Soooo Strange! 1jz no boost! help

kelson

New Member
Apr 17, 2009
270
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Socorro, NM
BULLETS

1jz lightly modded
changed exhaust
added ebay y-pipe & magnaflow cat
now no boost
no leaks, no blown off couplers
BOV not leaking
both turbos push air
runs and drive fine
revs freely
never hits boost




Hey guys,
So I'll start by saying that I'm no noob. I've been playing with my 1jz for 6 years now. This seems to be the oddest problem I've come across though. My car was running fine no problems for a while now. I decided it was time for a new exhaust because mine would leak and make the cabin smell bad. So I upgraded. I went from a stock y-pipe, 2.5"-3" down pipe, 3" tubing and a Apexi N1 muffler to new ebay y-pipe/down pipe 3", 3" Magnaflow 94009 cat, 3" piping and a ebay twin tip muffler.

I started the project about a week ago. drove the car into my shop without any problems. got the new exhaust on last friday. When I started the car it immediately stuttered and died. I thought, no bid deal, I have a different exhaust and I moved the 02 sensor so the ecu probably just has to relearn. I started a couple more time and it begins to idle. After a short while it's idling as perfect as before. So I take it for a drive and I get no boost ever. Doesn't matter the gear or engine RPM. No boost.

First thing I check is all my couplers, they're good. I check for obvious leaks in the piping but can't find any. I rev the engine but don't hear any leaks. I've had couplers blow off before but I could always easily hear when that happened. not the case here. When I was putting the new exhaust on I check the turbos so I know they're good. I took off the charge pipe to make sure both turbo's are pushing air, they are. I checked my BOV (it was working fine before) and it seams to be closing properly. I took the pipe off my intake manifold and revved the engine, I could feel the turbos pushing air out (not alot but there was also no load on the engine). So I think that's everything and I'm stumped/ don't really have time to look at it.

my car still runs perfectly fine, I can drive it anywhere. It drives just as smooth and good as before. I can put my foot down in any gear and it will rev up past 6,000RPM. It just never hits boost so it's slow. I have only two theories at this point. 1. for some reason the ECU is confused and pulling timing, thus causing the poor efficiency and not spooling the turbos. or 2. The magnaflow cat is too restrictive and the turbos can't spool. neither of these seems likely to me so that's why I'm asking here. Any good thoughts?


P.S. I just realized how much I wrote so I've added bullets at the top and here is a bonus picture of my other current project. nowhere near finished but here you go, thanks for reading.

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kelson

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Apr 17, 2009
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Socorro, NM
hvyman;2001014 said:
Have you checked for codes?

That was going to be my next step. My check engine light doesn't work so I'll have to figure out why that is first. can you think of any engine codes that explain this?
 

kelson

New Member
Apr 17, 2009
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Socorro, NM
atmperformance;2001023 said:
did your waste gates get disconnected while installing exhaust bits?

I checked the waste gates and respective hoses to the actuators the best I could and I couldn't find anything. If they were stuck closed then I would get excessive boost. If they were jammed open I would still expect to get normal boost it would just come on later. I can hold my foot to the floor in 3rd gear all the way through the RPM's and my manifold never sees more then 0psi.
 

kelson

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Apr 17, 2009
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Socorro, NM
seoul4korea;2001029 said:
Does your car feel like it's getting boost? As in could it be that your gauge is broken and you are still boosting?

absolutely not, its slow as piss. no kick from the turbos. I'd put it at 150ish horsepower.
 

f00g00

Supramania Contributor
Jul 2, 2007
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16
Kuwait
Sounds like something with the exhaust but even a restrictive one will allow some boost before killing power.
I had a stock exhaust that on the dyno it would go from 290 ish and drop way down because of exhaust. Went to a full 3 inch and made 305 on dyno.
You just changed your whole exhaust and have this problem so I would take it back off and check everything starting with the muffler. If it isn't a straight through design then it could be the culprit. The magnaflow cat should be straight through. As long as it isn't welded all the way you can start from the back and work forward testing boost after each piece comes off but it will be loud.
Do you have a link to the muffler on ebay?
 
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kelson

New Member
Apr 17, 2009
270
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Socorro, NM
f00g00;2001071 said:
Sounds like something with the exhaust but even a restrictive one will allow some boost before killing power.
I had a stock exhaust that on the dyno it would go from 290 ish and drop way down because of exhaust. Went to a full 3 inch and made 305 on dyno.
You just changed your whole exhaust and have this problem so I would take it back off and check everything starting with the muffler. If it isn't a straight through design then it could be the culprit. The magnaflow cat should be straight through. As long as it isn't welded all the way you can start from the back and work forward testing boost after each piece comes off but it will be loud.
Do you have a link to the muffler on ebay?

The cat and the muffler are both a strait through design. http://www.ebay.com/itm/390742176212?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649 I could do this but I really doubt that's the problem. I probably will unbolt it at the cat and see if I get anything.

seoul4korea;2001078 said:

I have not because I don't have a lot of time. I will try to though. as I said earlier I checked for major leaks and haven't found any. I've had massive boost leaks before and I still hit 13psi it just wasn't as fast, so it would have to be like a whole pipe came off to get 0psi but I'm just not seeing that.
 

525gte

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Sep 19, 2011
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hoquiam
I would do a true boost leak test. But it would have to be huge.

I think you need to look I to wast gate further.sound like it is stuck open
 

kelson

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Apr 17, 2009
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Socorro, NM
525gte;2001227 said:
I would do a true boost leak test. But it would have to be huge.

I think you need to look I to wast gate further.sound like it is stuck open

I looked at the waste gates and the both move freely. still need to do boost leak check

seoul4korea;2001278 said:
Do your turbines still exist? did you maybe blow the rear one?

I assume so at this point. They were working fine when I had the y-pipe out and I doubt they broke withing minutes of starting the engine.

I'm going to pull the cat off and see if I can get boost. I've been super busy with school, but next week I should have some more time to look at this.
 

kelson

New Member
Apr 17, 2009
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Socorro, NM
seoul4korea;2001278 said:
Do your turbines still exist? did you maybe blow the rear one?

I'm going to have to revise my answer on this one. I found these stuck in my cat when I pulled my exhaust off. I'm still very surprised that they would break but I guess one of my turbines died.

14055039391_f12ce1e522_o.jpg


14058693584_398de9df6d_o.jpg
 

hvyman

Dang Dude! No Way Man.
Staff member
Apr 17, 2007
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Fullerton,CA
Not surprising at all. There ceramic. Once they start going there's no telling how long they will last or when they will give put.
 

kelson

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Apr 17, 2009
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Socorro, NM
hvyman;2003252 said:
Not surprising at all. There ceramic. Once they start going there's no telling how long they will last or when they will give put.

I understand that, but they were working fine till I put the new exhaust on but then I never even hit boost once. It just seems like if they were going to break it would be when I was pushing them hard.
 

hvyman

Dang Dude! No Way Man.
Staff member
Apr 17, 2007
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Fullerton,CA
No because you had to take them off to put the y pipe on. So them getting banged around while getting put on and off likely sped up the process of them taking a shit.

there is no way to predict when they will go out.
 

kelson

New Member
Apr 17, 2009
270
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Socorro, NM
hvyman;2003258 said:
No because you had to take them off to put the y pipe on. So them getting banged around while getting put on and off likely sped up the process of them taking a shit.

there is no way to predict when they will go out.

I already replaced them once and changed the y-pipe studs to bolts so I did not have to take the turbos off this time.