So I have a 2005 SRT-4 black, 40k miles. Honestly I'm pretty tired of the car... It was covered in hail damage at a time where I didn't have insurance, so it looks like complete shit. It has about $3k in body damage from the hail. Now on top of it I'm getting a squeaking from the suspension that the dealer won't acknowledge. But now on to the most important part. It may look like shit but I still want it to accelerate like it should.
If I have it at full boost in any gear the guage will hit 15 and then flutter like crazy (very quickly). Is this normal? Once it hits 14-15 it will flutter between 13-15 really quickly (even sometimes fluttering above 15 if I recall). How can I figure out what is going on? I am not a mechanic, I really don't have any experience working under the hood. Thanks ahead of time for any advice you can give me.
not really normal, and it is normal for boosted cars to develop boost leaks. You can test it very easily and cheaply if you have an air compressor (not one of those cheap air pumps) and 20 minutes. There's a couple different how-to writeups on this site explaining and listing what to do, buy, and watch out for.
Could you possibly point me in the direction of a good how-to article or a place where I can buy a pre-built one?
Quote: Originally Posted by stowaway
not really normal, and it is normal for boosted cars to
develop boost leaks. You can test it very easily and cheaply if you have an air compressor (not one of those cheap air pumps) and 20 minutes. There's a couple different how-to writeups on this site explaining and listing what to do, buy, and watch out for.
as for you question on the flutter. what does your boost gauge read when the car is off? it should be at 0, if other than that its broke. boost leaks will also cause that flutter, so check the gauge first. if you havent done a boost leak test on your car yet then you will have a leak some where. one leak makes a world of difference. as for your suspention squeeks, i have a break caliper that rattles so dont feel so bad. everyones car has little quirks that bug them but you have to look past all that and realize that you drive a neon and shit like that will happen. as for the "how to" on the boost leak test, the search button works well.
as for you question on the flutter. what does your boost gauge read when the car is off? it should be at 0, if other than that its broke. boost leaks will also cause that flutter, so check the gauge first. if you havent done a boost leak test on your car yet then you will have a leak some where. one leak makes a world of difference. as for your suspention squeeks, i have a break caliper that rattles so dont feel so bad. everyones car has little quirks that bug them but you have to look past all that and realize that you drive a neon and shit like that will happen. as for the "how to" on the boost leak test, the search button works well.
It reads 0 I believe, and at an idle it sticks at -20. I've never checked for a boost leak as long as i've had the car. Right now I have trouble pulling on an SVT Focus. :| It gets to 14 and just vibrates like crazy.
as for you question on the flutter. what does your boost gauge read when the car is off? it should be at 0, if other than that its broke. boost leaks will also cause that flutter, so check the gauge first. if you havent done a boost leak test on your car yet then you will have a leak some where. one leak makes a world of difference. as for your suspention squeeks, i have a break caliper that rattles so dont feel so bad. everyones car has little quirks that bug them but you have to look past all that and realize that you drive a neon and shit like that will happen. as for the "how to" on the boost leak test, the search button works well.
It reads 0 I believe, and at an idle it sticks at -20. I've never checked for a boost leak as long as i've had the car. Right now I have trouble pulling on an SVT Focus. :| It gets to 14 and just vibrates like crazy.
lol svt focus. i bet you have a intercooler pipe thats loose and thats where i found my first 3 leaks. crawl under your car tighten those clamps and reset your computer, and see how well that does. you may see a big difference in just that. when doing so, clean all the oil off the piping and retighten. good luck
Is there a diagram of that stuff? I'm a complete newbie even after having the car for 40k miles. After the hail damage I sort of didn't give a crap about it anymore.
Quote: Originally Posted by SRT_Maniac
Quote: Originally Posted by jriggin
Quote: Originally Posted by SRT_Maniac
as for you question on the flutter. what does your boost gauge read when the car is off? it should be at 0, if other than that its broke. boost leaks will also cause that flutter, so check the gauge first. if you havent done a boost leak test on your car yet then you will have a leak some where. one leak makes a world of difference. as for your suspention squeeks, i have a break caliper that rattles so dont feel so bad. everyones car has little quirks that bug them but you have to look past all that and realize that you drive a neon and shit like that will happen. as for the "how to" on the boost leak test, the search button works well.
It reads 0 I believe, and at an idle it sticks at -20. I've never checked for a boost leak as long as i've had the car. Right now I have trouble pulling on an SVT Focus. :| It gets to 14 and just vibrates like crazy.
lol svt focus. i bet you have a intercooler pipe thats loose and thats where i found my first 3 leaks. crawl under your car tighten those clamps and reset your computer, and see how well that does. you may see a big difference in just that. when doing so, clean all the oil off the piping and retighten. good luck
well i dont know where to find a diagram but you can just look under your car (where the intercooler is at) and just follow all the piping and tighten all clamps that you see. you'll be suprised at how loose they will be. update us on how better the car runs after doing so.
Do not just tighten the clamps. Its possible for the pipe to be offset, or far enough back off the pipe that tightening the clamp will not help. Advanced Search, titles only, "boost and leak and test" is your sserach term.
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I used to own one of the first SRT-4s sold, bought it new in Feb 2003, sold it Nov 2006 with 75K and Stage 3. Now I drive a 2006 SRT-8 Charger.
Ok so looking down on my engine on the left side, near the headlight, is a clamp near the wheel going into what I am assuming is the intercooler (I know nothing about cars). On the metal part that the pipe is hooked up to, I noticed a ridge, I am assuming the rubber pipe coming from the turbo should be all the way up to that metal ridge. It looks like it may have slipped down about half a centimeter. However for the life of me I can't get my hand up in there to untighten the clamp to move it up and then retighten. There is absolutely no room for it. Am I going to have to buy a jack or something? So fucking sick of this car I could scream. Hail damage, boost leak, water coming in from under the glove compartment even after they said they fixed it, and the car stalls for a moment sometimes when the AC is on. Fuck hail damage and the rest of it :|
unless that svt focus was boosted, you're in sad shape even with a s/c, an svt focus is only about as fast as a stock srt4 - i should know because i had one.
as everyone else said - check for leaks ... just tightening clamps here and there won't fix it.
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'04 Black SRT4 -> AGP CAI, PTP UHP/LHP HKS SSQ/Purple Insert ... more parts on the way
R.I.P. '02 Sonic Blue SVT Focus -> J.R. Supercharger @ 6psi, AEM CAI, Steeda Short Shifter
My intercooler pipe hoses (hot and cold side) were both loose from the factory. (I think they all are...)
There is a "flap" on the passenger side in the plastic cover that protects the entire front end of the car (on the underside). There is one screw that holds the flap on. Unscrew it and fold the flap backwards. That should allow you to get to the intercooler pipe without jacking up the car. Still a bit of a pain to get to, but so is jacking the car up. You could just go the easy route and stop by an oil change or muffler shop with a lift, and pay them $20 to throw it on the lift, and I'm sure they'll even tighten the pipes for you rather than worry about you getting injured and suing them.
In any case, tighten these clamps, and you'll definately notice a difference.
nice to know I ain't the only one rolling around with thousands of dollars in hail damage. I took the money and ran with it instead. I fixed my guage flutter like what you were talking about tonight by tightening up the three bolts on my rice plate. If you haven't added the mopar bov, then that is probably not your issue, was for me though.
I bought a set of those plastic ramps you can drive your car up on to for $30 bucks a couple of years ago, those work great for getting under the car to tighten the intercooler clamps.
Chances are good, if you get your boost leaks resolved, you'll like the car again.
HOLY THREAD REVIVAL BATMAN...
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13.668@104.91 and still lost the damn race.
Last edited by flomoloko : 07-04-2008 at 11:33 AM.
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Boost leak...
05 FLAME RED SRT-4 ACR!!!
i bet you have a intercooler pipe thats loose and thats where i found my first 3 leaks. crawl under your car tighten those clamps and reset your computer, and see how well that does. you may see a big difference in just that. when doing so, clean all the oil off the piping and retighten. good luck
even with a s/c, an svt focus is only about as fast as a stock srt4 - i should know because i had one.
'02 Sonic Blue SVT Focus -> J.R. Supercharger @ 6psi, AEM CAI, Steeda Short Shifter
I took the money and ran with it instead. I fixed my guage flutter like what you were talking about tonight by tightening up the three bolts on my rice plate. If you haven't added the mopar bov, then that is probably not your issue, was for me though.
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