gst question

I have asked a question similar to this before but didn't get any helpful responses. i have been searching for answers for a long time and haven't found anything that helps me.

i live in texas so its always hot. I know that when it's hot outside, turbo cars don't run as well, so i don't need people reminding me of that. BUT, my car runs rediculously bad, very often during the afternoon, or whenever its really hot, even sometimes when its not even that hot. the gas pedal gets all soft and mushy, and the acceleration is shit. i feel like i have the slowest car on the road when its hot outside. i dont feel any kick from the boost, the low end and high end sucks. sometimes when its cool at night, my car will pull like crrraaazy. but i rarely see that anymore. i have boost leak tested my car, had a leak from a recently messed with vacuum hose, fixed it, tested it again, and only had a leak in my manual boost controller which i know is normal. i have been having this problem for a long time. before the boost controller. i have turned my boost down, it helped a small bit, but my car still runs horrible most of the time in the heat. i go to school, and when i get in my car after school to go home, its slow as shit.

i feel like it has got to be something other than a boost leak, or having my boost too high during the hot temps

if theres no way to tell what the problem is just by my description, which there probably isnt, what should i do.

Maybe your intercooler is messed up? Have you taken a look at it?

i havent looked closely. what should i look for that could be messed up about it

i havent looked closely. what should i look for that could be messed up about it


Well I had a similar problem to what you were having. Though I'm sure this would cause a vac leak in your system. My car was having really shitty boost problems because one of the hoses on my intercooler came loose. Now it was still over it but it was loose and I was able to take it right off.

But as for what to look for on your intercooler. Maybe look for any damage that may leak air or cause the air not to be cooled properly. Intercoolers are kinda like a big radiator without the water. Look for damage on your intercooler, and also look at the bottom right of your fender where there should be a hole for cold air to flow into the intercooler. That is how the air is cooled in the intercooler.

You could always clean the IC as well, change the radiator fluid, flush your engine, check for coolant leaks, etc.

To Clean the IC you get some gas (any lawn mower gas will do), poor it in the IC with it of course, and keep doing this until you get clear gas. Let it dry for about a half an hour or so and put it back on. You will notice a big difference.

Oh and what kind of motor oil do you use and when was the last time you changed it?

Hey what part of Texas are you from? Im in Houston and my car always pull hard(maybe not now since I got this damn broken radiator lol) so its not the heat :cool: Whenever your car "runs crappy" do you hear the turbo spool up and receive no acceleration? or are you able to fully boost fine and also what psi are you at? Have you recently changed your plug/wires? If it was a boost leak you usually would get a bunch of jerking and shaking when trying to boost. And with that boost controller...Ive never heard of a leaking boost controller...are you sure its on the right way? I know when I first put mine on I threw it on backwards and my car ran shitty but then I flipped it and it was all good.

i use mobile1 full synthetic 10w30. i havent changed it in a while bc i have a leak i havent gotten around to, but i just added some oil in today

I live in Austin. Hmm thats interesting, so it pulls about the same all the time. Do you have a fmic? yeah and when it runs crappy, i can still hear the turbo spool but it doesnt pull at all. it just accelerates like some shitty car. my plugs and wires are pretty recent, before summer sometime. ngk's. and i was reading on the boost leak tests and it said the only place it should leak is your mbc, so i dunno. i had mine wrong when i first had it on but its on correctly now. adding oil today helped a little, but when i do that it still isnt pullinga s hard as it should during the day

Have you checked into your plugs? Gapped right? What type of plugs and what are they gapped at?
I would recommend NGK BPR7ES plugs gapped at about.030 or so... mine went to .027 to run sweeeet...
Have you seen if your intake manifold/throttle body is clean?
How about your air filter... clean?
The hotter and more moist the air is especially if it's both will definately cause it to run kinda sluggish... on my way to work in the morning with the cool air my car would spool like an SOB... but on the way home in the hot afternoon it was more sluggish....

Side note for the IC cleaning... I took mine out and put gas in... capped both ends with my hands and swished it around to get all the corners and all... LOTS of crap came out... repeated process until gas came out clean... then I used a torpedo heater to evaporate the remaining gas inside and reinstaled the IC.... It's kinda a PITA to remove and put back in but....worth it if it's dirty...

My plugs should be fine. they are no more than 6 months old. they were gapped correctly when i put them in. i think around .029? maybe. i dont really remember. i havent ever seen if my intake manifold or tb is clean. i bought the car about a year ago. the filter is pretty clean. ill try that intercooler cleaning too, i have been planning on doing it eventually, just havent gotten around to it

It sounds exactly like what happened to my car with some of the piping being loose. My turbo would spool up and my psi would spike all the way up, but I wouldn't get any boost.

oh really. it feels like i am boosting but just barely. like its trying hard but not pulling at all at wot.i checked all the intercooler pipes just by hand and they seemed nice and tight.

I remember reading this link on tuners about CW. Of course none of us want you to have it b/c it sucks but I think they mention pedal pressure. I dont know for sure just read it if you'd like..its not to long.http://members.shaw.ca/costall/1000Q/answers-terms.htm#whatiscrankwalk
Good luck man.

I remember reading this link on tuners about CW. Of course none of us want you to have it b/c it sucks but I think they mention pedal pressure. I dont know for sure just read it if you'd like..its not to long.http://members.shaw.ca/costall/1000Q/answers-terms.htm#whatiscrankwalk
Good luck man.


He said that his gas pedal gets mushy, that would have nothing to do with crankwalk. Crankwalk effects the clutch pedal.