Turbo Lag

S

Street Toyz

Member
:wtf: Anyone else that has an MSP notice how it falls on its face under medium acceleration at about 3K rpm ? Is this the infamous turbo lag ? If so, has anyone had the problem corrected ? I'm afraid to take the car back to the dealer yet and have the monkey's there, try and tell me it needed new mufler bearings .. lol. It also seems that sometimes the turbo wont even kick in through 1st gear. Lemme know please. :confused:
 
If anything I feel the car pull strong at that 3K point. I feel the power come on at about 2500 just after the turbo lag. The car is very similar in feel to my Audi TT that I used to have. You may want to have them look at it if what you are saying is happening.

I am finding that I need to easy the clutch out a bit slower or I will get some serious wheel spin from the turbo kicking in.

Jonny
 
You don't really feel the effect of the turbo until around 3000 RPM. But that is normal of any turbocharged car. Turbo boost builds with revs, and the impellor(s) won't spin until a lot of air is being blasted by them. (Drive a WRX while short shifting before 3500 RPM all the time and you'll be sorely disappointed.) Turbo lag can't be "corrected", its a fact of life and there is nothing that can be done to eliminate it. Maybe you are confusing supercharging and turbocharging?
The Mazdaspeed Protege even has the advantage of a high compression ratio for a turbocharged engine, so until the turbo kicks in, it drives like a nice regular Protege 2.0L. After it kicks in, away you go. Its one of the best turbocharged-engined cars I've driven - extremely tractable and easy to drive in traffic. Definately the most linear turbo engine I've ever come across.
But while you are breaking in the car, you shouldn't be in the rev range where the turbo kicks in. Keep it under the 3000-3500 RPM for the first while. Then after the first 600 miles go by, slowly increase the revs at which you shift, until (at your discretion) you can rev all the way to redline if your heart so desires.

Edit - Johnny beat me to it. ;)
 
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well jonny says he has no lag and it picks up at 2500

street toys says it falls flat at 2500

maztech i think it was, who posted from texas where he test drove and redlined a msp said it fell flat at 3000

u think there might be somethin to this?
 
Ask our friends to the north. Digi, Devil, Limited...you boys having any problem with the engine wimping out at 3K?
 
slug,

I said that I had turbo lag......reread what I wrote.

"I feel the power come on at about 2500 just after the turbo lag."

I have not driven a turbo car without it. It is the nature of the beast. It is just that now car manufacturers are getting the hang of it and using smaller turbo that don't take so long to spool up.

Jonny
 
The problem I'm experiencing may not be lag. It may be an ignition issue. Once the turbo kicks in, at the very begining the car stumbles like I lifted my foot off the gas and put it back down. A very scientific explanation I know, but thats what the car does.
I saw another post similar to this earlier but cant find it now, go figure.
 
jroof said:
Ask our friends to the north. Digi, Devil, Limited...you boys having any problem with the engine wimping out at 3K?
Click to expand...

Well, since my car hasn't been broken into yet I haven't really put the throttle foot more than 50%. So it's very hard for me to give my input on this one. But i have occasionally hit 4000rpm in 1st and 2nd gear. When i took it up to 4K rpm i never had the throttle at more than 50% so, in terms of lag i didn't feel it.

However, someone did mention that all turbo needs higher revs for the turbo to create a high boost. So if you're at 1200rpm and at 100% throttle, you'll feel that lag, because the turbine is spinning to full potential. But it won't take long at all until it's at full boost. :D Once above 3000rpm and still at full throttle, you'll be flying!:D

If you want a better answer to this topic, ask dpmmsp. His car is fully broken into and has likely brought his car up to redline a few times.
 
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I said that the car fell flat on its face at 1500 with the clutch let out too fast, but took it a minute for the turbo to kick in then it was balls to the wall :D It kinda felt like your going 20 in 4th gear just no power and the rpms rise slowly then speeds up.

I would take it to your dealer, tell the advisor to let you ride with a tech there, let me hook up the wds and watch the fuel trim pids and the spark adv make sure that the pcm is noticing with the turbo spools up and make sure that the fuel is being adjusted by the pcm. I think that is where i would start but not sure can't diagnoise over the internet :)
 
I'm at 2,000kms now and have put the car through a few paces lately .... %*/#$%:mad: weather permitting.
The turbo coming on is very noticeable between 2,500 and 3,000 rpms, as Newf will tell you. It is usually vvvveeerrryyyy smooth, but it does "hiccup" every now and then where it just ..... hesitates ... then jumps forward. The trick is trying to get it to happen with any predictability. It seems to be when you are accelerating and short-shift a little, changing gears just after the turbo comes on, and suddenly the engine has dropped to just where the turbo should again be kicking in, but there is no pressure. It hesitates. People are probablying noticing more than they should because everyone is breaking in their cars so they are changing gears early. I'm no expert, but that's my guess.
 
The hiccup has happened to me on a couple of occasions but nothing to worry about maybe until later if problems occur. I'm around 600 miles in a week and have redlined it once, too tempting to go there all the time.
 
Yes, I have noticed this with mine as well. It kind of hesitats a little but only when I am around 2600 to 2900 rpm and then shift. I have 1200 miles on her now so I been starting to really drive her like she is meant to be, if you stay on the gas till about 4500 to 5000 and then shift there is no hesitation at all.
 
Grimace said:
.....Turbo lag can't be "corrected", its a fact of life and there is nothing that can be done to eliminate it. Maybe you are confusing supercharging and turbocharging?....
Click to expand...

Correctamundo. Corky put it best..."No lag means no Turbo" But, there is one thing you can do aside from be patient. Have some custom t25 made for you. You could have a custom trim made to have your boost at a different point. Keep in mind that you will never have a top end monster with a little t25. For top end (freeway running) you will need a larger turbo, T3 or hybrid T3/T4.
 
Finally someone else other than me!!!

Dude I have been trippin thinking this was a phantom problem but the turbo does fall flat in 2nd gear, but its only some times. I doint recall having problems in any other gear but sometimes it hiccups in 2nd between 3500 and 4000 and sometimes it feels like the turbo isnt kicking in at all. I know its not turbo lag it has to be something else. Crappy thing is it only happens sometimes, so I know when I take it to Mazda it will be the time it choses not to. Oh what to do....
 
I think I know what were talking about here. I notice it sometimes, also. It seems, especially when the engine has only been running the first 20-30 minutes or so, when you really give it gas, it almost seems like it is starving for fuel perhaps (for lack of better words). Not much of a hesitation, but it's there. After driving for a while, it seems to go away. I notice this mostly only under hard acceleration.

Cheers!

(drinks)
 
My MSP does this too, I referred to it as a hiccup as well. It is right about 3000-3500 rpm and just lifting throttle to prepare to shift, you can make it do it if you want. I thought it was going to be a problem, but I have accepted it as a "trait"or "characteristic" that I will gladly accept. I have redlined my car several times while trying to make a boost chart, and it won't do it at WOT, only partial throttle, just cruising. It will only happen if you lift throttle just at the right time, I haven't been able to see the boost gauge when it happens, maybe I'll put the video camera on it this week.

Britt
www.geocities.com/kiva75
 
I have noticed the exact same issue. Not sure what it is. If it doesn't go away after 3k miles will ask the dealer about it.
 
At 5000+ miles now, and I notice the stumble every time. It occurs between 3000-4500rpm. This turbo is very hesitant below 3000rpm, and doesn't completely spool tilll approximately 5000.

From my mazda turbo engine tuning experience I believe that it is all related to the ECU. Either the car is poorly programmed to handle boost in those RPM ranges, or the knock sensor (if even equipped) is wigging out. Other things lead me to believe that the boost solenoid may be incorrectly programmed as well, and that it may be "cycling" its signal and creating some kind of boost spike. A boost gauge is not on the car yet so I can't tell on that one.

Either way, this is not normal of a "stock" turbo'd car. Also, this is a rather small ball bearing turbo, I would expect full boost to be delivered by 3000rpm and held smoothly from then on. I've tuned on larger ball bearing turbo's and have had no problems with lag like this.

Also, there is a way to cure some lag. Free up the intake, and the exhaust. The free'r the turbo can flow the quicker it will spin for you. I've seen drops of nearly 1000rpm for complete spoolup on GT-R turbo's with intake and exhaust mods. We'll be modding soon to find out.
 
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