NotNew

Hey I have a B16 (EF) with a 57 trim turbo, P28 with neptune chip. 38mm Tial.. Boost by gear setup with Mac solenoid. (tuned by Speedfactory)
Recently boost by gear quit working after a year of working ok. The wastegate spring is 10 psi and that is what it boosts at, rock solid, in every gear, even though its tuned to 17psi at full boost in 3rd. I thought it was the solenoid so i bought a new one, made no difference. So i ran new vacuum line, new wiring to the solenoid, still nope. I hooked the solenoid up inside the car so I could hear if it was working and it does. As soon as you roll into boost it starts clicking. I hooked vacuum lines to both ports on the wastegate and eliminated the solenoid from the system and it overboosts right to boost cut (19 psi) like you would expect it to (just to test the W/G and turbo to see if it would go past 10psi), and I took the W/G all apart and everything looks great in it. Im thinking its the P28, but it does click the solenoid off and on, maybe just not properly? I dont know any more, any input on this?? thanks in advance for any help

Muckman

iTrader: (2)

From your description it appears the ECU is driving the solenoid which is good. Have you make any adjustments to the tune? Id like to see a datalog which would tell us if the solenoid is being activated and how hard its working.

Can you show me how the solenoid is plumbed? I know you said you replaced the vacuum hose but its possible its not hooked up correctly now.

HRTuning

How long ago were you tuned? Is it the chip version where they need to make changes or NepTune RTP version where you can make changes yourself?

If you can change the settings save your original calibration and then alter some settings for the PWM output to see if it follows your changes properly. If the PWM is working and the solenoid is fine then your waste gate or plumbing is really the only thing left to blame.

NotNew

It is a p28 with just a Neptune chip so I can't do anything with it, speed factory is about 2.5 hours away and not cheap so am trying to figure it out on my own.. It was tuned about a year ago and has been working fine as my daily driver. I just noticed it felt slower recently and looked at the boost gauge and saw 10psi instead of 17. It doesn't seem to reduce boost in first gear either which is tuned to 7psi.

Muckman

iTrader: (2)

You said originally that you had a 10psi wastegate spring. Therefore you wont see any less in 1st gear. Did you change the wastegate spring after the tuning session? The EBC appears to be plumbed correctly. Did you have that mesh "filter" on when you were tuned? It looks horrifically restrictive. Another possibility is a boost leak like that dent in the intercooler. Why don't you pressure test the entire intake system?

NotNew

oh ya my bad on the 7 psi it is 10psi in first and second, 17psi 3rd. There is actually no filter on the turbo its just a metal screen you can see through, they didnt say anything about it when they tuned it, i think they actually put it on because they tuned the car once before when it was a single cam and they installed the turbo that was purchased from them, built the downpipe and exhaust and all the intercooler piping and tuned. I swapped it to b series when i got it and had it retuned. It had some boost creep issues on the dyno when i had it tuned. It ended up being the mac valve was full of carbon and it would stick open and just boost as high as it wanted. Once it was cleaned it worked fine until now, but i replaced it anyway just to be safe. That intercooler dent is nasty but its not cracked and was like that when it was tuned both times as well. I have a new one just have to tig weld the elbows on it.
Its wierd that boost by gear would work fine driving it everyday for all this time, and then just stop. If it was a leak from the intercooler or piping it seems like it would be erratic or not even go to 10psi consistently..? Ill replace that thing asap.. When i bypass the mac valve and run vacuum/boost lines straight to the top of the W/G basically replicating a wide open boost controller, it boosts up to 18psi and hits boost cut so I know it can make boost, my next test I think is to manually actuate the mac valve by grounding the ecu signal side from inside the car and see if it goes past 10psi. That would at least tell me it can supply boost signal to the top of the W/G and can control it.. wish i could tune it my self, money saved buying the neptune chip over rtp or Hondata actually costs more in the long run lol..

Muckman

iTrader: (2)

Carbon build up? Check the 2 vac hoses for clogs. Actually if you hook the solenoid up to your battery so its constantly open you should be able to blow through the inlet vac hose from the T fitting to the output hose at the top wastegate port (unhook it from the wg). With the solenoid deenergized that flow should be blocked.

NotNew

Ya it had some black soot stuff built up in it and some oil, and the bronze filter on the valve had a bunch in it as well. It was the same valve from when the single cam was in it, it had a bad turbo at one point which im sure is where the oil came from. which is why speedfactory installed the new one. the W/G actually had some in it too but i just wiped it out, and checked for any cracks in the rubber seal inside and it all looks good to me, it slides open and closed freely and smooth. I thought maybe its leaking some of the boost signal from the top port internally, ill have to buy a vacuum gauge/pump to check it out tomorrow. I did actuate the solenoid while the car was idling and it does pull vacuum from W/G side when its open, and the idle goes up like a vacuum leak. Also I replaced the vacuum lines when i put in the new mac valve just a few days ago.. I was thinking about trying a manual boost controller set at 17psi, to eliminate the ecu from the problem, I dont know if thats a good idea though with a tune setup for BBG?

Muckman

iTrader: (2)

Yes you can run a MBC. The engine is tuned up to 17psi, the gear part is irrelevant. You'd just run 17psi in every gear though.

HRTuning

I'd try an MBC as well in case the ECU or solenoid is not working properly any longer.

Muckman

iTrader: (2)

lol time for a call to Speed Factory.

HRTuning

I sent him a link to this thread.

OP let us know if that helps.

NotNew

I got a manual boost controller today, going to see what happens with that, working on it right now. As far as Speedfactory I dont know what to say there.. they treated me pretty well with some other issues I had on the dyno, like a bad distributor, a missing pin from the rocker arms that wouldnt allow vtec to engage, a slipping cam gear, they fixed it all on the dyno which I dont think most places would have.. It was tuned august 2nd of 2012 so going on 2 years.

HRTuning

They gave me a call today. It was previously tuned with NepTune and this was a retune. My bad for assuming the timeline didn't line up!

Let us know about the boost controller!

NotNew

Well I got the manual boost controller setup at 17psi and it seems to be working fine, just no boost by gear. So I have a problem with the ecu I guess.. at least I was able to figure it out! Thanks again for the help and advice