Guest steven96 Posted August 16, 2002 Share Posted August 16, 2002 I got an 83zxt with a manual and whenever i go to floor it the boost gauge flutters and then finally stays pegged at only 5 psi. If i do 34 throttle then it just sits there and flutters with major powerloss. The car has 190k miles on it and doesnt seemed to have been babied at all lol. Could this mean the turbocharger is wearing out? The oil was quite burnt up at 3500 miles oil change. Anyone got any ideas? Thanks Steven Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lockjaw Posted August 16, 2002 Share Posted August 16, 2002 If the turbo is burnt up as you say, you should see oil smoke coming from the exhaust, or hear some racket when it spools. You can checj the condition of it generally by looking in the compressor housing for oil. You can also grasp the shaft in the compressor housing and gently see if there is any front to back and side to side play in it. I would also check you waste gate actuator is working properly. Alot of the time, where the rod connects to the actuator, rust develops, and that could bind it up some. You could also have a problem referred to as mystery turbo death, which is a term some friends made up to describe a common ailment we found with the turbo cars. Essentially, you should disconnect the wiring harness from the ecu, spray the connections and pins down with brake clean and reconnect. Do the same thing with the airflow meter. Alot of the time, that fixes mysterious random car issues. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest steven96 Posted August 16, 2002 Share Posted August 16, 2002 The oil was just pitch black when i did the oil change. This is the second time ive changed the oil on this car and I didnt expect it to be this dark with a lot of highway miles. I just remember changing it on my old 280zx non turbo and it was quite as black. Thanks for the advice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lockjaw Posted August 19, 2002 Share Posted August 19, 2002 Are you getting black smoke out of the tail pipe when it happens? It is my only other hunch. If so, you could have some sort of vacuum leak between the turbo and the intake manifold causing it to lose pressure under boost. It would eventually catch up. I had this problem with an old rotomaster turbo, and it had a gasket between the backing plate and the compressor housing that was all but gone. The car would run, and when it boosted, it went way rich, but if you kept your foot in it, it would eventually clear out and go. I would check the hose that connects the turbo to the J pipe under the intake manifold and see if it has a crack or hole in it. Are there any other symptoms? Any problems with the car starting, idling etc? Oil should be pretty dark in a turbo engine. Imagine what it has to go thru to cool the turbo. It gets hotter than any part of the engine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest steven96 Posted August 20, 2002 Share Posted August 20, 2002 Can anyone else offer a suggestion? I really would appreciate any other ideas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest steven96 Posted August 20, 2002 Share Posted August 20, 2002 Sometimes it has a hard start and takes a while to crank and white smoke comes out. It doesnt have any water in the oil. Ill check the vacum hoses out. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted August 21, 2002 Share Posted August 21, 2002 How many miles between changes? I like to see on a N/A car no more than about 3.5 thousand between changes, when I go turbo, I'll cut that back to 2 thousand miles those turbo bearings heat up oil like a mo fo. Regards, Lone Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest steven96 Posted August 21, 2002 Share Posted August 21, 2002 Well I usually do it right around over 3000 but this is my first turbo car. I wasnt used to seeing the oil that black. I do a lot of highway miles so i dont know about 2000 but certainly not over 3k. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cody 82 ZXT Posted August 22, 2002 Share Posted August 22, 2002 What type of oil and filter are you running? If you are going to wait until atleast 3000 mile you really need to be running a full synthetic oil. I personally use Mobil 1 but, there are several quality oils out there. You said this is just the second time to change the oil. I guess this means that you just bought the car right? Has the car sat before you got it? What about the history on the car. Did the previous owner change the oil on time? If not it may take a few times to get all the junk out. I agree with Lockjaw that a turbo car will have lacker oil then a N/A car. It always been true for me atleast. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest steven96 Posted August 23, 2002 Share Posted August 23, 2002 Im runnin castrol GTX 10w 40 and usually go for a more expensive oil filter like a puralator premium or whatever. I got a shortened wastegate rod. Just drilled a hole and put it back on. Would this make it do it? I feel sorta stupid because it sorta started when i did this. Would this make the pop off valve go wack when i tried to go over 6 psi? Would this kill my boost? Should i try pluggin it and see what happens? Where do you guys get a plug anyway? Home depot or nissan or car parts place? Sorry for all the questions. Thanks for the replies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest steven96 Posted August 23, 2002 Share Posted August 23, 2002 Hey guys im a dumbass. I needed to modify the pov and that solved my whole problem. popped a couple washers in and no more fluttering. Thanks for trying to fix the problem lockjaw. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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