no damaged blades. very minimal shaft play. what is "pinging" I've never heard of the term and I'm just curious. what sort of symptoms would if see if that were the case?

My car did just as you described. I'll have to check out this issue next, but from what I can see with out removing the TMIC yet, the hoses are still intact and nothing out of the ordinary.

On a side note, I used to be able to post pics from FB...how come it's not working now?

 

Pinging, detonation, spark knock... its all the same thing. Sounds like a metallic sound, sorta like someone throwing some bb's into a tin can. Usually happens under hard acceleration/higher boost. Could be from alot of things.. bad gas, wrong octane, bad tune..

Heres a good clip of how it sounds

 

Ahh thanks. To my slight relief, I've never heard that sound before from my car.

 

Update:

so I put in a great condition vf30 and swapped out the stage3 ots map from cobb. I inspected the tmic nothing seemed out of the ordinary, so i put it all back together.

the car still hits full boost but the studdering seems to have decreased a bit but not gone all together...?

i'm thinking now, that it maybe bad gas an so I emptied a bottle of octain boost in to the 3/4 tank of gas. similar symptoms still but slightly less studdering and more power.

still no pinging noises or smoke or leaks to be heard or found.

I did notice that there is alot more back fire while cruising around and after boost.

what are your thoughts on what it could be?

my next move is to swap out the TMIC and supporting hoses and clamps.

 

Heres the closest post to your problem as i could get right now.

http://www.wrxtuners.com/forums/f69/...roblems-29877/

Obviously the gear box is a weaker model so they say the clutch acts as a safety to break first before the trans. If you upgrade the clutch you would effectively need a stronger gear box.

Ill search for your shudder too and see if i can dig anything up later.

 

thank man! but my clutch issue, aside from my current boost/bad gas,car running like poop issue, is not related to the link you posted. my clutch isn't slipping at all. the pedal sticks halfway to the floor after WOT, then I'll baby it for 5-10 minutes and it goes back to normal and the pedal comes all the way back up...

here's a link I found:
https://www.i-club.com/forums/suby-s...ch-wot-112551/

I don't think I have the wrong pressure plate though. I've have this clutch for a good year and this issue just started now. Although, his symptoms described are identical to mine.

I'm going to try replacing the slave to see if that may be the cause, since I will have the tmic off any way

 

I found some useful info from a guy with similar issues.

Wrx sputtering hesitation when boosting. - NASIOC

I'm fairly certain that I don't have a vacuum leak though. so my next though was maybe the bad front 02 sensor? (some one in the thread mentioned that the bad 02 could be causing the issue.)

quick question. can running a batch of bad gas make your car run like poop in boost but not throw a CEL?

 

so I replaced the o2 and the CEL for the o2 is gone but I still have the same issue, only this time, I got a blinking CEL and a p0303 misfire code.... -_________-

only in boost, idles fine, drives normal if I don't put my foot down, no smoke or strange noises.

my next move is to try cleaning the MAF sensor, if that doesn't work, i'll try a boost leak test.

btw, does anyone have a boost leak tester setup that can help a brother out?

 

That sucks dude. I just got done talking to a guy who had the same issue and oil is getting by the rings
What oil are you using?

 

Have you pulled the plugs to look at them? I would try swapping the coils on cylinder #3 with another one to see if the code switches to the other cylinder. Have a look at the fuel filter also.

 

I talked to him the other night and he mentioned changing plugs, coils and injectors to all new. What about oil fouling the plugs?

 

I have not, I will if the boost/vacuum leak yields nothing promising. I've thought that it could be the coil packs but I had replaced them a year ago..I guess it would hurt to try?

I'm doubting that it's fuel related as I upgrade to a walbro 225 last year. plus, if fuel delivery is failing, shouldn't symptoms be consistent through-out the rpm range and not jut when in full boost? I'm pretty new to troubleshooting issues such as this so i'm still trying to learn as i go.

 

I think that could very well be it. my car is consuming oil somewhere but not enough to cause smoke from the exhaust.

 

Take the oil cap off when its up to temp in good light. Look for small puffa of smoke. Very subtle sometimes so keep a good eye out. If theres even a little bit oil is getting past the rings. You can also pull a sparkplug and look inside with a borescope to see if the the pistons are covered in burnt crispy oil.

Some oil consumption is normal. But if its more than a quart over a 5k mile change somethings up. Are you using a 5w40 yet?
I reccomend an oil change with rotella t6 and a oem oil filter.

 

I've been running t6 since a year ago. I will try your tip with the cap off at idle just to see what's up.

I've cleaned the maf, installed the sti tmic and hoses I got from Forrest, thanks again man. Checked and double checked my vacuum lines for leaks. And lastly. Swapped the coil packs on the passenger side.

The car now runs stronger with far less stuttering and now the cel code reads misfire in cyl 1... Hmm. I'm thinking that I may need a new coil pack.

Can I use coil packs from models 02 through 07? IIRC, the Sti ones are not compatible.