highlander

Can anyone shed light on this problem - I have a noisy Boost Solenoid on my MY93 WRX/STi. Ticks quite loudly at idle.

I changed the boost solenoid and the problem has re-appeared. With the new one the problem is intermittent - leading me to believe the problem is not a faulty boost solenoid but something else!

I have heard that this can possibly be caused by oiling in the solenoid (common after oil changes) and that you can fix it by flushing the solenoid with Brake Cleaner.

Does anyone have experience of this!

The solenoid ticks loudly at idle and when under boost i get a noise reminiscent of helicopter blades as the boost goes up and down very quickly - resulting in a performance drop off.
This is not the same as over boosting where the fuel cut off comes in - what I am experiencing is just noticeable as a noise and lower performance - not really noticeable on the boost gauge!

When the solenoid operates correctly - hey presto - rocket ship performance!!! When it doesn't still out-performs a porsche carrera 4 :-) but noticeably slower than usual!

max boost just under 1.2bar, no boost spikes (over boost)!!
Normally returns between 290-300bhp on rolling road (depending on atmospheric conditions) - haven't got data on what it does with this problem but it feels like it is missing a good 15bhp or more.

Standard air filter is used with feed to solenoid from resonator box. Bailey EVO Dual Piston Dump Valve and full de-cat Mongoose system - no other mods.

I have a K&N induction kit ready to fit but would like to sort this solenoid issue first.

any ideas anyone!!!

scoobyslut

The main reason for you being able to hear it is due to the mounting used and where it is located, try mounting it on a "softer" rubber bush, as all its doing is transmitting the click noise it makes due to its design, through the metalwork of the inner flitch,its not faulty, its just the way it operates.

ScoobyDuck

iTrader: (1)

highlander,

the boost solenoid should NOT tick when the car is on idle !
I had the same problem with it ticking like this (although not the funny ON BOOST problems you are having!) and it turned out to be the fact that the throttle position sensor was faulty!

sometimes it would be fine, the others when I stopped it would be ticking away like a good-en!
The whole throttle body assembly was changed (warranty) and that cured it!
before that, the position sensor had been moved, re-setup and all that, but it still did it!
(what was even worse, was if you left it for several minutes at idle doing this, then pressed the throttle, it didnt run! just 'bliped' the revs up, then idled again!!! )

hope that's of some help...

Steve

highlander

Thanks for your replies guys - however I am getting more convinced that there is oil contamination - I did the brake cleaner fix and it cured it for a while but the problem came back again. I think maybe some of the pipes must have oil in them - will remove an clean them.
Scoobyslut - if you have a solenoid that ticks I suspect you might have a problem as well - these should not tick in normal operation - at least not audibly.

Ahh well - off to start pipe cleaning operations!!!