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Please help waste gate solenoid

9K views 7 replies 6 participants last post by  boo-key 
#1 ·
Recently installed a cold air intake, with the accessport 1+ cold air tune. I down shifted on the highway and got a code for my waste gate solenoid. I reset ecu and the code hasn't come back. However I'm now constantly boosting 14 psi. Instead of the normal go to about 14 and bounce back down to 11 psi like it was before. Brought it to my mechanic he said there was nothing to fix. can anyone give suggestions on what I should do ?
 
#2 ·
That was happening to me for a while while I was in the process of mods. Heres what I did and I am running clean…I got a catted full turbo back exhaust and a pro tune. I am boosting at 18.6 psi and making great power for a stage 2 wrx. The off the shelf maps are just not that great because they have to appeal to so many different climates. If anything just go for a pro tune, although I would wait until you have more parts because it's not super cheap. The other way to fix this is to port out your waste gate although I would be careful with this. Keep researching man, I know I have lots to learn as well. Cheers!
 
#4 ·
From the research i have done you can not tune this out for the most part. the waste gate is physically not large enough to move enough exhaust gas around the turbine wheel. This causes the turbo to keep spooling even when the waste gate is fully open. To properly correct this an external waste gate is needed- basically the motor is moving to much air through the intake and out the exhaust and the waste gate can handle the increase in volume if it is too much.
i am having the same problem with my 2013 wrx. cobb cold air, perrin turbo inlet tube, perrin full 3 in turbo back exhaust. stage 2 tune. There are some good threads on nasioc about it as well. just google search p0244 nasioc and it will hit a bunch of stuff
 
#5 ·
@Epictofer, I was under the impressions that external wastegate setups were only required above the 20PSI mark. at 14psi OP shouldn't have to be concerned with waste gate solenoid CELs.
@Timblah, You may want to check your lines near the waste gate actuator if your missing target boost. All the stage 1 tunes after 09 were set for 16psi of more. There's a possibility that you have a leak in the system somewhere or that the solenoid isn't pushing enough pressure to the actuator.

Start with a leak test and pull a log so we can help you better : )
 
#6 ·
@arcticscythe - that is true at 14psi it SHOULD be fine. i know this is for a stage 2 tune but the same principles would apply maybe? just a good read about boost control either way this response is from bill at cobb tuning



The original poster experienced a classic case of boost creep. There's a lot of myths/misconceptions about this - some things to keep in mind:

1. GR WRX is more susceptible to this problem. It is a combination of a number of factors (and the severity of each) that determines whether you may or may not experience boost creep at stage 2 level: catless downpipe, aftermarket intake, cold temperatures, and high atmospheric pressure. Doesn't mean that you have to have all of these to experience boost creep. For example, you can experience it with a catted downpipe.

2. It can be variable when it happens. Outside temperature is a big one in this variability - some cars may be fine in spring/summer but experience the problem when temps get cold.

3. When it happens in these severe cases/conditions, a custom tune by itself will not fix it. Neither will a 3-port BCS. You can see in this thread that Ian had the OP do some runs with the fuel economy map. That disable boost control completely so that the car would run the lowest level of boost possible ("wastegate" boost). From the logs, you can see that even at 0% WGDC, he is overboosting quite a bit above 5000 RPM, meaning the ECU has no control over boost and a custom tune cannot fix this (short of manipulating the throttle tables so that at WOT at higher RPM the throttle plate closes quite a bit - but this is just a band-aid approach).

4. There are a variety of solutions if you experience notable overboost and have already tried the severe low wastegate (SLWG) map (in the case of our OTS maps). If you feel comfortable doing so, you can use Accesstuner Race to modify your stage 2 map to disable boost control. This is done by setting the entire Wastegate Duty Cycle (High) table % values to 0, saving map, and reflashing to car. You can use the fuel economy map, but on some cars the rev limiter is lower (in the 5xxx RPM range) so it may not work for a full pull. Once you have boost disabled, get a run under the coldest temps you will experience (if possible). This will confirm severe boost creep if you still overboost. If not, then that means there may be some tuneability there, but the severity could vary quite a bit with different temps - so a map created on one day (in these cases where a tune may help) may hit proper boost levels, but overboost significantly when it gets colder out or underboosting significantly when it gets warmer out. That is why this is really a mechanical issue.

5. Solutions you can try include: A. If you only overboost with extreme temps, you can keep engine speed below 5000 RPM or so during those times if you don't want to proceed with a mechanical solution B. You can put the stock intake back on (and appropriate map) C. You can increase exhaust back pressure (catted for catless DP, stock catback replaces aftermarket). D. Go with external wastegate + custom tune E. go with wastegate port + custom tune.

Bill
 
#7 ·
Thanks Epictofer, That's going in my encyclopedia. I love these detailed Problem -- Solution tables. They are unbeleivably helpful when were troubleshooting.
@Timblah what year is your WRX, I know the post from epictofer was for GR WRXs but even in that style(08-14) the 08 has very different targets.

Hopefully this stuff helps for your model
 
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