95 Eclipse Turbo Problems

Okay, this question has probably already been asked, but I have been searching endlessly through all of these threads and different websites, but still cant find an answer so i'm gonna ask.

I have a 95 eclipse GST, when I first got it there were no modifications at all. The problem is when I am going down the highway and I punch it the turbo will climb to 5 psi and start shaking (more of a sputtering or kind of like it is tripping over itself) if you let of the gas and then ease into the boost the most it will hold is 7 psi, on a good day, normally it can only hold 5 though,but even when you ease into it then punch it it will start having the same problem. I have asked numerous people what they think it is and had them drive the car. Two people said that they thought there was something wrong with the fuel system. So I replaced the fuel filter and I put in a Whalbro 255 fuel pump, but i still have the same problem. When I first got the car it could hold close to 9 or 10 psi, but it is gradually getting worse. Since I got it I have put in a HKS Super Sequential BOV and a manual boost controller. I have tried tons of stuff and I cant figure out what is wrong with it. One website told me to check for boost leaks but I cant find any. Any help or ideas you have would be greatly appreciated.

yea it most likly it is your fuel system, it almost sounds like you have a clogged injector or possibly more than just one... also what did you do when you checked for a boost leak? on www.vfaq.com they show how to make a boost leak checker to hook up to an air compressor, then spread soapy water around your connections and pipes to and from you IC and your manifold... if that doesnt work, while the car is running try spraying starting fluid around your manifold to see if that has any leaks, if your car increases RPMs you found your leak, but from the way you said the engine is acting it doesnt sound like the manifold is the problem but just incase. but yea it has to be a boost leak or fuel related from the way it sounds... so double check just to make sure ;) good luck

I used soapy water to check for leaks. Thanks for the info.

one thing I forgot to mention was that I was talking to a mechanic and he said he thought that my turbo might be going out, does anybody think there could be any truth behind this, any ways to tell if your turbo is going out?

but did you use the home made compressor adapter, see if you didnt i would try that cause a compressor has on average about 120-130psi, now its goin to be easier to find a leak that way instead of reving the engine to build psi to check for bubbles! plus 120psi compared to 5psi, hmm you should atleast try it if you havent already! good luck

good point :)

one thing I forgot to mention was that I was talking to a mechanic and he said he thought that my turbo might be going out, does anybody think there could be any truth behind this, any ways to tell if your turbo is going out?

does it have a lot of shaft play in it? to cheak just take off the intake pipe that connects to the turbo and grab the propellar and try to move it around... if it moves a lot its not good! also what turbo is it? stock? the only other think i can think of is when you take the intake off look at the blades to see if any are missing or beat to hell!

the turbo is stock with 112,000 miles, i also had the whole turbo system cleaned out at 106,000 miles when i bought the car hoping it would fix the problem, no luck, but i will check for the shaft play and see if anything is broken. do you think these things could be causing the problems?

if the shaft play is really bad and doesnt spin right it can cause bad turbo lag... cause instead of moving freely if its got a lot of shaft play and starts to move up and down and back and forth, its gunna cause resistance on the shaft causing it to lag or move slower!

I took off the intake pipe and there were no bad fins and no shaft play but the intake pipe was caked with what appears to be really black muddy oil. Any ideas why?

that is because of the valve cover return line. notice the hose going from the valve cover to the intake? bingo. you can get an oil catch can or make your own. how long have you had the boost controller? have you tried to turn it up? you should be boosting more like 15-16 psi. yes, your snail is old. but when it spools up does it sound smooth or does it sound like it's screaming (screaming is a sign of shaft play, think smooth vs wobbling spin)? also, venting your BOV is not the greatest idea. do a search about that. basicly, the ecu is designed for a dump set-up, so by venting it, your ecu gets funny readings from your MAS, affecting performance. that said, be sure that your BOV is working as advertised, if you have your old one, you may want to hook it back up, dumped of course, and see if the problem persists. hope that helps

I dont think that the problems I am having could be because of the BOV because it was having the problem when it was bone stock, but I may be wrong. With there being no shaft play and the fins in good condition any other ideas why I am having this problem?

how long have you had the boost controller? have you tried to turn it up? you should be boosting more like 15-16 psi.

did you try this? what kind of boost gauge do you have? is it working right?

I did try turning the boost controller up and all that I can boost is up to 5-7 psi and then the car will start to jerk. As for the boost gauge it is a Type-X. I am sure that it is accurate. At idle it sits at 20 INHg. Is that where it should be?

it should be on the vaccuum side [counterclockwise], i got a GReddy gauge and it measures in MM of HG, but it sits just above the 500 mark, you can do the conversion... this is really starting to sound like a misfire problem. what kind of spark plugs and wires are you using? the 4g63 is very tempermental about this, and with the amount of usage on your motor it may be this. like a wire that is getting worse and worse. the stock plugs and wires are the best choice, take 95gsxracer for example...

Change your plugs.

I have changed them twice already. The first time I changed them was right away when I got it hoping that it was going to fix the problem, then I changed them again because someone said that I might have gotten a bad one. One thing I haven't looked into was the wires. They are still the stock ones. Which ones would be best to put on my car? and do you think that the wires could be causing all this trouble?

wouldn't hurt to swap the wires

NGK wires have a pretty good name and recomendation

cool. I put the 14B turbo in the car tonight but havent gotten to take it out yet, still got a couple of things to finish up. Next thing im going to do is replace those wires and hope the problem goes away.

Dont upgrade the turbo until you fix the problems. Thats ridiculous.

What kind of plugs? (NGK copper is best)

What did you gap them to? (.028 to .030 is best)

How high did you pressurize your intake to check for leaks? (I'll bet you skipped that altogether ;) )

A brand new set of plugs come gapped around 040, and will not work in a dsm 99% of the time. Change plugs every 10k miles, turbos eat them for breakfast. Use only stock or NGK wires. Magnacore are hit or miss. Everything else isnt worth the risk IMO. Intake leaks will cause you to run super rich, limiting boost and cuasing the stuttering. Running a walbro 255 on the stock regulator will only worsen the problem. Youneed to get an aftermarket FPR togo with that pump. Hope it helps.

I already had the turbo swap half done when you posted your last message, so I went ahead and finished it anyway. It ran the same way it did with the old turbo on the first drive, but I cranked my mbc wide open and took it for another ride and the problem had went away :). The only thing that is bugging me is that with my mbc wide open the most I can boost is about 8 psi. I havent upgraded from the stock intake or exhaust, is that why I can only boost 8 psi??

it's so good to have you back Kevin...

The only thing that is bugging me is that with my mbc wide open the most I can boost is about 8 psi. I havent upgraded from the stock intake or exhaust, is that why I can only boost 8 psi??
I'm going to agree with Kevin and recommend a pressure test.

and what kind of reading should i get when i do the pressure test

Pressure test the system, then identify and eliminate leaks. Don't use more than 20-25psi for the test.

www.vfaq.com is your friend.

I changed the plug wires and the car is running really smooth. I made the pressure tester and checked the system. I ended up having 2 MAJOR leaks. One was around the BOV where it connects into the pipe and other was coming from some kind of an actuator thing that was cracked on the side. It was under the battery tray. I got everything fixed but when I got to take it out and see how it ran we had gotten about a foot of snow. So she is parked for now :(.

what did you do when you checked for a boost leak? on www.vfaq.com they show how to make a boost leak checker to hook up to an air compressor, then spread soapy water around your connections and pipes to and from you IC and your manifold... if that doesnt work, while the car is running try spraying starting fluid around your manifold to see if that has any leaks, if your car increases RPMs you found your leak, but from the way you said the engine is acting it doesnt sound like the manifold is the problem but just incase. but yea it has to be a boost leak or fuel related from the way it sounds... so double check just to make sure ;) good luck

why didnt you do that like 3 days ago when i told you that it was most likly that?!?! then you would have been able to drive it before you got the snow! :sly: oh well no one listens to me anyway! :rolleyes:

I know I should have done that in the first place, but the main problem was the plug wires, after I replaced those the shaking went away. Now I am just dealing with getting the system to hold pressure which I almost have all of the leaks fixed. Thanks for all of the help.