ok, just about winkled out the problem but just before  I dip back into the mastercard account I thought I would look for a bit of advice, had a problem that I suspected was overboost, bought a boost gauge hooked it up and whaddaya know, -20 hg on idle which is great, cruising and all is good increases to 5 psi when at moderate accelation but hard out jumps straight to about 18-20 psi, wtf I thought, did some searching, removed the hose feeding to the boost solenoid and ran a closed loop from the turbo outlet straight to the wastegate actuator, repeated and it never went over 7psi, engine ran awesome right round to 5500 before changing gear, ok I though, remove solenoid, off to ford shop where they quoted me 200 plus gst ex auckland, googled them up and can get ex aussie off ebay for about 42 dollars, all good, thought before I will do it, try the carb cleaner and wd forty trick, did so bolted back on, checked pipes were connected correctly and same issue, way too high boost. Sooooo am I in the right track here, do I buy another boost solenoid ex ebay or am I missing something, forgot to mention, after wd 40 process hooked up to battery and bench tested blowing through tube and solenoid clicks and closed diverting air to what looks like the black cover at bottom of solenoid, any help guys before I spend more, am thinking if not the solenoid then maybe the ecu has been mapped to some crazy boost pressure for a previous motor.

forgot to mention, BA mk1 , bought with blown motor, number one conrod out side of motor.

well, it certainly sounds like the previous tune it had in it grenaded the motor, which is now causing you to overboost massively. If it's stock, I'd be taking it straight to a tuner to put a stock tune back in and then check with the current solenoid and if it works, you don't need to buy a new solenoid. If it doesn't work, then a replacement solenoid is a good starting point.

You've shown that the solenoid works so it either isn't getting a signal at all (broken wire or pin/plug issue etc), the tune is asking for mondo boost or perhaps something else is going on.

 

Maybe I'm remembering wrong but doesn't the boost solenoid wiring start on a separate plug on the passenger side near the pcm?

hmmm  mine is on the drivers side below the fuse box, but will give ford a call tomorrow and see if I can book it in for a retune to standard, no good tuners that I am aware of in Blenheim, nearest I think will be chch.

Again thanks guys, will keep you posted.

That's where the solenoid is but the wiring starts on the other side of the car.

ok thanks, I notice I have one connection coming out of the front of the ecu housing on the passenger side that does not have a connection to it, could this be it? perhaps I have not connected something up when I put the engine in. looks like just a two wire connection and was folded in under the housing.

does seem likely that it's not connected... the loom goes from the 3rd plug on the ECU over the front rail and down under the fuse box to the actual solenoid. I'd follow it all of the way with wire continuity testing to ensure that's not your problem.

bump

ok so where I am at, just to be sure I am on the right track have replaced both lines to and from the boost solenoid with 4mm vacuum lines, no change, removed and cleaned with wd40 and replaced the boost pressure sensor, no change, so have bit the bullet and bought a turbo smart 7psi wastegate actuator which I intend to start the replacement process tonight, rough plan, car on ramps, remove turbo piping, think I have to loosen k plate but not remove, remove exhaust dump manifold, then should be piece of cake to remove old actuator and replace, only issue looks to be perhaps the c clip but will see how we go. Also when I hooked up the line to the wastegate actuator I could relatively easily blow through the line , tried it with the new actuator from TS and no way I could get any air through it.

On 12/09/2018 at 3:18 PM, pdidily6401 said:

ran a closed loop from the turbo outlet straight to the wastegate actuator, repeated and it never went over 7psi,

This tells us that the diaphragm in the wastegate is fine or at least isn't completely stuffed.

 

2 hours ago, pdidily6401 said:

I hooked up the line to the wastegate actuator I could relatively easily blow through the line

This tells us that the diaphragm is stuffed.

 

You could run a hose again like the first time, chuck a noid light on the (extended to the cabin) wiring and see if the solenoid is getting a signal.