Enki
Motorhead
This isn't a callout thread; no accusations are being made here on any party at all.
The goal is to figure out what might be going wrong with these EBCS, to form hypothesis on possible resolutions, and to provide a centralized location for testing and further analysis.
That said, let's get started.
First off: Links.
Store page: https://corksport.com/mazda-boost-control-solenoid.html
CS Blog: https://corksport.com/blog/an-inside-look-at-the-corksport-ebcs/#content
Whitepaper: https://www.corksport.com/support/instructions/GEN-6-710-WHITEPAPER.pdf
Now for a teardown of one of the bullet valves.
Here's what it looks like with the valve removed from the valve body. Note the electrical cap (part with the wires) is removed because I'm a savage cave dweller that doesn't give a shit.
There's a secondary endcap as seen below that was removed; this doesn't need to be removed to access the rest of the guts of the valve, but I didn't know that at the time so here are the pics anyways:
Endcap removed:
Now for the interesting bits.
Note that I basically had to destroy this thing because I didn't have the right tools to take it apart properly; the donator of this part to me said they don't want it back, so a worthy sacrifice to science.
The solenoid unscrews from the main valve body using a 14mm wrench and a pair of pliers:
The valve body is also two piece. The left side unscrews out of the right side, which releases the poppet.
Left side + poppet:
Right side + poppet (It's fucked lmao):
Analysis time.
I'm no expert on solenoid coil resistance, but 37 ohms is neither zero nor infinite, so I'm gonna say this part is fine; maybe someone else can chime in here. Note: This was measured at the coil leads, so measuring from a pigtail will likely see different numbers.
There are 9 total seals on this thing. The design is pretty complicated going purely on shape, but it's actually pretty simple in operation.
The big black part in the middle of the poppet is very likely to be machined steel coated with a very thin, hard rubber to facilitate sealing, and the two orings just close off the ends to prevent leaks out of the valve body.
The small hole seen in the middle is essentially a gun-drilled hole, probably to reduce mass without sacrificing strength, while also allowing for a path that air can flow through so pressure doesn't build up and impair operation. It runs through the entire body of the valve, from wired end cap to the opposite side.
The amount of movement required to operate the valve is extremely small, which would allow for very fast response time and higher frequencies of operation.
As for how it actually works:
Let's defer to my shitty MS Paint drawing; note that supply air would go in through the center section where the poppet plug is, and NO side is on the left with NC side on the right:
As seen above, a tiny speck of dust can cause the poppet to sit open; even a slight amount of clearance between seal and seat means a significant amount of open area for air to escape. Since the poppet is so small and moves so little, there's not a lot of inertia that can build up to forcibly dislodge stuff stuck in there.
As a side note, and this is hardly worth mentioning, but there was some little scraps of something in the valve when I removed it, but that doesn't actually mean anything since it could have come from anywhere at any time or even during shipping. It's also worth mentioning that the valve is directly exposed to the ports in the main valve body (the part you connect hoses to) so using teflon tape, threadlocker, or anything that can dry out or leave behind small specs of hard material is probably not a great idea.
Potential problems:
1. Dirt/contaminants.
Again, even a small spec of something could result in a relatively large leak.
2. Heat and tolerances.
The insides are tiny with a complicated internal structure, and there are at least 3 different metals/alloys in play regarding the operation of one of these things.
3. O-rings.
While there are a large number of them in this little device, only two actually move at any given time. It's possible that they are either sticking for some reason or swell due to oil and/or fuel vapor from manifold/source gasses.
4. Lubrication.
It's possible that whatever grease is being used has issues with high temps.
5. Wrong part.
Since there's no sticker on these from the MFG, I can't cross reference the part number. There are both 12v and 24v versions of these, however, so that is potentially a factor.
Potential solutions:
1. Filter.
A high flow inline filter that's heat tolerant could help here. In the MAC documentation, at least one of the valves I looked at references 40 micron filtration.
2. Remote mounting to a cooler surface.
If this is the issue, moving the valve away from the turbo and intake might help, but that kind of defeats the purpose of a high speed valve.
3. Slightly undersized orings or dimension modification.
If this is the cause of the issue, either reducing the diameter of the existing orings or carefully polishing the friction surfaces may help. I'd probably leave this as an absolute last resort.
4. Different lube.
Not sure what these come with, but it should be pretty easy to test new lubricants. My initial suggestions would be teflon oil for short term or white lithium for longer term operation.
5. Provide info...?
I'd understand totally if CS wanted to keep the actual part number under their belt; doublechecking against supplier documentation would be a good idea though.
Okay.
I think I've taken this far enough; the floor is now open for further discussion.
The goal is to figure out what might be going wrong with these EBCS, to form hypothesis on possible resolutions, and to provide a centralized location for testing and further analysis.
That said, let's get started.
First off: Links.
Store page: https://corksport.com/mazda-boost-control-solenoid.html
CS Blog: https://corksport.com/blog/an-inside-look-at-the-corksport-ebcs/#content
Whitepaper: https://www.corksport.com/support/instructions/GEN-6-710-WHITEPAPER.pdf
Now for a teardown of one of the bullet valves.
Here's what it looks like with the valve removed from the valve body. Note the electrical cap (part with the wires) is removed because I'm a savage cave dweller that doesn't give a shit.
There's a secondary endcap as seen below that was removed; this doesn't need to be removed to access the rest of the guts of the valve, but I didn't know that at the time so here are the pics anyways:
Endcap removed:
Now for the interesting bits.
Note that I basically had to destroy this thing because I didn't have the right tools to take it apart properly; the donator of this part to me said they don't want it back, so a worthy sacrifice to science.
The solenoid unscrews from the main valve body using a 14mm wrench and a pair of pliers:
The valve body is also two piece. The left side unscrews out of the right side, which releases the poppet.
Left side + poppet:
Right side + poppet (It's fucked lmao):
Analysis time.
I'm no expert on solenoid coil resistance, but 37 ohms is neither zero nor infinite, so I'm gonna say this part is fine; maybe someone else can chime in here. Note: This was measured at the coil leads, so measuring from a pigtail will likely see different numbers.
There are 9 total seals on this thing. The design is pretty complicated going purely on shape, but it's actually pretty simple in operation.
The big black part in the middle of the poppet is very likely to be machined steel coated with a very thin, hard rubber to facilitate sealing, and the two orings just close off the ends to prevent leaks out of the valve body.
The small hole seen in the middle is essentially a gun-drilled hole, probably to reduce mass without sacrificing strength, while also allowing for a path that air can flow through so pressure doesn't build up and impair operation. It runs through the entire body of the valve, from wired end cap to the opposite side.
The amount of movement required to operate the valve is extremely small, which would allow for very fast response time and higher frequencies of operation.
As for how it actually works:
Let's defer to my shitty MS Paint drawing; note that supply air would go in through the center section where the poppet plug is, and NO side is on the left with NC side on the right:
As seen above, a tiny speck of dust can cause the poppet to sit open; even a slight amount of clearance between seal and seat means a significant amount of open area for air to escape. Since the poppet is so small and moves so little, there's not a lot of inertia that can build up to forcibly dislodge stuff stuck in there.
As a side note, and this is hardly worth mentioning, but there was some little scraps of something in the valve when I removed it, but that doesn't actually mean anything since it could have come from anywhere at any time or even during shipping. It's also worth mentioning that the valve is directly exposed to the ports in the main valve body (the part you connect hoses to) so using teflon tape, threadlocker, or anything that can dry out or leave behind small specs of hard material is probably not a great idea.
Potential problems:
1. Dirt/contaminants.
Again, even a small spec of something could result in a relatively large leak.
2. Heat and tolerances.
The insides are tiny with a complicated internal structure, and there are at least 3 different metals/alloys in play regarding the operation of one of these things.
3. O-rings.
While there are a large number of them in this little device, only two actually move at any given time. It's possible that they are either sticking for some reason or swell due to oil and/or fuel vapor from manifold/source gasses.
4. Lubrication.
It's possible that whatever grease is being used has issues with high temps.
5. Wrong part.
Since there's no sticker on these from the MFG, I can't cross reference the part number. There are both 12v and 24v versions of these, however, so that is potentially a factor.
Potential solutions:
1. Filter.
A high flow inline filter that's heat tolerant could help here. In the MAC documentation, at least one of the valves I looked at references 40 micron filtration.
2. Remote mounting to a cooler surface.
If this is the issue, moving the valve away from the turbo and intake might help, but that kind of defeats the purpose of a high speed valve.
3. Slightly undersized orings or dimension modification.
If this is the cause of the issue, either reducing the diameter of the existing orings or carefully polishing the friction surfaces may help. I'd probably leave this as an absolute last resort.
4. Different lube.
Not sure what these come with, but it should be pretty easy to test new lubricants. My initial suggestions would be teflon oil for short term or white lithium for longer term operation.
5. Provide info...?
I'd understand totally if CS wanted to keep the actual part number under their belt; doublechecking against supplier documentation would be a good idea though.
Okay.
I think I've taken this far enough; the floor is now open for further discussion.
Last edited:
