STS Turbo Help Needed!

[elsololobo02]

Ladies and Gents,

I have a 2011 LS and have recently had a STS Turbo kit installed. The guys who did the install were great and they took their time to make sure everything was functioning properly. I was there when they put it on the dyno and had a tune that I uploaded with a laptop via Trifecta tune. I couldn't wait to see the numbers. Unfortunately I was kind of dissapointed. Here's why...

- STS states that out of the box you make 5 psi. The dyno results proved otherwise. I was only making 2.9 psi. They checked for leaks and none were found. My local speed shop suggested getting a manual boost controller to get the boost up to the 5-7 psi range. Can there be something else wrong here or will the boost controller fix the issue? BTW with 2.9 psi I dynoed 342 RWHP with 3 pulls.

- When I installed the Trifecta tune things seemed to be good to go but when I drove it down the road under normal driving conditions my main gauge lit up like a christmas tree saying I need to have my traction control maintenaced and the transmission light came on. Is this a tunning issue that data logging can fix? I have re-installed the turbo tune and the same thing keeps happening. The graph from the 3 dyno runs "appears" to be the knock sensors doing their job and pulling timing to stave off detonation. Is this really a tune per se or am I better off having the tunning done by my speed shop?

Any info or prior experience/lesson learned would be appreciated.

[Z Madness]

If you had 342 at the wheels, you should have been about 5 psi. There have been several that have run STS and another system that have all reached about 350 rwhp at 5 psi. I don't think 3 psi would have given you +100 rwhp. What were you using to measure boost?

Regarding the lights, so far I have not heard anyone having those issues. I assume that you are aware that on the dyno if you didn't turn off traction control you will throw several lights but those should go away after a few miles. You can use the Trifecta software to check what codes are being thrown. Then report that to Trifecta and they should be able to straighten you out.

Regarding the tune, did your speed shop imply they could tune your car? I would definitely check carefully on that claim first.

And welcome to the FI club!

[GretchenGotGrowl]

Z is right. No way you got to 342 RWHP on 2.9 psi. I got about 300 RWHP at 3 psi and 345 RWHP at 4.5 psi (dual though).

[scrming]

Originally Posted by Z Madness

If you had 342 at the wheels, you should have been about 5 psi. There have been several that have run STS and another system that have all reached about 350 rwhp at 5 psi. I don't think 3 psi would have given you +100 rwhp. What were you using to measure boost?

Regarding the lights, so far I have not heard anyone having those issues. I assume that you are aware that on the dyno if you didn't turn off traction control you will throw several lights but those should go away after a few miles. You can use the Trifecta software to check what codes are being thrown. Then report that to Trifecta and they should be able to straighten you out.

Regarding the tune, did your speed shop imply they could tune your car? I would definitely check carefully on that claim first.

And welcome to the FI club!

I actually had my TC/ABS/blah,blah warnings stay on for several key cycles after a dyno session... kind of freaked me out a bit, beca use, like you said, normally they go off after a very short distance...

[MyWorld]

I agree with Z and scrming. The only time I saw lights like that was after it was on the dyno. My lights didn't go off until after about 40 miles of driving, so I was really freaked out too.

[KMPrenger]

Sounds to me like as long as the lights in the dash go away, your looking pretty good so far.

Work with Vince on the tune to hopefully get another lbl of psi or two and be sure your AFR looks good, and your good to go! Get some traction and take her to the track!

Just a comment here but, it will be nice to see someone finally throw on a turbo kit and after the initial dynoing/tuning, the car run great. There are several ppl on here that are using FI now, but seems like everyone has been doing constant tweaking and changing and monitoring ever since they began. I know monitoring is part of it, but I'd hate to have to spend more weeks/months after the install tweaking everything just to finally get the car running right. I'd feel like I was always on pins and needles worrying something on the car could break at anytime! lol.

That said, my hats off to you guys.

[GretchenGotGrowl]

Originally Posted by KMPrenger

Sounds to me like as long as the lights in the dash go away, your looking pretty good so far.

Work with Vince on the tune to hopefully get another lbl of psi or two and be sure your AFR looks good, and your good to go! Get some traction and take her to the track!

Just a comment here but, it will be nice to see someone finally throw on a turbo kit and after the initial dynoing/tuning, the car run great. There are several ppl on here that are using FI now, but seems like everyone has been doing constant tweaking and changing and monitoring ever since they began. I know monitoring is part of it, but I'd hate to have to spend more weeks/months after the install tweaking everything just to finally get the car running right. I'd feel like I was always on pins and needles worrying something on the car could break at anytime! lol.

That said, my hats off to you guys.

But that's half the fun Keith! I'm not to worried about reliability at these levels of boost (I drove 1K miles back from FL). I just want to make it better. For me the priority is better traction before I worry about more boost. I'm going to get the tune working at 9-10 psi and probably dyno it. Then I'm going back to 6 psi and get her to grip better. I'll be tweaking things for quite a while.


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[KMPrenger]

Originally Posted by GretchenGotGrowl

But that's half the fun Keith! I'm not to worried about reliability at these levels of boost (I drove 1K miles back from FL). I just want to make it better. For me the priority is better traction before I worry about more boost. I'm going to get the tune working at 9-10 psi and probably dyno it. Then I'm going back to 6 psi and get her to grip better. I'll be tweaking things for quite a while.

Well, I can agree with that statement for the most part lol. I guess I'm just thinking about those guys whom are less mechanically inclined than you are and just wanna spend the money and go!

[GretchenGotGrowl]

Originally Posted by KMPrenger

Well, I can agree with that statement for the most part lol. I guess I'm just thinking about those guys whom are less mechanically inclined than you are and just wanna spend the money and go!

Yeah, just ribbing you a bit. .


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[formare]

So are we all in agreement - this is normal dyno behavior and the lights will go off all by themselves?

[GretchenGotGrowl]

Yeah, they'll go away. If I remember right I used the code scan/clear function from the Trifecta app once. You can give that a try, too.

[KMPrenger]

Originally Posted by GretchenGotGrowl

Yeah, just ribbing you a bit. .


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Lol its all good man!!!

[elsololobo02]

-Yep all the traction contol lights do go off after 8-10 miles of normal driving but every time I start the car the same lights come on. I am sure it is something witht the tune. I'll let Vince know about it.

- The guys at the shop said they could see how much boost I was making from the dyno. I watched the screen as they did it but not sure if you can use the dyno to get the psi?? I do have the Dual ADM gauges with A/F and boost on a wide band sensor, maybe this is what they were using. And they used a dyno that has a current thing that simulates the weight of the vehicle. I guess it doesn't let the wheel spin freely, provideds some kind of resistance?

- The speed shop did say they could not tune my vehicle. V8's they can do but not the V6's. They are a reputable shop. They did state that they found it odd that anyone can custom tune the V6. The shop said the graph from the 3 dyno runs "appears" to be the knock sensors doing their job and pulling timing to stave off detonation which made them suspicious of it being able to be custom tune. I have no experience with tunning but this is what they are telling me.

I'll have the owner of the shop e-mail me the graph this week. They ordered the manual boost controller and I should have it installed in a few days. Then I'll do some data logging and send them off to Vince.

[GretchenGotGrowl]

Originally Posted by elsololobo02

-Yep all the traction contol lights do go off after 8-10 miles of normal driving but every time I start the car the same lights come on. I am sure it is something witht the tune. I'll let Vince know about it.

- The guys at the shop said they could see how much boost I was making from the dyno. I watched the screen as they did it but not sure if you can use the dyno to get the psi?? I do have the Dual ADM gauges with A/F and boost on a wide band sensor, maybe this is what they were using. And they used a dyno that has a current thing that simulates the weight of the vehicle. I guess it doesn't let the wheel spin freely, provideds some kind of resistance?

- The speed shop did say they could not tune my vehicle. V8's they can do but not the V6's. They are a reputable shop. They did state that they found it odd that anyone can custom tune the V6. The shop said the graph from the 3 dyno runs "appears" to be the knock sensors doing their job and pulling timing to stave off detonation which made them suspicious of it being able to be custom tune. I have no experience with tunning but this is what they are telling me.

I'll have the owner of the shop e-mail me the graph this week. They ordered the manual boost controller and I should have it installed in a few days. Then I'll do some data logging and send them off to Vince.

Not sure how they would read the boost from the dyno. They could have a sniffer that reads the AFR and maybe that was what they were talking about.

The base tune is for 5 psi and I would say you are probably right on the money there. Vince will be able to tweak it for your car (every one is a little different) once you send the logs.

Question -- does the AEM dual gauge to allow you to adjust the boost? The reason I ask is if it does, then why go with the manual boost controller? I've got the seperate wideband and boost controllers from AEM and the boost controller works great. It only take 30 sec. or so to change the boost once you get the hang of the order to push the buttons.

Anyway, good luck and keep us up to date.