Kyle T
Premium Member
Registered: 11th Sep 04
Location: Selby, North Yorkshire
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Big plans for this week... missus got me STi dust caps and sister got me an STi tax disk holder for Christmas 
It was also my birthday, and my girlfriend got me a rally experience day in you guessed it... an impreza  I know these experience days get mixed reviews, but I'm looking forward to getting somebody else's car mucky tbh
Lotus Elise 111R
Impreza WRX STi
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alan t
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Registered: 3rd Sep 06
Location: edinburgh
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we got my dad one of the subaru rally days for his 50th last year, he loved it! It was more expensive than other ones but got a much longer shot in it, hopefully you enjoy it mate!
Love the car as well, not jealous at all 
I'l be the ripe old age of 25 next year so a impreza may be on the cards, I've always wanted one since a wee boy
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Kyle T
Premium Member
Registered: 11th Sep 04
Location: Selby, North Yorkshire
User status: Offline
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Cheers Alan, I'm looking forward to it - it's not a full day jobby, sounds like a morning or afternoon thing but if I like it, I may have to go back for more - or try a track experience in one instead.
I've been doing a bit of troubleshooting on the car over the past couple of days. To cut a long story short, since returning from ScoobyClinic I noticed a whistle under boost in 4th and 5th gear. The whistle consistently kicks in at 3k rpm and then goes away at 4k rpm.
I did some googling and a few forum searches which suggested perhaps a boost leak, which is weird because I had the car Dyno'd and it reported no boost leaks and was fine on power.
I made a post on Scoobynet and the first suggestion I got was that either the AC or Alternator belt was slipping when under full load and that immediately got my hopes up as SC actually replaced both those belts as part of my service! Upon inspection though, the belts seem to be tight enough... to my untrained eye anyway.
I tightened the AC belt up this morning as it was marginally slacker than the alternator belt but my test drive didn't show any improvement on the whistle... so I'm kinda back to the drawing board. I'm half tempted to get a local garage to just replace both belts and see if that magically cures it - but it seems like a long shot.
As part of my various test drives, I uncovered yet another noise (driving without the radio on is dangerous!) which I tracked down to being the AC unit. Each time the AC kicks in, some kind of clutch disengages and the AC pulley starts spinning... from what I can gather with my primitive knowledge. Each time this happens I get a very slight scraping noise inside the cockpit... really hard to explain, it doesn't sound like something is properly broken - it's just another sound effect. I can completely prevent it by just keeping the AC switched off, so I'll do that for now 
Whether the two sounds are related or not I'm yet to find out... but I'll keep tinkering around until I either break something properly, or the noises disappear.
The SNet poster who suggested the belts to be at fault also suggested removing the belts and going for a quick drive... that will rule them out one way or another. I'm not sure I'm confident enough to refit them properly afterwards though
Oh, I also got an OBDII scanner off of eBay... I've got no idea why, I just thought it might come in handy one day!
Lotus Elise 111R
Impreza WRX STi
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Kyle T
Premium Member
Registered: 11th Sep 04
Location: Selby, North Yorkshire
User status: Offline
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Video of the whistling under boost:
3 sec = 4th gear
7 sec = 5th gear
Lotus Elise 111R
Impreza WRX STi
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BarnshaW
Member
Registered: 25th Oct 06
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whistling could be a number of things,
Dump valve might be leaking, could be an exhuaust leak, any number of lose or split hoses (maybe not attached properly or damaged when in garage) check all the hoses around intake/manifold and IC thoroughly.
I would almost be certain its a hose thats causing this.
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larl-ant
Member
Registered: 4th Sep 08
Location: Workington
User status: Offline
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If you have a boost gauge check the pipe behind it or whatever runs from it.I had the sound on my classic and turned out to be this.
Hope this helps.
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Kyle T
Premium Member
Registered: 11th Sep 04
Location: Selby, North Yorkshire
User status: Offline
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Cheers gents. No boost gauge yet, unfortunately. Would be nice if I had one just to identify a leak I guess!
I think im going to set sunday aside to remove the AC belt and go for a drive without it. That will rule out the belt or pump I guess and then I can start looking for leaks.
Unfortunately my knowledge of these engine bays is weak so identifying the relevant pipes and hoses is my first job.
Lotus Elise 111R
Impreza WRX STi
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Simon_16v
Member
Registered: 14th Aug 06
Location: Yorkshire
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It does sound similar to a noise that is on my brothers Ibiza FR, slight boost leak but then again you have decent hoses etc unlike the poor plastic clip design on VW intercoolers etc
Will have to pop by for a chat on Sunday if you don't get too into removing parts
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Kyle T
Premium Member
Registered: 11th Sep 04
Location: Selby, North Yorkshire
User status: Offline
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You can come help me put it all back together
Lotus Elise 111R
Impreza WRX STi
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Kyle T
Premium Member
Registered: 11th Sep 04
Location: Selby, North Yorkshire
User status: Offline
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I've ordered an OBDII Bluetooth adapter as I found an Android app which will apparently map my boost based on the data gathered from the adapter... sounds a bit unlikely to me but for the sake of £13 it's significantly cheaper than either a boost gauge or another trip to the Scooby Clinic for another Dyno run!
I e-mailed the Scooby Clinic to see if they could suggest anything, and he just said "Gut feeling is Turbo bearings are on their way out, but I need to see the car for myself as I may be way off the mark".
It seems like every suggestion I get is another possibility, so if my AC belt fettling doesn't give any clues tomorrow - I'll just sack it off and get over to the 'Clinic again... I could spend weeks guessing my way through this 
/sigh
Lotus Elise 111R
Impreza WRX STi
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BarnshaW
Member
Registered: 25th Oct 06
User status: Offline
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have you checked and tightened all the vac and hoses?
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Kyle T
Premium Member
Registered: 11th Sep 04
Location: Selby, North Yorkshire
User status: Offline
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quote:
Originally posted by BarnshaW
have you checked and tightened all the vac and hoses?
Yep, I've just been out now (again) in the dark with a bottle of soapy water and a torch
The hoses all look fine, no signs of leaks, holes, etc. I did however notice a puff of smoke/gas/steam/something or other come from underneath the turbo.
I leaned in with the torch and had a look - and I could see a little bit of moisture on what (I guess) is part of the exhaust system/headers? I've circled the spot below.
I revved the engine and a little bubble appeared in the moisture! I legged it round to get my camera and when I got back the water had evaporated.
I filled a spray bottle up with soapy water, and went back out and covered that area with soapy water then gave the engine a few revs - sure enough the bubbles started in the moisture and got bigger the more revs I gave it. On idle, no bubbles at all came out.
Do you think I've found the cause of this noise? If so - what's my best course of action? Can a generic exhaust place/garage temporarily patch this up just to see if it cures the issue? I can't tell if the part I'm looking at is a join (hence potentially a gasket change) or whether it's just a ridge in the metalwork which has broken, hence replacement part I guess.
Lotus Elise 111R
Impreza WRX STi
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BarnshaW
Member
Registered: 25th Oct 06
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yes mate, thats your downpipe, gasket potentially knackered, that would be potential cause of the whistling noise! if it is then result as pretty cheap fix.
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BarnshaW
Member
Registered: 25th Oct 06
User status: Offline
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sorry actually it might not be the gasket it looks like the pipe itself
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Kyle T
Premium Member
Registered: 11th Sep 04
Location: Selby, North Yorkshire
User status: Offline
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Yep, being the clever boy I am - I found a diagram
I identified it as the downpipe and then googled some images of some downpipes, and it seems like the actual thing as bust, rather than a join.
I guess the question is... replace with OEM (can probably get one cheap from a breakers/eBay... but risk the same happening again in the future(?)) or get an uprated one...
ScoobyClinic do a Decat one for £200, but I guess I'll need a remap on top of that and also will need to find a "friendly" MOT garage
Before I get too carried away, I'll get off to an exhaust/garage to give it a quick look to confirm my suspicions. If they can bodge it (paste/tape?) for a bit just to prove whether it resolves the whistle - I'll be a bit happier spending ££ on replacement parts.
Cheers Barnshaw.
Lotus Elise 111R
Impreza WRX STi
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BarnshaW
Member
Registered: 25th Oct 06
User status: Offline
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Yes i would get it checked by exhaust place, maybe repairable, not the end of the world if not.
me personally i would try and source another PPP downpipe and not have to worry about getting it remapped again etc, if you go decat then as you say you will need remap and fiendly MOT or standard exhaust for future MOT's.
If it is this then its good news as its going to be far cheaper then a goosed turbo, maybe see what SC say about your findings but that hole would certainly go hand in hand with the whistling noise you are getting.
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Kyle T
Premium Member
Registered: 11th Sep 04
Location: Selby, North Yorkshire
User status: Offline
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Aye nice one, I'll look out for another PPP downpipe over the next few days and will get it checked out,
I'm a little bit relieved now I've got a positive lead onto what could be causing the issue - but I won't relax till I know for a fact hat the problem is!
Thanks again, will e-mail SC now and see what they say.
Lotus Elise 111R
Impreza WRX STi
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BarnshaW
Member
Registered: 25th Oct 06
User status: Offline
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update scoobynet thread as well as they might see different or give you some better opinions. Even if its not that you have still spotted that and it will need sorting anyway so its a result either way, good luck. 
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Kyle T
Premium Member
Registered: 11th Sep 04
Location: Selby, North Yorkshire
User status: Offline
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Once this is sorted, I'm turning my radio up to full then snapping off the volume button.
Either that or I'm selling up and getting a brand new car on finance
Lotus Elise 111R
Impreza WRX STi
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BarnshaW
Member
Registered: 25th Oct 06
User status: Offline
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dont be hasty , anyone with impreza will tell you the horror stories of any noises you hear, mine makes all sorts of weird noises.
You will get it sorted in no time, better now and have it all nice and fault free for the summer 
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Kyle T
Premium Member
Registered: 11th Sep 04
Location: Selby, North Yorkshire
User status: Offline
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I love the car too much to get drastic.
I just got "I told you it was a banger" from my missus though. She thinks she's above me in her 62 plate Corsa
I can't find a supplier anywhere for the PPP downpipe, so I guess I'm at the mercy of eBay or a forum seller if this can't be repaired.
Lotus Elise 111R
Impreza WRX STi
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Wrighty
Member
Registered: 28th Feb 04
Location: Howden
User status: Offline
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if youve not nailed it son, il pop round or somet but im guessing your downpipes your culprit here. spend a lil more to upgrade...de-cat?
wouldnt be a boost leak it would have been picked up at the clinic and they would have offered to replace/repair everything for some extortionate amount :O theres only about 1foot of pipework between your turbo/topmount to check anyhow
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BarnshaW
Member
Registered: 25th Oct 06
User status: Offline
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it might be a boost leak, if they have removed pipes or ancillaries to fit the belts they may not have put one back on properly or tight enough or nipped one and split it.
failing that the downpipe may have had the problem there but remap and slightly more power/boost may have made problem worse, whistling is normally always down to a boost leak from exhaust or pipes on these.
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Kyle T
Premium Member
Registered: 11th Sep 04
Location: Selby, North Yorkshire
User status: Offline
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On the topic of boost leaking...
On the Dyno Run, he was measuring boost - will he have tapped into a hose to get that, or is that taken from the ECU? If there's a specific hose he would have used, I guess that's worth closer inspection.
I've looked over the various hoses a million times now, I can't hear/feel any venting or obvious damage - but helping me narrow down the search may help!
Lotus Elise 111R
Impreza WRX STi
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Wrighty
Member
Registered: 28th Feb 04
Location: Howden
User status: Offline
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he took a vac hose off and put his own one on that was linked to the dyno macheen. which one it was though wasnt quite clear coz i wasnt stood behind him.
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