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Old 11-14-2012, 02:48 PM   #1
guroove
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Default Blouch 18g-xt wastegate actuator issue

I got a call this morning from the shop that just installed a new shortblock and Blouch 18g-xt turbo into my Forester XT. They were working on a break-in map and told me the boost was very high, and wanted to confirm what wastegate actuator I had. They said they pressure tested it, and it only started to open at 22-25 psi.

I called Blouch, and they told me it was an 18 psi actuator. I asked if they could send me a different WGA, and they without hesitation told me absolutely not. I asked if I could purchase one that opens at a lower psi, and they were adamant that these turbos were made to run at this psi.

The shop seems pretty certain that the wastegate is not opening, and they don't feel comfortable dyno tuning the car with this turbo. Blouch is not willing to do anything to fix the issue. What are my options at this point?

I tried searching for other WGA options, but I'm not sure what will work with my 18g-xt.
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Old 11-14-2012, 04:56 PM   #2
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Does anyone else think that 18 psi seems rather high for wastegate pressure for this turbo, or does this seem perfectly safe?
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Old 11-14-2012, 06:55 PM   #3
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I had a Blouch 18g 360xt put on my 08 WRX earlier this year. It was one of my only options that fit well with my TMIC. If I recall correctly, I am running at around 18 psi. My tuner said that this was conservative for this turbo; that it could go higher if I got a metal BPV. I'm no turbo specialist, this is just my experience.
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Old 11-14-2012, 07:16 PM   #4
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I know 18psi is fine to run with this turbo, but 18psi is where the wastegate just starts to open. This thing will easily do 22 psi without any intervention from the BCS. I do not want to run boost this high, and my tuner agrees there is something wrong with the turbo. Blouch doesn't want to hear any of it.
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Old 11-14-2012, 11:00 PM   #5
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I can tell you this, Mike from Blouch knows 100% what their Turbo's can do, questioning their judgement is pretty dumb to be honest. I run and 18G-XT at 21psi, I would recommend a Tial 38mm EWG. Free up a lot of hp/tq and it sounds silly when the gate opens.
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Old 11-15-2012, 03:32 AM   #6
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What downpipe are you running? If it's a divorced there is a chance the wastegate isn't opening all the way which could possible cause the high boost
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Old 11-15-2012, 08:36 AM   #7
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Originally Posted by dundunskeert View Post
What downpipe are you running? If it's a divorced there is a chance the wastegate isn't opening all the way which could possible cause the high boost
That's what the initial thought was, but the DP was swapped with a Cobb, and the wastegate flapper is clear to move.

The shop tested the WGA, it is opening with 25 psi, not 18 psi as I previously stated.
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Old 11-15-2012, 05:45 PM   #8
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Originally Posted by WRXSteye20008 View Post
I can tell you this, Mike from Blouch knows 100% what their Turbo's can do, questioning their judgement is pretty dumb to be honest. I run and 18G-XT at 21psi, I would recommend a Tial 38mm EWG. Free up a lot of hp/tq and it sounds silly when the gate opens.
Well it turns out EWG was my only option to get my car done in any reasonable amount of time. Pretty annoyed, considering how long I took finding an older cast cobb up-pipe, and getting it coated.

Blouch has been a total pain to deal with through all of this. I called today to order a replacement wastegate actuator, and they flat out refused. My tuner believes that this is because any actuator I received would only work well enough until we got the boost creep. I'm sure the turbo will be a blast once I get it working, but the customer service has been flat out rude and extremely uncooperative and unhelpful in every possible way.

I know Unabomber thinks these guys are cool as hell, but this was definitely not my experience. I'm sure Mike at Blouch knows what his turbos will do, but not everyone wants to run 22 - 24 psi on these motors. I don't like that the products keep changing, and why the WGA would go from 9psi to 18psi, or why an 18psi actuator wouldn't start to open until 25 psi.

Blouch are a bunch of dicks, and I will never do business with them again. They may make some nice turbos, but customer service was the worst I've ever experienced in my entire history of purchasing products of any kind.
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Old 11-16-2012, 02:20 AM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by guroove View Post
Well it turns out EWG was my only option to get my car done in any reasonable amount of time. Pretty annoyed, considering how long I took finding an older cast cobb up-pipe, and getting it coated.

Blouch has been a total pain to deal with through all of this. I called today to order a replacement wastegate actuator, and they flat out refused. My tuner believes that this is because any actuator I received would only work well enough until we got the boost creep. I'm sure the turbo will be a blast once I get it working, but the customer service has been flat out rude and extremely uncooperative and unhelpful in every possible way.

I know Unabomber thinks these guys are cool as hell, but this was definitely not my experience. I'm sure Mike at Blouch knows what his turbos will do, but not everyone wants to run 22 - 24 psi on these motors. I don't like that the products keep changing, and why the WGA would go from 9psi to 18psi, or why an 18psi actuator wouldn't start to open until 25 psi.

Blouch are a bunch of dicks, and I will never do business with them again. They may make some nice turbos, but customer service was the worst I've ever experienced in my entire history of purchasing products of any kind.
I personally know them and they are all good guys and Mike is by far one of the best people to work with in Turbo's and everything revolving around them, it is very likely you did/said something that you are not mentioning here for them to react in such a manner for them to be 'rude'. Best of luck to you
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Old 11-16-2012, 09:41 AM   #10
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Your experience with them may have been great, but I can tell you, all I told them was that there was an issue with the wastegate actuator, and he started telling me that what I was saying was impossible, and that he would not sell me a replacement actuator. I never asked for them to exchange anything for free. As soon as I said the word "issue," he started acting extremely rude. I never blamed him for anything, I was only relaying the information told to me.
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Old 11-16-2012, 10:02 AM   #11
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We tried to tell you that buying a actuator may not be the fix. I asked the shop to test the base pressure of the actuator to see if it was opening at 15-16 psi. If the actuator was working we could lower the pressure buy adding a few turns to the rod end to lower the pressure to 16-18 psi. If the actuator was at fault we would replace it at no charge to you.

Mike
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Old 11-16-2012, 10:24 AM   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Blouchturbo View Post
We tried to tell you that buying a actuator may not be the fix. I asked the shop to test the base pressure of the actuator to see if it was opening at 15-16 psi. If the actuator was working we could lower the pressure buy adding a few turns to the rod end to lower the pressure to 16-18 psi. If the actuator was at fault we would replace it at no charge to you.

Mike
Sorry, this is totally inaccurate. You told me flat out, and quite rudely that replacing the actuator would not help, and that you would not sell me one that opened at a lower psi. I never once asked you to provide me anything for free. You never once mentioned the possibility of replacing it for free. When I told you that the shop tested it, and it was opening with 25psi of pressure, you told me, and I quote you verbatim, "that's impossible."
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Old 11-16-2012, 10:47 AM   #13
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You wanted to buy a actuator that may not have fixed your issues. We advised against this. I spoke with the stop doing to install to test the actuator base pressure to see if there was an issue. All turbos are tested and calibrated to 18psi with preload when the leave BPT so the higher pressure indicated more pre-load was added to the actuator or maybe damaged. All we needed is a test of the actuator to verify base pressure. Sorry you had a bad experience but we were never rude to you.
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Old 11-16-2012, 10:52 AM   #14
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I requested twice on two different days to purchase a new actuator. I told you that the actuator was tested and opening at 25 psi. You refused to sell me one. On the third day, the car is apart getting EWG installed, and now you say you would have replaced it for free?
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Old 11-16-2012, 10:59 AM   #15
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Why not send it back to them an let them test the turbo? I had some issues with my blouch 18g turbo sent it to them they looked at it replaced some parts and sent it back to me. The turbo should be under warrenty?
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Old 11-16-2012, 11:00 AM   #16
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Also as a company aka blouch I feel from my own experience that you are quick to answer forum post, but not as quick to call on the phone.
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Old 11-16-2012, 11:01 AM   #17
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Quote:
Originally Posted by guroove View Post
I requested twice on two different days to purchase a new actuator. I told you that the actuator was tested and opening at 25 psi. You refused to sell me one. On the third day, the car is apart getting EWG installed, and now you say you would have replaced it for free?
I understand that the actuator was opening at 25psi with preload. We needed them to test the actuator with the swing arm disconnected to test base pressure. I spoke with the install shop about doing this test yesterday.
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Old 11-16-2012, 11:02 AM   #18
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Quote:
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Why not send it back to them an let them test the turbo? I had some issues with my blouch 18g turbo sent it to them they looked at it replaced some parts and sent it back to me. The turbo should be under warrenty?
I would have if I didn't need my car back, and if I could get to it without getting on a plane. My shortblock took a **** when I was 400 miles from home.
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Old 11-16-2012, 11:07 AM   #19
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Sorry to hear about this, I had some preoblems my self with my setup and it took 2 months to get everything settled an working right. Only thing I can say is just be open and things will fall into place..
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Old 11-16-2012, 11:09 AM   #20
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Blouchturbo View Post
I understand that the actuator was opening at 25psi with preload. We needed them to test the actuator with the swing arm disconnected to test base pressure. I spoke with the install shop about doing this test yesterday.
Correct me if you think I'm out of line for thinking this, but when someone pays $1400 for a turbo, they should be able to run a level of boost they, or the tuner feels comfortable with, shouldn't they?

My problem was two-fold: 1) the actuator was opening at a much higher psi than specified, and 2) the specified psi was higher than both I and my tuner were comfortable with.

This is why I wanted to purchase a different actuator. I wanted a 9 psi or 11 psi actuator so my tuner could create a low pressure break-in map. The old 18g had a 9 psi actuator, so it seemed reasonable to me that an 11 psi actuator on a similar turbo would not be too outrageous of a request.
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Old 11-16-2012, 11:13 AM   #21
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Quote:
Originally Posted by guroove View Post
Correct me if you think I'm out of line for thinking this, but when someone pays $1400 for a turbo, they should be able to run a level of boost they, or the tuner feels comfortable with, shouldn't they?

My problem was two-fold: 1) the actuator was opening at a much higher psi than specified, and 2) the specified psi was higher than both I and my tuner were comfortable with.

This is why I wanted to purchase a different actuator. I wanted a 9 psi or 11 psi actuator so my tuner could create a low pressure break-in map. The old 18g had a 9 psi actuator, so it seemed reasonable to me that an 11 psi actuator on a similar turbo would not be too outrageous of a request.
Very true you paid good money for a product, "CUSTOMER IS ALWAYS RIGHT" a saying thats been around for some time now.
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Old 11-16-2012, 11:16 AM   #22
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In this case, the customer is stupid and everything he says is wrong, even if he wants to pay his own money to make it right.
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Old 11-16-2012, 11:58 AM   #23
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Does anyone know if an aftermarket adjustable actuator like Kinugawa will work on a Blouch 18g-xt?
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