Greatings All

Got a STI 1 and want to know what Turbo lag is? and engine temp guage is running about 3mm from the top of the guage! but the engines not hot! Any ideas! also the cap on the top front left corner of the radiator is seeping, anyone got any info ie should the expansion tank be full to the top?

Many thanks.

 

Sounds like you need to get your car to the garage soonest if the temp gauge is right up there it may not be anything (could be a dodgy thermostat) but then again if its not it could do serious damage to your head/gasket
Turbo lag itself is quite easy to explain
Some people say the new sti7 type uk has turbo lag below 4k, i say it doesnt (otherwise there would be lots of cars out there without turbos that suffer the same fate) but what it is basically is when (normally accellerating) and you change gears, the time taken for the turbo to spin down after dumping the gasses and to spin back up (1 or 2 seconds sometimes with a big turbo) so you get a flat spot where you have no power and then you get the kick when the turbo kicks in again, thats lag

Tony

 

DonnyLad - Get it to a shop to get checked out ASAP. Not sure on v1's but if it's similar to later versions, check it when cold : the water should be between the L and H lines on the bottle i.e. not filled to the top.

 

temp gauge is near the top and the cap is leaking

try fixing the leak so the system holds pressure then re-check the temp gauge.
(the more pressure in the system, the more heat the water can absorb before boiling).

Andy

 

I thought turbo lag was where when driving around off boost, you suddenly floor the loud pedal and there's a delay whilst the turbo spins up to operating speed thus providing boost. Once spinning at high revs, provided you keep your engine speeds within that area there should be little or no turbo lag between gear changes ..... I thought the waste gate/dump valve operations looked after that momentary between gear changes pressure build up ....

How do others see it?

Once you become familiar with your car's particular characteristics (this applies to any car) you can drive it within those parameters in such a way that turbo lag rarely plays any part.

To illustrate this turbo lag point, try this exaggerated experiment. Open the throttle [ie. press the loud pedal down ... ] ..... at say 35-40 mph in 5th gear and see how soon the turbo provides boost and acceleration. Then try the same at 35-40 mph in 2nd gear and compare the results .....

Or, have I got it all wrong ... or

 

This is my point re lag
If your not in the turbo and you get little power how can that be lag as most cars that are not in the power band suffer EXACTLY the same thing but they dont have turbos
Lag itself is the time it takes for the turbo to slow down and speed up whilst in its normal operating area, if it was anything but then it would be off boost and not lag

Tony

 

This is where the VTA dump valve comes in, cuts down spool up time on yer turbo by letting it spin freely when you come off the loud pedal so when you hit the loud pedal again there is less time where the turbo spools up again, thus reducing lag, so I believe.

 

Fuzz

Many thanks! problem sorted it was the leek.

Cheers Donny Lad

 

people tend to give you "worst possible scenario" (sp?) sometimes.
usually it's something simple.
Glad to be of help.

Oh no! your head gaskets gone

Andy