Hi guys, just bought my first rx7, 94.
On test drive the car felt sluggish when revving, I\'ve read about the second turbo kicking in and it feels like this isn\'t happening. Sometimes you get a hit at about 3k rpm (1st turbo hitting full boost?) then it just revs slowly almost like there is no boost pressure or even a drop off in pressure after that. Car also has a decat system (which I understand may need alternative mapping to support flow?), and fook me it\'s LOUD. It has a std air box with a foam panel filter and one Blitz SS blow off valve (other is stock recirc). No boost controller, told std ecu
Car has 1500 miles on a rebuilt engine by REWORX. I told the guy there is no way he\'d sell it to any sensible person but being the idiot I am I\'d have it at a nice discount. Faced with letting me have it or face his mrs with the proposition of more money to spend he gave in to me. I\'m pretty confident it\'s something simple with the ancilleries (ie boost solenoid, actuator or related piping), which is why I bought the car.
Funny thing is I\'ve been reading through some boost problem posts on a couple of pages on here and most (if not all) say about the engine just having a rebuild.
I\'m going to stick a boost gauge on there to confirm exactly whats going on and record the boost readings, play them back and see exactly whats happening (aren\'t defi\'s cool). I know from owning 10+ turbo\'d cars that there is a boost (or lack of) problem though.
Anyway I have some money in my \'budget\' to get the car running sweet so who\'s the closest person that knows these cars that could have a look?, I\'m in Kent btw.
Other than this the car seems pretty nice (which is why I bought it):rollin
Be worth speaking to Brian (Rotary Imports), he\'s in Croydon.
Pip at WGT just fixed mine for £120 only needed a solenoid,
i\'m now a happy man.
Strange how people sell these cars thinking that the problems are going to be expensive:D
Abbey Motor Sport may be near you; //www.abbeymotorsport.co.uk
I\'ve never used them or heard anything about, so I couldn\'t recommend them or anything. Worth asking people on here to see if they\'ve had any experiences with them.
Cheers
Jon
So are you in Kentish Town near Camden, or Kent? Well everybody has there favourite tuners so I am going recommend RE Worx in Portsmouth. As they built your engine they will know it better than anyone else too.
Thanks lads, I\'m in Kent.
It seems to be overfueling quite a lot (not sure if it\'s related to the boosting prob), when you fire it up it stinks of unburnt fuel and is visible from the exhaust (deffinately fuel). Also when it\'s warmed up and just idling it stinks from the exhaust, if you rev it it shows no unburnt fuel smoke but you can certainly smell it:D It bangs a lot and flames a bit too.
Put it away in the garage for weekend use now, it\'s the loudest friking thing I\'ve ever heard (especially at 7am:o ), I actually felt quite embarresed this morning. Gonna borrow a mates car until I can find something \'morning friendly\' for the neighbours (unless you can get bungs for those twin Kakimoto exhausts??)
hi mate, I had a kakimoto exhaust and that was ridiculously loud, so i bought a racing beat backbox which is much quieter. I have been after a twin kakimoto or apexi exhaust but there\'s not many kicking about, so if u fancy a swap...;)
Arse!, borrowing of car has fallen through, looks like a nice rotary alarm call for the neighbours again:o
Quotehi mate, I had a kakimoto exhaust and that was ridiculously loud, so i bought a racing beat backbox which is much quieter. I have been after a twin kakimoto or apexi exhaust but there\'s not many kicking about, so if u fancy a swap...
sorry mate, it\'s too tasty to leave me :D
Anyone know if you can get bungs for kakimoto?.
any kind of \'bung\' is going to cause problems, restricting flow is something you want to avoid. I think you\'re just going to have to put up with the racket...and various slippers being thrown at you!
Hi James,
As you say you need a boost gauge before you go any further so you know how the car is boosting or not as the case may be.
Armed with your results come back on here, tell us and we just may be able to help and solve at zero cost to you because this is one of the main reasons for the Clubs existance.
A lot of the time it isn\'t serious stuff causeing boost problems it tends to be split or loose hoses that anyone can repair once spotted.
Hope this helps.
Hi mate, thanks. Where would we be without the net?
I have my defi\'s to install and will be back with results.
I\'ve since been reading pages of info on here about similar probs and have a few vacum hoses to check..
Where abouts in kent are you? i live in gravesend & i use DS engineering for my RX, they\'re in Northfleet (near bluewater). They know pretty much everthing there is to know about these cars, give them a call on 01322 387372 im sure they\'ll be able to help.
Hi James
I live in Maidstone, I have heard a few people use DS Engineering, not heard anything bad. I personally use RE:Worx, and seeing as they rebuilt your engine, would recommend you at least ring Geff/Chris there and see what they suggest, they are normally more than helpful!! That is once you\'ve got a boost guage on and checked it.
One thing, I wouldn\'t go boooosting it too much till its been checked, seems strange the RE:Worx would rebuild and let it go on standard ECU, with a de-cat and big ass back box. Could be asking for boost spike probs?
The running rich/fumes from exhaust/bangs/flames is quite normal, especially with a decat!!
Thanks Rich.
Thought I had an RE ecu on the car as it\'s got the switch and I noticed different performance (I thought after pressing it). Turns out it\'s a std ecu and the switch is just that a switch (ie not connected to anything).
I\'m not completely insane though as I hooked my Defi boost gauge up and noticed one minute it\'s boosting up to circa 0.7 bar in 2nd gear then it\'s boosting at 0.2 bar! (hence me thinking the switch was doing something).
From what I can gather it seems that if you floor the car at 2000rpm the boost gauge will whizz round to about 0.7bar (in 2nd), if you keep the throttle pinned the boost backs right off to 0.2 bar after approx 4000 rpm. If you are above approx 3000 rpm and then floor it the boost only hits the 0.2bar. It seems like the only way it boosts properly initially is to be at low revs (below 3k rpm) when you floor it (presume this is just 1st turbos operational band?)
It seems that there is maybe no 2nd turbo operation at all, no matter how you drive it no more than 0.2 bar is being hit over 4500 rpm
:confused:
It could be a collapsed intake pipe maybe? Have heard the the plastic intake pipes can collapse causing trouble boosting. Does the boost die before you get to 4500rpm? Are the symptoms worse when the car is hot?
Don\'t think it\'s something that basic to be honest. I\'m pretty sure it\'ll be something related to the solenoid operation for the second turbo control or something like that.
I\'m new to these cars and their pretty unique turbo and solenoid arrangement. Need to do some more research into how the solenoid control works.
Anyone know the exact timings (with reference to RPM increments) the turbo\'s produce their boost. Is there a specific rpm the 1st turbo won\'t boost at?, for example if you are at 4,500 rpm on part throttle (no boost) and you floor it what happens?.
It almost seems to me there is possibly specific ECU controlled rpms where the 1st turbo will be operative and the same for the 2nd turbo using the various solenoids.
Hi James, have a look at the pipes on the triangular black plastic box in front of the plenem ( middle of engine) as l have known this symptom a few times if a pipe is off of this.
Hi James,
The sequential turbo system works as follows.
2krpm - first turbo spooled and at full boost
3krpm - some exhaust gas released to pre spool secondary turbo, but any pressure created by secondary is vented off while car runs on primary tubby boost only.
4.5krpm - secondary turbo venting ceases as now spooled, secondary is switched from venting to join primary and both turbos active from here to redline
Sounds to me like your primary is fine.
Rev (briefly!) to redline in neutral. your should see about 0.4bar boost. This will prove the primary fine theory.
Since you get bost properly at 2krpm, the deacrese your seeing is that reducing. If you floor it at 3krpm, then it seems that the secondary is also managing to vent the primary.
Since your symptoms are the same as those I had a little while back, try this.
Lie down on the ground next to the car at the drivers side wheel arch. You should be able to see an actuator under the turbopack. The actuator has a rod comes out of it. That rod has a small hole in the end of it and this should connect to a nother piece which is consequently moved when the control rob moves in and out of the actuator. This could have become detached. reattach (when cold!!!) if so, and see if that sorts your problem.
attched turbo diabram with actuators so you know what it looks like.
Thanks guys will deffinately have a look at the probs stated. The actuator sounds favourite (after reading a lot of threads last night).
Appreciate the detailed responce Shark, thanks :cheers
actuator (turbo control) is attatched
actuator (turbo precontrol) is attatched
can\'t see the actuator (wastegate control) because of the heat shield
had a look at the pipework and can\'t see anything off:(
Right..
Just had a look under the inlet plenum and saw this little bugger off (see below). Took some fiddling to get to and managed to pull it back through to an easier access point. Trimmed back until it was an un perished part of the pipe, put a straight connector in and another bit of pipe to make up the length I\'d cut off, fed it back through and managed to ease the pipe on with some long nosed pliers. Even managed to get some little zip ties on the pipes.
(http://homepage.ntlworld.com/james.greenfield/pipes.JPG)
Also noticed there are a couple of metal pipes on there with nothing attatched to them, you can see one end of one of them in the pics (top pipe coming from behind where the bolt is). It doesn\'t look like they have ever had anything on them (ie the pipes have the same aged surface corrosion allover, unlike the pipe which was hanging off which clearly is cleaner where the pipe should be). Are ther some unused metal pipes under there?.
Going out for a spin now, wish me luck..
Right just been out and we have BOOST only now it\'s too much boost when the 2nd turbo kicks in it hits hard but it\'s boosting too much.
1st turbo spools to 0.7bar, keep foot in and revs a bit like this until 4,500 - 5,000 rpm then whoa boost comes in with 2nd blower. Not sure how high it\'d go because I was well aware of any potential probs and set the defi to a warning if 0.95bar was reached and I backed off the throttle when the 2nd turbo came in.
I tried a couple of partial throttle runs in 3rd and again 1st turbo spools as you\'d expect then 2nd comes in hard, I saw 1.15bar on partial throttle(peak recorded from defi\'s) and just backed off. I have experienced of lots of turbo\'d cars and it felt like if I\'d WOT\'d it it would have gone off the boost gauge. It almost feels like the wastegate on the 2nd turbo is stuck shut or something.
What I\'m wondering is if this pipe being off has meant no 2nd turbo exhaust feed at all?, I would think it\'s possible. My theory is that this pipe (that I recconected) has been off a while and not allowed any spool of the 2nd turbo (hence no mechanical wastegate actuator movement needed to control boost level on 2nd turbo) therefore the actuator has possibly seized up?, either that or the 2nd turbo\'s actuator has a sh*t load of preload on the arm.