Wastegate Adjustment

[jimrobbington]

Please read this DIY in it's entirety before starting this project. I describe issues I had along the way, and issues you may have that I did not.

I do not recommend doing this diy if your car is running normal, and acheiving the average boost pressure of ~20psi. This modification is designed to regain lost boost, not acheive extra power on a properly functioning car. You do this procedure at your own risk, and I cannot be blamed.

For full details on symptoms, brainstorming, and all communication that happened to get us to this point, and figure out this issue can be found HERE. It is kind of a long read, but I highly recommend reading that first, before doing anything, if you feel you are losing boost for no reason.

Brief description of the issue this fixes:

Several of us found that we were losing boost for no reason. Stage 2 cars acheiving only 15psi peak on average, having trouble acheiving high boost numbers in low gears, boost taking too long to build, and not holding. Seems like it has become a fairly common problem among higher mileage 2.0tfsi cars. The DIY that this DIY is based upon can be found HERE. Many thanks go out to CiDirkona from golfmkv.com. I decided to make a more user friendly version, based upon our transversely mounted engines, and upon my experiences learning through this myself.

First, you have to create a tool used to complete this project. Don't worry, it's cheap and easy, but takes all day to dry. Just like your mom. OH!




Purpose of This Tool
The purpose of this tool is to be able to fill up the wastegate with air, while also being able to control the
amount of pressure being added to the system, and retain that pressure as well. The tire valve stem
allows mono-directional travel of the air. A bike pump can easily be used for best control of the amount
of pressure being used. An air compressor can be used, but you would not want to use more pressure
than the system is intended for (+- 15psi.)

Tools Needed

• Drill with various drill bits
• Dremel tool
• rubber gloves
• Plumber's tape
• Silicon sealant
• JB Weld

Parts Needed

• 1 1/4" PVC threaded cap[size]
• 1 1/4" PVC threaded plug
• 3' rubber vacuum hose
• 3/16" vacuum hose connector
• Tire valve stem

Everything purchased above was either found at Lowe's or Oreilley's. Total cost ~$35





I forgot to throw the plumber's tape in the picture. lol.





First thing to do is attach the valve stem to the PVC plug. I measured the width of the valve stem and drilled a hole
smaller than that. Then with the Dremel tool, I slowly sanded the hole larger while test fitting often. The PVC was
actually a little too thick for the valve stem, and had to be sanded down in thickness as well. Then it just snapped
in perfectly. Actually better than expected.




Sidenote: I believe there are valve stems that mount with nuts and washers, which would probably be better in this
circumstance, but I didn't see them, and these were cheap, and worked fine.

I then sealed the inside around the valve stem with the silicon sealant just for added peace of mind that I did this
right the first time. I consider this an optional step, but did not test the pressure holding ability before the silicon.
Your call here.



Now, the vacuum tube connector is 3/16", so I would drill a 3/16" hole and voila! But alas, that was the only size
drill bit I was missing, so I went smaller and worked it around in circles til I reached the size I needed. I also cut a
groove straight across the center of the hole for the tabs to fit in.



Pop the connector in the hole, and JB Weld it on top and on bottom.






Let those dry overnight, plumbers tape the shit out of the threaded end, screw them together, and with any
luck, we have an air tight air tool to work on our wastegate.


Tools Needed

• pliers
• small stubby flatheat screwdriver
• long flathead screwdriver
• bicycle pump
• tool made in previous section
• jack stands
• 10 mm wrench
• small hose clamp

First, we will start with where we attach our new tool to the wastegate actuator. You need to remove your air intake "ram air".
You will be in this area a lot. Here is what you are looking at:



At the end of the actuator is a nipple connected to a hose. air pressure fills this can and moves the rod back and forth, opening
and closing your wastegate. You need to get the clamp off, which as far as I know can only be done by mutilating it with pliers.
This is where you will need the small hose clamp later.



Once the clamp is broken and removed, the hose is sill stuck on pretty good, and a pull won't do it. I had to push it off with the long
flathead to get it off the nipple. This is now where you attach your new tool.



It is easiest to attach the vacuum hose from the top, and then drop the pvc down between the engine and the bumper so you have
access to it from underneath. The rest of the work is done on your back.

You will first have to remove the underbelly tray. If you can't figure out how to do this, please stop now.

From underneath the car, find the same actuator can. The rod we are adjusting connects to it, and points towards the back of the car.



First, with the long flathead, you must snap this clip off. You will not be replacing this clip. It is kinda just held there by spring-like
pressure, and what looks like a brown, OEM-type lock-tite. just pry it off, and it will come off pretty easy.



Once the clip is removed, you will need to break the locking nut free from the lock-tite. It is fine to move the lock nut without adding
pressure to the system with the pump. Twist it towards the front bumper, away from the adjustment nut. Now is the tricky part. You
must add pressure to the system now with the pump, to take pressure off the adjustment nut. This takes finesse, as you have to keep
varying the pressure by pumping and releasing. Take care not to add more pressure to the system than it is inteded for. Only one
pump of my pump created almost 20psi.



Do not move the lock nut further than you want to adjust the other nut. I could not see a way that you can retighten the
adjustment nut. Because the way it is built, I do not know of a tool you could use here, all you can use is your hand on the
adjustment nut, and I could not screw it the opposite way. This being said, take care that you don't over do it. I could not
honestly tell you how many full turns of the nut I acheived, but I did this whole procedure three different times, so that I wouldn't
over do it. There may be a tool that can reach up there, but I don't even know what it would look like.

When you have the adjustment nut where you wanted it, lock the lock nut back up against it, replace the hose on the end of the
actuator can, and lock it down with the small hose clamp. This is where I needed the little stubby flathead. There is very little
space between the fan and this spot, so just take your time and make sure you get that clamp on tight.

[jimrobbington]

Before I did this adjustment, at Stage 2, I was only seeing a peak boost of 15psi in a third gear run, tapering down to 10psi.


Third gear pull from before I attempted any adjustment:



After this mod, I was able to hit 18psi, tapering down to about 13psi

Third gear pull after third adjustment:




A problem I came across, is that the adjustment nut got stuck, and I could no longer move it by hand. I believe the reason that it got stuck is the OEM lock-tite on the threaded rod was possibly too thick, and the adjustment nut is stuck on this. I cannot apply enough pressure on the adjustment nut by hand to move it. You may want to use a small wire brush to try to remove this from the threads before proceeding.

[jimrobbington]

that was a great write up, and i only have two questions,

- the adjustment nut can be unscrewed with your hand, but cannot be screwed back on with your hand is what i understood from your second to last paragraph.....is it impossible to screw back on? or is it just such that human hands would have a hard time turning it back/its in an awkward position....all im getting at is im wondering if you could use a very very very tiny monkey wrench to be able to tighten that up?

- the last paragraph you mention using a small hose clamp.....i have a forge dv and i secured my hoses with zip-ties.....would you think a zip tie would be able to keep the vacumn tubing on?

I do believe that you can tighten the adjustment nut back, but not by hand. It is in such a space that only the side of one finger can roll along the nut, you cannot get your thumb on it to get any grip. There is abracket built around the nut, such that you cannot get your average pliers on it, plus it is round with grooves, and not shaped like a nut at all.

Zip ties may work, because I don't think this hose sees too much pressure, but I'd rather be safe than sorry. If that hose comes off, you have no wastegate control, and I don't know if the car would die, over boost, or explode.

Can you boost to 20 in city driving? Do a second gear pull and see if it hits 20. If it does then good. What i'm worried about for myself is that i'm already boosting to 19-20 on highway...........if i adjust, will i boost to like 25?
I dont want the next thread from me to be "I'm stumped......blown turbo, now what?"

Codered: NO, I cannot hit 20psi in 2nd gear. It has actually leveled out from the first pull, and it appears 19psi is my highest number. I can hit about 18psi in EVERY gear, which is so much more than I'm used to. It actually feels, though that second gear improved, but the other gears seem to have improved more (talking acceleration). But there is only a 1-2 psi difference between peak in every gear, whereas before, 1st gear's peak was 12, now it's 18. Third gear's peak was 15, now 18. Fourth gear's was 16, now 19. So it seems as though not only have I acheived ~3psi more across the board, 1st gear is seeing power it never had before. I strongly believe that if I could get the adjustment nut past where I am at now, I could get it up to 20psi across all gears.

[Sh4wn]

Judging from your before and after videos, it looks almost exacly like the before and after of when I had my cam/follower/pump replaced under warranty.

I used to be having a real hard time getting boost and staying there, now that the repair has been done it looks more like that video, are you absolutelly certain that the cause for your low boost was only the WG?
And if so, say I have a peak boost of about 19 and hold to about 17, would ajusting my WG rod give me more safe boost?

[jimrobbington]

Sorry I never saw the question above for some reason. To be sure, it was never something wrong with my hpfp.

After wastegate adjustment, and small maintenance issues here and there, I have amazing turbo response. I can boost up to 19-20 psi in 1st and 2nd, 23 psi in 3rd, and up about 1 psi each gear. Max I have seen is 26 psi in high gears. Boost is completely reliable, and I can always achieve max boost, given the proper conditions.

I will be running boost logs in about a week just for fun, but I have literally had 0 ill effects from this mod. I am still very happy with my results. The stock turbo has impressed me with what it can handle. Will post logs when I get them.

[fordyoz]

any boost logs yet jr?

[jimrobbington]

Lol! Totally forgot to post them in here! Doh! I have them at home in xcel sheet form. I will post it up later today if i remember again!

The crazy thing is, my tune is actually requesting 24 psi at some points, so my actual boost is right in line with requested. I was very surprised to see requested so high. My Revo boost is set at 7, I think 6 is recommended for stage 2.

JR

[jimrobbington]

So check this out. I added the fuel rail pressure as well so that you could see how my shitty 116 bar PRV dumps fuel almost as soon as I build full Boost. So I'm thinking I will be able to hold peak boost for a few hundred more RPM when I upgrade that.

[fordyoz]

you wanna use my stock prv until you get one of johns? mine was holding 130bar easy. my graphs are in that fuel pressure relief valve thread if you want to see em

[jimrobbington]

you wanna use my stock prv until you get one of johns? mine was holding 130bar easy. my graphs are in that fuel pressure relief valve thread if you want to see em

Yeah, that would be awesome! I don't need anything bigger until I can afford a hpfp anyway, lol. Yours did hold remarkably well.

JR

[LoKisSpYdR]

JR PM'd

[jimrobbington]

JR PM'd

Replied

[LoKisSpYdR]

So I noticed a gradual drop in boost pressure and after checking all of the usual suspects, (cam follower, hpfp, boost leak, DV, PCV, carbon clean) I figured this was the issue. I made a tool per Jim's instructions (except I used a 1/4"NPT-3/16 vacuum adapter and wasn't so liberal with RTV- Sam result, just a bit easier IMO) and performed the adjustment. Before adjusting I marked the lock nut and adjustment nut to find how many complete turn I made to correct my wastegate. Prior to performing this maintenance, I was seeing 17-18 peak psi, as opposed to 22-23psi I used to see. After the adjustment, I'm back go where I was.
Total, I made 3 1/4 turns.

[jimrobbington]

Dude, that's awesome. I'm really glad it worked out for you! How many different adjustments did you do to get back to the right place?

[LoKisSpYdR]

That was my first adjustment and after putting 250 miles on it, I'm very happy with the results, but may need to fine tune it in a couple thousand miles when I do my tb service. Never would have gotten there without your DIY and insight, thanks man!

[xander3zero]

Dude, that's awesome. I'm really glad it worked out for you! How many different adjustments did you do to get back to the right place?

so is this kind of like a guess and check modification? like you just loosen the LOCK nut a few turns, pressurize the system, and then move the ADJUSTMENT nut out to the lock nut? is there any way to estimate how much you need to adjust the nuts? also what pressure did you pressurize too?

[jimrobbington]

Yep, guess and check. Better to make small adjustments and test. I did 3 small adjustments, no way to really tell/remember how many turns. Maybe like 1.5 for me. Others were like 3 full turns or more. Not much pressure is needed. Like 5 or 6 psi will be plenty to relieve pressure of the rod.

[xander3zero]

Referencing this picture above.... so if I move the lock nut to the left in the picture, does the adjustment nut move with it or do I have to pressurize the system and then turn the adjustment nut to meet the lock nut? Or does the adjustment nut move automatically when I pressurize based on where the lock nut is?
Also which way did you move the lock nut and adjustment nut? To the left in the picture? thanks for clarifying

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[jimrobbington]

Nothing is going to move by itself. All that shit right the has loctite on it.

First, move the lock nut away to the left. You then need to add pressure to the system because the is a lot of tension in that rod. Adding the pressure relieves the tension and makes it easier to turn the adjustment nut.

[jimrobbington]

And yes, looking back through the thread, I believe you move the adjustment nut away from the lock nut. You are trying to make the rod "longer".

[xander3zero]

And yes, looking back through the thread, I believe you move the adjustment nut away from the lock nut. You are trying to make the rod "longer".

So move the lock nut to the LEFT, pressurize, move adjustment nut to the RIGHT, and then Retighten the lock nut back to the right?


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[jimrobbington]

Counter clockwise on both, if you are looking down the rod from the front of the car. Sorry, never saw this question. So lock nut goes towards the front bumper, and the adjustment nut goes the same way.

[Newman378]

So I made the tool and tried to adjust my wastegate today. I've been peaking 19psi and holding about 16 in most gears with an APR 2+ tune. After putting pressure through the tool, the wastegate rod moved towards the back of the car as expected, and as I went to spin the adjustment nut, the rod slowly moved back to the front of the car (which after re-reading this thread, looks to be normal, I missed the part about varying the pressure...) but at no point was I able to move the adjustment nut. After a little frustration I tried to back the locking nut back to the original position, and it went back a little further than before. I marked the nut to be sure I was only turning it 1 full spin at a time, and I think it turned back an addition 1/2 turn or so. I seem to have lost 1-2 psi now. Any tips or advice?

[M0E7]

I'm in the middle of tweaking my adjustments; some notes from my ongoing saga -

-For clarification, when looking at the car head-on, both the lock nut and adjustment nut will need to be turned counter-clockwise.
-I cleaned the factory "loctite" off the threads with a wire brush and can freely move the lock nut as far as I want/need.
-My adjustment nut will not budge by hand after pressurizing the system, tried for quite a while.
-In my case, I found it most effective to simply use a small, long pair of pliers to turn the adjustment nut; can only get ~1/8 turn at a time, but I think this is fine for our purposes. Could not pressurize the system while doing this because it moves the adjustment nut out of range from the pliers; however, there is enough leverage from the pliers to make this a non-issue.
-Mark a spot on the adjustment nut as a reference point, I simply made a small dot with a permanent marker. There is a permanent indentation on the adjustment nut, I assume for this purpose, but I wanted to use my actual start position as a reference point.

My car has the JHM Stage 1 tune, previously running ~14.5 psi actual vs. ~18.5 psi requested (VAGCOM logs); have already checked for boost leaks and replaced all the normal wear parts (including new valve cover). The remaining culprit was the turbo/wastegate itself.

After 4 full turns (checking boost every 1 turn), I am at 17.3 psi actual. I plan on logging again to find the requested vs. actual at this point, and likely making another 1 - 1.5 turns to see where that leaves me (5-5.5 turn total).

Some data for reference (approximate peaks):
Original - 14.5
1 turn - 14.5 (no real change, although hit peak quicker)
2 turns - 15.9
3 turns - 16.3
4 turns - 17.3 (next morning, did not push too hard; will log requested/actual and fine tune in 1/2 turn increments at this point)

UPDATE: 5 turns has my actual at 19.3 psi vs. 18.3 psi requested. Looks like I'm going to adjust back down to 4.5 turns for the time being.

[JDillon15]

I'm in the middle of tweaking my adjustments; some notes from my ongoing saga -

-For clarification, when looking at the car head-on, both the lock nut and adjustment nut will need to be turned counter-clockwise.
-I cleaned the factory "loctite" off the threads with a wire brush and can freely move the lock nut as far as I want/need.
-My adjustment nut will not budge by hand after pressurizing the system, tried for quite a while.
-In my case, I found it most effective to simply use a small, long pair of pliers to turn the adjustment nut; can only get ~1/8 turn at a time, but I think this is fine for our purposes. Could not pressurize the system while doing this because it moves the adjustment nut out of range from the pliers; however, there is enough leverage from the pliers to make this a non-issue.
-Mark a spot on the adjustment nut as a reference point, I simply made a small dot with a permanent marker. There is a permanent indentation on the adjustment nut, I assume for this purpose, but I wanted to use my actual start position as a reference point.

My car has the JHM Stage 1 tune, previously running ~14.5 psi actual vs. ~18.5 psi requested (VAGCOM logs); have already checked for boost leaks and replaced all the normal wear parts (including new valve cover). The remaining culprit was the turbo/wastegate itself.

After 4 full turns (checking boost every 1 turn), I am at 17.3 psi actual. I plan on logging again to find the requested vs. actual at this point, and likely making another 1 - 1.5 turns to see where that leaves me (5-5.5 turn total).

Some data for reference (approximate peaks):
Original - 14.5
1 turn - 14.5 (no real change, although hit peak quicker)
2 turns - 15.9
3 turns - 16.3
4 turns - 17.3 (next morning, did not push too hard; will log requested/actual and fine tune in 1/2 turn increments at this point)

UPDATE: 5 turns has my actual at 19.3 psi vs. 18.3 psi requested. Looks like I'm going to adjust back down to 4.5 turns for the time being.

Glad you got the hang of this. I tried it on my previous A4 and never could get it dialed in. Marking the starting point was definitely a good idea.

[jimrobbington]

Awesome! Glad this thread is still getting some use.

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[xRenesis]

Followed MOE7's, used a 10mm cresent to back out the locking nut and pliers to turn the adjustment one in super small increments. I can safely say I have no more rattle when decelerating, finally.

[jonjon88ss]

Did this 2 nights ago. I went 2 full turns. I just used a long needle nose plyers to turn the adjuster nut without doing any of the bicycle pump stuff. I went from like 16psi peak to 19 psi peak, on stage 2 tuning. The car feels awesome again, thank you.
It worth noting, I did a boost leak test up to 22 psi on all the piping and made sure there were no boost leaks before getting to this point.
Someday, id like to figure out how to get my torque app to show me actual boost vs. requested boost readings, and fine tune that adjustment nut some more.

[jimrobbington]

Awesome! Glad to see this is still helping people years later!

[DeathBlow]

I think i might try this after i check for leaks. When I was JHM stage 1 I was hitting 20-21psi now i can barely hit 16psi in 3rd gear. I don't have any codes and i'm running the GFB DV upgrade and i'm now JHM stage 2. I have a upgraded HPFP also that was required with the stage 2 program.

[drewgold]

Just tried this to resolve my missing boost issue however my adjustment nut seems to be seized. To clarify, the adjustment nut should turn independently of the rod? My rod and adjustment nut are turning all as one. Can't for the life of me get it to break free. FML.

[TX-A4]

(Update July 2018: Over a year/~10K mi after the springs and still running strong and boosting ~20-21, read on....)

—————————

I figured I contribute to this thread, since just been thru this whole process, and finally found a solution that makes sense and has worked well so far (well, a few weeks anyway).


2007 B7A4, 6sp, 110K mi, test pipe, APR 2 (93 oct) since 30K mi, GFB DV+, stock intake; finally started having underboost code P0299 and CEL, and eventually hard limp mode about a month ago, accompanied with the infamous rattle on desceleration that could be heard with the passenger window down (present for months).....


So, in the process of chasing my underboost code, and limp mode, I checked the DV which was good, tested for boost leaks a few times, but none found (at least not on the intake side of the plumbing that is), then, cleansed the MAF and got rid of the drop in K&N (no dice), disconnected MAF sensor and got me out of limp mode for a day, replaced with new Hitachi one, but back to square one, limp mode; I found my N75 valve was bad (in retrospect, while logging before the springs were added, N75 duty cycle was upwards of 85%, trying to compensate for the wastegate leaking and not allowing boost to build, so no wonder it failed); after replacing it, started boosting again, went from 4 PSI (limp mode), to 15 PSI, but with very slow boost build up, peaking at 5000 RPMs, poor boost holding, and still not matching requested boost (APR 2/93 oct) while logging.

Manually checked the actuator rod and the wastegate flap arm and noticed them to be loose, suggesting again this was my main problem, poor wastegate flap sealing, and premature wastegate opening while building boost/leaking precious exhaust pulse / turbine spin.

Was about to crank the wastegate actuator after reading this thread (which gave me hope, and from which I learned tons), but then run into the "helper spring mod" on Vortex from the 1.8T transverse guys; went to Home Depot, got $6 worth of springs, added one spring initially, and boost jumped to 18, holding 17 and kicking in much quicker in the RPM band, then added a second spring (used the two small springs from the kit from Home Depot, rated at 5Lb each), and now I am building boost much quicker, peaking at 21 PSI, holding 19-20 all the way to redline on a 4th gear pull, rattle is gone, and the car feels better than after the chip. No CEL or underboost code, N75 duty cycle now drops to the 60s at high RPMs and actual/requested boost graphs are perfectly on top of each other (VCDS).

Anyone about to adjust their wastegate actuator rod, I suggest they read thru the Vortex thread extensively (link below), and consider trying the helper springs before messing with the wastagete actuator rod length, makes more sense than adjusting the actuator rod, in fact those guys started cranking down the rod back to stock after adding the springs to regain boost control and avoid surging which the shorter rod length with resulting preloaded flap and limited excursion was causing. I'll add pics of my helper springs on the B7A4 K03 later and update the post. Hope this helps someone.

Not too bad for a new N75 (~$60) and a set of Home Depot springs ($6). Had already contemplated K04 money and needed add-ons. I guess that'll have to wait until I blow up the K03.

http://forums.vwvortex.com/showthrea...tor-Spring-Mod




I put the eyelet of one spring on the first coil of the other, to run them "in parallel", and then hooked the eyelet of the other onto the "ear" of the wastage valve's arm; the other ends of the springs both went on the nipple at the actuator can where the N75 connects to. It is a little tight and required working from underneath with the car on the two post lift, "bear hugging" the area working blindly by feel to mount the spring to the wastegate valve arm, one hand from the front holding the spring, the other coming from the exhaust side forward. Once I got the hang of it, I could do it in less than 5 minutes start to finish.

Here's the pics:

[jimrobbington]

Nice work!

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[audi@lifeB7]

Does it still tempers down?


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[joshuawheat]

I am just wondering, but why would you need to add air pressure to the wastegate actuator? I was easily able to back off the lock nut and use some pliers (lightly of course) on the adjuster and was able to adjust it in small increments on mine.

[jimrobbington]

I am just wondering, but why would you need to add air pressure to the wastegate actuator? I was easily able to back off the lock nut and use some pliers (lightly of course) on the adjuster and was able to adjust it in small increments on mine.

It was a step in the diy I stole this from, didn't want to omit it. Seems like it will reduce pressure and make adjustment easier in some cases.

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[joshuawheat]

Thanks! I was just curious is all. I wanted to be sure that I wasn't skipping some super important part haha.

[jimrobbington]

Thanks! I was just curious is all. I wanted to be sure that I wasn't skipping some super important part haha.

Yeah, I think in some cases, the wastegate puts enough pressure on the rod that turning the nut is difficult. Adding air pressure will release some of this tension and allow for easier adjustment. I never tried without using air pressure though.

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[rowanta]

!

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[canadianA4B7]

I am just wondering, but why would you need to add air pressure to the wastegate actuator? I was easily able to back off the lock nut and use some pliers (lightly of course) on the adjuster and was able to adjust it in small increments on mine.

When I do rebuilds I have a setup I connect to the wastegate inlet, I set my dual gauge setup to 3 psi then apply the air, the oem setting is to crack at 3 psi. It would be good for someone to test the opening pressure with these springs.