ran into a problem tonight....

[420_240]

My car has been running great and i have no complaints so far... until tonight....

I drove around town for a while and then started to head back to my house... Hadn't gotten on it alllll night... until i hit the road i live on

Gave her a little bit of hell... and as soon as i reached "redline" on the s14 tach... it wouldn't push anymore... almost like the wastegate vented all the boost...

shifted into 2nd.... got up to redline... and same thing happened... i hear a "whoooshhh" and car goes limp...

Any ideas... start throwing them at me... i'm gonna take her for another cruise right now to see exactly what my boost gauge reads

[420_240]

ok so i took it for a joy ride for about 10 minutes.... here's what's going on

i have no boost controller... my car is set at stock boost: 7psi

1st gear dead stop...pulls ... boost gauge reads 4psi... reaches 7psi... holds at 7psi for a sec. or 2... then "whoooshhh" motor goes limp at approximately redline on the stock 240 tach

2nd gear...pulls... boost gauge reaches 4psi... almost reaches 7psi... (tach needle close to redline)... then "whooshhhh"... motor goes limp

3rd gear...same scenario

**note... as soon as i hear the "whoosh" sound... the motor stops pulling... i could keep my foot down on the accelerator and the boost stays down and rpms don't climb too much....If i let off of the accelerator long enough for the RPMs to fall back down... the motor comes back to life.... same if i shift into a higher gear

Only things i've messed with my car lately are the following:-Built a CAI out of PVC -unplugged the maf.. cleaned it with a vacuum... plugged it back upunplugged -unplugged a plug... relocated it... plugged it back up... just moved it out of the way too clean up the engine bay... not cutting involved

anything gentlemen anything?????

[Slo_240sx]

Boost cut. Check and see if your wastegate is getting the right vaccum then check for vac leaks. Mine did that ONCE. I was wonderin what it was and then my friend said "OW, that feels like boost cut. My talon did that all the time when I went past 22 PSI" Not that youre going past 22 psi but it sounds like the computer knows and just kills the spark. -Alex

[biglipzit]

Do you have an A/F ratio gauge and if so what is it reading? You could also have a faulty BOV if u do have one at all. The fact that you are hearing a whoosh means that the boost is leaking out somewhere and the ecu may pick up the rich reading from the O2 sensor and retard the engine right down. Check all your intercooler piping and make sure all the clamps are tight. Boost might be leaking somewhere only at full boost if full boost is only held for 2 seconds.

[420_240]

excuse the dirtiness of the engine bay and the ghetto *** CAI... I am in the process of cleaning things up and having a CAI fabricated... i had an HKS Pod filter on the end of that thing... but today it fell off cause the PVC wasn't glued... i ran it over and crushed it.... so duct tape will hold this POS filter on until i get a new one

[420_240]

no A/R or wideband....

the BOV is stock... it's dark as hell outside right now so i won't beable to check the piping and fittings until tomorrow...

How can i check for leaks on my fittings and pipes???

** why the hell don't my pictures work? I copied the shortcut from the "members rides gallery" and used the "insert image" icon and pasted the url inbetween the [IMG][/IMG]... just shows a red X

[Slo_240sx]

You can't post pics like that thats why I hate the way they got it setup. Really can't check for leaks just tighten every clamp up and double check stuff.-Alex

[420_240]

well how can i post the pictures i took?

first thing tomorrow after school... checking all the pipe fittings...

my actuator went bad?

[biglipzit]

If you are hearing a whoosh it is air rushing out somewhere. Is your stock BOV closed loop? I think u have a leak somewhere because even if your actuator were bad then ur boost would just drop slightly and your MAF sensor would read less air and the engine would just slightly detune. Also most bad actuators cause boost to rise above normal levels and since you don't see that on your boost gauge i still stand by the possibility of a boost leak. If your BOV is not on a close loop then i would check there first.

also you can go to http://www.imageshack.ws/ to host your pics.. Just copy and paste the link for the thumbnail into forums.

[Yellow4g63]

check your intercooler pipes, I'd start at the intercooler and work your way back.

[420_240]

Picture is of the mock up CAI that is sharing the same fender well as my intercooler piping... it's a TIGHT fit... i wonder if this had anything to do with it

[biglipzit]

Does that PVC take any pressure because the ability of pvc glue around the inside of a pipe to hold any sort of boost is very limited. If it does take any boost then i suspect that at full boost air leaks out between the joints badly or somewhere else. What is the CAI? I am a bit lost.

[420_240]

CAI= Cold Air Intake... I had an HKS pod filter that was clamped to the MAF and sat inside the engine bay... as you and everyone else knows... it gets HOT inside the bay... so instead of building a partition or heatsheild... i did one step better... built a ghetto cold air intake... the pvc is routed through the fenderwell the same hole that my intercooler pipe (black pipe) is running through... the filter is directly behind the front bumper (driver side fog light)

** before i installed this my filter would be hot to the touch... now it stays cold

It has to be a boost leak somewhere... after thinking about it for a little while... i do remember looking at my IC pipe fittings today and they were bulging with air inside inbetween the clamps

[420_240]

[IMG][/IMG]

All my intercooler couplings are fine... i tightened them up... checked for any loose vacuum lines... so far so good

met up w/ sparksta today so i could get a second opinion on the situation...We drove the car around today and the same problem was happening... once the car would hit it's peak (approximately 7psi)... the boost would drop and stay down

Popped the hood to look for anything suspicious... and found this... (see picture posted above)With my car in neutral.. i began to rev up the motor and watch the boost gauge... starts low at 20psi vacuum and reaches about 0psi vacuum when we started to notice this rubber/silicon vacuum coupling between the compressor and the Hotpipe completely collapses...

What does this mean? Shouldn't air be blowing out of this coupling and down into the intercooler to cool off?

Again.. When boost reaches a certain point... it's almost as if my wastegate is venting... and there is a reverse vacuum effect causing this rubber coupling (circled in red above) to collapse and suffocate.

Any ideas/suggestions are very welcome please assist me in this time of needthanx-andrew

[biglipzit]

OMG man that is easy hehehehe. If it goes from a vacuum to 0psi and collapses, that is because the turbo hasnt spooled up yet and the engine is trying to suck more air than it can get through the turbocharger. I think ur CAI is giving it too much restrictions so that there is a resistance through the turbo which causes the soft pipe which probrbaly gets hot from engine heat anyway to collapse as it tries to suck the air out of the pipe and isnt gettit any through the turbo since it isnt spooling fast enough yet and the CAI is causing too much free flow restrictions.

[Slo_240sx]

LoL yeah thats probably it. Motor is sucking, Turbo not pushing. Either your homemade CAI intake is restrictive or you may have a possible turbo compressor seal bad not boosting through the outlet, instead right out the seal. Also take your CAi off and try to spin the compressor wheel with your fingers, if it turns easy youre home free.-Alex

[biglipzit]

u can easily just remove the CAI since it is the last thing u added before the prob and run it like u use too. Something u did to your system obviously causes it so i would start dtripping everything down till u have it like it was before the prob occured.

[420_240]

good work fellas... i got it going problem free tonight...

And yes it was the CAI that was causing the problems...

I used a 3"->2" reducer from the MAF to the 2" PVC.. bad idea...I still think the CAI is a great idea however... the temperatures underneath the hood are god awful... so i'm gonna try to use 3" pvc this time ... hopefully breathes a lot better.... I'll report back with my progressthanx for the help-Andrew

[biglipzit]

lol no prob man it was a pleasure helping a fellow nico member. Glad it all runs fine now. The 3 inch pipe should work fine i woudl think. Alot less restriction.

[420_240]

That's what i'm hoping.... sux tho cause now i'm gonna have to cut out some more fender well... that 2" pipe BARELY fit in there... 3" is a no go unless i do some chopping. If this 3" mock up works ... then i'm having a friend of mine weld some 3" aluminum piping together and i'll have a nice little home made cold air intake... now i'll have to make some sort of partition to sheild the filter

[biglipzit]

lol you seem desperate for the cold air life but too me it makes no sense. If u compress hot air and it gets a little hotter and ur intercooler can cool it right down to ambient then is it necessary to have a CAI?

[420_240]

hey... if i can get that much more extra for the little money spent... it's worth it... cooler air to begin with = cooler air after cooling = more powa

Why would all the aussie guys build partitions around their "illegal" pod filters? to keep out the HEAT!!