My boost pattern is very irregular and I have looked at every possibility of what it could be according to autosportracetech.com trouble shooting page. The only things I had not check was the pre-cat and the restrictor pills. The previous owner had the pre-cat replaced 5 years ago, the original was clogged and he replaced it with an OEM one. So I don't think this could be the problem since only just over 10,000 miles have been put on the car since it was replaced.

Last summer Mazda put a new engine in my car under warranty. In their process to discover any other possibility to my warm start problem other than the obvious, my low compression, they found that there was a substantial crack in my exhaust manifold. Instead of just replacing the manifold they put a different set of turbos in my car instead. I check out the turbos before they installed them, they spun easily and had very little lateral shaft movement, actually less then the original turbos. From this I feel that my boost problem is not because of the turbos.

So today I check the restrictor pills since during the engine install I also had Mazda install silicon hoses and both the turbo precontrol and wastegate control actuators have silicon hoses on them. There is definitely no pills in the hoses and I can't tell if they are built into the turbos or not, can't see that far down the nipple. Is there any other way to tell if the turbos have the pills built in? My car is a late model 94 but I have no idea the year of the turbos that Mazda installed. If I were to put on a set of factory hoses with pills in them to see if this solves my boost problem, what would happen and would it cause any problems if there were already pills built into the turbos?

 

define irregular...

 

Sometimes my boost pattern is 10-5-7, or 7-5-7, or I even get times where I have a 10 for primary boost but no secondary at all. My car is an automatic so I don't know if this really has anything to do with it. I have read other post where people seem to have problems getting a good boost pattern with an automatic.

But there are definately no pills in my hoses and I definately can't see that far back into the nipples to see if they are built in. In this picture they appear to be way back there.

 

I suggest that you get both of the factory hoses with the pills, and install them. I'm not certain, but it looks like you have the nipples that do not have built in restrictors.

 

the pills should be inside the hose...

 

If you're getting 10psi anytime you probably have some restriction on the line going to your wastegate. If you didn't have any restriction, I believe that you'd be max-ing out at 7psi which is the weight of the wastegate spring(?)...

Have you ruled out a disconnected vacuum line, bad check valve, or air leak?

 

Actually newer turbos had restrictors cast onto the nipples.

 

Try to take a pic with a digital camera like i did(use macro option),or use some pliers to remove the "nipple tree" from the turbo's.

 

I suggest that you PM Spurvo. He drilled his nipples, and may be able to tell from your photo if you have restrictors or not.

 

Actually the picture belongs to someone else who says that it shows that their pills are built in. I just used it to show how far back in the nipple they are and how hard they are to see. I tried doing the same with my camera, but couldn't get enough light from the flash to see down the nipple.

How do you remove the nipple tree? Does it just pull out?

 

Can anyone tell me how the "nipple tree" for turbo's precontrol and wastegate control actuator hoses can be removed from the turbos. Is it a pressure fit or is it threaded onto the turbos. If it is a pressure fit I'm not to sure I want to just pull it off, but removing it is probably the only way that I will be able to tell if there are pills in the nipples.

If I can't figure out if there is pills in the nipples would it hurt to put vacuum hoses on them that contains pills to see if this fixes my boost problem? What would happen if you had two pills in line of each other?

 

I have had two cars now with full exhaust and the restrictor pills removed. In nice cold air it will spike 10lbs during transition then drop and hold a steady 8lbs. I have never had them hit 10lbs on the primary though. Not sure but it seems as if they are removed other than you occassionaly hit 10lbs on the primary.

 

Carefully stick a small nail (flat head in first ) inside the nipple and "feel" for the restrictor inside. Then you'll at least know if you have one in there or not.

p.s. get a downpipe .

 

Does not sound like a pill problem. test per moehler ... could use a 3/32" drill for test.

More likely irratic solenoid, or switched solenoid plud or hose routing.

 

KevinK2 I was thinking that I could use the chuck end of a drill bit. I think the pills are missing, but that this is only part of my problem. On the "nipple tree" what is it like inside? Is it just a hollow cylinder with the nipples coming off of it? In other words if I push the drill bit in and there is no pill should it go deeper than the lenght of the nipple?

Thanks for all the help everyone.

 

With old trees, hole size was constant thru nipple. New ones have build in plug at about the base of the visible nipple projection ... test drill would hit bottom about 1/2" in, iirc.

 

Actually,the picture is from my turbo's,and yes the tree is pressure fitted and has some blue loctite.You cannot pull it,you will have to move it up-down until it becomes loose...(take care not to break the nipples).

P.S if i remember well,you'll have to take the turbo's off to do that..:-)

 

Well tonight I pulled out my air box once again and check for the pills in the nipple tree using the chuck end of a drill bit. There are definitely no pills in either the turbo precontrol or wastegate control nipples. The drill bit slid in easily, almost a 1/4" further then the length of the nipple. I guess I will be calling Mazda tomorrow to find out why they decided to replace the original hoses with the pills, with the silicon hoses. My guess is that they didn't even know that there were suppose to be restrictor pills for the turbo precontrol or wastegate control actuators.

Thanks everyone for the advice and help. After I get the pills back in line hopefully this will cure my boost problem or at least help it a bit.

 

You are almost certainly right. I think you will find a vast improvement with the proper lines.