First impressions of my esmeril turbo kit day 1
 

I just picked up my rx8 earlier today it was in the shop for a week getting the esmeril turbo kit put in( version 4.0 ). I still am in the break in period for the turbo I have put about 200 miles on it so far. First impression is wow!! This kit turned my car into a rocket ship! And the sound of the turbo and bov is so loud and awesome it can't be matched. The only 2 bad things I've noticed is that the car has a rough idle and at times seems like it may even stall out. Is this because the engine is just getting used to the turbo? The other thing I noticed is a stutter or hesitation right before the boost kicks in. I suspect this is because I have not had the ECU fine tuned yet but could this be anything else? Thanks guys!

Great stuff - go join the 'boosted overlords ' club :)

What are you tuning with ?

esmeril kit
 

https://www.rx8club.com/picture.php?...543139&thumb=1i will pick up my car next week sound great this a pic

Good advice I will do that! I am running the microtech and I was actually going to have chris from esmeril fine tune for me. We are trying to work something out atm

Yep that's exactly what my engine looks like now :) I see you are using the small battery as well. I had trouble starting the car at first with that battery I had to charge it up for about 20 mins first

Does anyone know if it is normal for my car to have a rough idle right after having a turbo kit put in? I'm still running the pre loaded base map on the ECU until I get it fine tuned. Also I'm having a stutter right before boost kicks in... Will tuning fix this?? Anyone please?!

The microtech needs substantial tweaking to get a decent idle - it will probably never be great even then.
You would need to log the afrs and timing to see what is happening for the stutter .


Flash tuning (Cobb/Protuner) will idle like stock BTW.

Ok well that puts my mind at ease a little bit I was hoping it wasn't something terribly wrong. Is there anyway to flash tune the microtech? I heard that Cobb doesn't work with it. Also I have an afr

Ok well that puts my mind at ease a little bit I was hoping it wasn't something terribly wrong. Is there anyway to flash tune the microtech? I heard that Cobb doesn't work with it. Also I have an afr gauge installed but it wasn't reading out my afr levels for some reason. I'm hoping that once I fine tune these things will go away

No - Microtech is a stand alone . Flash tuning is what the Cobb does .

I heard you could get parts that would make it work with the Cobb.


Have a look at your AFR gauge and see what happens as you transition into boost - that will give you an idea of what is happening.
All a bit academic if you are to get it tuned soon though .

Just stay out of boost til you do :)

+1...

I heard you could get parts that would make it work with the Cobb.


Have a look at your AFR gauge and see what happens as you transition into boost - that will give you an idea of what is happening.
All a bit academic if you are to get it tuned soon though .
[/QUOTE]

Do you think it would be better to try and get the parts to make the Cobb work with it or just run the microtech? I'm going to just take it easy until I get tuned

It's so tempting to go into boost!! but I'm inclined to agree with you

Brettus I'm going to repost this since I messed up the last response. ( on my phone ) do you think I should try to get the parts for the Cobb to work with it or just run the microtech?

It's been proven time and time again on here that the Cobb works better - way better . I believe MM's service is acceptable now (used to be terrible) so worth it IMO .

:icon_tup:

ok that sounds good and really thanks for all the responses it's been a great help. So where might I go to find the parts to make it work with Cobb or just switch the whole thing to Cobb

From the mazdaparts website :

Nope.. At least not when I purchased mine. They had just switched to the microtech from the int-x but I think I read that they might be offering it now or they will be soon I just checked the website and didn't see anything about using Cobb... :(

Ok yeah I knew I saw that somewhere I just couldn't remember where... But I guess it isn't yet available.

If you only have 200 miles on your newly installed turbo engine, I would highly recommend that you stay off boost until about 1000 miles or so to let everything properly broken in. Your car comes with a stock map which will run very very rich after 6000 rpm which may cause engine to strutter. Your engine is not tune yet so make sure you drive it easy for a while or until Chris show up to work on your car. I have esmeril kit on my car too since 2008 or so and it has been reliable. Your car will run like a different car once it is tuned. And you will be paying more at the gas pump just so you know. Those 1000cc injectors really drink fuel if you are in boost often.

Do a search on my car if you want to know more about the kit. Microtech is not as good as cobb. It will idle fine but it won't be as smooth as cobb. I also recommend you run your turbo engine with methanal for safety. I run 50/50 on mine. Good luck.

all you need to do is move the maf pre turbo. This will make the car pull through instead of blow through. Having a pull through system, with the maf pre turbo, you can tune using a cobb.

That all said, I hear mazdamaniac may have the skills to tune a blow through with a cobb but that was just words I heard blowing in the wind :lol: you would have to ask him.

oh boy.
OD

I highly suggest that you do some study on how to properly break in a newly installed turbo engine. Do some study about other people car that have similar mod to yours. I just don't want to hear you blow up your engine in a hurry and blame it on the kit. If the engine is not yet tuned, stay off boost just to be safe.

you need to tune it...that's it....just be patience. and you will be fine...
just try to stay away from the boost..where do you live?
steven

I live in Pittsburgh, PA. I am definitely going to take it easy until I can get tuned better.

I am going to lay off the boost until I can get my car properly tuned. Are there any good tuning shops around the Pittsburgh area? I have had no luck finding any that's why I ask Chris to help with the tune

In the instructions I got for the turbo it said not to go over 2psi for the first 500 miles. So would you guys say I'd be ok as long as I keep it at 2psi or under?

Yes

Funny guy. I guess having your car tuned after only a few months was just unacceptable. Those folks that had to wait for the better part of a year or longer for a date with Kan or someone similar and pay 5 times as much (or just live with a crappy running car for who knows how long) musta been real rubes, right?
Now that the service is nearly instant, I guess the price (practically free) is more palatable?

Dude - during the "terrible" times, for every complainer there were as many as one hundred other customers out there that were out-of-their-minds satisfied.

Honestly, with the way people are starting to abuse the new system, I think I may go back to the old method.
I can deal with 1 out of every 100 customers bitching and moaning.

So, in a word, STFU. :buttslay:

Not a requirement, just easier.

The tube the MAF is in - regardless of its placement - must adhere to all the same requirements.

MazdaManiac, if i wanted you to do the tune for my car how would i go about doing this?

Uh, click the link in my SIG? :101384_l:

Cool. well i have the microtech installed in mine right now could i still get this done?

I think you know what the real solution is.........

i just went out and started my car up to take it for a drive to break in the turbo a little more and i noticed something was leaking underneath. it was oil and when i looked under the front left side the whole side of the frame was covered in oil and it seemd to just be covering the whole front left side of the frame. does anyone know where this could be coming from???

Of the 5-6 people i had direct contact with who were on your service - ALL of them bitched about the time it was taking . 3 of them to the point of giving up and looking for alternatives . Guess I must have just attracted the moaners.


Wow - only you could turn an endorsement of your service into a "STFU" ...

Several places - if we told you what the possibilities were would that help ? Sounds like you are not the sort of guy that owns any tools .

yes any advice would be helpul. and no i am not much of a diy person im just hoping this isnt something terrible that has happened. i checked the oil and it still has plenty but i know its leaking from somewhere.

Well - something terrible will happen if you don't fix the leak ;)

Most likely source on LHS is the oil pressure sender - where they would have t'd into for an oil feed to the turbo . So trace that line on the turbo back to the block and check it .

Or did they fit a sandwich plate under the filter for the oil takeoff ?

no i dont think they did that under the filter. im going to check that line right now. And it would be the right side if you are looking at it head on i should have specified.

You are talking about the line that runs from the turbo to the oil filter right? i cheked that line with the car off and i didnt see anything that looked like oil was leaking but it did look like the puddle of oil was directly beneath the oil filter:confused:

Yes that line . Why not check it with the car running ? :rolleyes:

If the leak is not huge you should just drive it back to the workshop that did the install and have them fix it . How quickly is the oil leaking out ?

im going to check it with the car running now and put it up on the ramps to get a look under. I had an oil temp. gauge installed where he had to tap into something for that do you think it could be leaking from this? when i first started the car there was a puddle but it seemed to slow down a bit after the car was running for a minute. it was not leaking out terrible fast i could not see anything dripping to the ground i just saw a frame covered in oil

How was "Meh - it's sorta OK 'cuz it doesn't suck royally now" an endorsement?

I don't think I'd get away with murder that many times.

Oil supply for the turbo at the turbo itself or the pressure sender or sandwich plate (as Brettus has suggested).

Also, the turbo oil drain line at either end.

The installer may have disconnected other oil lines and not replaced them correctly - the supply and return for the oil coolers, etc.

exact position of the leak is directily under where my new smaller battery sits in between the intake piping and fuse box. It is actually leaking through pretty quickly if i sit somewhere for one minute there will be a puddle where i was parked. :crying:

I looked through the left front hand side wheel well and the oil is definitely leaking from right behind the front bumper there is this damn piece of plastic that is right in the way of where the leak is coming from. i need to pop the rivets out and have a look. i know there is an oil cooler there so maybe its coming from that i am not sure what he had to tap into for the oil temp gauge.

This is so sad. I hope this 8 makes it. ER, make sure your oil levels stay topped and if you are not confident in your ability to find and fix the leak then please tow it in. A small leak could cost you an engine in a second especially under boost.

Found the leak! its coming from the big hose running into the oil cooler.

Very interesting. Thanks for sharing your impressions. Im really considering this turbo kit for next year. How much did the shop charge you for the install and how long did they take ??

Good luck fixing the oil leak bro.