Turbosmartusa plum back and flutter.

[lemons6245]

I decided to purchase the Turbosmart plumb back valve instead of the kompact one. After speaking to Turbosmart on not needing to adjust the valve and the fact that it would be louder then stock, but not obnoxiously loud I was sold. I have been driving with it for 2 months now and feel like I am getting surge from the valve. There is a definite flutter under half throttle lift off boost and full throttle life off. Along with a loud whistle sound on top of the turbo spool whistle sound. Has anybody installed this valve and had similar symptoms? I took it off and checked the seals and reinstalled to make sure everything was installed properly. I don't want to have this valve on if it is going to cause surging. Just wanted to know if anybody has encountered this. Thank you.

 

[eleven]

Yeah, mine (50/50) does all of that too. Someone correct us but any amount of turbo flutter is bad news, correct?

 

[lemons6245]

https://youtu.be/JtiCgFvRWVQ

Recorded a video of what I'm taking about. While you can not hear the full throttle whistle through the video as much the flutter towards the end is what I'm more concerned about as it does it at half throttle lift off and full.

 

[caliboy15]

Yeah, mine (50/50) does all of that too. Someone correct us but any amount of turbo flutter is bad news, correct?

I've been having flutter with the stock bov for 10k miles now. is it really bad?

 

[boombots]

Yeah I flutter a ton at low rpm stock... I have an intake so you can really hear it. its not great but seems our cars do it some naturally.

Sent from my XT1064 using Tapatalk

 

[TempeST]

There should be an adjustment on the valve itself to loosen up the "activation" I recall watching a video showing that the adjustment on the valve is by moving the vacuum source attachment to the left or right. Have you guys tried that?

 

[eleven]

There should be an adjustment on the valve itself to loosen up the "activation" I recall watching a video showing that the adjustment on the valve is by moving the vacuum source attachment to the left or right. Have you guys tried that?

My understanding is that the adjustment is to add or remove spring tension against the piston to keep it sealed while idling and that the adjustment has zero effect on the activation of the valve.

 

[TempeST]

I'm pretty sure the adjustment also adjusts the valve tension as that is how it works on my Synapse DV+ I had to have it loosened all the way then tighten one turn for it to activate correctly with no "flutter" or compressor surge. loosened all the way it would be closed at idle but when cruising it would open up slightly. so I had to tighten it some so it would not, but not too tight as it would not activate unless at full boost. It's worth a shot. I would start by going as loose as it can go or a little tighter and see if that works out, then adjust as needed.

 

[Rejeme]

There is no adjustment on the plum back. The only adjustment available is to go with the lower power green spring or cutting the spring. I had to cut my spring in half in order to get the piston to open under vacuum. The TS plum back gave me a headache for a while. I was hearing a lot of flutter under heavy acceleration and I'm running a stock air box. I first noticed that the piston was not moving at all when hot. Sure, it moved freely on my bench when at room temp but not when hot and attached to the turbo. Even with the spring off, the piston would not move once the valve heated up. As a note, this was using the TS machine oil. The tolerances on the piston are too tight, and add to that, the slightest uneven or over tightening of the three fasteners were contributors. I first had to use some fine steel wool, a drill with a large Allen socket and some metal polish to slightly reduce the diameter of the piston to allow it to move when hot. The next issue was the spring tension was too great. You can't see the movement of the brass piston on the plum back with the unit mounted. To solve this, I reinstalled the stocker and placed the TS unit on my cowl with the vacuum line connected and drove around to see when and how fast the unit was opening and closing. After cutting numerous coils off of the softer green spring and adding a couple washers to fine tune, it works as advertised. It was a pain to get it working properly, but worth it. I no longer experience any part throttle rapid opening and closing of the electric OE unit. It also holds 25psi with no problem.

 

[Rejeme]

To check to see if the piston is moving, I would get the car up to operating temp. Then remove the cap and spring from the valve while still hot being careful not to scald myself. I would then check to see that the piston would be able to be moved. The tolerances need to be tight, yes, but not so much that the heat expands the aluminum and brass so much to where everything seizes. If the piston moves freely, then your issue may lie with spring tension. The unit may flutter slightly during light throttle, but should let out an audible venting sound under heavy throttle applications.

 

[lemons6245]

So I purchased the green spring from Turbosmart along with the lube and seals to pretty much rebuild the valve. When I got the green spring and took the valve apart I noticed that the spring that came out was painted half green and half orange. The oe spring that came out of the plumb back was softer then the green spring from Turbosmart. I installed it anyway and tightened down the nipple on top of the valve. Upon test drive after I noticed that the wot whistle I was getting was gone (assume it was due to the nut for the nipple ontop not being tight) and also the flutter at wot was gone. Awesome! Well not exactly. At low boost or even vacuum there is a ton of flutter. Back to taking the valve out. Took it out and reinstalled the oe spring, but I cut half a coil off the top of the spring. Went for a test drive, still getting excessive vacuum and light boost flutter, but wot there is not flutter. This valve is starting to drive me crazy haha

 

[Cichlid]

this is exactly the same issues as my turbo smart valve good information here I didn't see this thread when I posted about mine annoying that ill have to "fix" it to make it work properly considering how much it was I feel that's unacceptable mine seems to not open up when hot as well

 

[alphanumeric]

So would you guys recommend passing on this part? I had wanted to purchase the plum back and eventually run slightly higher boost pressure. Also for the sound but I don't want it obnoxiously loud, just a happy medium.
Don't recommend it?

 

[DP03]

Guys, this is a perfect example of "don't fuck with it if its not broke".

You're gonna get your doors blown off by stock setups.