HOW-TO: WGA (wastegate actuator) replacement.

[FLAMSP]

My boost has been holding pretty unsteady lately. Coming in around 5 psi, peaks about 7psi, then drops to 3 psi. Am i a candidate for a new waste gate??

 

[speed5hornet]

okay so my clip was rusted to oblivion and shattered when taking it off....is there a replacement clip? THe clip that holds the end of the actuator on to the lever, its circled in red on the pic...

 

[Lunatik]

well i installed the new wga last night and when i drove the car right after it was horribleee but this morning the car has been driving perfectly fine, idle is now good with no problems

also when i was under the car i noticed some oil from the turbo? should i be worried?

pic 1: new wga
pic 2: oil on turbo
pic 3: the worst piece in the world

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[Alejo_NIN]

why do you guys go thru so much hassle? there is no need to even remove the heatshield...

took me 3 hours..

removed heat shield, hot pipe.. jacked the car on both side in the front real high..

used a few 1/4 extensions and ratchet to get to the back nut holding the WGA.. the front can be done easily..

the back nut was done with the extensions and that little flexible extension for ratchets... i put eletric tape on it so it wouldn't bend 90 degrees and not be able to turn..

sure it took time but keep in mind it will take time.. and it will go smooth

 

[Alejo_NIN]

taking off the clip is like a 2 minute job...now..puting a new one in..that's the problem
i just used some twisted wire to hold the wga actuator arm to the wastegate....that has seemed to be the trick and its been good for the past year, i even used the same piece of wire for two weastegate replacements on my car

 

[Lunatik]

does anyone know where i can get a new clip i tried auto parts and autozone but they have no clips that are 5/16"

 

[Lunatik]

bump... is it bad to drive without the clip? i havent been able to find the 5/16" one

alejo what wire did you use?

 

[cosmo420]

does anyone know where i can get a new clip i tried auto parts and autozone but they have no clips that are 5/16"

I used a hairpin style clip for mine and it worked perfectly (discount auto parts) and I used a pair of long needle nose pliers. and you should be good to go from there buddy.

 

[mgerst1]

sub

 

[StealthWyvern]

I will get a mod to move this to the how-to section and I'll add it to the how-to quick link list!

 

[LASERBLUE135]

sub, going to need to do this.

 

[LASERBLUE135]

Did it today with a friend, this was a huge pain in the ass, but it got done. don't kid yourself and think its a half hour job. Its not. If you have all the perfect tools it will take a while and be patient to get it done. Don't lose the C clip, be carefull with that little one.

After it was done, I was boosting less (thankfully) and my idle went back to stock smooth as I was having some stalling issues. edit: No boost spike too!

 

[SpeedAdiction20]

subbin, don't really wanna do this, but i also don't really want to spend $100-$200 to pay someone else to do it.. so we will see what happens
-Very glad i found this though, i was all ready to just fork over the cash if i couldn't find a how to:

 

[StealthWyvern]

Don't even worry about loosing that stupid clip go buy a pack from autozone for a few bucks and if you dont loose it return it. If you do no big deal just open the pack and save yoruself the headache!!!

 

[mazdaRX]

I got my the clip off and the front nut but the rear nut isn't moving. i tried a ratchet with the knuckle attachment and a box wrench. neither give me clearance to rotate the nut. I am about to bust out my dremel tool and just grind it off... any suggestions on tool or angle to approach this 2nd rear nut? I walked away from it for today. I will try again tomarrow morning.... i hope i can remove it because putting the new one on seems like it would be a lot easier.

 

[StealthWyvern]

I got my the clip off and the front nut but the rear nut isn't moving. i tried a ratchet with the knuckle attachment and a box wrench. neither give me clearance to rotate the nut. I am about to bust out my dremel tool and just grind it off... any suggestions on tool or angle to approach this 2nd rear nut? I walked away from it for today. I will try again tomarrow morning.... i hope i can remove it because putting the new one on seems like it would be a lot easier.

I got that nut off goign from under the car with a long extention and a good old fashion knuckle buster swivel socket.

 

[mazdaRX]

did you have anything removed from under the car? The only thing i removed was the Hot pipe off the turbo, I never messed with removing the J pipe or anthing like that. I will try again with the long extention. I only had the 3" extention hooked up.

 

[Alejo_NIN]

you can remove the intake mani,
loosen the bolts and slide it off, it should give you more room. after that just put it back on and that's it.

 

[dmention7]

Did this on a friend's car a few weeks ago without removing anything more than the heatshield and hotpipe. But that rear nut is indeed a pain. It's just a matter of patience and having a few different tools to play around with. Though, an 11mm socket with a u-joint and a 3" extension was the most effective IIRC.

As for results, he was far happier with just the WGA replacement than with a MBC set to ~8psi.

 

[mazdaspeeeeed]

i will be attempting this shortly and i was wondering how you disconnect the wastegate rod. i have seen detailed pictures of it and i still cant figure it out... is this where the clip is that you talk about?

also I tested the wastegate by blowing into the vacuum line and while i did this i put my ear near the turbo and i could hear air escaping somewhere.. this means the wastegate is bad correct?