Yikes. No access port? Someone screwed you.

 

Yea just bought 2 weeks ago

 

Remove all the mods or get the car tuned.

There is no in-between and the consequences are dire. Should you choose to continue driving the car as-is, it will result in a $14k repair bill if it hasn't already. No, I'm not kidding.

 

That is what I was thinking. Guy probably Didn't tune it. So that's what I was going to do. But I wanted to change to a front mount intercooler and change the plastic bov. And didn't want to pay twice for a tune. Would it last until I can get all that or should I just get the tune and pay twice when I'm ready

 

There's no good answer but without a tune, the intake and bov can kill the engine in days. MAF metering doesn't support BOV and there's no performance benefit to an "upgraded" BPV. Stick to stock.

Also why FMIC? Set a goal first and decide on parts according.

 

You don't need a FMIC and if you do change the BPV, make sure it's fully recirculating.

A BPV does not require a tune.

 

It was mainly to get away from the plastic cold air tube going to the top mount intercooler and for looks. But I also just disconnected the battery for a hard reset and so far nothing came back and I've been driving normal keeping my shifts under 3k. But I was going with the cobb setup. Fmic with bov and boost controller kit

 

I'm sorry I'm new to a wrx and turbo vehicles. Just want to do things right all around.

 

The fmic reduces the heat soak from having a bigger surface area and let's the air temp intake be cooler air. And the tuner I talked to said the cobb bov kit was still stock just changed from plastic to metal.

 

I've been part of these forums for 15 years.

I'm well aware of what a FMIC offered but I'm asking you - why do you think YOU need a FMIC? You are not at a stage where this would be a valuable upgrade as of yet.

You seem to have brushed off our suggestions: STOP DRIVING THE CAR. Just because you reset the ECU and haven't had a CEL doesn't mean everything is peachy keen. That intake is more than 30% divergent from the standard MAF-V calibration. The ECU cannot correct for that even in closed-loop driving.

 

I've already trailer the car to the tune shop this past Friday. I'm not brushing off the suggestions at all. Just didn't want to pay twice for a tune if I didn't have to. Because I want to add a fmic and bov for performance. Unless the motor can't handle it being stock with those upgrades then I won't and I'll just get a tune for now and leave it be. I just didn't know which is the better option.

 

Again, you are going at this backwards. Decide what improvements you want and then look for parts. You don't need a fmic unless you are going to uprated turbos, closed deck blocks and well over 500hp. Also you get more turbo lag, the piping is a headache and you lose the factory crash beam. Cobb and others provide a replacement beam but those have not been crash-tested so there's no way to know how well they work. Also insurance could use the modified crash structure as a reason to screw you over.

 

Okay I didn't know all that. The tune shop just suggested a cobb fmic and bov kit didn't say anything about having to upgrade the turbo or anything about a closed deck block. Which I don't know what that is. All they said was doing a walnut blasting on the intake. So for now just getting a tune. What is a good upgraded turbo for later then?

 

There's no drop-in. You will hit the stock engine's and transmission's limit long before the stock turbo, i.e. you are looking at engine out, drivetrain swap and 20k+in cost.

Read around on forums for all options before you decide what to do. In general flex fuel, 3 port ebcs and a slightly bigger tmic will get you a decent bump in power at a decent price. Add a higher flow j-pipe and you are close to the stock engine's, specifically con-rods' limits. If you wait for the end of the year, Cobb should have an EPA compliant kit out.

 

You'll be this shop's best customer.

 

I appreciate everyone's input. It's helped out a lot and saves me a ton of money. Didn't know much about the wrxs going into this so I'm sorry I sounded dumb.

 

hey man i dont know how to message you directly. but i got the tune and just drove the car back from nc to columbia sc just now. soon as i got off the interstate car shut off. it starts fine and idles fine. but when driving it doesnt want to go at first. then it picks up speed but as soon as you go into cruising speeds boost stops at zero and car wont go. no matter how hard you press the pedal. it kept back firing and shooting hot medal chunks out the exhaust. and black smoke when the car would actually go. it idles fine but soon as the pedal is mashed in it has issues.

 

No worries, that's what forums are for. There's plenty of bad info about these cars and upgrades are a bit different and more involved than the usual honda and ford ones.

 

Metal chunks or honeycomb (catalyst) pieces? 😟

Any error codes? Call the tuner right away, they should be responsible this soon after a tune (not legally mind you, just morally or as customer svc). There may be some serious damage already.

I'd trailer it to a real specialist, not this jackass who recommended a fmic and bov kit as step 1 and clearly put a shit tune on it.

 

Metal chunks or honeycomb (catalyst) pieces? 😟

Any error codes? Call the tuner right away, they should be responsible this soon after a tune (not legally mind you, just morally or as customer svc). There may be some serious damage already.

I'd trailer it to a real specialist, not this jackass who recommended a fmic and bov kit as step 1 and clearly put a shit tune on it.

idk my dad was following me and said just red hot metal chunks were hitting his car.( i didnt take the car to that shop went somewhere closer.) and i talked to the tune shop. sent him data logs he says that the turbo is eating itself or i have a huge crack somewhere

 

If it was metal chunks, you would see major damage to the front of your dad's car. If there's no damage, something else is going on.

A smoke test on intake & exhaust should show up any leaks or cracks. For intake any vacuum hose other than vacuum pump will work, for exhaust you can rig it to O2 sensor bung & tape over the tailpipes. I'd get a compression and leakdown test as well just to gauge engine health. Good luck and let us know what happens.

 

okay 1 of 2 things are wrong, there is a large crack or your turbo inlet is off, or your turbo is trashed, car isnt making boost, but fueling is on at low idle conditions, im oretty sure your turbo is bad. based on the log info. This is what tune shop said. At this point I've dropped 4k into the car and only drove it less than a week. I might be done.

 

Sorry I didn't mean for it to come off mean @SCOOBY just frustrated is all. I appreciate the feed back and I'll let you know what I find if the dealership won't help.

 

No worries, broken cars are annoying. I think you were screwed over by this "tuner" shop and the previous owner. None of their suggestions from the start made any sense. I still think smoke test, compression and leakdown are your best bet. Maybe pull & check turbo, it's relatively easy on this engine. Don't rush the resolution on this.

 

This is normal yea? On intake side

 

looks like some scoring on the wheel but not significant. More than looks or surface finish, it's typically the center bearing or seal that gives out first. If you can borrow a dial indicator, the FSM should list max allowable play in bearings. A rebuild and rebalance will cure any problems, if they exist.

 

Alright guys so the issue with the car is the catalytic converter is clogged up and honeycomb was shooting out the exhaust. Warranty isn't covering it. And they want 5300 dollars for the repair. My question is this. If I gut the catalytic converter would I have to get another tune? Tune shop said no but would throw a catalytic converter code with engine light. Or should I just find a stock down pipe with catalytic converter in it?

 

yes, it will need a tune and it will not pass emissions.

 

? Sounds like OP has a stock cat. Should work fine with a new or good used oem replacement.

 

Op? So gutting the cat isn't going to help me then I'm guessing. Was just trying to save money until u could afford the exhaust I want

 

Op? So gutting the cat isn't going to help me then I'm guessing. Was just trying to save money until i could afford the exhaust I want