I have a few questions about 5th and 6th port actuators. to start off i have a 89 GTUs. I read aaroncakes write up on how to check if they are working.... mine are not. so i pulled the actuators off and the actuators move pretty good, and i got the valves to move too. Now one question is how free do these have to be? after i freed everything up i tested once again and they are still not operating. what else should i look for? should i move the valves more? I have my split air pipe blocked off because there is no more cat could this be causing my ports not to work?

I know that many are against wiring 5th and 6th ports open, but if i were to do so what all would i have to do? would i just remove the actuators and plug off the metal vacuum lines? Also what would be the dissadvantage to doing so? I know the benifit to opening the ports is a gain in roughly 25 hp above 3800 rpm, but i want to know how its going to affect my drivability.

Thanks in advance,

Izzy
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how did you check to see if they are moving?

they need about 4-5psi of air pressure to operate.

 

well aaron cake has a write up on how to check if they are moving.... i put some grease on the actuator rod and some on the actuator, took the car out for some spirited driving... alot of red lining and such, and the grease was not moved.

 

First, S5s do not use exhaust back pressure to open the aux ports. They use air from the air pump, which is routed to a solenoid on the emissions rack (brown, 6PI), and then goes to the port actuators. It doesn't take a lot of pressure to open them; it's actually about 2.1 psi.

So, do you have an air pump? If not, put it back. If you do have one, and they still don't work, you can pull the vac line off of the 6PI solenoid & rev the engine by hand to 3800+ rpm to be sure that air is flowing through. You can also watch the actuators to see if they move when you free rev the engine (with the hose back on). I'm not positive, but I don't think the ECU will prevent the ports from opening if there's no load on the engine, so the test should work.

Don't wire them open. It kills power under ~3500 rpm, which means it's practically bogging until you reach the power band. I've done it when I was testing my actuators. I literally used some thick wire to tie the actuators open, and took it for a drive. It was VERY obvious that the car had a lot more power up top, so that told me they weren't working before.

 

I used soem PB blaster after taking off the actuators to loosen them up a bit more. You dont need to take the intake off to do this, and it actually penetrates inside and gets in where the actuators are. Just a suggestion really.

 

air pump still on. i have free revved above 3800 rpm and they still don't move. i guess my next step is to see if the air pump is putting out.

 

did all of this already, part of aaroncakes writeup, i mean i could always do it again. thanks tho.

 

Find the 6PI solenoid. Pull the two *vacuum* lines off that solenoid.

Jumper them together. Look at the positon of the actuators. Start the engine and rev the engine.

The way I have it figured the actuators should now move open.

Or find the 6PI solenoid. Pull its electrical plug off. Jumper batt power to one of the contacts on the solenoid and a gnd to the other contact. If the engine is running and airpump connected up, the actuators should operate to open.

That should prove the lines from the solenoid to the actuators is good and that the actuators themselves are good. IF that is so, then there'd be a question about whether the solenoid is being controlled by the ECU or not.

The 6PI solenoid is shown in your local FSM. Fuel and Emissions section.

 

^^^thank you, i'll check that tomorrow, not feeling the greatest today.

 

well, i applied some compressed air to the actuators and they moved. now where is the 6pi solenoid? is it on the driver's side of the engine compartment? it think i know where it is but i'm not 100% sure. some one wanna confirm for me?

 

The solenoid with the brown plug, on the driverside, under the UIM. It is by default closed, but at 3800 rpm, the ECU switches it open so air can flow through to the aux. port actuators.

 

found the plug. did the test as said in the fsm, soleniod tests to be good. i'm gonna try what hailers said to do with using jumper wires to see if the actuators open.

 

well i started the car and used a jumper wire to see if they would open, the actuators wanted to move but i guess i need to free up the valves some more. By chance does anybody know if there has to be a load on the engine for the solenoid valve to get a signal to open? because when i free rev i don't see the actuators moving. so any info on this would be greatly appreciated.

Izzy

 

They won't move sitting the driveway.

If you put a gnd and pwr to the solenoid and then start the engine, they should open. You might have to rev the engine a bit so the airpump will put out more.

IF they don't open with power and a gnd on the solenoid, then make sure the routing of the air from the airpump to the solenoid is good and the route from the solenoid to the actuators is good. As in no broken lines etc.

 

^^^^ thanks, i didn't rev when i hooked up the power and ground, i'll try that.

 

well i now have working 5th and 6th ports, thank you all for the help.

Izzy