New speed 3 owner

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Walter21White

Greenie N00B Member
Hello all! I purchased a 2008 speed 3 a couple weeks ago as a mechanics special. Car has 48k miles on it and got it for super cheap! I’m relatively new to turbocharged gasoline engines as all I’ve had thus far is diesels. When I got the car it smoked like crazy after idling for a few minutes and thanks to the internet I replaced the turbo and all is well now. The car runs great! Well I got into a race with a little veloster and we were side by side the whole time. I figured I’d blow his doors off, but we were even. So I went and found a used Cobb access port for super cheap and installed it today because I just feel like the car is lacking a bit. Installed the tuner and went for a rip. The max boost I achieved was 7 to about 9.1 psi according to the access port. In all the hours I’ve spent researching this car I see people are getting 15 or 16 psi boost. I’ve went through it with a fine toothed comb and cannot figure out why the boost is so low, although the car rips, I couldn’t imagine it at 16 psi. The turbo I put in is not stock but I can’t remember the name of it. It’s still a k04 and it’s supposed to be oem. I am at a loss now and all my searching is resulting in nothing. I wanna go back and smoke that little veloster! Help me please!


As far as I know all it has is a factory mazdaspeed cold air intake and factory mazdaspeed cat back exhaust. I’m 99 percent sure there’s no hpfp because the access port reads a maximum fuel pressure of 1700 psi or a just a tad more. There’s no down pipe for sure.
 
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Hey! Glad to have you. Certainly if ordered off the inter webs you’d have a receipt of purchase and be able to detail the turbo ordered, No? Otherwise, a pic might help someone identify it. 48k and a smoking turbo is interesting. I’d expect a stock K04 to last a bit longer than that - -meaning, why/how did it burn up like that?? Rough previous owner? Poorly maintained? I’m at 256k on the original turbo (luck I imagine).

And yes, well over 9 psi should be attainable on the OEM parts. I’m sure the gurus here will want to see some data logs from your accessport to help diagnose.

All in all though, hope we can help and welcome!


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travman said:
Hey! Glad to have you. Certainly if ordered off the inter webs you’d have a receipt of purchase and be able to detail the turbo ordered, No? Otherwise, a pic might help someone identify it. 48k and a smoking turbo is interesting. I’d expect a stock K04 to last a bit longer than that - -meaning, why/how did it burn up like that?? Rough previous owner? Poorly maintained? I’m at 256k on the original turbo (luck I imagine).

And yes, well over 9 psi should be attainable on the OEM parts. I’m sure the gurus here will want to see some data logs from your accessport to help diagnose.

All in all though, hope we can help and welcome!


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Hello thank you for the reply! The car came with one brand new turbo which is the one I don’t know what it is. Probably something ebay I’d imagine. Then it came with a stock turbo with a rebuild kit. I was in a pinch as my commute car had just broke down so I just put the new turbo in. I’m thinking that probably wasn’t the best idea now looking back. Previous owner told me the car had been sitting for 2 years. I’m not sure how many owners the car had. It only cost me 3 grand so I wasn’t asking many questions. Honestly if I wouldn’t have got an access port I would never be able to tell it wasn’t getting the right amount of air. The car runs super good. VERY impressed with it! It’s the turbo on the left that’s in it now. That’s the best picture I have of it348F1A67-D303-4E53-B374-50E1351944A6.jpeg
 
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If you are running an off the shelf tune from the accessport they are garbage. Load the stock tune back up and see if there is a difference. Also these cars are tuned with load based tuning instead of boost based tuning. Depending on outside temperature you may not see max boost
 
Easter Bunny said:
If you are running an off the shelf tune from the accessport they are garbage. Load the stock tune back up and see if there is a difference. Also these cars are tuned with load based tuning instead of boost based tuning. Depending on outside temperature you may not see max boost
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Ok what exactly is load based tuning? I live in the mountains of colorado and it was about 20 degrees Fahrenheit outside and I was going up a mountain grade. But I did try it on flat ground and downhill and everything and nothing helped. When the turbo spools I can hear a lot of air moving like from the intake it sounds. I have never heard the hissing sound my diesel pickups make when the turbo spools. Also I just plugged the accessport into my pic and I was going through the tunes. There is a stratified tune on there. I bought the unit used and didn’t realize this until today. Update. Confirmed, does not matter which tune is installed. Tried quite a few even stock. Max boost pressure the accessport is reading is 9.6
 
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Instead of targeting a specific boost pressure, load based targets a specific calculated load. In colder weather when the air is already naturally more dense, it requires less boost to hit the same load target.

Run a boost leak test to rule that out as an issue, since you were in there to swap the turbo. Might have some loose couplers or a split ebcs line or something.
 
SharksInSpace said:
Instead of targeting a specific boost pressure, load based targets a specific calculated load. In colder weather when the air is already naturally more dense, it requires less boost to hit the same load target.

Run a boost leak test to rule that out as an issue, since you were in there to swap the turbo. Might have some loose couplers or a split ebcs line or something.
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Do you think it could be the ebcs? I have an extra one on the other turbo I have, the lines look fine visually inspecting them
 
It's a possibility, you could try swapping it since you have a spare. Check the lines to it to make sure they're good, if you do go back in there at it. I'd definitely do a boost leak test, as well; you can build a home tester for around $20 as a useful tool to have on hand for sudden troubleshooting.
 
SharksInSpace said:
It's a possibility, you could try swapping it since you have a spare. Check the lines to it to make sure they're good, if you do go back in there at it. I'd definitely do a boost leak test, as well; you can build a home tester for around $20 as a useful tool to have on hand for sudden troubleshooting.
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Ok awesome I will try that. I think I saw a post on how to build one of those. When I do it where do I monitor the pressure from? Or do I just set the compressor to say 20 psi and see if it bleeds or what?
 
Whalecum!

Make sure to verify if you have hpfp internals before doing anything else. The only way to tell is to pull them from the hpfp itself. Don’t listen to anyone that says you can tell by reading pressure on the ap. Might as well buy a rebuild kit from Michael Rey while you’re at it. Good luck!

Also be careful with the nipple on the boost crontroler. If it’s still the stock one, there’s about a 69% chance you’ll break it if it’s not already broken
 
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Walter21White said:
Ok awesome I will try that. I think I saw a post on how to build one of those. When I do it where do I monitor the pressure from? Or do I just set the compressor to say 20 psi and see if it bleeds or what?
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You can either connect it to your intake, or remove the intake and connect it directly to the turbo. Be sure to block off the breather from the valve cover to the intake. I test at about 20psi, that should be plenty to reveal any leaks. You can listen for the really obvious ones but the best method is to spray soapy water on all the couplers and hose connections and watch for bubbles.
 
SharksInSpace said:
You can either connect it to your intake, or remove the intake and connect it directly to the turbo. Be sure to block off the breather from the valve cover to the intake. I test at about 20psi, that should be plenty to reveal any leaks. You can listen for the really obvious ones but the best method is to spray soapy water on all the couplers and hose connections and watch for bubbles.
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Ok good deal. Turns out the spare ebcs I have is broken. One of the little nipples is broken off. So that’s a no go. I just checked all the little lines again thoroughly and they all look good no cracks or anything. I thought well maybe the actuator arm was stuck so I grabbed pliers to move it and it moves, with resistance. So next up is going to the hardware store to get the supplies I need to check for leaks. It really sounds to me when I hit boost there’s a lot of air noise in the intake. There’s no turbo whistle at all. Just whining and air. Lots of air sound. I think I may have put a trash turbo in it.

Sleepy_Pat said:
Whalecum!

Make sure to verify if you have hpfp internals before doing anything else. The only way to tell is to pull them from the hpfp itself. Don’t listen to anyone that says you can tell by reading pressure on the ap. Might as well buy a rebuild kit from Michael Rey while you’re at it. Good luck!
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Ok so if I leave it as it is should I be good without it?
 
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Sleepy_Pat said:
Without the upgraded internals or the rebuild kit?


I take any opportunity I can to be childish lol
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Without the upgraded internals. Sorry I’m brand new to gas engines. Another thing I was looking at while doing some pulls was wastegate duty cycle. I’m not sure if it matter much or anything but it was at zero through every pull I did. It jumped for a split second to like 5 when I let my foot off the gas but that’s about it. I think I’m in the infant stages of learning how these gas engines work!
 
Walter21White said:
Without the upgraded internals. Sorry I’m brand new to gas engines. Another thing I was looking at while doing some pulls was wastegate duty cycle. I’m not sure if it matter much or anything but it was at zero through every pull I did. It jumped for a split second to like 5 when I let my foot off the gas but that’s about it. I think I’m in the infant stages of learning how these gas engines work!
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Upgraded internals are essential for these cars. Even if you don’t have plans for mods it good to have the piece of mind. With just the internals and a tune you’ll have a much better time.
 
Welcome. I came from the diesel truck side too. This is a totally different animal and very addicting. Definitely do the hpfp ASAP. It’s highly unlikely you’ll be able to quit playing with this car once you see it’s potential. Lol good luck to ya
 
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