Justin Metz | Car guy | R/C Hobbyist | Computer Enthusiast | Gamer » Justin’s Hatch Log

Boost control problems and resolution

Justin — Tue, 26 May 2009 00:58:53 +0000

So, I have been battling boost control issues for a few months now. After my hatch back was tuned last November it ran great for a while. Then, gradually I started having issues with the electronic boost control that is managed by my Hondata s300. The initial symptom was the car hitting boost cut instead of the boost stopping at 20psi and holding like it should. If I went full throttle the turbo would just spool to the moon and never stop, very annoying. I was able to “fix” it briefly by lowering my boost solenoid duty cycle in the Hondata Smanager software but it did not last long. Gradually it would go bad again and not hold boost, once again shooting straight to boost cut and the wastegate would never open. After much troubleshooting and testing that did not get me anywhere, I decided to try a brand new boost solenoid from Hondata. After I put in the new solenoid everything worked perfectly fine again! So, on the surface it seemed that my old boost solenoid just went bad or maybe got damaged from heat. Well, not so fast, as my over boosting problem returned only a couple weeks after I had the new solenoid. Back to the drawing board…again after more testing and troubleshooting I did not get anywhere. Luckily I got a tip from a member of d-series.org about a possibility that the filter on the front of the solenoid could be getting clogged up and not releasing air fast enough. This filtered port on the solenoid regulates the air pressure in the top chamber of the wastegate, and if it gets clogged up it cannot release air pressure fast enough causing too much air to get stuck in that top chamber. What happens then is the wastegate never opens, and magically you have no more boost control and will over boost. So, with that tip, I unscrewed the filter cap on my solenoid, said a prayer, and took off driving again. Much to my amazement, the boost control was working again, yay! So after weeks of fighting my boost control issues, and 2 solenoids later, the problem was solved by simply taking off the solenoid filter. Why both my filters got clogged up so quickly I’m not quite sure, although they seem pretty restrictive to begin with, I guess it doesn’t take much to make them worthless.

So, cliffnotes…if you’re having over boosting issues and nothing else has changed in your mechanical or software environment on your car. Then don’t forget to check those stupid filters on the solenoid! You don’t even have to put them there in the first place if you want to avoid it all together.

New dyno tune!

Justin — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 04:48:01 +0000

I got down to Colorado Springs to see my old friend Jeremy of http://serviontuning.com Servion Tuning this past weekend. Everything went great for the tuning session and he was able to get some great power out of the car on 20psi of boost. We stopped there to avoid risking damage to the engine since the cylinder head is stock still. Once I upgrade the valvetrain and cam we will retune and take it even higher! Check out the youtube video of the dyno pull here!

First boost tune

Justin — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 03:19:04 +0000

My Civic hatchback is back on the road, after a fresh tune on e85 and ~7psi of boost. It made really good power, 215whp/175ft.lb. torque, but it does not come on until real late in the rpm range. Looks like the turbo is a little too big for the setup. But, I am going to wait and see how it looks on higher boost settings. If it doesn’t turn out the way I like I will probably change to a different turbo and get re-tuned. Overall though I am enjoying the car, it still has some minor issues that need to be fixed but I at least have it back on the road.

Turbo progress…

Justin — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 19:40:19 +0000

Turbo installation is underway, but not before I had to deal with some other problems. I had to start the weekend (last week) by dropping the transmission to replace the main seal that was leaking. What a pain, twice now I have pulled and re-installed a transmission by myself, without proper tools or lifts/jacks. DUMB! Anyways, to the turbo install, I got the fuel system done. New in-tank Walbro pump and some RC1000cc injectors, along with a new liquid filled fuel pressure gauge. After that I got to installing the manifold, wastegate, and downpipe. Here I ran into some more issues related to fitment with the wastegate and downpipe. I’m working on getting those fixed up so for the mean time here are a few pics of the progress so far.

Turbo incoming?

Justin — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 00:48:10 +0000

Well, just received the last parts I need before doing the turbo installation on my car. I’ve got almost 800 miles on it right now and will be hitting up the dyno to get some baseline power numbers this week. I was going to run it at Bandimere on the 1/4 mile but track is closed this week due to the Mile High Nationals, oh well. I may start the turbo installation this weekend, or maybe start it the weekend after. Have to see how things go as my fresh new manifold and downpipe are at the shop for some ceramic coating. Here’s a few pics:

On the road again

Justin — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 01:23:12 +0000

Well, the hatch is finally back on the road. But, not after a laundry list of problems that cropped up. I had my local shop fix up a few of the issues but had to tow it home after I was out of money and couldn’t afford to have them fix the other things. I’ve got most everything else fixed up and the car is finally running good and on the road. Only thing I need to fix is the upper timing belt cover, which is still rubbing a bit on the Tbelt (currently running no upper cover). I got the break-in process started and so far 160 miles on the new engine, it runs good and strong! I’ll be spending the next couple weeks getting it broken in and hope to make a trip down the 1/4 mile before I get the turbo on (for a baseline run). Not too many new pictures but some of the exterior, I’ll include a few from a stop at the race event held at Bandimere Speedway this past weekend (the replacement for the cancelled Nopi event).

All done…well sorta…

Justin — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 19:43:23 +0000

Well, finally the new engine is all in and wired up. Fluids have been added and everything looks good, until I try to start the car Ran into multiple problems right off the bat. My fuel filter was leaking, so I had to replace that, and I still have a very very small leak on my fuel feed line that I made from SS fuel line and Earls fittings. I will get to that later as it only leaks sometimes. Next problem was my starter was not cranking the engine. The problem was my chassis/engine grounds were not good, I had to wire wheel off some paint at the grounding points to get a good ground connection. Once I did that the starter worked and turned over the car. I thought I was home free at that point…nope. I had, and still have, a problem with all the spark plugs not sparking. I am only getting spark on my #4 spark plug for some reason. That is where I sit at this point, I will take another stab at it tomorrow and hopefully have a running engine soon. A few pictures of the finished engine bay, oh and the new 2000 model Civic front end I had painted.

Engine is in!

Justin — Tue, 27 May 2008 22:01:05 +0000

Well, the engine bay has been re-finished and re-painted, it came out pretty well although I do have some imperfections. After the paint was done I could concentrate on engine work and things like that. I setup the new fuel feed line and filter, along with deleting a lot of parts and brackets that were not needed. Erik helped a ton with the wiring work and tuck part of the job, along with all the other stuff as well. We pulled an all nighter Sunday night and at 6am we finally had the engine back into the car! We still have some work to do, including finishing up the new tucked wire harness, and putting the interior back together, plus some miscellaneous engine parts and pieces. Lots of pics, I’ll post a few here but don’t forget you can see the whole lot in our gallery:

Engine swap
Engine bay paint and wire tuck

Engine swap has begun.

Justin — Sun, 18 May 2008 05:10:50 +0000

Engine swap has started. We got the old engine out today with no hassles or issues. I got the bay stripped as much as I could and tomorrow I can start cleaning it out then get to the sanding and prepping for new paint. Oh, my new Rota Grids came in this afternoon as well, just need some tires!

Intercooler mounts made.

Justin — Tue, 13 May 2008 01:33:26 +0000

Took some time this past weekend to mock up my intercooler and get the new bumper cut to fit it. Everything came out good, the mounts were a little tricky because of the way Treadstone puts the mount holes on their IC’s. I had to cut a good portion of the bumper support out which I expected, I had to do the same on my old Integra for it’s intercooler as well. I should be taking in the 2000 Civic front end pieces I have to get painted this week, so hopefully I’ll have a new front end soon as well. Stay tuned as this weekend I will begin the tear down of the car for the engine swap and wire tuck! After engine is broken in it’s turbo time.