The car started to stumble more often. I'd tune, retune and repeat but nothing happened. Nothing I researched solved it. Boost would be laggy and it just wouldn't move. I did a compression test and it yielded 90s. One day I turn it on and immediately begins to act weird.
I know how the car warms up. I built this thing, I literally know what it will do but it didn't do anything that day. It idled much higher, and when it was warm it remained high (2K RPMs). I drove for 5 seconds and my heart sank when the temp gauge started to climb above it's normal point. I stop, get out of the car and popped the hood.
The turbo was glowing red. I run to the car to turn it off and the temp gauge is past the 1/2 way mark but still n the "safe" territory.
All I could think of was the oil cooking in the turbo and lines.
Did a compression test and it was fine, still 90's. I sent the turbo to get rebuilt. I think it was time anyways. Over 160K miles and most of it at 10 psi. so it was probably old.
Time for a new turbo. About a year ahead of my schedule. I wasn't planning on any extensive mods until 2009! Now I have to get a new turbo. WTF? New turbo means more fuel. MOre fuel means fuel control. Fuel control means wideband. Wideband means guages and datalogging.
OY!
To Be Continued...