, if its totally blocked then you would definatly know about it, like when your a kid and you stuff a potato (or worse lol) into a car exhaust.

When my mate got a new backbox fitted, it worked fine. When he cut open the old one there was a loose baffle.

Not saying this is his problem just trying to help with some ideas.

[Joolz_850R]

Another quick update. Spent a couple of hours on it this morning with the help of Frank. Changed the actuator over to rule this one out. The car appears to be boosting to the correctish level (midway in the white) but still lacking any urgency. Still not checked the CAT yet. I am starting to think it now could be something to do with fuel delivery?????

[T5frankie]

Another quick update. Spent a couple of hours on it this morning with the help of Frank. Changed the actuator over to rule this one out. The car appears to be boosting to the correctish level (midway in the white) but still lacking any urgency. Still not checked the CAT yet. I am starting to think it now could be something to do with fuel delivery?????

remember though it was only boosting to the correct level with both actuators when the rod was pulled out to its very maximum, on my car this would boost it way off the gauge

[Joolz_850R]

True, Thanks for that mate.

[T5frankie]

next point of investigation i think would be air and fuel

[Joolz_850R]

Thought I would update this thread. I checked fuel pressure on the rail tonight with a proper gauge. Was reading around 40 psi, so only slightly down from factory of 3 bar. This was on idle and revving with no load. Also checked manifold vacuum on idle. This was pulling 15 in/hg. assume that this is ok.

[Volvostorm]

When was your fuel filter changed, and it may be worth getting the injectors cleaned, may not help, but it rules them out.

[Joolz_850R]

Tried to change the exhaust for the race cat and modified downpipe that I picked up from ED, this weekend. No joy as I could not get near the two 12mm bolts on the centre section. It looks like volvo fitted the exhaust to the car after it was assembled!!!!!

Anyone know a decent place in northants / rushden area that will do this job for me as Ive now done my shoulder in and cant be arsed to try and change this myself?

Also tried removing the pipe from the actuator just to see what boost I get. Absolutely no difference???? Still getting about a third into the white.

Putting my hopes on a potential blocked CAT.

[Joolz_850R]

Forgot to mention, I noticed that i get some kind of weird fluttering noise when the car is under load. I can only best describe it as a manifold leak kinda noise but could not see anyhting obvious. Is in time with revs also.

[Joolz_850R]

Been a while but now sorted........

Managed to finally fit the race cat supplied by Ed to the car. Had to frig about with my downpipe cutting and flanging. I took a pic of the cat as found.

Took the car out and now appears to be boosting to over 3/4 in the white :)

Thanks to all for their input and involvment.


http://i820.photobucket.com/albums/zz121/Joolz007/IMAG0220.jpg

[Ed.]

Thats looks pretty blocked to me. Glad things are finally sorted for you.

Ed

[Mongo]

Forgot to mention, I noticed that i get some kind of weird fluttering noise when the car is under load. I can only best describe it as a manifold leak kinda noise but could not see anyhting obvious. Is in time with revs also.



A flutter noise if heard when you let off your throttle in boost is usually through your cone air filter, the sound is the turbo being stalled by air if it is this and you have a bov a weaker spring usually solves it. If this is not relevant try your downpipe is ok not leaking split or loose.

[T5frankie]

A flutter noise if heard when you let off your throttle in boost is usually through your cone air filter, the sound is the turbo being stalled by air if it is this and you have a bov a weaker spring usually solves it. If this is not relevant try your downpipe is ok not leaking split or loose.

he aint got an induction kit, so joolz is it quick as mine was now?

[LiamT4]

Has it fixed the problem totally, or just partially?

[Joolz_850R]

I reckon that it is now stronger than the t5r mate. I think boost level about the same but car really pulls hard. I have been through everything though. I would like to get the car dyno run again just to check all fueling is ok. I'm hoping all is right liam,I've had enough. Just had to buy a new.set of wheels as I busted mine on potholes.

[T5frankie]

I reckon that it is now stronger than the t5r mate. I think boost level about the same but car really pulls hard. I have been through everything though. I would like to get the car dyno run again just to check all fueling is ok. I'm hoping all is right liam,I've had enough. Just had to buy a new.set of wheels as I busted mine on potholes.

good luck mate, seen my new addition?

[LiamT4]

I reckon that it is now stronger than the t5r mate. I think boost level about the same but car really pulls hard. I have been through everything though. I would like to get the car dyno run again just to check all fueling is ok. I'm hoping all is right liam,I've had enough. Just had to buy a new.set of wheels as I busted mine on potholes.

Bloody potholes everywhere, i'm fed up of them too.

Well hope its all good now mate, see you at some of the 1/4miles :wink:

[Joolz_850R]

good luck mate, seen my new addition?

Cheers mate. I've read about your new wagon. You're a nightmare :) where are the pics? Have you still got the mg? I'll have to pop round, c what ya think.

[T5frankie]

Cheers mate. I've read about your new wagon. You're a nightmare :) where are the pics? Have you still got the mg? I'll have to pop round, c what ya think.

go to my "my new aquisition" on the 70 series forum mg has gone mate, yeah feel free to pop round, show you my new 19" pegs.

[t5 pete]

whats it look like frank with the 19's on

[T5frankie]

Gorgeous mate

[t5 pete]

ill look forward to seeing them