[B4RSTiwsnc]

It seems lately when I am at WOT the car doesnt pull normal from 4500-6000. It feels like there is a flat spot of power that was not like that before when I went stg 2 two weeks ago. The CEL comes on at idle because there is an exhaust leak where the turbo exhaust housing and dp are since 2 bolts are missing. I am going to fix that in the next week or two. However, those bolts have always been off, but the power was fine until recently. What could the issue be?

[tyler_sti]

I feel the same thing. I belive it has to do with the ecu learning daily driving habits. Unless you're constantly flooring it it won't feel as responsive. Because when I'm at the track after a few laps the car gets super responsive. Kinda cool, and annoying at the same time.

[explor4u]

Same here! Installed Stage 2 two weeks ago, and now I am experiencing the same thing, no cells though. At WOT the car feels like something is pushing it the other way (the sound is there, but from 4500rpm and up the car feels slow to me).

[Turbineguy]

Have any of you had a significant air temp change recently?

[WRX4ME LE 482]

When you first put on your stuff and get it tuned, it quickly (should) go up to full IAM. This means you will be running 100% timing everywhere. Then after wotting a lot, your car "learns" to pull timing in knock prone areas. So one possibility is that your car is pulling gobs of timing in the high load areas that you would only reach when you floor it.

Also, keep in mind our cars are programmed to reduce boost as RPMs climb (past 5000 or so) cause our turbo is small and doesnt boost well that high. Even if you set our systems up to hold full boost all the way to redline, the power diminishes pretty rapidly post 5k.

ALSO, not sure about this one, but I think our engines alone make a torque curve that tends to taper off mid RPM band, unlike some cars that have power that climbs and climbs. Combine this with a turbo that does the same thing. The effect is our torque curve looks like a mountain. It goes waay up, and then comes waay down. This is the reason you dont shift at redline on the dragstrip.

[B4RSTiwsnc]

air temp change yes it went from 50 during the day to 70 and that is when i started noticing the change

[StylesJim]

Originally Posted by tyler_sti

Unless you're constantly flooring it it won't feel as responsive. Because when I'm at the track after a few laps the car gets super responsive. Kinda cool, and annoying at the same time.

I feel the same way. Although I don't go to the track, I notice my car feels like a pig If I have been driving it like one. For instance... after a week of driving a few cold miles to work, my car never really had a chance to warm up so I never really got on it. Come the weekend, it was sluggish as all hell until I was a bit more aggressive with it. I actually started a thread about this a few months back. Although my thoughts were kind of shut down, I still feel if you drive your car like a terd, it will act like a terd.

What causes a tune to loose its edge?

A few months back, I had to disconnect the battery for a bit, which also cause the tune to reset. When I took it out for a drive it was a night and day difference. The car realized it was a puss anymore (due to my driving) and was going nuts.

[WRX4ME LE 482]

^Thing is, the car doesnt learn to perform badly because you've babied it. It pulls timing based on knock, and if you've got alot of timing pulled, it probably means youve pushed it too hard, too often (or used sub-standard gasoline).

And yes, the hotter it gets, the weaker it will feel. Not only will the ECU pull more timing from knock in the hotter weather, but you will hit significantly lower loads (air is less dense). In fact, there's quite a big difference between 50 and 90 degrees, so you can imagine there would be some difference from 50 to 70.

[StylesJim]

Maybe my situation is different than the OP then... mine feels just as fast after a week of slow driving, its just that the gas pedal is not as responsive at first.

[Tortfeasor STi]

The car's ECU makes many adjustments based on many parameters. Its not just as simple as it sees knock and pulls timing. When it sees knock it does pull timing, but this is not the only time it pulls timing. I know just in driving around town, regardless of temperature, that if I have been babying it, it gets slow. All it takes to cure it is a couple of 2-3-4 WOT pulls to make it more responsive.

[B4RSTiwsnc]

i went out and ran the car on 3 or 4 wot and it feels like it hits a brick wall at 5500rpm on....

[B4RSTiwsnc]

still the same^ this is really starting to piss me off since it ran fine a few weeks ago...

[B4RSTiwsnc]

BTW the boost gauge was reading .9 bar to 1.3 bar...

[explor4u]

I hear you man! My car is doing the same thing, but I feel the drop in power at 6000rpm and up. Would an ECU reset solve the problem?

[B4RSTiwsnc]

that what i was thinking ^ or at least a wideband so I can see what the AFR's are doing