Boost Problems.
 

I took my FD in to the shop today just to have it looked over, everything is in good condition, but the turbos don't boost properly, and i'm losing 60-70 horse power. I boost at max at a 7, and most of the time 3, The guy at the shop says he can look it over, but it'll cost me 90 an hour, he's an fd specialist, so i kinda believe what he's sayin but I want some opinions from you guys, and maybe some of you guys might have an idea of what's wrong.

Sounds like your getting roped.
Most Rx7 mech. would have not told you that they would "look it over" They would have told you that ytou have a boost leak and if you still have stock vac hoses. Which is pretty obvious to see if you look under the hood. He would have quoted you a price to do a vacum hose job. Generally $400-$500. Other possible culprits could be a sticky actuator rod. A loosend or torn coupling, etc.. That is where he would have said he would "look it over" But IMO a good mechanic isnt gonna tell you that they will look it over. They will tell you they are gonna fix it. Where does this guy work?
-Dave

You're going to have to be more specific with the boost pattern. If it's your primary boost, inspect the couplings around the y-pipe, and your intercooler hoses. Those are likely main culprits. Search on 'boost problems', I'm sure you'll get alot of hits.

Well, you have two choices:

1. Break out your wallet and take it to the shop
2. Break out your tools and get dirty

If you decide on #2, here's a good troubleshooting guide for boost problems:

http://www.autosportracetech.com/RX-...leshooting.htm

Also, don't forget the Factory Service Manual:

http://www.iluvmyrx7.com/3rd_gen_manuals.htm

thx mahjik, im gonna try to see if i have any capability in fixing it on my own heh, i'm almost clueless when it comes under the hood but im tryin as hard as i can to learn.

and to Haggard the guy said he can fix it, but told me there's so many things that could be wrong when it comes to the boosts so he'd have to look it over and find out exactly what's wrong.

I guess i'm gonna try to look it over myself, but i doubt i'll be able to make any changes.

Unless its a leak, get an ems, full bolt ons and go non-seq. You'll never be very happy.

It's not a leak, also, what do you mean by the "You'l never be very happy." line?

That was a cross between, "You'll never be happier." and "You'll be very happy." Whoops.

I don't understand how you can know it isn't a leak.

It sounds like it to me. Or a check valve. If your only hitting 7 sometimes, and 3 others, then you won't even spool your second turbo when you only make 3 psi on the primary.

If you were making 7 consistantly I'd say a leak... if its all over the place...

What I don't get is why you are racing all these people in the kill section and shit with a farked up FD, a suspended license and a ricer 'tude.... ahh well, to each their own :)

Well put. :D

You didnt even address Haggards point. Do you still have stock vac hoses?
Either way good luck, finding boost leaks is not as difficult as you might think.

If my mechanic told me he was going to do a $4-500 hose job without looking around to find out where the leak was really occurring, I'd be on the lookout for a new mechanic.

The link Mahjik posted in an excellent troubleshooting guide.

sounds like the intercooler couplers to me

holy crap, 90 bucks an hour to just check over a car (I really gotta start to charge people to fix their cars!!!)

in anycase, what mods do you have (especially exhaust wise) on the car? Also, did you ever get 10psi boost or has it always been like this since you got the car?

i've got my license back for a week already, and i never try to race, if anything i just floor it for like 20 seconds, outrun the other vehicle and go back to my business, stop being so damn anal.

im pretty sure it's always been like this, this was the only guy in san francisco that was good at fds, i might try this other guy.

Thx everyone for the help.

IMO, $90/hr is quite expensive. However, if he/she can fix the problem it's worth it if you don't want to do it yourself.

You can probably find a cheaper mechanic, but will he/she fix the problem correctly?

Good luck!

PFS charges $75 and i thought that was steep. ;)

I found a warantee about the engine rebuild, so im gonna call today and see if they can look it over

that warranty is probably for the engine, never heard of a warranty for general problems like boost

im learning how to fix it myself now, so im going to try that first, im going to take out the crossover pipe and the upper intercooler hose and check for cracks

*bump* i got pics of my engine now too, so maybe someone would like to diagnose it.

I really don't understand why so many of you think $90/hour is so bad. My mechanic charges $100/hour. It he worth it? Yep. For you non-Californians, you have to understand that everything costs more out here. The damn Mazda dealer charges $80/hour for $#@%@ sake! The average home in the bay area costs $450,000. Mechanics have to charge more here just to afford their mortgage/lease on their shop....

when the economy was good they were billing some people in my company out for $300/hour, and trust me, they weren't worth $300/hour. not sure how much my mechanic charges me, never got a per hour cost from him. anyways, good luck with the boost problem.