I was accelerating onto a highway on my way home when I saw a big puff of black smoke in my rear view mirror. Then, after that, I had little to no low end boost. I think the secondary was still running, because there would be some boost as I was cruising, and I could hear the BOV go off on shifts. This basically means my turbos are shot, right?

 

black smoke is too much fuel. white or blue depending on your eyes is oil or water. could be turbo problem but they dont tend to create fuel.

 

BOV should be getting installed Friday, then I'll post the numbers I see. What should I look for in the meantime? What vacuum line(s) would make that huge of a reduction in the primary turbo (feels like I'm only running with the secondary)

 

Does it idle rough and spit black smoke? maybe a lot of hesitation?

 

you need a boost gauge...you could have blown your motor who knows what happened need more details

Loss of low end power and normal power up high indicates a chipped apex seal. How many miles on the motor? What mods?

 

Maybe check the boost sensor vaccum line. When I went with a customer to buy one it didn't idle well and puffed black smoke. Pulled over on test drive, popped hood , looked at the boost sensor line first(Got lucky here) , It was unplugged and fell down onto the transmission so it was not visible without looking for it. Plugged it back in and boost was restored and no more black smoke. This is just ONE thing you can check as far as vaccum lines go!!

 

Last month I accelerated hard while driving up the Harbor Bridge we have in Corpus. I suddenly lost all Boost and the Engine started to make a loud hissing noise. I stopped after I made it across the bridge and opend the hood . I found that the lower IC coupler had blown off the IC. It just needed to be tighted. Problem solved. CHECK YOUR CONNECTIONS.

 

Engine is almost brand new - less than 5000 miles
Idles pretty normal
No black smoke at idle, and I haven't gone hard since it happened

I can't see how I chipped an Apex Seal. It's a brand new engine! I wasn't even going that hard. The turbos had like 124,000 miles on them.

I will check the hoses and such, but I don't hear a leak.

Boost gauge is being installed on Friday. I will post whatever numbers I get later.

It better not be the engine....I can't afford another one right now.

Mods - DP, cat back, intake, clutch....no more performance mods for now

 

I bet it is the MAP sensor hose, as others have suggested. Black smoke is one of the symptoms. It is easy to check. The MAP sensor is a black box with a nipple on the bottom mounted to a bracket on the firewall near the throttle body. Post if you need some more assistance finding it.

-Max

 

Had similar problems and it was a disconnected MAP sensor. Before boost it drove fine, but as soon as it hit boost it was no power and black smoke. Its hard to see a disconnected like if you don't know what you are looking for as it usually falls behind the intake manifold.

 

Well, as far as I can remember, I only saw the puff of black smoke once, however, like I said, I never really pushed it after I realized something was wrong. I'll take a look at it, but if you could post a pic of it, I'd much appreciate it.

 

Tyler I know what they are referring to. That’s what I originally thought when you described to me what happened. But you said the car still idled fine, which made me think it could be something else. Because I was under the impression that a disconnected map sensor hose played havoc with the car's idle.

Hit me up on AIM or my cell and we can go check it out.

 

Well, my idle would be lumpy and sometimes the engine would just die, but sometimes it would be idling at 900rpms. Check the MAP sensor first. It's located at the firewall on the drivers side. It's small black box, about 1.5inch X 1inch and it has electrical connector to it from the left side (as seen in the direction of driving) and nipple on the bottom where the hose usually pops off. That hose is connected to the intake manifold. This MAP sensor is used for measuring Manifold Absolute Pressure and if it pops off it measures 14.7psi - the atmospheric pressure - and gives wrong info to ECU which is then injecting too much fuel into the engine.

 

Update: his turbos feel fine and his Map sensor hose was connected and secure.

Went out to look/drive Tyler's FD today......and it boosted fine from what I could feel. Although he doesn't have a boost gauge (coming this Friday) he has similar mods to mine and I could judge off of that. Primary spooled the way it should, transition’s the way it should, second came online and held boost till redline.

He drove up here on a hella hot muggy day, I was on the road same day (sweating in my car on the way up) in my daily and my car as an absolute dog as well. So I am thinking he got heat soaked like a **** on the city streets. And when he was merging onto the highway he felt the effects because of it power was WAY down. He said he babied it the rest of the way until he parked and hadn't driven it since until today. And given 95 percent of the trip was highway, he would have been cruising around 3K in 5th, so the BOV going off would have been as a result of the 1st turbo spooling. And if he drove low in the RPMs (I don't know if he got on it again after the initial "incident") from driving on the highway and getting air to the IC he got rid of the heatsoak, so the power came back, and again because he was only boosting slightly and babying the car, it still was his 1st turbo spooling and the BOV venting from it spooling.

As of now that’s my guess, again I still have to ask some questions to confirm that info.

All and all the little drive went good, his short throw felt great (I gotta get one)......aside from his clutch being a bitch. His aftermarket was like learning how to drive an FD again. Much difference from my stock clutch, sorry about that bro.

 

Eh - there's nothing like a little smoke rolling out from under the hood to wake you up in the afternoon

Thanks Ryan