Turbo not doing its thing

[Steve Curtis]

Hello all,

As you do when you buy a second hand car (well I do anyway) You except to get it home and find a few niggles. Well I think I found a biggun today!!!

My Turbo is not doing its thing.

To make matters worse it has a turbo+ kit fitted (so thats more bits to go wrong)

Its a B230 FT High pressure turbo by the way.

Symptoms!

Car generally feels quite urgent and poky up to about 2K but has no top end at all.
At idle the boost gauge sits at a quarter.
Ranting the car at 5K I can not get the turbo gauge to go any further around the dial than between just into the white and say just less than halfway through the white bit of the dial.
Turbo does not seem to cause smoke and visually looks in good condition.

It might be worth mentioning that this vehicle has spent its last two years on a Island having hardly been driven and definitely not been driven hard.

I have driven other 940's with the turbo+ kit fitted in fact my father has one so I am making a direct comparison.

What can I check? Would collapsed vacuum hoses cause this???? As at least two look suspect.

[Palmer]

The turbo gauage is half white.

The white is + boost, aka it will only go into the white when the turbo is under load, i.e moving, not just reving. HPT set up is 7.5psi. My car is set at 10 psi and it only just goes halfway through the white section on the dash gauge.
Not too familiar with the turbo + kit myself.

[Steve Curtis]

True but when it's idling should it not sit in the middle where the white and non white bit meet?

Yours only goes halfway through the white? I am sure my old b200ft will go right round. I will have to take it for a blip tomorrow and make sure I'm not going mad.

[Palmer]

Originally Posted by Steve Curtis

True but when it's idling should it not sit in the middle where the white and non white bit meet?

Yours only goes halfway through the white? I am sure my old b200ft will go right round. I will have to take it for a blip tomorrow and make sure I'm not going mad.

No when its idling it should go the opposite way into the non white section, when u rev the engine it should go upto the section where they meet. You must have been pushing around 15/16psi for that to happen then o_O

[Steve Curtis]

Just been outside and fired up the B200 FT. You are absolutely correct. It sits in the middle when you switch it off. When its running it sits at about a quarter.

Wow I feel silly.

I am still convinced that my car feels slow. In comparison to both my B200FT that it is supposed to be replacing and definitely slower Than my dads Turbo+ B230 FT. I notice it most when over taking. Its like driving a twin choke carb where the second choke doesn't open up.

In this case. What or how can I check that my turbo is boosting properly?

[Palmer]

Originally Posted by Steve Curtis

Just been outside and fired up the B200 FT. You are absolutely correct. It sits in the middle when you switch it off. When its running it sits at about a quarter.

Wow I feel silly.

I am still convinced that my car feels slow. In comparison to both my B200FT that it is supposed to be replacing and definitely slower Than my dads Turbo+ B230 FT. I notice it most when over taking. Its like driving a twin choke carb where the second choke doesn't open up.

In this case. What or how can I check that my turbo is boosting properly?

A B200FT will be slower than a B230FT. 35bhp to be exact.

The latter being the 2.3 Turbo and the B200 being a 2.0 Turbo (which i own)

Only way i can think of is crack on a boost gauge. Kinda handy if you plan on slappin on a MBC at the same time and turning the turbo up, best bang for you're buck i think, it cost me around £50 and its alot better for overtaking and top end pick up now.

[roadcar2000]

You can try CHRIS740R on here. He has may still have one of the MBC 's that he makes. They are great and only cost about £17.

[TonyS9]

Going by the stock gauge, sounds like you are getting normal boost. You could check it with a graduated gauge, but I don't think it will be that helpful. If you are short on power maybe there is something else wrong.


B230FT - full boost about 1/4 into the white = 7psi (non Turbo+)
11psi - is around the the 'T' in the Turbo legend on the gauge.

The gauge is a pressure gauge
middle = 0 = atmospheric pressure (off or open throttle low revs)
left = vacuum (eg at idle closed throttle)
Right = positive boost from turbo