Hi I have a 2001 UK WRX.
At the moment it will not boost. After initially thinking it may be the wastegate being stuck, I have checked it and the actuator but they seem ok and working. There is no smoke from the turbo.
The only thing I have found to be wrong was a split pipe. I am not massively technical so please excuse my descriptions of the following. The split pipe was attached to a hexagonal block about 25mm high with a spring and twisting bolt on top (possibly some sort of boost control??) This has been repaired but the car still will not boost.
Is it possible the car has gone in to some sort of safe/limp mode with the split pipe and requires a reset before it will boost again?

There are no warning/engine lights on the dash. I have noticed however that when you turn the ignition on there is not any sort of engine check light shows up anyway. (Should there be for this model?)

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

 

I'm assuming someone has put a manual boost controller on it. Did you try taking it off and re-joinging the pipe? Are all the pipes connected to the actuator and turbo or have any be messed about with with fitting that manual controller?
A pic would be handy if you could. Some of the more knowledgable dudes on here may be able to better identify your problem.


Damien

 

I have cut the split part of the pipe and re-attached it. I have also been searching online for pictures that are similar but can't find any and it's too dark to take any tonight.
all other pipes are attached and in good order.

 

Best I could do with a camera phone and flashlight

 

Have you tried removing the thing completly? Could be fecked and causing a problem...

 

not tried that yet. The problem did happen all of a sudden. Would a split in the pipe this is connected to cause the car to go into limp mode?

 

Sorry managed to start two threads. this is from the other one to keep it all in one place.

 

Car has negative boost and when I accelerate it goes to neutral boost. I have removed the actuator and the wastegate opens/closes with no problems. The actuator rod itself moves back and forth but is very hard to pull out. If you cover the pipe hole with a finger it makes it even harder so I dont think it is the diaphram.
I did phone around for an actuator but subaru say it is not sold seperatley but only sold as part of a complete turbo and they all want £1000+ for it!! It is only a piece held on with two bolts FFS

Re dash lights... When I turn the ignition on, they light up but there is no light that looks like an engine managment light. I have the air bag etc. light up though. Is it possible for somebody to take a photo of theirs lit up or scan their handbook with what lights should be visible on ignition.

 

you should have an orange engine shape light come on with ignition that should go out once started if all is ok.
i would suggest removing clocks and seeing if bulb is blown or even missing.
you might get an idea if there is an electrical fault if it is lit,if so get the memory scanned to pull out the codes.

 

I did think as much. This is not lighting up when I turn the ignition on. This of course leaves me the problem of knowing if my car has gone in to safe/limp mode as I am assuming that when this happens, the engine symbol would light up.
What would the characteristics of the safe mode be? i.e. would it cut the turbo out or just limit the revs?

 

I thought the bulbs at the back were just for back lighting, etc, not the actual warning lights - aren't they LED's and part of the circuit board within?

Anyway, you need to get your ecu read, a secs monitor will do it...gives you all the fault codes.

Very easy way to test your turbo and actuator without anything else being involved...remove boost signal pipe to actuator and take her out for a boost run (go easy to start with just to be safe), what you end up with is approx boost of about .7 bar if your turbo and actuator are both working correctly. How this works is just by the spring inside the actuator holding the gate closed for as long as it can with turbo spooling up - I'm sure they're normally rated to about .7 bar

Safe mode when mine was standard was a little ruff on running, reduced boost (but not none), warning light always on.