I know, that's what I meant. The "lever" is the thing that I was testing to see if it moved. (The thing I was playing with in the video I linked to)

 

Have you considered making a $10 boost leak tester from Home Depot?

 

This link is not public (notice the https instead of http).

 

Link is public. Just secure site instead of normal HTTP.

Not sure why the board didn't like it, though. I use https links all the time.

 

Hmm not sure why you guys can't see the video.

No I have not made a boost leak tester. I plan on borrowing a friend's here soon.

 

I saw the video. Didn't see anything immediately alarming, but then again my experience with internal wastegates is usually as follows: Weld shut, utilize external gate.

 

That wastegate movement looks OK. Looks a bit constrained on the opening angle, but that would cause boost creep, not low boost.

 

I don't like the amount of up/down (axial) movement that lever can perform. If it's not aligned properly, there's no way the WG can actually close.
I'd say remove downpipe and take a look-see.

 

Hmmm . . . . Hadn't noticed that. It definitely looks abnormal.

 

You didn't say if there was oil in your intercooler piping.

If there was, then when you took the silicone couplers off you may have gotten oil on the sealing flange of the coupler or the intercooler. If so, that will lubricate it, and it will pop off again under pressure, even with the hose clamp tight. It happened to me once, and I had to take it all apart and clean everything with rubbing alcohol to get it to seal properly.

You won't get the wastegate to move revving it at idle. If you have a compressor and a regulator, you can test it with air pressure directly.

--Ian

 

I chased a problem like this two years ago and found that a whole lot of rust had broken loose from inside the downpipe and clogged the cat. Had spent days looking for a boost leak, pulled apart everything twice to no avail.

Finally broke the cat intake side loose, put two nuts as spacers to hold it open with longer bolts, and took it for a ride getting full boost.

Took the cat off and dumped out the rust, then I ordered a turbo-back system from Artech.

 

Above post for information, but I just looked at your video.

Seems to me that there is not sufficient movement. There have been many instances of the wastegate being held by the downpipe flange interfering with the wastegate flapper and holding it open.

Loosen the bolts on the downpipe flange and move it slightly to see if the wastegate will move freely. Get it to a point that it moves freely and re-tighten the bolts.

 

My boost problem I had was a clogged cat. Check out my thread 'only getting 2psi' and look at the last page. I had bought the car as is and finally got it back on the road to find out it wouldn't boost past 2psi. The wonderful guys here helped me diagnose it.

 

The movement on the wastegate looks weird enough to me that I'd pull the downpipe off and see what's really going on in there. I don't think they're supposed to move up and down like that and the open/closed movement looks pretty restricted to me.

 

Sounds like the cat could be a likely cause. I will definitely disconnect it and see what happens. Also, I will be sure to remove that downpipe to see if my waste gate movement gets less restrictive.

Thanks for the responses so far, I will get back to you all with findings.

In the meantime, any other suggestions are welcome.

 

From a troubleshooting standpoint, the turbo is just a compressor driven by a turbine, powered by exhaust.

If the exhaust is flowing (check the cat, as a clogged cat can cause lack of spool), and the turbine is getting flow and spinning(pull the hotside apart, check the wastegate arm, check that the turbine spins freely), and the compressor is able to build boost (check for boost leaks, and that the compressor spins freely), you will build boost. Unless the front falls off.

Check those things. I doubt anyone has any other suggestions until then.

 

Looking at that video, there is no way the arm should have lifted vertically like that with the shaft coming up out of the hole like that. Your wg is fucked up. Either the flapper had fallen off or it is misaligned from the hole it is supposed to cover.

Keith

 

Oh wow, I didn't watch the video (now I have) but twodoor is right. Your wastegate should not be able to move up and down (vertical) like that. Pull the downpipe off and check that bitch out.

 

Take one of these:



Screw it into one of these:



Clamp it on your turbo intake side and pressurize your intercooler tubing with it.

Listen for leaks and spray a solution of water/soap on suspect areas to verify. The soap will bubble if air is coming out

 

The more I researched clogged cat symptoms, the more I thought it was definitely the issue. Unfortunately the cat is welded to the rest of the exhaust, so I disconnected the O2 sensor and the downpipe from the turbo and went for a drive. No difference really. The car seems to pull a bit harder but still no boost. In fact, the vacuum got to a max of about -10 or -8 vacuum where as before it was almost at -3. Not sure what's up with that.

On the drive my waste gate arm c clamp fell off, there for taking the arm off the wastegate flapper, so I assumed that's what my problem was. Nope, bought another c clamp and still having problems.

I will make a boost leak tester and do that. Also, I will check out the waste gate.

Again, thanks for all your help thus far.