NO Boost. I need help diagnosing and fix.

[steviej455]

Hey group. I posted this thread earlier in the turbo section and decided to move it here.
I'm currently bringing my first turbo car back to life. It’s an 85 Dodge Omni GLH with 88 Shelby Z engine and all electronics. I drove the car around a little yesterday for the first time since installing the complete wire harness. I have two boost gages from Daytona's and they are reading 0 psi when I'm on the gas no matter how hard I have it to the floor. Plenty of vacuum at idle. It definitely does not feel like I'm getting the boost when I'm on the gas, I do hear the turbo spool up nicely. The car has been sitting for a while so I am wondering if the waste gate is froze open. Does this happen??? How can I test??? Oh and what would be the best location to hook the boost gage too if there is a such spot?

Also I'm debating weather I have the waste gate solenoid hooked up correctly. Does anyone know what color wire goes to the waste gate solenoid???? Is it Light green/black??? I found a decent vacuum diagram from AutoZone’s web-site so later today I'm going to double check my routing.

One more thing.... Is there an EGR valve? where is it? And does it run off vacuum? Also is there a knock sensor? I don't remember hooking any of these up when I installed the harness, nor do I remember any plug-ins. Thanks in advance.

People keep telling me to check the waste gate arm, I'm going to go do that right now.

[Darkapollo]

plethera of problems...

Check to see if the waste gate is stuck open.
Usually you will have to pull the turbo off to see or if you unhook the vacc line that goes to it and apply a vacc or pressure you should see the arm move.
Also check to make sure you have all of the vacc lines hooked up correctly.
The EGR needs a vacc line to function properly.
the best place to tap into a vac is on the manifold itself.

[tryingbe]

Are you using an intercooler? Are you sure you don't have a vaccum leak between the throttle body and turbo?
That will make you to have the correct vaccum but no boost.

No, no Dodge factory TII car came with EGR stuff.

[Turbo_Rampage]

Yes, i would look and see if the wastegate arm fell off of the swingvalve actuator first. Their is supposed to be a C clip that holds the wastegate arm on, but they can rust and fall off over the years. If you can lift the WG arm up off of the SV actuator tab then you most likely found the problem... Where do you have the boost gauge vacuum line hooked up to? (it should be hooked up directly to an intake manifold vacuum port) If the Wastegate arm is attatched, and the SV isnt seized then i would run a vacuum line from the wastgate directly to the intake manifold, and then take it for a WOT run and see if it gets boost (should get 5-7lbs boost this way)

Is it still a TI (log intake) car? If its not a TI "log" car then it will not have an EGR setup.

[Lee'sdaytona]

The knock sensor is screwed into the intake manifold. It has a threaded stud that a one wire connector slides onto. Does sound like its a wastegate issue. Trust me, its a GOOD thing you can hear the turbo whistle. At least you know your turbo isn't frozen up, like the one on my daytona was when I bought it
-Lee

[steviej455]

Wow thanks for all of the helpful tips. Of course it turned out to be something real simple. Well, went up today after work to figure out the problem. I double checked the vacuum lines and made sure the actuator arm was connected, which it was. I moved to the driverside and noticed the hose that runs from the turbo to inner cooler was disconnected at the turbo. I may have forgotten to tighten the clamp or something cause it was missing. Anyway WOW! This is only the second time I've driven a turbo Dodge. First one was a stock 85 Omni GLH turbo. This one felt like it had more nut. Took it for a test drive with my friend. Let me just say he was amazed at the power. So was I. Thanks a lot for all of the tips. Next time I'll double check and be stumped before I start a thread.

Oh yeah I did find the knock sensor and I don't believe there is an EGR valve.

[Darkapollo]

Lol
Pwned By The Blown Pipe!

[Lee'sdaytona]

Glad to hear it was an easy fix
-Lee