don't get greedy with boost

[george b]

so i keep reading this and waiting for someone to explain it. i'm wondering what greedy is.. i gather you shouldn't pull to redline for 2+ miles; but i like to cruise around at 5k - 7k rpm with a lot of short punches as the road opens up. is that bad to stay in low boost for long periods??

yesterday my reservoir was boiling after a 30 min spirited ride ( temp gauge shows normal ). i'm hoping its something simple like air or something, but now i want to know for sure about how i should be riding it. only have 1000 miles or so on the turbo (and 500 of that was riding to austin to get the tune).

 

[scrappy]

Check your exhaust, are you blowing white smoke?

 

[texas-buzzard]

sounds like a head gasket went south.

 

[scrappy]

sounds like a head gasket went south.

Thats what im thinking too..

 

[POWERHOUSE]

so i keep reading this and waiting for someone to explain it. i'm wondering what greedy is.. i gather you shouldn't pull to redline for 2+ miles; but i like to cruise around at 5k - 7k rpm with a lot of short punches as the road opens up. is that bad to stay in low boost for long periods??

yesterday my reservoir was boiling after a 30 min spirited ride ( temp gauge shows normal ). i'm hoping its something simple like air or something, but now i want to know for sure about how i should be riding it. only have 1000 miles or so on the turbo (and 500 of that was riding to austin to get the tune).

The very first thing you need to do is to remove the radiator cap, clean all the crud off the rubber gasket, and clean the neck of the radiator. Re-install the cap, top off your antifreeze, and then ride your bike and see if the same problem occurs.

 

[george b]

powerhouse: thank you, i will try that now.

scrappy: i dont notice white smoke. but its hard to pay attention to pipes or a/f gauge when i'm in boost.

i messed up not putting more engine ice in reservoir when it was boiling.. when the engine cooled it sucked the reservoir dry so now i'm trying to make sure i don't have air in the system.. the few times i've ridden since it seems like i have to always add coolant to rad after it cools.. it doesn't stay topped.

i can get the 'boiling' in the reservoir with 1 or 2 hard boost pulls. it won't boil if i ride for 2 hours with short punches and non-boost. :eh:

 

[POWERHOUSE]

The very first thing you need to do is to remove the radiator cap, clean all the crud off the rubber gasket, and clean the neck of the radiator. Re-install the cap, top off your antifreeze, and then ride your bike and see if the same problem occurs.

If the coolant in your reservoir is bubbling after you shut the bike down - that is, the engine is NOT running - then the radiator cap is the problem. If the tank fills up after a boosted run, the head gasket is the culprit.

 

[george b]

and that's what its doing ( reservoir filling up after boosted run ). i checked cap and the rim. it was already clean but i wiped them down anyways and took it for another run.

i'm going to turn it over to a buddy to leak-down test and do whatever needs to be done if it doesn't hold.

but.. back to the original question.. 1000 miles into turbo-land and maybe i cut a gasket; just unlucky or am i doing something wrong?? (3700 miles on bike.. turbo was installed @ 2500miles).

 

[POWERHOUSE]

and that's what its doing ( reservoir filling up after boosted run ). i checked cap and the rim. it was already clean but i wiped them down anyways and took it for another run.

i'm going to turn it over to a buddy to leak-down test and do whatever needs to be done if it doesn't hold.

but.. back to the original question.. 1000 miles into turbo-land and maybe i cut a gasket; just unlucky or am i doing something wrong?? (3700 miles on bike.. turbo was installed @ 2500miles).

More information would be needed. Stock motor? Dyno tuned? What is your A/F on boost? Did you pull any timing out? How much boost are you running? Those are some questions I would ask . . .

 

[george b]

More information would be needed. Stock motor? Dyno tuned? What is your A/F on boost? Did you pull any timing out? How much boost are you running? Those are some questions I would ask . . .

yes.. bone stock. rcc stg 1 kit, 7#, tuned by j.cheese, no timing changes. a/f on boost goes into the 11.x range.

edit: 2007 gen 1.

 

[mysticblu999]

stock compression?

 

[POWERHOUSE]

yes.. bone stock. rcc stg 1 kit, 7#, tuned by j.cheese, no timing changes. a/f on boost goes into the 11.x range.

edit: 2007 gen 1.

Are you making the same boost on the street that the bike made on the dyno when the Cheeseman tuned it?

 

[george b]

dunno frank. again, hard to keep an eye on the boost gauge when in boost, and the gauge itself isn't the best. shaky, and hard to tell the difference between 5, 7, and 10lbs on that thing.

all four cylinders passed leakdown so its not looking like the head gasket. tried a couple other things to try and prevent water filling up resevoir so easily but its still doing it. going to try and add 10% more fuel to 5500rpm and above because i'm guessing it might be going lean and producing a lot of heat. just been short on time to play with it. let me know if you have any other ideas.

thanks.

 

[george b]

also as a sidenote to other people looking into putting a turbo on; my personal experience is that its not safe to look @ a/f gauges in boost, so you might want to consider getting a data logger instead of a gauge, and just check it from time to time after you've been hitting boost.