Hi,
I have a 2004 WRX STI and it has just started playing up.

- The car idles fine
- Not using water or oil, and has no smeg around the oil filler so im pretty sure its not head gasket (but then again maybe it could be?)
- It pulls right through to full boost
- Boosts well to 4000RPM and then the boost stays up but feels like the hand brake is on (feels like the car is being pulled back)

At 7000RPM i changed from 2nd to 3rd and it filled the road with white smoke behind.

I then drove steady for a while and then tried to see if it did the same problem again. the 2nd time only a small cloud of smoke came out but still felt like it was being pulled back.

The boost gauge is going round to display full boost and at tick over its showing a reading too. 0.6 at idle 1.4 on full throttle.

Any help would be great. Also there is no engine management light on.

Thanks a lot
John

 

Hi,
I have just driven it again and notice another symptom is that is is showing more boost on the boost gauge. Maybe only from 1.4 to 1.5bar but it is definitely showing more boost but not feeling like it.

 

Any help would be great. Today it boosted even higher on the gauge but again felt like the brake was on. Very stuttery power. Could it be a boost leak? What causes it to create more boost but less power?

Thanks a lot