[Leelo321]

Hi Folks

Having problems with the turbo, there seems to be very little boost the needle only goes halfway into the orange, i have filled her up with optimax, tried several adaptation runs but still the needle only goes halfway into the orange, there are no faults codes showing so i am alittle

As a last resort i disconnected the w hose from the apc valve but still the needle only goes into the middle of the orange, now i'm very

This aero was owned by an old but really nice fella ( bless him ) before me, could it be that this aero after 7 years of plodding around could be sort of set in plodding around mode? or could there be other things i could be checking?

 

[jayboy]

Mine also was owned by an old boy before me, probably never noticed the difference. I know the radiator was changed recently so I wonder who will shed light on the correct APC pipe order?
As someone suggested to me, check fuse no. 5 as this is for the APC.

Does your boost guage register in the white (vacuum) zone aswell as yellow? mine only stays in the yellow, which I reckon means it's possibly got a leaky connection, although it does move slightly!

 

[zeke]

Check the waste gate actuator rod - there's a very small pin that prevents the rod from falling off the wastegate. Sometimes, due to salt & corrosion, the pin will disintegrate, allowing the rod to disconnect from the waste gate. This will put you in a perpetual base boost condition even with the "W" hose disconnected.

 

[Leelo321]

thankyou for your input, just checked the actuator pin and it is connected correctly, do you think the actuator could be faulty?

 

[jayboy]

Did the low boost happen all of a sudden? If so I doubt the actuator is to blame... In past experience of turbo'd cars all that can go wrong with them is gradual weakening of the spring, which allows them to resist opening, hence the loss of boost pressure.
Maybe you bought the car like it, as I have mine. If you can pull the actuator rod out of the main body easily then it could be knackered, a good one should be fairly hard to move by hand, especially something like these running about 1 bar of boost! You could always undo the locknut on the rod and wind the fitted end in towards the body and see if this raises the boost - then you'll know if it is the actuator itself.

 

[Leelo321]

i did but this aero like this, i just put it down to an "adaptation run" but it is not to be.
i was nexed thinking that the di cartridge could be the culprit, maybe a good clean would work? worth a try i suppose, is there a specific method of cleaning the DI cartridge?

 

[jayboy]

I'd say don't bother, yet, as normally that or spark plugs will only be the case if the car starts misfiring as it comes on boost and/or is under load - like when you plant it fully. If you were to then lift your foot slightly and this went away then yes i'd reckon on plugs or DI.

We're in the same boat then. I've checked fuse 5, no problem, just bought a spare APC valve off ebay to plug in and try so i'll keep you posted.

BTW does your guage go back down into the white?

Oh yeah, sorry, forgot - there's a cleaning section on DI in the saabsinfo bit on the top of the page mate.

 

[Leelo321]

yes the boost gauge goes down into the white(as it should) and holds boost as well, everything appears to be as it should apart from only getting base boost

on your post though, have you checked the hose under the throttle housing, its hard to spot, thats why it could have been overlooked good luck anyway.

 

[jayboy]

no not yet, i might do that in a minute actually...worth a quick look, but it's £loody cold out there!

Cheers.

 

[zeke]

Lee, your problem sounds like it's related to the wastegate. The reason I say this is because you're getting base boost even with the the wastegate hose disconnected. Have you looked at the wastegate and noticed whether it is actually open or closed against the turbine housing? As far as the correct placement of the boost control hoses go: the top hose on the BPC solenoid goes to the fitting on the compressor housing, the middle hose goes to the wastegate actuator, and the bottom hose goes to the top of the large black plastic intake into the compressor (the return "R" line)......hth

 

[zeke]

I'm sorry I should have said the "wastegate arm". One can't see the actually wastegate, unless the turbo is removed. Anyway, the arm should be position vertically. I have heard of the wastegates actually falling off of the arms, so that even though the arm looks to be in the closed position, the gases get dumped out.

 

[Leelo321]

the actuator arm is connected and the pin is in place however the actuator arm is very easily moved , the spring is not very strong at all, could this be the culprit? how strong does the spring have to be? thanks

 

[zeke]

There should be some resistance from the spring - it should not be "easyily" moved......sounds like you may have located the problem. If it is the actuator, it's not too expensive and isn't very difficult to replace.

 

[Leelo321]

yes it seems that it could well be the actuator at fault, i can move the rod easily with my thumb and index finger, this from what i can gather should be very hard to move the spring.

thanks very much for your input

i will be looking forward to many more :fawltynce this is repaired.

all the best

 

[JayB]

Did you get this sorted???

I bought another APC valve from a guy on ebay, which changed nothing, then about a week later I traced all my vacuum hoses and found the small one from the actuator to the "T" piece where it splits to go to the dash had come off.

Restored

for nowt - I have a spare APC valve which cost me £20 i spose but a spare is always handy.

 

[Digerati]

Just a quick question. I have never owned an Aero , but how high does the boost go regularly on the stock gauge. Way in the red? Because my FPT only goes into the red/yellow area with 93 octane I want to know how high it should go. Thanks for the help!

 

[carl.rose]

The dash boost gauge isn't a reliable indicator of boost levels between cars - only of your own boost relative to itself.

As to where (unchipped) Aeros boost to - I've seen them boost to the red, well into the red without overboosting (mine) and out of the red with and without overboosting. It's not a good indication of how fast an individual car is.

Lee123 - did you get this fixed? I can't see whether you've got a manual or auto Aero, but if it's a manual (TD04), I've now got 2 spare working actuators (lucky me, blowing a turbo) and you're welcome to one for a pint and postage before it gets on my nerves enough to throw it away when I tidy the shed.

Carl

 

[slidejules]

something else to check, I know it sounds random and is probably not related in this circumstance, but if you buy a 9k fpt and it's not boosting properly, check the brake bulbs. If you fit the wrong one (off the top of my head, halfords have the wrong one listed? or used to?) by some quirk of saab wiring, the car won't boost properly. Other occasional quirks are where if you turn off the ignition with the foot on the brake, the engine stays running until you take your foot off!

I've had three boosting problems with my CSE since buying it, one was a duff brake bulb, the other was the connector coming off the APC solenoid, the other was a hose falling off. Takes all sorts!