Well I'm chipped... but don't know what it feels like. Help?

[sixfiveoh]

Well today I decided to finally get the car flashed. Drove over to 034 and it was flashed with the Uni file within 15 minutes or so. I drove away to find that the car pulled a couple times at 15psi, then started boosting like it was stock again, holding around 10psi.

I went back and asked Laszlo if the program was a 1bar, he said it should spike around 20-22psi. Definitely not getting that. He goes out, checks it out, him and another tech go drive and log it, the ECU is fine he tells me, so it must be a boost leak somewhere. He said they didn't have time to look at it as they were closing up, but I could bring it in tomorrow morning and have them look at it.

Well I'm not sure I can make it over there for a while, work kinda screws up my schedule and I'd much rather figure this out on my own. When I drive the car, it pulls a few times and holds 15psi, then it'll start to taper off to 10psi, until it will act like stock again, only holding to 10psi. This will happen untill I shut the car off, and turn it back on again. Which seems electronic to me, but what do I know.

There are no visible boost leaks at this point. But here are a few things I know of.

I replaced the L shaped hose 6+ months ago when I found a tear in it with a straight hose, that I was assured wouldn't cause any problems, which it hasn't. But now that it's pushing more boost, could this be that much of a restriction? It's definitely kinked a good amount.



Also, this breather hose tore 6+ months back as well, when I replaced it I clamped only the top two lines, as it was a PITA to get another clamp on the bottom line, and I was told that many VW techs themselves only clamp down the top two...



At this point, the turbo inlet pipe seems to be fine.



Laszlo's guess was the throttle inlet pipe, but that seems fine to me. Doesn't look like it's collapsed or anything.



I'm gonna take the bumper off and make sure all the intercooler pipes are secure, but other than that. I'm stumped. The first thing I thought was diverter valve or N75 valve, but I thought that was more of a thing that would wear out over time, not just fail right away. Any insight?

Here's some pics of my car from today as well for anyone who bothered reading all this

[Mawhitey]

Limp mode, usualyy caused by over boost i believe. I think the limit is around 21 psi before it goes into limp, i think using a MBC could help cure it

[lawnferie]

did you upgrade you DV yet? I haven't heard of it dying that fast, but that could be a problem...

[sixfiveoh]

Limp mode, usualyy caused by over boost i believe. I think the limit is around 21 psi before it goes into limp, i think using a MBC could help cure it

Wouldn't it limp to 5psi though? I'm on the stock N75 valve as well, you think he would say something about limp mode. I've heard of people going into limp from the GIAC X file which also boosts 20+psi but only when paired with the race N75. He asked me specifically if my car was a 2001 as well.

did you upgrade you DV yet? I haven't heard of it dying that fast, but that could be a problem...

No, still stock. I could try swapping in my friend's APR R1 I guess...

[nrowensby]

Very nice pictures of the car... Did you shop the car into the background or shop the traffic in behind the car? Either way, VERY nicely done!

[SpoolinPelican]

When I went into limp, it would always let me build to 10psi. Prolly asked year for nDBW/DBW and K03/k03s

[sean1.8t]

No, still stock. I could try swapping in my friend's APR R1 I guess...

just get a 710N. cheap and will hold your power all day long(which if the stock DV isn't your problem yet, it will be in the future)

oh, and for a shameless plug, i've got one lying around i'll sell you

[sixfiveoh]

Very nice pictures of the car... Did you shop the car into the background or shop the traffic in behind the car? Either way, VERY nicely done!

Thanks! I actually just ran out and snapped the shot with the car coming at me

just get a 710N. cheap and will hold your power all day long(which if the stock DV isn't your problem yet, it will be in the future)

oh, and for a shameless plug, i've got one lying around i'll sell you

If it ends up being the problem, I'll take it off your hands. How much?

[djwimbo]

The only restriction you should be worried about is in the intercooler piping. The L-shaped hose has nothing to do with what air is fed into the combustion chambers.

The car sounds like it's going into a soft limp mode. Any flashing CEL when it boost's 15psi? And tapering to 10psi @ redline is normal, that's the downside to being powered by a K03.

[sixfiveoh]

No CELs whatsoever. It tapers to 10psi, then it will ONLY hold to 10psi.

[djwimbo]

Any bucking, surging, lack of smooth boosting? We had a car at work the other day with a sticky N75 that would do that.

[sixfiveoh]

Nope. The car feels stock, which I guess is both a good thing and a bad thing.

[sean1.8t]

If it ends up being the problem, I'll take it off your hands. How much?

$50 shipped..

that's just going off of what ACHTuning is selling it for. but if you find anywhere else cheaper i'll match it/save you a couple bucks on shipping

[sixfiveoh]

Intercooler piping seems fine. Hoses leading to the DV are fine. I guess the next step is to remove the DV and make sure it's not torn?

[B518T]

im 90% sure it is your DV....get a 710n at the least.....gl!

[biketsai]

In reponse to the OP's question as to how it should feel....
it feels like tsssssssssssssssssssssssss....tsssssssssssssssssss ssssssss.....tssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss sssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss

[4Rings3Liters]

Very nice looking car, you keep that thing clean.

[Seerlah]

Boost leak test. Only real way to determine where and if you do have a boost leak. Minus listening for it while driving spooling. And you should have gotten at least a 710n before you got flashed/chipped.

I highly doubt it is your n75. You may have always had a boost leak, but would never notice it as you were not pushing as much pressure. I have the same car as you and have a CTapp flash. Still on stock n75, but unpgraded dv (that should have been a given before flashing). I boost ~21 psi and when I had a boost leak I would peak ~17psi max. Did a boost leak test, found where the leak was coming from and replaced the hose.

My advice is to get at least a 710n (at least) and do a boost leak test.

[Yaktizzle417]

I love your car, and your photography.

Props!

But yeahhh, that sucks man. You could just be like me, and run a diode for like 20psi open downpipe and FMIC hahaha.

[D.C. Designs]

love the pictures :)

[sixfiveoh]

Haha thanks guys. The car looks so much better in photos than real life, but I'm sure you know how that goes

Took the DV out, seems it is bad. Piston comes right back down after I push it up with the nipple plugged. A friend is coming over with his stock DV off his GLI, and an APR R1 to test.

[Rhinop21]

Fixed?

[t1demont1]

im willing to bet its the dv

[biketsai]

He said that the GLI DV did the same thing, but my guess is that that one is torn too (stock) because it was ran on the chipped GLI.

[sixfiveoh]

Nope. Tried it with an OEM GLI valve and his APR R1. Same behavior. Pulls a couple times to 15psi, then starts acting like stock again.

[mike-2ptzero]

Going into limp which is usually half of the boost that the tuning wants to run. So if you have a chip that runs 20-21psi then your going to see around 10psi during limp, if you are running a 1 bar chip you will tend to see .5 bar during limp. Stock tuning limps to 5psi because it is tuned for 10-12psi.

[sixfiveoh]

So it seems it's pretty much clear that my car is going into limp. But what is weird to me is that it never boosts to 20psi ONCE before going into limp. It trys to hit 15-17 a couple times and then just does the old 10 crap.

Why does my car go into limp when there are many 01s running GIACX boosting 20psi easily without going into limp? Mike, what do I do to make it not go limp? Seeing your name post in here kinda gave me a bit of hope

[mike-2ptzero]

So it seems it's pretty much clear that my car is going into limp. But what is weird to me is that it never boosts to 20psi ONCE before going into limp. It trys to hit 15-17 a couple times and then just does the old 10 crap.

Why does my car go into limp when there are many 01s running GIACX boosting 20psi easily without going into limp? Mike, what do I do to make it not go limp? Seeing your name post in here kinda gave me a bit of hope

Well it doesn't have to overboost to go into limp, it can do this when actual boost is more then 300mbar(.3 bar or 4.35 psi) less then requested.


Do you own a vagcom?

[sixfiveoh]

Yes, I do.

[Nebone]

Hope you dont have the issue Ewok_Fetus had. His cars ECU was just not requesting the boost and he went crazy over it. I run a 1 Bar APR tune and when I hit limp mode once in 3 years (due to a blown off hose) and it was 5 psi and felt like a total slug. You will see the boost taper off to 10 psi at higher RPMs because thats just how the K03 is. You need to log requested boost vs. actual boost. I forget which block that is but it needs to be done if you want to diagnose your issue. Log your MAF too. I'm thinkinking that 10psi limp is your stock tuning kicking in?! (I never heard of 10 psi limp, should be 5psi and it's realllly slow, slower than stock)

You'll be spinning those fronts in no time. Nice pics in the middle of the road btw. Can ya PM me some info of lens and settings for those quick shots?

[hoganalley]

1 way to find out. Unhook your wastegate from the intake path. You should/probably will spike right up to 25psi. Don't do it for long or you'll blow your engine. I had similar problems to you and it ended up being my N75. I went from OEM to N75H....boost comes on smoother and I spike at 21, hold at 17ish.....I'm K04 though.

To me it sounds like N75.......

[Militant-Grunt]

You more than likely have a big leak, drive with radio off and listen for hissing under full boost.

I just got an 2001 1.8t I found 4 boost leaks and the fucking thing still has one more some where under the intake manifold that I cannot track down. Getting frustrated because we're trying to tune the car and can't because of a leak. I hit 14-15 lbs of boost on a full closed mbc... I also by-passed the N275 to eliminate that possibility as well. The n75 is fine, I switched it with the one out of my old car and was doing the same.

Your best bet is to have the car pressure tested, 034 has to have a pressure tester. If not make your own. I made one and helped me find 2 leaks, and the general area of the one I'm looking for.

[sixfiveoh]

At this point, I'm just going to let them deal with it. I'm so frustrated right now. I'll log the boost but I was never leaking before the chip, I was always holding a solid 10-11psi. I can't imagine it being the MAF as I just replaced it maybe 4 months ago. I'm guessing it's the N75 valve now. I'm going over there before work after all I guess, will keep this updated.

[sixfiveoh]

I just came back from 034. My car is in fine condition, somethings wrong with the software. The Uni guy is in Greece right now so my understanding is they sent it to the second in command in Canada. I'll be hearing from them anywhere from a couple hours or a couple days. It's not requesting enough boost. It will for a couple pulls, then stop. I'm pretty bummed right now. We'll see what happens once they call me back.

They're cool guys over at 034, and handled my situation as best as possible, but I suppose shit happens. What can you do.

[Nebone]

Ha! I thought it be the same issue Ewok had. Did they charge you for the work?

[sixfiveoh]

Ha! I thought it be the same issue Ewok had. Did they charge you for the work?

Good call!

No, they didn't charge, if they had, my attitude would be very different toward them. They were very cool about the whole situation like I said. Plus the whole time they were working on finding the problem, I was out back looking and snapping a few of the VR6 turbo A4, so that kept me occupied. Quite a beast in person!

[Nebone]

Post them up. I seen the beast when it was on the East side.

[sixfiveoh]

Didn't have anything but the iPhone...







45r

[Nebone]

Whoa...Those are the best photos to ever come out of an iphone. And you had doubts about going back there to get your car checked out.

[bigrobby]

i know you said they're handling it.....
did you ever scan the car? it can throw codes without the check engine light.

I have APR and my car did the EXACT THING. boost like it's supposed to and then it would randomly go back to around stock power.

NO CEL but there was a knock sensor code when i scanned it. The Bad knock sensor would retard the timing AND reduce boost to about stock. (i guess it wasnt faulty enough to throw CEL though) Replaced my knock sensor and it's never had a problem again.