Those of you with turbo 3.4's

[1SickGT]

first of all im curious as to how many turbo3.4's are out there. second, if you are turboed, have u had any problems with the car since you installed it? If u have, what kind of problems? Cuz I have nothing but problems with mine, and im kinda sick of it. if a post like this has already been made, please clue me in, as i do not visit this site very often.

[95-GT]

What kind of problems are you having?

[H.O. Driver]

The only problems that the turbo guys have posted about were tranny related and not being able to get enough fuel to go high boost. Tranny is the only real concern for the boosted guys. I know one guy blew the motor but he was running 15+ psi for the street.

[1SickGT]

first my park/nuetral/position switch went. the heat from the turbo melted the cable housing and it got stuck. fixed that. my piping keeps blowin apart from the boost as well. i fix that on a weekly basis. a few weeks ago i got ridiculous amounts fo smoke pouring out my exhaust because of a crimped oil return line. fixed that. now, along with tranny slippage, my car will be driving just fine and then start shaking and wanting to stall. I give it gas, it doesnt accelerate. it makes no boost and its real loud like theres an exhaust leak . then, in about 30 seconds, after trying various things like braking, giving it wide open throttle, everything is fine. it just goes back to normal. i drive for 5 minutes, and then it does it again for another 30 seconds. other times it will be fine for 20 minutes and not have any problems. im guessing maybe an electrical short or something, because i think thats the only problem that would be consistently on and off, hit or miss.

[1SickGT]

by the way, its a one off garett t3/t4 setup. i dynoed 222hp at the wheels, and i ran a 14.4 in the quarter, which i was quite embarassed by. im running 5 lbs of boost right now. after i clean the engine bay, i will throw some pics up.

[Deek00]

hmm, i havent experienced any problems such as those,, from the turbo the only thing that happened was i blew a intake line from too much boost, but that was easily fixed, other then that only tranny problems. Which ived fixed and blew out a cluctch, but .....

[Germ]

check the plugs and wires and coil packs.

also, have you done any PCM tuning at all and who did it?

pictures are also nice, since there are sometimes things that go bad on the install that can only be seen in person or in a pic.

what size turbo are you running also?

[1SickGT]

germ- im runnin a t3/t4. not sure what u mean by pcm tuning. ive had it dynoed and i purchased a sort of fuel management system from hp tuners. My tuning was done by a company called "innovative tuning."

[TurboQuad4]

PCM tuning is where you actually have the computer reprogrammed with different fuel and spark maps. What kind of fuel management is it? Just a rising rate fuel pressure regulator or a piggyback to fool your computer into giving it more fuel?
As for the surging/stalling you might have a leak in the turbo piping or blow off valve. Since your engine has a mass ariflow meter if you lose any air from the turbo piping the engine will run really rich and surge and (want to) stall.

[1SickGT]

i have the vcm flash standard from hptuners.com. It is a unit which fools my computer into giving more fuel. and yes, the fuel and spark maps have been toggled with. My tuner toggled these things, and i trust his work. The theory of having a leak in the turbo piping or BOV, wouldnt that scenario mean that whenever the car is running it would want to stall? Cuz my car wants to stall periodically, then its fine. I just got back from driving around for almost 45 minutes, and it was fine the whole time. Other times, as soon as i start it, it runs like ****, but then its fine 30 seconds later.

[1SickGT]

does anyone think it could possibly "bad gas?" i always run 93, but i know some gas stations have better gas than others, and since i just recently moved to west virginia, ive been putting in "chevron's gas" instead of Mobil gas, as i have the last 3 years. any thoughts?

[SpyhunteR]

are you using stock plugs? Try a few heat ranges colder, 1, 2, 3, 4 shut the door!!!
93 octane you lucky sob....
is your blow off valve happy? is it not relieving enough pressure and shocking your turbo like a hollywood drama queen getting slapped in the face for the first time?
T-bolt clamps are great investments...
have you checked for boost leaks w/ an air compressor?
is your maf happy?
autotap that biatch and see what's going on when it goes crazy...

k love you bye bye

i heard of hptuners. I guess hp performance is getting a program from them so they can do their own pcm or redo a factory pcm not quite sure though. I have to call them today to see if they have done one yet. just so ya know

[Germ]

what size is the t3/t4? like the specs, like the trim and a/r's?

i have heard of hp tuners for sure, i personally use the DHP Powertunner. i can make any and all changes myself to the pcm with out worry of another componet to fail, like an FMU or piggyback system.

i am not sure of the person that did your tunning for you, unless he has messed with HP Tuners progams before they can be quite confusing.

how many psi do you run? if your running ANYTHING over 5-7 psi i can almost GUARANTEE that you are causing your injectors to go static at points trying to deliver your fuel (by the way, thats not good). buy running injectors to the static load you are taking a chance that one of your injectors may actually stop work (open or closed) . click click boom.

what some of us turbo and s/c guys need to know is EXACTLLY what you have done, how much psi, dyno hp and tq, what have YOU done, what has the SHOP done, what type of headers/manifolds are you using, what BOV your using, and PICTURES!!!!!

he are some points that you may want to check one...

at LEAST run autolight 605's, you can also go to autolight 103's. these are colder plugs and REQUIRED for boost or high power.

spark plug gap should be from .040 to .055 (max). i run mine at about .047.

get new wires if you havent allready.

if you have a raising rate FPR or FMU, GET RID OF IT!!!!! go back to a stock fpr and tune the pcm with that on.

piggybacks SUCK for tuning, if you do not have a PCM flash done by one of the 2 bigger tuning companies, DHP or HP Tuners, then have THEM tune it. i have been working with charles for weeks to get mine tuned right and it does take longer than an hour or two to get it working right, no just pure power, it needs to be drivable, and you cant really do that on a dyno.

get your car scanned with AutoTap or with a LS1M and post your logs so we can check them out and see what your engine management is doing.

and one last thing, check ALL hose clamps, zip ties, etc... they WILL come loose over time. get rid of zip ties and replace with small hose clamps, trust me.

[1SickGT]

Germ - AutoTap / LS1M? im not familiar with either of these? how do i autotap? btw my peak boost is 5 psi, it has been at 4 psi all last year, and since april of 2004 ive been runnin 5 psi, and im just having problems with it now. i was told that dealership could possibly help me with a diagnostics test...what u think?

[Germ]

exactly what aaron said, but DO NOT let the dealer flash in the stock code if you go to them!!!!!!!!!!

i would honestly go look online for someone in your area that has auto tap or the LS1M (same as autotap) and have them log a couple WOT runs and then post the .csv file on here so we can look at it.

only 5 psi? why even waste the time for that little. i am running 10 psi and its a whole new ballgame compared to 5 psi. i think i was actually slower at 5psi then i was before the turbo, . but that might be different than what you have now.


so you have been running around with a turbo for almost 2 years? have you done ANY maintence to your car? if not, at least change your plugs.

if you have not changed your plugs in the past 6-9 months, they are probably fouled out and you need to replace them.

[Germ]

forgot to ask, did you set it for 5 psi, or did it just one day go to 5 psi?

if it went on its own, you gots a boost leak going to your wastegate, so check all your lines.

if you did it on your own, did you have it tuned for 5psi? i know you say, its only 1 psi, but 1 psi will pull another 50 mg/cyl, which will make you run lean and possibly damage your engine. is it likely, no, but will it foul out plugs and make you stumble, yep, it sure will.

[1SickGT]

its set and tuned for 5 psi. air/fuel was perfect last time it was tuned. last time i checked the plugs was about a month and a half ago. Ive been meaning to ever since this problem occured, but homework took priority and buried me.
germ- yer runnin 10psi you said? r u on stock internal or no? im only runnin five because im not sure what the car can handle.
how can i check online to see who has an autotap?

[ganut]

sorry just couldn't help it.

[phantom505]

I almost don't want to dignify this thread by posting. If you have 5 psi and are getting 222 HP the wheels, and don't have your A/F ratio about 11.8-12.0:1, then I'm amazed you even made it down the street let alone go to redline.