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I have a few problems with the car that I would liket o get figured out with help from you guys. First off, my brake pedal is very soft compared to what it was before. Do I need to just bleed the system? Was I suppose to swap over the master cylinder from the SRT or just the ABS unit? Also my clutch engagement happens very low off the floor, like 1 inch. Is this normal or do I have to bleed the slave cylinder as well? I took it up to my dealer that I always go to and they said they cant touch the car because it has been swapped. Also one more thing...I'm only boosting about 6-7lbs in 2-5 gears. Almost 0 in 1st. Does this sound like a major boost leak? I have all of my vacuum lines ziptied so I dont think its that. What are the chances that it is the turbo outlet pipe? If someone can answer these few questions for me it would be much appreciated. Thanks!

well if your brake pedal is very soft chances are there is air in the system. i didnt swap any of the srt abs stuff on mine (left mine without abs when i swapped over srt brakes) and my brakes feel nice and firm. bleed the whole brake system out properly and it should be nice and firm feeling. the clutch...not too sure why it is like that, but mine is the same way. there is a little bolt on the master cylinder arm that connects to the pedal. you can loosen it and change how far out the pedal is and it helps with when it engages/disengages. dont make it too short though or there wont be enough room to completely disengage the clutch. now if you are boosting very low boost chances are is its your wastegate or a huge boost leak. id lean more towards boost leak first. are you running stock WGA? the pressure pipe that connects right off the turbo (turbo outlet pipe) is one of the most common places for a boost leak to happen on these cars so check there first. make sure the cuplet is as tight as you can get it. if still does it then do a boost leak check and go form there. if you have no boost leaks then it might be something with the wastegate. i have an extra stock one laying around if yours is messed up....

check your cold side pipe for the IAT (intake air temp) sensor, I've had that blew out on me three times. I had to replace the gromet and that was fine.

tighten your clamps as well.....

The brakes, I'd bleed the system like refect said since it sounds like you have air in it. Did you swap over to the SRT brakes or at any time disconnect any of the lines?

The clutch, you can bleed it also but for some reason mine does the exact same thing and I have my pedal adjusted all the way to the top so it sounds like it's normal. Bleed it though just to make sure.

I'd probably guess a large boost leak. When I did my swap I had to use the hot side pipe off the donor car but it had a hole in it I could stick my finger though. Had no choice but to use it since I didn't have another one. I'd boost all the way to around 14 and drop to 10-11 but after dynoing the car I was only putting down around 194whp on a stand dyno. I got a hold of a replacement stock hot side pipe and put that one. I also made a leak tester to preasureize the system and listen for air escaping. Sure enough I had leaks all over the place, biggest of which being my surge valve since it was warped. After fixing it I still boost to about the same psi but a tad higher but this time on the dyno I put down 211whp on the stang dyno. So make a leak tester and check all that first, they're really easy to make and very cheap as well. After you do that and fix all your leaks and you're still only boosting to 0-7lbs then I'd check the wastegate then like refect said.

ok so I've replaced the WGA with a Stage 2 one and I installed brand new vac lines from the dealer ( i never recieved the red line anyways). I STILL HAVE THE SAME PROBLEM!!! I'm getting very tired of this s**t real quick. The car does feel like it pulls somewhat harder in 2-4th gears but there is still no boost in 1st whatsoever. I took some pics of my vac line setup and was hoping someone could take a look at them and tell me if they are setup properly. Does anyone have any more advice for me? I'm getting ready to call my CC company and dispute the charges for this s**t and the seller can come pick the motor and trans up. I mean, I do have a contract w/ the seller stating that everything should work properly and well it DOESNT!

Link: http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2060250

Thanks

Have you done a boost leak test to make sure you dont' have a leak anywhere? If you haven't I'd do that before you start pulilng it back out.

I spent about 4 hours today doing a boost leak test. I found that the stock surge valve (bov?) was leaking pretty bad due to loose bolts, then the valve cover was leaking above the cam sensor so I replaced the valve cover gasket and now its still leaking but a lot less...I'm going to RTV it some where its leaking tomorrow. I can hear the turbo spool up the car just isnt going anywhere. Since I installed the Stage2 WGA it does have a lot more pick up in 2-4th gears though. 1st gear is still poop. I was planning on taking off all the intercooler piping and checking them for holes tomorrow morning to rule that out as well. I'm trying to be optimistic about it but its just so frustrating. On top of all these problems the damn powersteering belt keeps wanting to ride off the pulley as well. I've replaced the belt and tried adjusting the pulley to no avail. I'm thinking that its the tensioner on its way out or something. That problem can wait until I get the turbo working good.

Thanks for commenting Diablo, every other forum I posted on people just kept saying that they're all out of ideas.

when you did the boost leak test, you'd hear the boost leaking out the intercooler hoses if there were holes in it......reset the ecu, gap spark plugs to about .40-.45, and make sure your throttle is all the way open too when you have it floored. my throttle cable came loose and caused the car to make low boost, hesitation, ect. because even though i had the pedal to the floor it was only like 60% throttle from the cable being loose. i had my friend floor it when the car was off and checked the throttle in the engine and it was not all the way open. did a quick ghetto fix with some zip ties and made the cable tight. car ran great after that. however, you say the car ran better after the new wastgate and some of the bad boost leaks were calmed down. im still leaning towards boost leak to be your main problem, but check the throttle cable jus tin case. i also recommend you invest in the PTP check valve. it is a beast ass check valve (cost like 20 dollars probably could make a decent one for less though), and its one of those mods that you are like why didnt this engine come stock with this? if you put it in the right spot it will keep boost from going through your PCV valve, then into your valve cover, and out the other end of the valve cover. it helps reduce/fix this one boost leak that is on all srts. some people found gains of 2psi from putting it on. who knows it might help your problem out a little? now if you have a catch can than that is something i highly recommend getting....also do you have a wide band? if so what are you a/f ratios? ive also heard of rare cases of the wastgate flap in the manifold breaking, but the problems dont seem to match that.....?

Well I had the battery out when I tested so that reset the PCM then. My plugs are gapped at .40. I'll check the throttle tomorrow. I was just reading about the PTP check valve and I think I'll consider it as an option. I dont have a catch can, I was waiting to get the car running right before I dumped money into anything that wasnt absolutely needed. No I dont have a wideband due to the reason above.

Thanks for the advice.

no problem. hopefully you find out what is wrong. also make sure all injectors are working properly and check your fuel pressure if you are able to....

any luck? i have the same thing with the breaks and clutch. after a lot of bleeding, the breaks work great. super good. the clutch helped out just a little but it is still low.

dutchofsc wrote:any luck? i have the same thing with the breaks and clutch. after a lot of bleeding, the breaks work great. super good. the clutch helped out just a little but it is still low.

How low we talking b/c it sounds like the low clutching engaging is pretty normal for the SRT

Diablo0 wrote:

dutchofsc wrote:any luck? i have the same thing with the breaks and clutch. after a lot of bleeding, the breaks work great. super good. the clutch helped out just a little but it is still low.

How low we talking b/c it sounds like the low clutching engaging is pretty normal for the SRT

yeh that seems to be what most people encounter after doing the swap is the low clutch engagment. i have no idea why it does it, but mine starts to engage almost right when i start to let off...i have a little room to play with where it does nothing, but it is almost right when i let off that it starts grabbing. clutch seems to disengage properly or enough that it goes in gear smooth. so im not too worried about it. im thinking it has something to do with the shape of our firewall making the clutch pedal rest further in...if that makes any sense? iunno just a thought though of why it does it....

yep sounds about right. a way to test if the clutch is not disengaging is to pres the clutch pedal, fut the transmition in gear, release the hand brake and floor it. if the car creeps foreward, your clutch is not fully disingaging.
my car passes this test, but the pedal is kind of low. nothing to the extreme but could be better. i'd like to be able to ninja clutch, but oh well