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New DSM, some boost leak and other problems


Raymos210
01-22-2007, 12:49 AM
Hey I'm fairly new to the DSM forum and I'm interested in this 1997 Eclipse GST that they are selling around my area. The Eclipse is a 5-speed and has the following mods:
NEW MOTOR HAS 87K
16G TURBO
ACT 2100 CLUTCH (3 MONTHS OLD)
STRAIGHT 3IN APEXI EXHAUST
CROSSDRILLED & SLOTTED ROTORS W/ CERAMIC PADS
GREDDY FRONT MOUNT INTERCOOLER W/ ALL GREDDY HARD PIPES & GREDDY TYPE-S BLOW OFF VALVE
GREDDY TURBO TIMER
GREDDY ELECTRONIC BOOST CONTROLLER
AUTOMETER UTRALITE GAUGES (VOLT, BOOST & AIR/FUEL)
B&M SHORT THROW SHIFTER
17” WHEELS (ALSO HAVE STOCK 16” W/ NO RUBBER)
TIEN FLEX COILOVER KIT FULLY ADJUSTABLE
FRONT AND REAR CAMBER KIT
CUSTOM SUB BOX (ONE 12” SUB)

Just to make things clear, the custom box is only the box with no sub or amp included. The car also lacks a radio but it does have the wires and the mount (i guess) to place an aftermarket radio in. Also the car has a very small boost leak which he says doesn't always leak. Finally he tells me that he did all the work himself and that he needs to find the receipt for the engine proving that it only has 87,000 miles because the body has 140,000. Supposedly he got the engine out of a junkyard he used to work at. The car is prestine on the inside and the out. He also says the car is pushing around 250 horses and he has the sheets to prove it. The car also comes with many extras such as two 16G turbos which need to be maintenanced and random engine parts and the stock 16' rims. He was asking 5,800 for it and I've worked it down to 5,200. Any help in apparasing the deal would be greatly appreciated. Thanks alot for reading the long post and helping me out. :p

Thor06
01-22-2007, 12:58 AM
I would do $5200 if he could prove it was an 87k motor.

Shpyder
01-22-2007, 01:21 AM
$5,200 would certainly be nice, but his asking price doe not look too outlandish, given the mod-list, and especially if youre saying the vehicle is pristine. Also, it was refreshing to hear some non-bullshit power numbers...most people with those mods would say "350 horsepower!" without the sheets to back it up, so it looks like the guy knows what he's talking about.

Raymos210
01-22-2007, 01:27 AM
Thanks for the help guys...Im gonna try to hassle a little more and get it a little lower :icon16: but if I can't, I know that its at least a decent deal. The only thing that scares me is the "little" boost leak.

l_eclipse_l
01-22-2007, 11:11 AM
If your really serious about getting it, spend the $100 or whatever it takes to have a dealer or reputable shop give it a once-over to make sure there isn't anything drastically wrong somewhere that he isn't telling you about. It would be money well spent since your already getting a decent deal on the car and you would have that peace of mind that you didn't get screwed.

Shpyder
01-22-2007, 02:14 PM
The only thing that scares me is the "little" boost leak.

Uh...it's a DSM bro. You're lucky if that's the only thing that's leaking! :grinyes:

Raymos210
01-22-2007, 11:02 PM
Well I finished talking to the guy today and he told me he was unable to find the receipt for the engine but that he got it installed and everything from the junkyard he used to work at. I also found out the "little" boost leak is in the gasket. He says it isnt that much to fix. So learning about the lack of receipt I brought the price down to 5000 and he says he will not budge any lower. Is it still a good buy even without the proof of the engine. BTW I'm going up there on Thursday with a mechanic.

l_eclipse_l
01-22-2007, 11:09 PM
Have the mechanic run a compression test. If the numbers turn up good, I would maybe trust him on the motor situation. Pretty sure they should come out somewhere around 180 across the board. Still a good buy IMO.

LouieAWDTSi
01-23-2007, 12:26 AM
I wonder what gasket is leaking. Could be a easy fix or a pain in the ass fix.

Raymos210
01-23-2007, 12:28 AM
I'll definitely have my mechanic run the compression test. Thanks for all your help. Hopefully I'll have the car by this weekend :iceslolan

Raymos210
01-23-2007, 12:29 AM
I think he said it was the turbo gasket...but not sure. I remember it was close to the manifold towards the left of the manifold.

Raymos210
02-01-2007, 10:06 PM
Hey guys, I ended up buying the car because the compression test came put good. Now I have the car and I have a couple questions. First the guy told me that the boost leak causes the exhaust to backfire when you drive it at high rpms sometimes and then try to put your foot into it. This is a picture of where the boost leak seems to be:http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c159/Raymos24/Q3.jpg

( This is just a picture of the engine bay I took off the internet to show you guys). Do you think to fix this boost leak will cost alot?. Also when I have the car in neutral and accelerate, sometimes I smell gas. Is that a big problem. Thanks alot for your help.

defiancy
02-01-2007, 11:40 PM
Hey guys, I ended up buying the car because the compression test came put good. Now I have the car and I have a couple questions. First the guy told me that the boost leak causes the exhaust to backfire when you drive it at high rpms sometimes and then try to put your foot into it. This is a picture of where the boost leak seems to be:http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c159/Raymos24/Q3.jpg

( This is just a picture of the engine bay I took off the internet to show you guys). Do you think to fix this boost leak will cost alot?. Also when I have the car in neutral and accelerate, sometimes I smell gas. Is that a big problem. Thanks alot for your help.

That's just a j-pipe gasket. I think maybe 5-10 dollars.

I don't know if that would cause you to backfire, you may be running a bit rich.

What does it have for fuel mods?

steviek
02-02-2007, 12:16 AM
yea you can get that pipe off with an allan wrench. DO it yourself! It takes maybe 10 minutes. Slip under the new gasket and your good to go. you don't even need to take the pipe right off just unscrew the bolts and there will be enough clearence for you to slide the gasket under without touching the rest of your intercooling piping.

Raymos210
02-02-2007, 12:43 PM
That's just a j-pipe gasket. I think maybe 5-10 dollars.

I don't know if that would cause you to backfire, you may be running a bit rich.

What does it have for fuel mods?

Thanks for your help...I dont really think I have any fuel mods on the car. The only mods I know about are in my original post. Do you know any other reaons why the engine would backfire. It usuallly does it around 4000 rpm. Then after a couple backfires, it drives normal. Im going to try to figure out if it has any fuel mods but I dont think it does. What are some examples of fuel mods? ( I know it doesnt have any upgraded injectors or fuel pump).

Raymos210
02-02-2007, 01:22 PM
Ps: Also the air/fuel gauge stays on all green lights which I think indicate that the car is running rich and the car's check engine light is on. The guy I bought it from said that the light is on because it has no cat.

steviek
02-02-2007, 02:40 PM
well check the code its throwing and find out for sure then maybe we can help you

defiancy
02-02-2007, 07:36 PM
So the car as a 16g with a FMIC on stock fuel system?

Dude that car needs some serious fuel love.

But on a side now, it seems like you have gotten yourself a nice little starter DSM.

Raymos210
02-02-2007, 09:41 PM
Hey thanks, I'm gonna get the code checked out by my mechanic prolly on tuesday. Also what do you mean by fuel love. What fuel mods do u think I should get?

steviek
02-02-2007, 10:04 PM
like as a minimum 550cc's and a 190fp with maybe an safc then your good to like 22psi

Raymos210
02-02-2007, 10:45 PM
My autometer gauge goes crazy going from lean to rich when my car is idle and also the idle fluctuates and then settles down around 1000. And this also stays "lean". Also my boost gauge stays on the "vac" side around "20" and when I rev it goes to "0." I definitely think theres something wrong lol.

Shpyder
02-02-2007, 11:45 PM
Welcome to the DSM world, nice buy!

I'm goin to move this to the Problem Diagnosis subforum with a change in title, and leave a redirect here.

steviek
02-02-2007, 11:54 PM
|IM going to guess that your a/f gauge is narrowband therefore rendering it useless. See the A/f thread in tech articles and writeups. Basically don't put any faith into that gauge its just for show reading voltage off your o2 sensor.

Talon69
02-03-2007, 12:02 AM
No fuel mods on a 16g, better keep the boost down, especially if you have nothing to monitor whats going on inside the engine.

steviek
02-03-2007, 12:14 AM
also thats how a boost gauge should work... You won't make any boost in neutral. When you rev it you should go to 0 and when you at idle around 18hg is great. You should only make boost in gear unless you got a stutterbox... but you don't so don't worry bout it (link owners yes I know).

Raymos210
02-03-2007, 01:17 AM
No fuel mods on a 16g, better keep the boost down, especially if you have nothing to monitor whats going on inside the engine.

I havent raised the boost on the car yet...should I still buy the fuel mods eventhough I havent raised the boost at all?

gthompson97
02-03-2007, 03:08 PM
I think you need to just sit down and do a bunch of reading and figure out exactly what you want out of the car first. That will make your decision easier and will help down the road if you do decide to upgrade. That "lightshow" A/F gauge is basically useless, it gives no accurate readings therefore has really nothing important to offer, it's just a nice lightshow. But you need to figure out what you want from the car before you go and buy a bunch of fuel mods.

Raymos210
02-03-2007, 03:54 PM
Yea, I understand you. Right now all I want to do is get the car running the way it should. Later on I would like to tune the car and get it to push more horses out, but as of right now I just want the car to run with the pwer it should b putting down. By the way thanks for all you guys help, I'm still trying to learn more and more about these cars lol.

gthompson97
02-03-2007, 03:57 PM
Well for starters I would go with a Walbro 190 (255 if you can find a cheap one), 550 injectors, and a SAFC. That should get you at a good starting point with that 16g you got and a little bit of headroom for some minor upgrades later.

l_eclipse_l
02-03-2007, 05:11 PM
Well for starters I would go with a Walbro 190 (255 if you can find a cheap one), 550 injectors, and a SAFC. That should get you at a good starting point with that 16g you got and a little bit of headroom for some minor upgrades later.

Won't he need an FPR if he gets a 255 though? Might want to mention that.

defiancy
02-03-2007, 07:07 PM
Won't he need an FPR if he gets a 255 though? Might want to mention that.

No. That's a common misconception.

While an AFPR will allow the car to run a little better if he were to put a 255 HF on his car all he would get is a little rougher idle.


And why would you ever not go with a 255 walboro? They are the same price as a 190, it makes no sense to rob yourself of that mod. (After looking the 255 is a whopping 10 dollars more than the 190.)

People have this idea that going bigger on a fuel pump is like going bigger on injectors while that is absolutely not the case.

The reason the car runs rougher with a 255 on a stock AFPR, is because the stock FPR is being overflowed by the fuel pump. IE the fuel pump is pushing more fuel than the stock FPR can handle, that is why the car has a rough idle because it's running richer than it would with a stock fuel pump or even a 190. The thing people tend to forget is that even with a 190 walboro the stock FPR is still being overflowed, the effect is simply not as pronounced as with a 255.

Like the common phrase is, mod right or mod twice. If you plan on making good power on the car, there is no sense in buying a 190 only to have to switch it out for a 255 later.

And the reason to go with a HP 255 over a normal 255 is that the HP 255 is able to sustain fuel pressure at high boost unlike the normal 255/190.

With all that being said an AFPR will make your car run cleaner with a 255 since the fuel pressure is actually being regulated. But either way the pump is still more than functional with or without the AFPR.

steviek
02-03-2007, 09:09 PM
rewired 190 supplies enough fuel for the 16g. So I don't see why he needs a 255 at all (why bother with the shitty idle)?

Raymos210
02-03-2007, 09:42 PM
Ok now i know the fuel mods I need. My question is, will my car drive well even if I dont get the mods right away because Im going to have to wait as couple weeks to buy them.

defiancy
02-03-2007, 09:51 PM
rewired 190 supplies enough fuel for the 16g. So I don't see why he needs a 255 at all (why bother with the shitty idle)?


It's really not that shitty. It's a little rough, but overall not that bad. But if he ever wanted to go larger than a 16g he would have to buy a pump. Why buy twice?

Ok now i know the fuel mods I need. My question is, will my car drive well even if I dont get the mods right away because Im going to have to wait as couple weeks to buy them.

The car should drive fine, just keep the boost low.

LouieAWDTSi
02-04-2007, 01:47 PM
I have just a 255 with no aftetmarket FPR. The idle isnt too bad. I plan to buy one down the road.

l_eclipse_l
02-04-2007, 09:57 PM
No. That's a common misconception.

While an AFPR will allow the car to run a little better if he were to put a 255 HF on his car all he would get is a little rougher idle.


Thanks for clearing that up, just wanted to mention it and see if I had misread something.

Raymos210
02-11-2007, 09:24 PM
Hey guys, so I bought the car and ive driven it for like 5 days now. The car feels pretty good. Its going into the shop tomorrow to get the bbost leak fixed and any ohter little things. I got one question tho, when i drive the car hard and go all the way to the redline in first, then when i shift into second the car accelerates and then hits a wall at around 5000rpm. The check engine light is on so it might b that or mayb the boost leak. Also the car ill hit the wall earlier in 3rd gear and even earlier in 4th gear after the turbo has been spooling. What do u guys think this could be. Thanks alot again.

gthompson97
02-11-2007, 10:10 PM
Fuel cut. Upgrade the fuel system.

Raymos210
02-12-2007, 05:28 PM
So even tho im only running stock boost i need to add the fuel mods. And also do u think the boost leak can be causing this too?

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