Thursday, August 16, 2012 - 03:32 pm, by: Chris Williamson(Random_tt)
Hey all, I recently changed my exhaust to a new one. its the same size as my old system but just all new pipe work and a 3" resonator but uses all the same mufflers front pipes and cat. I'm using a profec b spec II EBC which Cihan tuned at 15.5 psi and hasn't changed in over 2 years. now with this new exhaust its over boosting like crazy. I put my foot down and noticed it was well over 20psi on my boost gauge. I am unsure at the boost levels as my gauge only goes up to 20psi but the dial was well past it and for obvious reasons i backed off right away and have not pushed the car since. Ive checked over all the vacuum lines and the lines to the waste gate actuators and all are fine. I'm not sure if the blokes at the exhaust shop messed around with the boost controller or what but any help would be very helpful cheers
Thursday, August 16, 2012 - 09:24 pm, by: Chris Williamson(Random_tt)
yeah I've been looking over all the lines and cant see anything. Its just hard to think its just a coincidence that its happening now after not skipping a beat for 2 years. Im going to unhook the solenoid tomorrow and run a bleed valve fully shut to try and rule out the boost controller. but yeah besides that its off to a shop to get some help if that fails. more $$$ that i don't have haha
Thursday, August 16, 2012 - 09:35 pm, by: James Tims(Timzy)
Apparently you can get the solenoid's for greddy, HKS, AVCR etc just any universal 2 wire one will do the trick. I've been looking into this because I'm having exactly the same problems as yourself at the moment! They just crap themselves I guess, pity for me I brought it second hand and this is what I get!!!
Thursday, August 16, 2012 - 10:08 pm, by: Chris Williamson(Random_tt)
thats handy. guess like anything mechanical it has a breaking point. ill swing past a tuning shop as get some advice and see if its not something ive over looked before forking out for a new solenoid. will let you know how it goes
Thursday, August 16, 2012 - 10:17 pm, by: James Tims(Timzy)
Just type this in on ebay - Boost Control Solenoid valve BCS MAC 35A-AAA-DDBA-1BA, looked at a couple of forums and they have a good report since they are basically used by all the major brands just re-branded. Just ordered one and not bad for $57 all up delivered compared to the $125 greddy wants on their website not including postage and for peace of mind and I can use it with my Profec B Spec 2 interface, exactly the same setup.
Thursday, August 16, 2012 - 11:17 pm, by: Chris Williamson(Random_tt)
thanks for that. that is a much better price. ill see what the shop says tomorrow just in case its something stupid i have missed but if not ill be doing the same thing you are. Cheers for your help James
Friday, August 17, 2012 - 01:46 pm, by: Chris Williamson(Random_tt)
so I tried some bush mechanics on the car today, put WD40 in the open part of the solenoid but did nothing. switched to an old bleed valve in the fully shut position and there she goes... 7psi boost. no spikes no problems. so yeah bad boost solenoid valve. now a 2 week wait for US postage.
Friday, August 17, 2012 - 09:19 pm, by: Chris Williamson(Random_tt)
i looked over all the wireing and its all fine. no nicks or problems. its all wired up right and hasnt been touched so cant be anything like that. has to be the solenoid unit its self.
Saturday, August 18, 2012 - 06:40 am, by: Matt Newman(Soarersrock)
have you pulled apart the valve its self maybe it has a bit of crap under one of the seats and if you do so make sure you put a bit of snow white grease (vaso) on the o'rings
Sunday, August 19, 2012 - 12:36 am, by: Chris Williamson(Random_tt)
yeah pulled it apart and cleaned it with WD-40. didn't notice anything broken or dirty or anything like that. hooked it up to a 12v PSU and it was operating without a problem. wasn't under pressure though as i was only blowing through it but the valve was opening up when energized and closing when power was cut. not sure if its just failing when under turbo pressure or what. ill refit it and try again now its had a clean but i don't have much faith left in it.
Sunday, August 19, 2012 - 08:02 am, by: Daniel Clarke(Dieseltrain)
Hmm if it works there could be a broken wire . Have heard of this happening . Check using a multimeter . Unplug the wiring plug from the back of ebc and check for continuity from ebc to solenoid end .
My mate had this issue , was a dodgy connection along the way . We tried my solenoid to no avail . Fixed the wire and all was good
Sunday, August 19, 2012 - 02:05 pm, by: Chris Williamson(Random_tt)
Checked all that and its fine. its just failing under pressure. works fine on a bench test with me blowing through it and also when its hooked on the car and powered up through the EBC and me blowing through it. its just opening up when it should be shut when fitted in the car and the air pressure source is through the turbo.
If it was a damaged wire between the EBC and the solenoid it would not be getting power and stay shut and the boost would be 7psi or around that. instead its very inconsistent and works for one pull and then seconds later opens up fully again and boosts well past stock.
That's my theory anyway. with no power to the solenoid it should run as follows. port 1(com) open, port 2(Norm Open) open, port 3 (Norm Closed) shut. with 100% power port 1 open, port 2 shut and port 3 open. Please correct me if I'm wrong but i think that is how its meant to function.
Tuesday, August 28, 2012 - 01:24 pm, by: Chris Williamson(Random_tt)
new solenoid rocked up.installed it and its doing the same thing. cant work it out. i have it set up port 2 turbo pressure port 3 waste gate actuator and port 1 vent. how did you install yours james? same set up or different?
Tuesday, August 28, 2012 - 04:37 pm, by: Chris Williamson(Random_tt)
This is a MAC boost control solenoid so the ports are labeled differently but is a direct replacement. the com port is port 2 the norm open(NO) is port 3. problem must be with the control unit itself. with the harness to the solenoid unplugged it runs at waste gate pressure. with the harness plugged in and boost set to 0% gain at 5%(min) and start boost gain at 0.00kpa its hitting over 18psi.
Pulled the control unit itself apart and looked over it for obvious point damage or burn marks on any of the components and all looks fine. but its obviously not running properly and is sending power to the solenoid when it shouldn't.
Done the rounds on the phone and google and really have no idea where I can get the control unit tested and repaired in Melbourne without just having to fork out for a whole new unit.
Tuesday, August 28, 2012 - 07:55 pm, by: Adrian McGuire(Adro)
Something just isn't adding up. First it was working and was tuned by cihan, you got a set of dumps put on and now there is wiring issues?? Are you leaving anything out of the story ? If not my advice would be take it back to cihan because he knows what he is doing and pay him to sort it out.
Tuesday, August 28, 2012 - 08:44 pm, by: Chris Williamson(Random_tt)
nah nothing being left out of the story that I can think of. It wasn't even dump pipes. just changed from the cat back. Only thing I can think of is they didn't earth the car properly or disconnect the battery and welded the flange plate to the cat and caused a power surge through the control unit or something.
I know it cant be the wiring as it was working previously and the solenoids ignore polarity so it cant be wired up wrong.
I've spent so long on google its melting my brain, some people have said that setting the boost controller to 0% can make it go a little silly so i will try setting it to 15% tomorrow and test it again.