another boost problem need advice!!

[BlueBeast22]

Ok, here is the problem... this has been happening on and off for a while now. It seems like every few days my turbo seems to take its sweet time boosting. Ok its hard for me to write exactly what is happening but ill try to make it easy and understandable to read.

Car driving normally: When excelerating you can hear the air being sucked into the intake and you can hear the turbo loud and clear, and im not talking about excelerating hard. When I get on it hard its more the sound of the motor and a high pitch whistle. I also notice on my gauge that it has no problems boosting, on a light/med exceleration it will goto 5psi and if i floor it, it will spike to 10psi and slip down to 9psi and hold. Mind you it boosts very quickly... You can feel it boost...

Now every few days it will do this: When mild excelerating the same way i always do you cant hear the air sucking into the intake and you cant hear the turbo at all. The boost seems to creep up to 5psi and when i floor it then you can hear the turbo somewhat... but it doesnt jump from 5-10 like it normally does it just creeps up to 9psi and holds. And like in 4-5th gear it only wants to jump to 3psi and creep up to 6... where before it would fully boost to 9psi.

The funny thing is this has been going on for a while now. For like a week it will run strong where the turbo boost hard, and for like 3-4 days it will act up and run like its not boosting at all. And then it will run strong again. I have reset the ECU but it doesnt seem to help.

I have turbohoses hardpipes, injen cai, MBC @9psi (engine mods) i have the stock bypass valve on for the time being (greddy BOV in the mail). Ive checked all of the vacume lines and made sure everything is sealed up. I have no idea why it is always doing this.

People tell me its a vacume leak but I dont hear any sounds of one, and when i look under the hood i dont see any loose lines.

 

[BlueBeast22]

bump! if anyone can help let me know

 

[boostisgood]

If it was a vac leak you wouldnt get 17-21 inches of mercury on your boost gauage at idle. Also the car would run rougher like it had a miss.

To me, it sounds like a wastegate or BPV issue. More towards the wastegate. Get it checked out, because, and not being a dick so dont take this that way, but we cant diag your car over the internet bro. A tech will need to look at it. Dont get pissed either if they send it back cause they cant duplicate the problem. I kick cars out all the time for intermittent issues if I cant duplicate them (unless its a known issue then I T/S that issue and fix it)

Check the Wastegate with a vac pump to make sure it opens at the right time, if ya dont wanna take it to the stealership.

 

[BlueBeast22]

If it was a vac leak you wouldnt get 17-21 inches of mercury on your boost gauage at idle. Also the car would run rougher like it had a miss.

To me, it sounds like a wastegate or BPV issue. More towards the wastegate. Get it checked out, because, and not being a dick so dont take this that way, but we cant diag your car over the internet bro. A tech will need to look at it. Dont get pissed either if they send it back cause they cant duplicate the problem. I kick cars out all the time for intermittent issues if I cant duplicate them (unless its a known issue then I T/S that issue and fix it)

Check the Wastegate with a vac pump to make sure it opens at the right time, if ya dont wanna take it to the stealership.

the wastegate was the one thing i was worried about. ive swapped from bov to bpv and back and forth and it did it with both the bov on it and when i had the bpv on it. hopefully its nothing to costly

 

[nvmsp]

wastegate

 

[Moeed]

wastegate as well.

 

[smo0f]

i'm just gonna say the wastegate for fun.

 

[apocman]

actually, you mean the actuator that connects to our internal wastegate

 

[boostisgood]

actually, you mean the actuator that connects to our internal wastegate

Always gotta make sure you correct us.

 

[Scooter_TO]

not sure where you live, or how long you've had the turbo for.

And I doubt this would even be possible at this time of the year,....but I suppose if you live somewhere far south it could be the case. Anyway,..just throwing out another option.

If you're having some serious changes in weather lately,.....maybe it's working fine on cool days. But on warmer days you're getting heat-soak?

Again,..just throwing another option out there. Like I said,...I doubt that's it, but as others have said, you can't really diagnose it over the internet. Especially without knowing a ton of important details (intercooled, weather, etc.)

 

[nvmsp]

actually, you mean the actuator that connects to our internal wastegate

Gettin technical on us.

 

[BlueBeast22]

not sure where you live, or how long you've had the turbo for.

And I doubt this would even be possible at this time of the year,....but I suppose if you live somewhere far south it could be the case. Anyway,..just throwing out another option.

If you're having some serious changes in weather lately,.....maybe it's working fine on cool days. But on warmer days you're getting heat-soak?

Again,..just throwing another option out there. Like I said,...I doubt that's it, but as others have said, you can't really diagnose it over the internet. Especially without knowing a ton of important details (intercooled, weather, etc.)

Its not the weather, ive actually noticed it change while i was driving the car.

 

[apocman]

hahah!!! well, I had "The Man" at my house for the last two days assisting us with a P5 turbo conversion and he is "by the book" and will ride your ass if your not... I like it actually becuase I learn things the proper way and not the wrong way...

So, I thought since I had to speak proper tech-talk I would beat on ya'll for fun!!!

Always gotta make sure you correct us.

 

[TX Speed Demon]

Check your exhaust manifold (under the mazdaspeed heat shield) for cracks. Could be as the manifold heats up from using the turbo, the crack expands enough to let air out and prevent the turbo for properly spooling up. then as it cools down and contracts the crack shrinks giving you full performance again.

I had one for a while and never knew it. Took the heat shield off for polishing and found a huge crack right down the front. Once the manifold was replaced that whistling noise I thought was the tubo spooling went away too.

To take the heat shield off you'll need an O2 sensor removal tool (rent for free at autozone) to remove the O2 sensor. Then just take off the 3-4 10mm nuts. The crack happens in the same spot on all msps. Right in the front, in the middle. You can't miss it.

Thread with Pics

Another member thread with same problem

 

[BlueBeast22]

Check your exhaust manifold (under the mazdaspeed heat shield) for cracks. Could be as the manifold heats up from using the turbo, the crack expands enough to let air out and prevent the turbo for properly spooling up. then as it cools down and contracts the crack shrinks giving you full performance again.

I had one for a while and never knew it. Took the heat shield off for polishing and found a huge crack right down the front. Once the manifold was replaced that whistling noise I thought was the tubo spooling went away too.

To take the heat shield off you'll need an O2 sensor removal tool (rent for free at autozone) to remove the O2 sensor. Then just take off the 3-4 10mm nuts. The crack happens in the same spot on all msps. Right in the front, in the middle. You can't miss it.

Thread with Pics

Another member thread with same problem

hahaha i guess ill be taking off my heat shield today then. hopefully its the wastegate... cause i doubt that mazda will fix it under warranty. I only have cai, and hardpipes visible... but one of my plastic IC pipes broke, so i had to get the hardpipes! so it will be hard to put all the factory stuff back on it

 

[BlueBeast22]

hahaha i guess ill be taking off my heat shield today then. hopefully its the wastegate... cause i doubt that mazda will fix it under warranty. I only have cai, and hardpipes visible... but one of my plastic IC pipes broke, so i had to get the hardpipes! so it will be hard to put all the factory stuff back on it

Well I pulled the heatshield off lastnight and didnt find any cracks. So I guess this means it could be a problem with the wastegate!

 

[4drboost]

I have the exact same problem as you. Wow, never thought I would see that coming, and you described my problem perfectly. But anyways, I was told wastegate as well, so theres my vote!

 

[tallrd]

I'm having a problem similar to how he describes it. However, I hit the gas and when the turbo spools up it sound like it's sucking air from 2 different places yet I hold normal boost readings on my guage. I also don't feel it getting to the wheels like I used to, so something (once again) isn't right with this car. I've checked all the hard pipes and all connections are solid. I haven't checked the mani, but at risk of sounding stupid I don't think that's the problem. Is it possible my bpv is no longer working (see photo for referrence)?

Have any of you heard this, or am I on the wrong thread all together with this issue (I don't want to thread jack)?