To tune or Not to tune?

[supraheelfan]

Yes the car ran a lot better with no problems before intercooler install and now i Found out it was the AFM and I got 3 of them afm sensors laying around and it seems it just needs to be upgraded so it can handle the more airflow and performance. Even the back up sensors are having problems with the idle and increased airflow for some reason. I forgot to mention I have a MLS head gasket with ARP head bolts also so just to throw that in there i Know the engine can handle a little bit of boost and rpm's. Do you suggest a Maft pro so I can change to a GM sensor or is that not a good idea?

[supraheelfan]

I have another problem, every time I put the intercooler pipes on the car it looses boost and power. I pull over to check the problem but all the pipes are still attached but oil is coming out of certain pipes and I was wondering if I have to have all the right metal couplers in the right place where the pipes have beads that the metal couplings grab on to so it doesn't have any leaks? What would cause the pressure to blow oil out of the intercooler piping to make it not run right and bog out all the freaking time.

[btwilson86]

Oil is coming out of the intercooler pipes at the couplers? That's a boost leak. Since oil is thicker than air, if oil is leaking air is definitely leaking. That's probably your lack of power and boost. That is also most likely your vacuum leak causing your rough idle, unless you've fixed that already.

I still don't believe your problem is a tune, your car is not significantly drawing any more air in at idle than it was before. Your problems (to me) seem more likely to be a vacuum/boost leak, which it seems you have confirmed oil seeping. To answer your question, you do not need any additional bracing to stop your pipes from leaking. I have the generic intercooler kit you see all over eBay with the 2.5" hard pipes, and I have nothing supporting them other than what they attach to. It took awhile, but after tightening them several times after running the car, I was finally able to seal the connections and no longer have vacuum/boost leaks.

The oil leaking into your pipes may likely be from a bad seal in the turbo or possibly oil from the pcv system.

[btwilson86]

I reread your last post, what type of intercooler pipes do you have? Are they v-band style, do they use silicone couplers, or are they something else?

[supraheelfan]

I got silicone couplings from the Driftmotion intercooler they sell; the one with the inlet and outlet on the same side.

[supraheelfan]

I don't see how the turbo itself is bad but the gasket could need some attention and that might also cause this problem?

[btwilson86]

Yeah, I really doubt the turbo is bad as well. The seal I was talking about is internal to the turbo, and should be new with the rebuild. I don't know if its normal or not, but when I got my new-to-me 57 trim from Driftmotion, mine did leak a little oil into the compressor side (I poured oil in the CHRA to lube bearings and such before install). My understanding is this is normal, and turbos normally do seep a little oil into the cold side.

I had to tighten the $hit out of my silicone couplers, way tighter than I thought they should be, in order to stop the leaks I had