Safest way to disable turbos?
 

Well I searched for disabled turbos and some other stuff because I swore I read this topic before, but no dice...

Anyway, I think my engine is one its way to crapping itself.

I only pull 15-16 on a good day hg with the ac off, 12-14 with the ac on and sometimes just 14 just sitting there with a 750-1000 idle... if I rev up to 2 grand and let it fall, I still don't hit 20. And today my idle started bouncing with the ac on. Its still rock solid with it off though... hrm.

My car has plenty of power, but I don't think it has the power it once did. I'm afraid to really test it becuase that requires boosting it and my powerFC doesn't hold back boost that well as it is.

Anyway, I'm suspecting a cracked apex seal. It isn't certain, but I'm preparing for the worst.

In the meantime, I can hear my turbos spooling under regular slow ass acceleration. My turbo timer auto setting always hits over a minute no matter if I even get any boost over 1 psi or not, which means its spooling a lot. I live in Texas and its approaching 100 degree weather so I got enough hit problems as it is without those two snails spinning around like crazy.

So, like the topic says I'd like to disable my turbos until I can get things checked out and prepare for a rebuild. No sense in trashing my housings and rotors. Plus it'll save some heat.

My mods are:
Downpipe, highflow cat, dual intake, fuel pump, power FC and all the realiability mods. Ya ya, I'm running stock IC, I was thinking about a single and never made the move to upgrade. That might have been my undoing if it really is a chipped apex seal.

So... any takers?

Well,

you can try to wire the wastegate open, that should help you try and not spool the turbos, but, in reality, you should stop driving the car. if you keep driving it, and the motor goes, it will be twise as expensive to overhaul. at least that way, you can possibly save your rotors, and side housings...just my $.02

Wire the waste gate open? There's gotta be a better way... pop some hoses or pills or something...

If only I could find that damn post I read a long time ago.. :(

i think i read that same post- they got a daily beater (note- not daily driver) buy a $500 POS for awhile.

I'm not convinced your motor is bad. Vacuum shouldn't be at 20, at least I haven't seen a FD *with a good guage* hit that unless they lift off the throttle at higher rpms.

Put the cat back on and have some fun with the car until it blows.

I think many guys are over sensitive to numbers like vacuum readings.

My 93 R1 only pulls 15-17 in Hg, 63K miles, runs perfectly. I wouldn't dream of pulling the motor based on vacuum readings.

To disable turbos, you'll have to wire the wastegate open to make them not spool at lower rpms, higher rpms will still spool the turbos. The only way to completely disable them is to take them off the car.

Don't worry about the heat...

There is an awful lot of speculation in this thread. Why don't you break down and get the compression checked and find out what the condition of your motor really is.

I'm in full agreement with Rated R1 and turbojeff. Your vacuum at idle can be affected by temperature, humidity, pressure, etc.

That said:

Telltale signs of a blown motor (compromised apex seals/low compression):

1. Upper Intake Manifold shakes more than normal at idle.

2. At a constant idle rpm (~8-900) vacuum is very low, ie 10-12 in Hg or -250 to -300 mm Hg.

3. At a constant idle rpm, needle on boost gauge oscillates regularly.

4. Distinctive chugging sound out the exhaust at idle.

5. Car pulls weakly at lower rpms (below ~2000) and then seems fine.

Guys, if you're experiencing these symptons, drive the car as little as possible and don't boost it at all. You're just risking further damage to the internal parts of the motor/turbos and making a rebuild much more expensive.

Goodfellas - thats exactly why I want to disable my turbos, so when I am forced to drive the vehicle, I have no chance of boosting. Do you or one of your fellow gotham wizards know a quick and easy way? I seem to recall a couple of quick hoses or a solenoid to disable or something... maybe I dreamt that whole thread up :) :confused:


Yea I'm not throwing in the towel just yet. Allthough and excuse for a port from aforementioned gotham wizardry would be nice.

I'm going to get a compression test done soon.

I'm basing this off a few facts that I know:

Allthough my engine has less than 6k miles on it, I've seen my boost hit 14psi on a few occasions before I backed off the throttle. Go powerFC!!!
This is another reason, aside from the symptoms I feel I might have a chipped apex seal. On the stock IC, in Texas no less, that isn't a good thing. Its my own damn fault for not buying a standalone manual boost controller. (or upgrading my IC) Meezaa dumbass.

My car makes less vacuum than it used to just a month or two ago.

At around 800-900 idle, I see vacuum at around 14-15 hg with the ac off, and 11-12 with the ac on.

And though I'm not sure about this one: I hear the turbos spool at lower engine intensity. IE, under very very light acceleration, I'm already spooling and just venting air, no positive PSI yet. This isn't something that was going on a month ago. I can only assume this means the engine is weaker.

But - to address your list goodfella...

1. Tough one to call, it doesn't shake much at all, but I don't have another fd to compare it to, to call it normal. I would say its pretty smooth at idle to be honest. The engine is pretty solid at idle WITH the ac off. With it on, its still pretty smooth but the RPMS flux. I'm gonna chaulk that up to the power FC and not the engine though. (Idle hunt. It doesn't really seem like the engine is dying and it only has done this a grand total of twice in the past 2 weeks)

2. See above.

3. Only when my ac clicks, so thats good news.

4. Exhaust sounds pretty normal to me.

5. I can't really tell. If you asked me I'd say it does, but that could just be me already thinking my engine is half blown. I'd say the only concrete symptom of this is the fact that I spool a lot under very slow acceleration conditions as I mentioned before.

So there ya have it. Blown engine? Maybe not. But I still want to disable those snails until I can get a complete compression check and diagnostic done. If it isn't easy or possible, or just a stupid idea, thats fine. But I seem to remember there being a thread on it a while back and I can't friggin find it. Theres gotta be a hose or two, or a pill or something I can yank and safely disable those puppies.

If I don't have a blown engine, no harm done. If I do, a few PSI might turn a chip into a shatter and like rich mentioned...

Thanks guys.

No one knows? :(

Bump....

I think you are being a little over sensitive.

It's a car...drive it.

If your engine is only 6k miles old, it should still have plenty of life left in it.

Who/Where was the rebuild from? Is your PFC tuned for 14psi (which on a stock intercooler in texas is kind of a moot point)?

Heh, no its not tuned for 14 psi, I shouldn't be hitting 14 psi.... when I did it was an accidently boost spike. I'm not crazy enough to try for anything over 11-12 on stock IC in texas. Even if I could manage to get enough fuel, thats just too hot of an intake charge. Stock ic poo.

6k doesn't matter if you boost spike and chip a seal. I'm getting it compression checked sometime this week, so I guess I don't really care about disabling the turbos anymore...

Wire open the waistegate as they already said or get a header from an na second gen and weld it on you car...

Those are the only two options.

Maybe you can find some trick with the vacumelines if you seach but it will do the same thing. It should only take a few minutes to get the waistegate secured open...