After lots of searching, and finding a few guides on cleaning a classic's boost solenoid, I've a few questions on cleaning it on a 2005 WRX.

1) Is this the sort of brake cleaner it's ok to use? or better to use a MAF cleaner? http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Hycote-Bra...item4ae7b56658

2) Do you still need to do the green connectors under the dash stage with a 2-port solenoid? or just taking the solenoid out and giving it a good spray through enough? Plus I assume the pipes where the restrictor pills is too.

Many thanks
Richard

 

You'd still need to put the connectors together so the valve is opening to allow the cleaner through. Wouldn't do any harm to give the pipes a clean out too.

 

Thanks - will do :-)

Is that cleaner ok?

 

I just used brake cleaner with no issues. Wouldn't be using too much though, a quick blast will do the job nicely!

 

Thats great thanks.

 

using the green connectors won't activate the solenoid on a newage car i think - you have to just spray into the ports with the cleaner and then use a spare bit of wire attached to the battery terminals then direct onto the BCS terminals (touch them to click it a few times).

Normally I'll fill it up with the spray, give it a few clicks then empty it out - repeat this 3 or 4 times and you should hear a strong click when you energise it. That spray you've linked to should do the job fine, so will EGR or carb/maf cleaner - doesn't really matter as your not spraying it through the MAF itself and you'll be letting it dry out before reattaching to the system anyway.

 

Thanks.

Is it a pretty useless exercise to undertake without the activating the solenoid via the battery?

 

Pretty much. I activated mine via the battery, that was before I knew about the green plugs on my classic. Just be careful when doing it, I generated a spark when touching the wire to the battery which then set my hand on fire because there was brake cleaner on it lol. School boy error.....

 

- good tip on what to avoid :-)

These sorts of wires/clips work for connecting up?

 

yeh you can use those if you wanna be mr fancy pants, i just used a length of speaker wire and pinched between thumb and finger at the right distance so I could just touch it to the solenoid terminals.

 

- yep, I'm a bit of a noob when it comes to electrics!

 

worked on my '54' plate blob sti

 

Thanks - I'll certainly give that a try first!

 

Worked on mine too 03 jdm blob sti.

 

Very bad to have any sparks near the battery so be careful.

 

Thanks John. Looks like the green connectors are there under the dash - so will try those out first at the weekend.

 

Green connectors work great thankfully. Managed to give boost solenoid a clear plus the tubing and checked the restrictor pill was in the correct place. I'll do some logging over the weekend but whilst the boost seemed a lot smoother, it still felt well below what I'd expect it to be. Looks like I could have a leak somewhere. What a pain :-(

Saying that the clicking noise wasn't that loud from the solenoid (hard to hear anyway over the fan, needed to hold it up to my ear).

 

Was the fan running all of the time.

 

No, I think it was on/off/on.