Boost - 12 years in and it’s still a ball ache

[marv8]

Long time lurker, few time poster here.. So, had the car since 2010 and she’s gone from a daily to a garage ornament (sure a few of us are the same) took her for her annual mot outing and service and picked up a few notes from the garage but more importantly feels like she’s had no boost. I did have traction control flash up on the motorway (under full load) and the engine management light flash then go off. Pulled out VCDS an misfire on 1&2, had the plugs changed during the service and garage said she drive beautifully and showed no faults (I had reset prior) - I jumped in and drove home but def not getting that surge of boost, still no fault codes. Thinking it’s vacuum related so will pop the car on the ramp at the weekend - any thoughts outside of the usual? Lambda values looked ok, not sure on the MAF’s values but we’re reading pretty equal…. Any other common suspects (EGT?). One point to note was I had an issue with the SAI ages ago, thought it stopped working but seems to be ok, again no codes.
Also for the ongoing…engine silicone hose kit (in black), worth it in the longer term? Do the Wagner intercooler hoses fit the standard IC’s
Poly bushes? My Oem ones are perished - prob due to lack of use but my ride is firm already.
Rear ARB reported to have corrosion - check it and tidy up or look at hotchkis?
Anyone got a Elsawin link - could not find in the spec/FAQ thread?
Have a good back holiday weekend all
Cheers

[Shoppinit]

Wello Marv. Long time no see.

Matt posted a link to elsawin, I should probably link to it. I'll try to dig it out. If not, then I can sort you out, but it's so massive it's a pain to upload.

Could your fuel be bad? If the car's not being driven and the fuel is old? Seems pretty unlikely to me.

Could easily be a vac leak causing your issue. First thing to do is log the MAFs at idle and under load, and the N75 duty cycle and requested / achieved boost. SAI is a common source of vac leak, even if it's not throwing codes. Check the combiner valves where the air injection into the exhaust actually happens.

I don't know if the Wagner hoses will fit the standard IC. I wasn't impressed with mine. I had to cut them to fit the Wagner intercoolers. WTF. They were too long, so at least that's good for using with standard IC (although they were so over-long that they would still have needed cutting). Maybe they've improved since - you could drop a line to them. Jayjay posted a link to a complete silicone hose kit in his garage porn thread which is trending at the moment.

OE bushes FTW unless NLA.

ARB corrosion? Sounds like an over-zealous tester. I'd just clean them up.

[Shoppinit]

"there’s a company that makes all the hoses (vac-water-oil)on the engine in silicon now so I want to replace them too " - who dat?

There on eBay there’s more hoses they do


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[marv8]

"there’s a company that makes all the hoses (vac-water-oil)on the engine in silicon now so I want to replace them too " - who dat?

There on eBay there’s more hoses they do


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Yeah still hanging on in here Ben - saw those kits on eBay, the have a crack case set, vacuum set and coolant set - was thinking vacuum at the mo but may be worth doing the lot (£700 odd) not sure if I have the skills/gumption/time to do the lot myself

[Mɐʇʇ]

My elsawin linky should still work. If it doesn’t, tell me and I’ll fix it.

[Mɐʇʇ]

For IC hoses there’s a chap on eBay that makes lovely ones.
Nice and thick.

They are stock length, but if you ask he can make them a little longer for Wagners too. Let me know if you want me to fish out his details.

[marv8]

Afternoon all, hope you had a good bank holiday weekend so far! Started having a play with the car, checked the readings again and MAF’s way off now… checked the air box and assume they had “lost” one of the nuts that holds the air box down when it had its service
Reseated the air box and got everything bolted back up and issues remains, did some logging as per attached and was just running through the measuring blocks and noted the lambda voltages - not sure the range but not sure it should be that wide!
Just to add insult to injury also got the red band across the gear indicator 18227/P1829 - reset but feel like it will return
Any thoughts gents (Shop ) for a car that’s only done 850 miles in 5 years it’s an expensive hobby!

[Classik]

Been there, welcome to the club!
Awaiting for the master's wisdom, I'd start by swapping the maf sensors, inspect all depression hoses (in particular those connected to the recirculation valves), check boost hoses, make a comprehensive output test to check all actuators (particularly N249, N75, N80), and if not conclusive organise a comprehensive smoke leak test (bought the machine, best purchase in years).

[Shoppinit]

^What he said.

That's a really low MAF reading for bank 1. You might not have seated the airbox properly. I hate the bloody thing. Usually takes me a couple of attempts to get it seated right. What happens if you increase the revs?

I wouldn't worry about the lamda sensors until you sort out the vac leak.

Which smoke machine did you get, Classik?

[marv8]

Been there, welcome to the club!
Awaiting for the master's wisdom, I'd start by swapping the maf sensors, inspect all depression hoses (in particular those connected to the recirculation valves), check boost hoses, make a comprehensive output test to check all actuators (particularly N249, N75, N80), and if not conclusive organise a comprehensive smoke leak test (bought the machine, best purchase in years).

I am pretty sure I had similar maf issues about 6 years ago and it was the wiring - assumed it was just the air box poorly seated so got it all buttoned back up - annoying! I replaced all the top hoses and were all fine and tight - could this be the cause of the lack boost?? Or adversely could a boost leak be the cause of the odd reading - can’t hear any whooshing and was pretty obvious last time I popped off an IC hose….. and pretty sure that brought up a code….
Keep trying to tell myself it’s an appreciating asset… mines a ‘loon and I reckon there must be less that 250 on the road now! Long term investment 12 years in and still prob owes me twice what it’s worth! Seriously though my friend just put his mint 03 avant up and had an offer at £16,250…. Just can’t let mine go

[Shoppinit]

You need to see what boost the car is requesting and what is being achieved. Drive it and log groups 2, 32 and 115.

If the car is not requesting, that is a different kettle of fish to not achieving.

[Classik]

Which smoke machine did you get, Classik?

I ended up with the Autool sdt206 : https://www.ebay.fr/itm/255222625060?ha ... SwYKhgvbQv

Failure of the maf sensors wiring should definitely added to the list, but from memory this should lead to an error saying voltage too low or something approaching, or?

[marv8]

You need to see what boost the car is requesting and what is being achieved. Drive it and log groups 2, 32 and 115.

If the car is not requesting, that is a different kettle of fish to not achieving.

Cheers Shop, will do - she’s on the top stack in the garage but will have a shift about and get a mate to log from the passenger seat.

In respect of the maf values bank 1 did increase slightly under load but the zero’d out - came back at the lower level when the car went back to idle… the misfires previously were on bank one too, is this the bank to the right if looking at the engine from the front? If so think wires were spliced in last time I had the issue so could be that.
What’s the best way to test the maf, can I just swap over and seat the air box or does it need to be bolted back down?
Pain in the aRSe but I have the time to mess about a bit!

[Shoppinit]

You can unbolt the mafs from the air box and insert them individually. It’s ok for short periods, assuming you’re not in a dusty environment.

[marv8]

So had a play today, took off the airbox and one MAF was def not seating right, after a bit of investigation it was being fouled by a vacuum pipe - had the engine out on mine quite a few times so garage could have mis-fitted a bit. Managed to move it a bit, swapper MAF’s over and with no air is in they both read and pretty much in line, popped them back in the air box, seated properly and tested on VCDS again and still good.Got it all back together, went for a drive and logged - on bank 1 (same issue as last time) it’s still dropping out and the readings across the 2 are wild. Also logged the boost, looks like it’s being requested but not delivered…
MAF - scratching my head a bit, wiring issue maybe??
Missing boost, have not gone through the intercooler hoses yet but can’t hear anything…. Massive boost leak or something more sinister? Still no fault codes….. I did log 32 Shop but was all zeros?