Hi,

I have a 2005 Baja turbo that suffered a sudden drop in boost.

From 11psi to 6.8psi. The dumb dealer says nothing is wrong and the 6.8 psi boost is normal.

I know this is wrong when I first got the car 5 months ago the max boost on the guage read was 11.4psi or so. Also I can feel the power loss.

I'm planning to go to a different dealer tomarrow. Any body had this problem before? Thanks Greg...

I'd definitely suggest going to a different dealer and have them look at it. The car is brand new, and they should take care of it.

I would check the hose clamps on the hoses for the intercooler system, ive heard of many STis were subaru did not tighten down a hose clamp and a hose be came lose. Ive also heard that the ECU can go into safe mode and run extremely low boost levels due to bad fuel and you have to reset your ecu, I would also try that, to see if that fixes it (disconect your battery for around 1 hour). This is not normal i would take it to a diffrent dealer, if you dont want to deal with it (its a new car they should fix it), or this dosent fix it.

Did you just have a service when the boost dropped? The turbo's cooled by coolant system (with oil assist I believe) and if the coolant or oil level's low, the ECU may drop boost to keep temps down on the sensor coming out of the turbo. Loose hose, as mentioned before, might do the same thing.

 

Your dealer's lazy, try to talk directly to the techs in the back. Or find another dealer.

 

My '05 Turbo runs anywhere from ~11psi max in 1st to 14psi max in 3rd.

Thank you for all the help. I didn't just have the car serviced. The dealer scoped the car got no codes. I was told that if I put Arco gas in it even if it's 91 octane it can be bad gas. So I will burn up all this cheap gas and I already disconnected the battery like WRX suggested. He said that will reset the CPU. So I will hopefully get the boost back. I will keep you posted. Greg.

 

Thank you to WRX and Tex, I checked all the vacuum hoses could'nt find any loose or leaking. Intercooler fluid is fine. I did disconnect the battery for 3 hours.

Took it for a drive and added some octane booster. Still the same boost 6.8psi max. I will take it back to the dealer (I hate dealerships) two more times so I can get a lawyer to help me with the lemon law if I have to.

I did call Subaru to talk to a rep and got a case number on file. He said if I can't get the dealership to get the boost up he will call them himself and try to get to the bottom of this proplem. I'll keep you posted.

By the way I havn't souped up the engine cause I don't want to void the warrenty. But once I get this unpleasent problem solved I will consider modifications since the warrenty service sucks. Any sugestions?

Thank you Greg...

Thanks to WRX and Tex, I didi what you guys said to try. The advice was good and I welcome more. But it didn't work see above edited post.

 

Greg..

For modifications i would just get a 3 inch complete exhaust, a new uppipe with out a cat, and have a good tune preformed to the engine. That would probley give you another 30-50 horse, and but loads of torq. If you want to go further than that a light weight pullie and a good cold air intake(one that dosent suck in engine air, and has a good filter) i heard has given the STI another 15 horse at the wheels, or else you could just swap over STI parts turbo inner cooler, and injectors and then you would be able to get around 350 horse at the engine and around 380 ft pounds of torq. I would also add a trannie cooler if you plan on using the power alot if yours is a auto, and add some better brake pads to stop you.

http://www.cobbtuning.com cobb has very high quality parts, but they charge alot.

Any progress on this?

 

For mod suggestions, check out the Baja board on http://www.nasioc.com. Also, I'm sure people there will appreciate hearing your story!

Hi Tex,

I am still working on it. The holidays seemed to slow the progress a bit. I did how ever follow the advice of the users here in the forum and have spoken directly to a few techs at Subaru and one has promised to increase the boost by hand tweaking the waste gate if I want him to. I will try to get this done this next week . I will keep you posted. Greg...