[blued]

I had my car for a run today, about the first one over a mile or so since buying it. The turbo kicks in at about 2500-3000rpm and then I have power and spinning wheels until 4000 rpm and then its like the turbo shuts off and it continues to rev like a normal engine. When I bought the car it had been off the road for a while and even before that the actuator was sticking every now and again.

Could this be an actuator problem or does anyone have any other ideas?

Thanks

 

[Matheus428]

can be lean mixture or detonation..when have lean mixture or dentonation, the ecu cut the pressure...

 

[JRS]

If the actuator was sticking i would replace that first and see whether it sorts the problem

 

[blued]

How much are the standard actuators? Would I be able to take it off and give it a clean first? (assuming I can find which part of the engine it is!).

 

[blued]

Matheus428, thinking about it the car was standing off the road for a year or so before I bought it so the petrol might not be great which could cause a lean mixture? I put £10 in it when I bought it but there was about 1/4 of a tank in it already.

 

[JRS]

Actuators are about £85 from a vaux dealer, but your better of buying an uprated one for about a £100

 

[Matheus428]

well, is only a supose.. The lean mixture can be for a lot of things..bad fuel quality..lambda sensor damaged.. etc...
But can be the actuator too. Make a test with new actuator for see if the problems continuos..

 

[blued]

Problem with the actuator is I dont really want to spend £100 to find out its not what the problem is... Can the old one be pulled to bits and cleaned? If this made an improvement I could then buy a new one.

 

[JRS]

I think their sealed units, or unserviacble at least. Have you got a friend that could let you borrow theirs prehaps?

 

[blued]

Unfortunatley not. Closest I have is a mate with a Rover 220 Turbo! What are the benefits of an uprated actuator? Might just buy one with my dump valve money!

 

[JRS]

It just saves you having to buy another one on top of a new standard one, should you decide to up your power in the future.

if it hasn't been replaced in a while it may need doing so now anyway

 

[blued]

Well I'll run the old petrol out of it and then try it with some new stuff. If the problem persists I'll get a new actuator. Are they straight forward to fit?

Thanks

 

[JRS]

Piece of cheese mate!!

Try running you car on optimax

 

[blued]

I would but the closet Shell garage that does it is a 50 mile round trip!

 

[JRS]

Ah, just use a super unleaded along as it isn't a supermarket one as the quality is rubbish.

 

[Russ]

You need to know what the boost is doing before you assume the actuator is at fault.
Put a boost gauge in it.
Anyway, standard cars have lots of mid-range torque but not much top end.

 

[JRS]

whoops, i assumed he already had one.

 

[blued]

Well a boost guage is cheaper than an actuator and I was planning one so this may be an idea if its going to help diagnose the fault. I dont think its a case of not having much top end because it literally cuts off at 4000rpm.

 

[JRS]

Yep, get a boost guage and then take it from there.

Who said turbo ownership was cheep.................

 

[Chris_H42]

Well on more than one cally turbo I have seen the wastegate stuck open, not an actuator prob but a wastegate bush prob.

The solution I used was a block of wood and lots of wd-40. Walloped it about a few times (turbo still on engine access hard) and when it moved just moved it back and forth till it was pretty free.

So the wastegate might be opening then getting stuck and when the engine cools it may free itself and close properly.

Chris