yzercyber

Any ideas why I have no boost? It's a 03 WRX Sedan, 56K miles and in fine shape. No engine mods other than K&N panel filter. I drove to work this morning and discovered there was no boost. Nothing. The engine seems perfectly normal until I want to get boost, then nothing happens... the boost gauge will not rise above zero. No idiot lights have lit up.

Possible mitagating factors... I changed the engine oil and filter on Wednesday evening, but the turbo ran fine all Thursday (yesterday). I also topped up the coolant reservoir, too. The last time I fueled the car, it was at a Chevron station I hadn't been to in over a year.

My two week vacation starts tomorrow, too. Figures. Any ideas?

p.s. come to think of it, the car did seem to lack boost during the last part of my drive home yesterday. I thought that maybe running the AC was the problem. I just went out to the parking lot and did some quick checks... gas cap OK, no blockages visible at intake. Oil level a tad high, but below the overfill notch that's past the fill mark. WTF!?

yzercyber

I just called the service dept. out at Green Valley Subaru (Fairfield-Suisun) which is my home dealership. The service rep agreed that given these circumstances, it's worth burning off as much of the old fuel that I can before refueling from my usual and much-trusted gas station. I'll do this to test the "bad gas" hypothesis. If the gas was bad (low octane or containing water) it could have thrown the bad gas map and this would account for the lack of boost. Putting good gas back into the tank should do an automatic reset and performance may be returned to normal. If this doesn't work, I'll be making an appointment with the shop for next week.

Mulder

Even with bad gas you should see some positive pressure. When there is absolutely no boost but the car runs normally otherwise the first thing to check is the wastegate actuator arm, sometimes the c-clip falls off and it gets disconnected. This will keep the wastegate open and result in zero boost. If your car is stock and the heat shield by the turbo is still in place you may need to look in there with a flashlight to see it.

yzercyber

Thanks for the fine tip, Mulder.

Following your advise, I used a flashlight and located the actuator arm coupling located above the turbo and under the heat shield. It seems to be connected, although it's a loose connection. If I remember right, there was plenty of play in that coupling on my old turbo eclipse.

When I revved the engine from idle to 3500 RPM a couple of times, I saw no movement along the arm assembly. Should the arm move during a rev-up over 3000 RPM?

Earlier today, I refueled the car from practically empty and threw in some fuel dryer for good measure. After 15 miles driving and a couple of start-ups, there is no change. Still no boost.

I'll be out on the boat for the next couple of days and away from the computer, but I'll check back here on Wednesday to see if there are more posted replies. I'll want to get the WRX into the shop on Thursday, if I need to. I'lll also check tomorrow morning before 9 a.m. (pacific time) if anyone happens to reply early on a Sunday morning.

yzercyber

OK. Just after making my last post I had another look at it. It's kinda tough to look down there and the sight angle is very limited. There is a vacuum device and I'm guessing that's the boost actuator. A connecting rod runs from it to the area of the wastegate arm. At the end of the rod there is a flattened piece that looks a lot like a lug connector for battery cable. It has a cylindrical body that's screwed onto the end of the rod and is flattened out at the other end. It looks like this piece articulates with the wastegate arm. The flat part has a hole drilled out. Well, there is nothing in that hole.

Have you nailed this one, Mulder or is there supposed to be an unused hole in this piece?

Mulder

The hole is supposed to have the pin in it from the wastegate arm, and there should be a c-clip securing the pin. There should also be no play in the linkage. It sounds like the clip has fallen out and the arm/linkage is now disconnected. If that's what happened you need to get a new clip and put it back together.
Here is a thread on NASIOC w/pics that should be helpful-
http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=807255
Note, if you try the link today and it doesn't work, the NASIOC servers are being worked on. Try again tonight or tomorrow. As I post this it's up.

yzercyber

I looked at the nasioc link. That's exactly what's happened with my WRX. The clip is gone and the and the actuator arm has completely separated from the linkage. Here is a mega thank you for the great reply. Depending on which takes the least time, I'll get a new clip at the hardware store. They have a stock of C clips or E rings that I've used before. Or I'll have the dealer do it if I don't want to bother with taking off the heat heat shield. Thanks again!

Hatteroo

iTrader: (25)

WHOA WHOA WHOA...DO NOT bring it to green valley ford IMHO...ive heard nothing but complaints in general about their service dept...the parts guy (nick and mike) are pretty cool and help me out if i need a part sometime soon....but for service its nothing pretty nothing but horror stories for ford and subaru cars there....if its under warranty id check in with a recommended dealer thats friendly and will treat u right the FIRST TIME...if its not under warranty...i reccomend going to a place like LIC or Gruppe-S or Subaru Specialts...those kinda places theyre all great places, ive only been to LIC and theyre awesome everytime i go and i go like every other week to get something done whether its maintance/mod or just repair stuff...trust me...i live in fairfield...i would not trust them

yzercyber

Thanks for the warning, but I took to car in to get it fixed at seven this morning. Green Valley is going to do the job under warranty... that's why i wanted to take it to the dealership. So, this story is in progress and I'm supposed to get the WRX back by Friday evening.

The Green Valley body shop did excellent work when my rear bumper got squashed by a minivan and on another deal when i needed a scratch taken off a quarter panel. I can't say enough good things about the Green Valley body guys.

Asian Automotive in Davis does a great job on my major scheduled maintenance, but this is my first trip for mechanical work at Green Valley.

I don't want to make any comments on how the work has gone so far. I'll wait until it's done and post here tomorrow evening.

I would have done the job myself, but since Green Valley is honoring this under warranty, I may as well give them a chance to get it right. And, I want to make sure the heat shields get back together without rattling or buzzing. My car runs really quiet for a WRX.

I'll post what happens tomorrow evening when I get back from Fairfield.

Hatteroo

iTrader: (25)

ok...if it doesnt work out under warranty, id maybe look towards subaru specialists since ur in the sac area...but lemme know how it goes at green valley ford....ive heard 1\2 good 1\2 bad...sales people there were jerks to me except 1 guy only because he was my friend lol

yzercyber

Green Valley gave me call a little past 10 this morning and told me the WRX was done and I could pick it up anytime. They offered to set me up on the shuttle for the ride from Davis to Fairfield, but since the wife and I are both on vacation, we just drove in.

I live in Davis, but list my location as Andrus Island on i-club because I spend a lot of my free time on the boat out on the Delta. It's like my other home.

Green Valley fixed the problem. It was like I suspected... a C-clip had fallen off and the waste gate linkage popped completely loose from the waste gate arm. They had to remove/replace the intercooler and turbo heat shield to do the job.

The rex has its boost back again, the heat shield doesn't rattle and I've got joy.

Green Valley did the job on warranty, so it cost me nothing. Kevin, the service advisor who wrote my job was excellent: friendly and interested in what I thought was wrong with the car. When they had trouble spotting the problem on a visual check (it's really difficult to see this part) they called me on the cell for some detail on how I looked at it with a flashlight. That's just being smart... it saved us both some time and trouble.

Good folks in service, the cashier's window was friendly... so there isn't anything I would have wanted to go differently at Green Valley. I'd give them an A+ for this deal without hestitation.

Hatteroo

iTrader: (25)

wow surprising...glad to hear u had a good expierence there