Turbo Spool Up Issue
 

Hey all....by now, I am really getting accustomed to the feel of my car, and able to pick up small changes in performance.

For the past few weeks, the car has been running really well (SR20 with stock T25).

Within the past few days, it has seemed slow to spool up. The engine and turbo both sound great, and at WOT and high RPM, I hit full boost and the turbo sounds great.

However, at light loads from low RPM, I am noticing that I am not building much boost.....for example, before, if I gave it half throttle from 1500 RPMs in 2nd gear, I would reach 6-8 psi by around 3000 RPMs. Now, I am getting almost no boost on light throttle loads.

I have checked for boost leaks and retightented all couplings. I suspect that maybe a small exhaust leak or partially stuck open wastegate could be the culpret.

As I said before, the turbo FEELS and SOUNDS good, and DOES hit full boost at heavy loads, but on lighter loads, just doesn't quite spool. Maybe with WOT, the small leak is not an issue, but for lighter loads, it is?

Any ideas?

Mmm...I don't have much experience with turbos myself, but this sounds like normal turbocharger behaviour.

Someone here correct me if I'm wrong.

(forum glitch caused double-post again)

Thanks for your input, but I was looking for something a little more detailed. Like I said, the spool up seems DIFFERENT than it was a few weeks ago, and I am trying to diagnose why.....