Turbo: nobody home?

This could be one of two different things: 1) The engine de-tuning itself due to heat soak by pulling timing. This isn't a huge loss of power and doesn't constitute a safety issue. 2) A rare condition in turbo engines where prolonged exposure to very high humidity while running at a steady light load for a long time can induce a false misfire condition that throws the engine into a sort of limp mode. This *is* a huge loss of power and it feels like the engine has been caught completely flat foot and is dead. It also can be a real safety issue if it happens during 2-lane passing. I had this happen to me exactly once when I owned my Hyundai Veloster Turbo. After driving for hours in the rain at 100% humidity I needed to pass a car. After a moment of acceleration the engine just went dead and stuttered like it was running out of gas. It took about 10 seconds before it began to come back and pull again, and the ECU had pulled timing as much as it possibly could so there wasn't much power there still. My father's 3.5 EcoBoost F-150 also did this to him exactly one time under similar circumstances. It's rare but it's a thing.

My guess was usually that the waste gate was stuck open for some reason, that's what it would feel like. But it could have easily been a timing issue. Mine never went dead like yours. It was somewhere in between.

The dealer would never tell me what they did to fix it, but they finally did after three tries, and getting the company's engineers involved. I do know that the next year [and every year after] that engine was seriously detuned from mine [first year of the Subaru Forester turbo, 2004]. C&D tested mine 0-60 at 5.3, but it was in the 7s every year after that.

Thanks for your input.
 
Watch him for yourself.

It's not a complete loss of power. The engine feels like it just reverts to normal aspiration. It still runs, but you don't get the acceleration you expect. At least that was what mine would do. And it didn't have anything to do with stress or repeated hot runs or anything like that. It would happen during normal driving when flooring it.
Still call bulls***. This would be a big deal and we'd have surely heard about it by now.
 
So I have an actual CX-5 with the turbo. This is not my first turbo, but it's been awhile. My last was a 1995 Mitsu Eclipse GSX. That had turbo lag. That is non existent in the CX-5. I already answered that I have not noticed the power loss, but then again, we don't race the CX-5. The power has always been available when asked. The only time it feels sluggish at all, is when it up-shifts too soon. This is my only gripe at this point.
 
I suspect it was some tuning anomaly as it didnt sound like heat soak and its also pretty cold weather when he tested. The humidity thing causes condensation in the inter cooler and I doubt that was it either.
 
probably needed to downshift the NA cx-5 will do the same thing if you leave it on D. sometimes it will shift to second when floored when it could have gone to first with 2000 rpm available (that's a big difference in performance vs the same speed in second). same holds true for 3rd and 4th gear too.
 
probably needed to downshift the NA cx-5 will do the same thing if you leave it on D. sometimes it will shift to second when floored when it could have gone to first with 2000 rpm available (that's a big difference in performance vs the same speed in second). same holds true for 3rd and 4th gear too.

Yeah I have noticed this on occasion.
 
Well good, then you've learned two new things today, unob:

1- What he described is, indeed, a thing.

2- Something can be a thing even if you haven't experienced or heard of it. Imagine that!

I was asking if anyone else had experienced it, not if they hadn't, thanks.

What you're saying is that the engine rpms are up, and that no boost is being generated, or less boost. Without a malfunction, how can what you are claiming possibly occur? Waste gate stuck open as you say, or a massive boost leak elsewhere. Again, I grew up with a street racing scene that HEAVILY favored turbos, and noone ever said "My turbo didn't work". There was everything from 9 second civic's trapping 140+ to S2000's pushing over 700whp to lazy little B18's with junk-yard installs for $500 turn-key engine and everything tuning off the FP regulator, but what there wasn't, were turbos that sometimes worked and sometimes didn't, unless something was "hard broke".
 
What you're saying is that the engine rpms are up, and that no boost is being generated, or less boost. Without a malfunction, how can what you are claiming possibly occur? Waste gate stuck open as you say, or a massive boost leak elsewhere. Again, I grew up with a street racing scene that HEAVILY favored turbos, and noone ever said "My turbo didn't work". There was everything from 9 second civic's trapping 140+ to S2000's pushing over 700whp to lazy little B18's with junk-yard installs for $500 turn-key engine and everything tuning off the FP regulator, but what there wasn't, were turbos that sometimes worked and sometimes didn't, unless something was "hard broke".

Now you're catching on! It's a malfunction: not functioning as designed.
You think that because you've never heard of it, it can't happen?
Wow.
 
Now you're catching on! It's a malfunction: not functioning as designed.
You think that because you've never heard of it, it can't happen?
Wow.

Yeah, it's rare AF, and noone but you seems to have experienced it so far per this forum. It's not "something that just sometimes happens" like missing a shift with a standard or having a gas-cap not seal and throw a code.

Further, I never indicated that it could not ever happen, only that if it could, there was a definite "why" behind it. It's not just a "oh, sometimes..."
 
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I believe the 2.5T only has one turbo?
When I had the cx-5 diesel that had 2, and lag or loss of response to the throttle was practically non existent, floor it in any gear with in reason and it would accelerate, however since I've owned The Tiguan with only one turbo I've noticed a definite (expected) difference below 2000rpm, not helped by the modern trend to run in a high gear for fuel saving.

Using the sport mode makes a noticeable difference to throttle response and acceleration, I'm still running the car in with under 200 miles so haven't really used full throttle.
Another thing I had last night was lack of response to the throttle cornering below 20mph, nothing happened, when I looked at the rev counter it was at 1K revs, but importantly the auto was in 3rd!

I wonder if the OP has reported something similar, and the gearing and single turbo is part of the problem, I do think the trend for economy maps using high gears and low rpm is a factor.

A remap would probably make a significant difference?

I hope he doesn't get upset by me posting having had no experience of his particular engine.
 
I do not follow/subscribe to SG videos. I did watch the video after the initial post here and took notice of his mention. Must have been an outlier type issue because no other reviewers mention an issue at all. I noticed that Straight Pipes have a new video review and they seemed to have no issues and seemed fairly positive about the CX-5. While they lean to an entertaining type video review they are typically open about performance. They speak of it right at the start of the video. Like they gave a not so good review of the Ford Edge ST.

Straight Pipes Video https://youtu.be/voOy5pHI_Zo

So far most of what I have seen about the CX-5T has been really good for a CUV not really being touted as a performance model like the Edge ST.
 
Yeah, it's rare AF, and noone but you seems to have experienced it so far per this forum. It's not "something that just sometimes happens" like missing a shift with a standard or having a gas-cap not seal and throw a code.

Further, I never indicated that it could not ever happen, only that if it could, there was a definite "why" behind it. It's not just a "oh, sometimes..."
For probably the 2nd time ever I 100% stand with Uno. This is not some thing a normally functioning turbo engine does. Period. I've had a 4 Turbo cars and drive one still today, and even the one if them that had a failing turbo (99 9-3);didn't even exhibit this issue. I was a moderator in a Saab board and I've seen more posts About failing turbo...flat out occasional loss of power isn't even a symptom of a failing turbo.
 
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I still think its just a tuning issue and not necessarily an engine problem. Could even be drive by wire issue with the throttle.
 
I have not watched the review. I have a 2013 Speed3 and I have not experienced power loss like what was described in OP. My guess is, he was flooring it at a certain speed and it caused the transmission to downshift to a gear that put it at like 5K RPM or somewhere in the rev range where it is out of steam already. And so there was no power until the transmission would move on to the next gear.

Edit: Does turning Sport mode on, on a turbo CX-5 allow it to rev past 5k RPM? If so, then that would explain it. The car could have downshifted to a gear that put the revs at 5.5K RPM and it revved all the way to the redline before shifting gears. It would not have had full power during that time.
 
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The OP is just referring to a comment from sg in his review. I think he probably didnt diagnose what was going on since its just a press car with limited time. FWIW he also mentioned that he didnt experience it with the turbo in the 6.
 
I don't think that the anomaly SG (the reviewer) mentions is related to downshifting, he probably would have identified it as such.
 
I don't think that the anomaly SG (the reviewer) mentions is related to downshifting, he probably would have identified it as such.

Yea the guy is pretty in tune (pardon the pun) with whats going on. So I would agree its probably not just the gear.
 
Turbos have an intercooler and the hotter the setup gets, the less power it puts out.

Racers will put icebags on the intake charge to cool it down. The hotter the air, the less power. The cooler the air, the more power it makes

Also, if the sensors detect knock, the computer will pull timing, reducing power.
 
SG has talked about this before with other turbo vehicles. I think he mentioned it when reviewing the turbo Ford Taurus.

My concern with his comments on the Cx5 and this issue is that he mentions it happened when it was cold(teens). Which kind of rules out heat soak.

I suppose the cold weather thing could be a result of the many sensors in the awd system pulling power to prevent loss of traction.
 
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