The truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth about my last couple of months with my new turbo
- rabtech
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I am not surprised to be honest.
Both Alpha kits I installed smoke pretty bad at idle. And one in particular was getting worse and worse, and when I was installing it, I had to thoroughly clean the inside of every tube because it was full of powder inside. Didn't think to wash the inside of the intercooler, but this might explain the bad smoking issue.
That SS was totaled so not much of an issue anymore but yeah...
Sucks for you man, really does, and far from me to bash Alpha, but this is a known issue from the 1st cold air intakes they shipped.
I remember seing a post about this on the other forum in summer 2015:
Alpha intake lots of aluminum powder left in pipe | Polaris Slingshot Forum
Probably a lot more victims to this that think the issue is the turbo...
Oh well, I will keep my Vi kit and viva Hans and DDM.
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And unfortunatly, I think I had a premonition of this blowing up a 4000$ engine lol, call me Sling Prophet:
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@StreetDoc, I've never drilled and tapped before and will feel more comfortable swapping the oil pan, even though it is a PITA. Sorry to hear about he problem you ran into with your setup. I must admit that reading your thread gave me pause, especially so since I wanted to have a little more pep when accelerating to pass at Interstate speeds! Guess I'll try to stay at relatively low boost for awhile. I originally planned on going with the Hahn Stage 1 setup to get just a little more powere, but with the "Slightly Warm" specials he's offered the cost is roughly the same for either setup.
It also sounds like just using the Innovate SCG-1 to monitor Boost and AFR with a realtivley light spring setting is the way to go until the ECU issues get worked out. I had read about some other folks running into problem trying to get everything performing smoothly. I also ordered the PL-1 data logger to try and keep track of what's going on.
Since I've still got some time before I do the install, I'll need to think about the ARP head-studs and the associated tool to get he proper tightness.
The drilling and tapping was much easier and cheaper than wrestling an oil pan and quite easy. I had zero metal.shavings in my oil the way I did it. GM even has an area specifically for drilling the oil return with a cone indent to guide the bit.You shouldn't have a problem with your motor if you keep the boost reasonable, don't floor it at low RPM in a higher gear, and use only super unleaded fuel.
Did I forget anything?
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@rabtech I don't know that I am following all this...
Where do you guys think the metal flakes came from?
I honestly don't know... I am not sure anyone would be able to say for sure... BUT. I am sure that they were all thru the intake tract. My guess is something super small vibrated out or off of the inside of the neck of the turbo from the inside. OR my guess is it was trapped inside of the intercooler.
Complete guess .....
I am positive that my engine was flawless and the smoke started after the turbo was installed. And the next day while I was driving it I called henry to tell him it was getting worse.
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I honestly don't know... I am not sure anyone would be able to say for sure... BUT. I am sure that they were all thru the intake tract. My guess is something super small vibrated out or off of the inside of the neck of the turbo from the inside. OR my guess is it was trapped inside of the intercooler.
Complete guess .....I am positive that my engine was flawless and the smoke started after the turbo was installed. And the next day while I was driving it I called henry to tell him it was getting worse.
AND lets just be honest here, and admit its NOT the first Alpha kit to smoke badly...
If I had a Alpha kit smoking bad, I would seriously check compression and blowby. Pretty sure you will not be the only one.
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I'm running alpha set up and I've read about the smoke but have never seen it not even in person with someone else's sling. I drilled my intake and I've never seen smoke since day one only issue I mm having is the fuel enrichment. Guessing I just got lucky on mine,have 10k miles with the turbo on and having dealt with any smoking issues hopefully I don't jinx my self now
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The drilling and tapping was much easier and cheaper than wrestling an oil pan and quite easy. I had zero metal.shavings in my oil the way I did it. GM even has an area specifically for drilling the oil return with a cone indent to guide the bit.
You shouldn't have a problem with your motor if you keep the boost reasonable, don't floor it at low RPM in a higher gear, and use only super unleaded fuel.
Did I forget anything?
Initially, I was considering the drilling and tapping route, although I had some concerns, especially after other folks had also expressed their concerns. I was briefly considering a local builder recommended by Hahn who uses the drilling and tapping route because it saves them time, but since I have already ordered the modded pan and it uses different fittings than the drill & tap method, I think I'll just do the pan swap. While it will take a little more time, I've found some relatively clear directions for easing the pan out w/o removing the entire motor and feel comfortable doing that. I must admit that I was a little tempted to save the time, but if I screwed up and ended up breaking my motor, I definitely wouldn't be very happy.
Your comment about not flooring it in a higher gear makes me wonder about using the Cruise Control to Resume speed when in 5th gear. I wonder if that can create enough boost to cause problems. The engine doesn't lug when I do this now, but I wonder if I should minimize using the CC/Resume feature once I go boosted.
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I worked with Inner coolers/Aftercoolers a lot in my field of work. I read where you flushed out your cooler after the metal flakes were found. We have NEVER reused a cooler after a failure, you just cant get all the contamination out. We always replace it, I know it can be pricey but if there was still trapped metal in it, there is always the chance down the road it will work loose and continue on into intake. Its happened to us in the past, lesson learned for us when your talking about a 70k engine you have to eat....
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Initially, I was considering the drilling and tapping route, although I had some concerns, especially after other folks had also expressed their concerns. I was briefly considering a local builder recommended by Hahn who uses the drilling and tapping route because it saves them time, but since I have already ordered the modded pan and it uses different fittings than the drill & tap method, I think I'll just do the pan swap. While it will take a little more time, I've found some relatively clear directions for easing the pan out w/o removing the entire motor and feel comfortable doing that. I must admit that I was a little tempted to save the time, but if I screwed up and ended up breaking my motor, I definitely wouldn't be very happy.
Your comment about not flooring it in a higher gear makes me wonder about using the Cruise Control to Resume speed when in 5th gear. I wonder if that can create enough boost to cause problems. The engine doesn't lug when I do this now, but I wonder if I should minimize using the CC/Resume feature once I go boosted.You are correct in your logic about CC Resume. If you had the cruise set at let's say 80mph and you push resume at 60mph, you will make enough boost to put unwanted low RPM load on the motor. It's just a good habit to get away from. Passing should happen in 3rd and 4th gear and turbo users should be more concerned about low RPM boost load than running their machine towards the redline.
Many people have commented on feeling a vibration or shake during low RPM acceleration. That is the load you are trying to avoid. Treat 5th truly as an overdrive. Best for cruising gas mileage and for acceleration speeds over 100mph.
Supercharger people - nothing to see here. [/b] -
Make sure you run with at least a half tank of gas.
When running hard.
The slingshot has no baffles in the fuel tank and with low fuel levels the fuel will get air bubbles and fuel pressure will drop.
Cause lean conditions -
Your comment about not flooring it in a higher gear makes me wonder about using the Cruise Control to Resume speed when in 5th gear. I wonder if that can create enough boost to cause problems. The engine doesn't lug when I do this now, but I wonder if I should minimize using the CC/Resume feature once I go boosted.
Been using cruise control as appropriate with my boosted motor for over 8,000 problem-free miles now. -
Supercharger people - nothing to see here. [/b]
Sure there is, information is always good!!
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Your comment about not flooring it in a higher gear makes me wonder about using the Cruise Control to Resume speed when in 5th gear. I wonder if that can create enough boost to cause problems. The engine doesn't lug when I do this now, but I wonder if I should minimize using the CC/Resume feature once I go boosted.
you will be fine with boost and cruise control....
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Supercharger people - nothing to see here. [/b]
Sure there is, information is always good!!
Seems like a lot of R&D going on with the Turbos after install..Is long term engine health a better bet with superchargers?
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Seems like a lot of R&D going on with the Turbos after install..Is long term engine health a better bet with superchargers?
Based on what I researched it is and safer. However it also boils down to the driver and abuse. But the general consensus is supercharger is safer.
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We used both, but in todays world, our engines all use Turbos, they are quite dependable when used as intended.
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Make sure you run with at least a half tank of gas.
When running hard.
The slingshot has no baffles in the fuel tank and with low fuel levels the fuel will get air bubbles and fuel pressure will drop.
Cause lean conditionsI believe that is called StickerDick syndrome
