Got to agree with Jamie on this one, there is very little chance that a faulty actuator could cause an over-boost issue before the ECU put the engine into limp mode.
Unplug your vacuum hose to your actuator then floor it and see how much boost your car makes. I had a hole in this pipe on a previous car and my boost spiked at 2.17 bar. I had a boost controller which was flashing red and bleeping like crazy so was only on the throttle making boost for a second or so.
On a previous car..... My actuator went on mine, it did not cause it to over boost or any nonsense. Limp mode to protect the engine
No it wasn't. Just to be clear I have not said and I'm not saying that this is the cause of your problem. Its just something to check. Jaimie said his car did not overboost, if it didn't why did the ecu go into limp mode?
Wtf? Mate that looks like it's been hit with a lump hammer. I'm only speculating but that looks like it was damaged when your engine was taken out.
Car had a bump before (I knew about it). Guessing that's where the damage came from. Could this be the problem? Quickest way to get a new actuator? Like tomorrow?
Was it front end damage? For the actuator to get squashed like that I'd imagine there would be chassis damage too?
Finally some common sense to all this so it turns out actuator was damaged/leaking enough for car to overboost (ecu unable to control boost correctly). Just to add if the damage to that actuator is from hitting the bulk head then that engine has moved a lot in the front end accident, before fitting new engine full check the front end and replace engine mounting if they have not already been done.
It also looks like the 250 turbo can flow enough to damage the 250 engine, even with the super computer. Glad I'm building a forged engine now instead of sourcing a 250 lump.
Glad you found the problem mate ,but it just shows not to listen to certain people on this forum that think they know everything about car mechanics but actually know nothing and probably can't even change there own oil lmfao.
Its a good job he didn't listen or he would be needing another engine again when the replacement one goes the same way.
Ok fair play the actuator is damaged, but if it's been damaged from the front end shunt, why did it still run fine after the car was repaired? And from people comments they don't think the damage would have been caused to the actuator from the accident. So the only other time would be upon removal of the engine. Only when he hit the water did it start to misfire and throw up the over boost message?! So if this is the case we still don't know the cause?!
I'd say he hit the standing water, (was on the motorway so doubt it was too deep) lost traction, wheels spun engine revved and overboosted because the ecu couldn't limit boost fast enough. I would say the engine would of survived if the actuator wasn't nacked. Just my theory.
Honestly don't know mate? Does seem strange the actuator being damaged but would you not need a map so the fueling matched the extra boost to create that much torque to bend rods? The thing must have gone like a spanked cat prior to going bang!
It would of only been lean for a short time during that incident. Cant remember but was there any damage to the pistons? I would love to know how the actuator got damaged though. Would of took a fair bit of force to do that.
Only on 2, the crown had gone concave by quite a bit from what Sparta said. Must have been running lean for a while. Was the most badly bent rod too.
I asked about the block and he said the bore was scored so I would say your right, its been lean for a while. Hopefully he will have some trouble free motoring from now on.
The noise only came about a month after I went through the patch of water. Maybe it was running lean then final gave in after I put a little pressure on it?
It can't though, Its at its limit at 320/330 bhp and 370/380ft-lbs. Paul has pushed one as far as it can go and it just becomes asthmatic as those boost levels and just creates extra heat. The stock injectors also max out at those figures. My actuator arm snapped, Car peaked at just over 1.6 bar which is not far off what it had been mapped to. It hit peak boost then went into limp mode almost instantaneously. The 250 engine is very strong compared to the Mk2 lump and i have no issues running it with the hybrid. When it does get forged i might see how much the stock engine can actually take. DAR in France say around 400lbs-ft but it does depend on the map. A decent linear map will likely last longer than a horrid peaky map that is all about pub bragging figures. Supercomputer, Lol. The Continental ECU that the MK3 RS use is very, very advanced compared to the old units in the Mk2. Just no one has spent enough time on exploiting all its features it has built in. The knock sensor would also of pulled the timing if it really was caused by overboosting, Which i still highly doubt it was. Unfortunately it seems like we shall never know what the reason was. Yep thats me. Or not. Everything i have posted has been in direct relation to my own PERSONAL experience. Not what i read on some internet forum from the many keyboard experts. Change the oil? Don't you just pour in into the fuel tank? I stil stand by this. Water ingestion causing it initially, Engines that ingest water don't necessarily go pop straight away, It can be days/weeks and even months before it can actually fail. The actuator on the 250 sits right behind the block. There is no way it could get damaged like that unless it was a massive shunt, which would of written the car off and done a whole host of damage. That looks like, As you said damage from the engine removal.
Big difference between a totally standard car overboosting and running lean compared to a modified car (standard internals) set up for higher boost. If its not,why do we spend all that money on parts and remaps when we could just spend £20 on a bleed valve and wind the boost up.
I can't see any way how that actuator has that amount of damage from removing the head without damaging anything else on the turbo, oil and water lines don't have a scratch? You can see the clean patches on it where the mechanics dirty hands didnt touch so I would say the damage was there already.
Have you seen the location of the actuator on a 250? As i said there is no way that damage happened in a front end shunt that didn't write the car off, Destroy the engine mounts and generally have no chance of it being repaired. If the damage was there already then the theory that it was damaged and caused the issues before the water ingestion is null and void. It would of been throwing up errors and causing it to run shite before....
Have you even read anything about this. You will see I also said this wasn't caused by a shunt. Sparta has had this car for about a month. He has been having problems for about a month. There is virtually no chance it injested water on a motorway with a bit of surface water and a completely standard inlet. If he had a stupid filter behind the lower grill then maybe but he hasn't. How do you explain the lack of dirty oil marks on the actuator?
He's had it for 2 months before he hit the water it was running fine. After hitting the water this was when it started to run rough, but carried on driving it for a month with a misfire and this is when it developed the "noise" and finally called it a day.
