Okay, I've checked the 6PI actuators with compressed air, I've personally removed the entire intake manifold, cleaned the ports, verified that the assembly should operate (again with compressed air), verified that the solenoid works, and now I have the car on jackstands with the engine running at 6000 RPM in gear (properly jacked, of course), and the damn things won't open. Why not?

I have an S5 engine, and mods listed below...

Thanks a bunch for the help, I'm going nuts here!

Also please see the thread I'm about to post regarding emissions control/secondary air system and OMP...

 

try bypassing the solenoid to see if that could be the problem. The solenoid that opened mine stopped getting a signal, so I have no aux ports until I bypassed it. Now my ports will open at about 3000 with no solenoid, so I see no reason to fix it.

 

also make sure there is no restiction on the air pump, if there is too much it develops a vacuum and nothing actuates. You'll even lose VDI if that happens. My cheapo cone filter didn't come with an adaptor to the air pump, so I had to make a "high-flow" filter using a pipe and filter paper.

 

I'm not certain drivetrain friction would create enough load for the engine to sense, as the auxiliary ports only open under load.

Have you verified the solenoid is working?

 

The air pump intake should be no problemo... I have the Bonez mini-me filter on it (the little one that comes with the Bonez intake kit). Its great. When I had the air pump off, and was turning it by hand it blew sufficiently to feel it, and seemed to be quite a lot of air. So I think the pump is okay.

When you say bypass the solenoid, you mean just plug the "A" hose into the "B" hose?

 

JerryLH3, I have the electronically controlled (solenoid-operated) ports, instead of the 86-88 backpressure-operated ports... Does what you say still apply then?

 

Yes, regardless of Series, they were only opened under load.

Since you are referring to the "A" and "B" hoses in the same fashion the FSM does (so I'm assuming you have an FSM), verify that the solenoid is working by applying 12 volt power and a ground to it. Then blow through and verify that air comes out the other hose.

 

Yes, the solenoid works (tried that already). . . Just the ports don't, at least on jackstands. Hehe. . .

 

load dependent on S5

 

Thats not ture, S4 ports were rpm operated, while S5 were load depandant. If its a S4 you can rev the engine by hand in neutral and watch the actuators open the ports.

 

Whoops, my bad. See how much experience with S4s I have?

If the solenoid works, the air pump works, the actuators open, there's virtually no reaon the ports shouldn't open up under roadgoing conditions. Only other reason would be if the ECU is not sending a signal.

 

Ahhhh..... okay thanks guys. That would explain it. Well, it'll get off the jacks hopefully tomorrow, after I put Redline in the tranny and diff...

We'll see what this **** does then... ooh, Icemark: tomorrow is your big day for the exhaust mod here. I've got a mind to get a recording of the exhaust before and after, but the quality might not be amazing (Minidisc with a little mic on it). It'll at least give you an A/B example.

 

cool, let us know