[rosullivan04]

For quite some time now I've had an elusive case of 30FFs being thrown by my car. My buddy and I have spent a lot of time etc. trying to troubleshoot it and have not had any luck at all so far. The mods on the car are relatively light, consisting of a VFSF chargepipe w/ previously a TiAL BOV and now a SSQV V4 BOV and DCI. I've clamped, reclamped etc. all my lines etc, as well as every single vacuum line has been replaced. It's running MHD, various versions and seems to 30FF no matter what tune I run. It even 30FF'd while I was running 100% stock during some recent warranty work.

A few weeks ago we did a leakdown test and weren't able to find any apparent leaks, though we weren't able to go very high due to the pressure regulator not being very precise below 20PSI. I'll sometimes go days, and even weeks with no 30FF then they will start up again. Here's a few log pulls from a few weeks ago; we've noticed my wastegate duty cycle seems odd, along with me not reaching boost targets quickly. I DO have wastegate rattle, but the dealer swears it's within spec. We also swapped boost solenoids with my friends known-good N54, which made no impact whatsoever. Here's a few pulls I did a few weeks ago:

http://datazap.me/u/rosullivan04/ful...og=0&data=4-23
http://datazap.me/u/rosullivan04/ful...=1&data=4-6-23

A recent development I noticed yesterday is that if I go above 110+MPH I am 100% guaranteed to get 30FF thrown by the DME, regardless of the throttle input. We don't think there's any leaks based upon the testing we've done, but perhaps we've missed something. This was happening with the stock charge pipe and stock diverter valves as well back when I had to return to stock for carbon cleaning (4K miles ago). At this point we are completely at a loss and am wondering if someone has any suggestions short of taking it somewhere and having them rip it apart and see what's gone wrong. Any advice anyone has that could help me track it down would be tremendously appreciated. Thank you!

[TrollToll]

Originally Posted by rosullivan04

For quite some time now I've had an elusive case of 30FFs being thrown by my car. My buddy and I have spent a lot of time etc. trying to troubleshoot it and have not had any luck at all so far. The mods on the car are relatively light, consisting of a VFSF chargepipe w/ previously a TiAL BOV and now a SSQV V4 BOV and DCI. I've clamped, reclamped etc. all my lines etc, as well as every single vacuum line has been replaced. It's running MHD, various versions and seems to 30FF no matter what tune I run. It even 30FF'd while I was running 100% stock during some recent warranty work.

A few weeks ago we did a leakdown test and weren't able to find any apparent leaks, though we weren't able to go very high due to the pressure regulator not being very precise below 20PSI. I'll sometimes go days, and even weeks with no 30FF then they will start up again. Here's a few log pulls from a few weeks ago; we've noticed my wastegate duty cycle seems odd, along with me not reaching boost targets quickly. I DO have wastegate rattle, but the dealer swears it's within spec. We also swapped boost solenoids with my friends known-good N54, which made no impact whatsoever. Here's a few pulls I did a few weeks ago:

http://datazap.me/u/rosullivan04/ful...og=0&data=4-23
http://datazap.me/u/rosullivan04/ful...=1&data=4-6-23

A recent development I noticed yesterday is that if I go above 110+MPH I am 100% guaranteed to get 30FF thrown by the DME, regardless of the throttle input. We don't think there's any leaks based upon the testing we've done, but perhaps we've missed something. This was happening with the stock charge pipe and stock diverter valves as well back when I had to return to stock for carbon cleaning (4K miles ago). At this point we are completely at a loss and am wondering if someone has any suggestions short of taking it somewhere and having them rip it apart and see what's gone wrong. Any advice anyone has that could help me track it down would be tremendously appreciated. Thank you!

In my case I replaced basically the entire pressure side of the intake system and all vacuum lines and still had the issue. There are no leaks anywhere but it still have the issue. I can't make it through 3rd gear wide open without the 30FF. The wastegates have quite a bit of wear and slop, but no rattle. I highly suspect the wastegates are failing to fully close.

[rosullivan04]

I'm very concerned I'm running into the same problem too. I'm around 99,250 miles on my rig... how many do you have?

[feuer]

Originally Posted by Yournamehere90

In my case I replaced basically the entire pressure side of the intake system and all vacuum lines and still had the issue. There are no leaks anywhere but it still have the issue. I can't make it through 3rd gear wide open without the 30FF. The wastegates have quite a bit of wear and slop, but no rattle. I highly suspect the wastegates are failing to fully close.

Originally Posted by rosullivan04

I'm very concerned I'm running into the same problem too. I'm around 99,250 miles on my rig... how many do you have?

Adjust the wastegate and try again. Also, another codes other than 30ff ? Often when n54 goes into limp mode due to other reason than a boost leak the 30ff will show anyhow.

[rosullivan04]

Hmm, neither my friend nor I have ever adjusted wastegates on N54s before; I'll have to find a FAQ on it and try that out, thank you! There's no other codes being thrown; it's literally just 30FF. Not even at 100% throttle oftentimes, just when moderately accelerating. It's so extremely random that it's been very difficult to pin down unless I do 110+MPH.

[feuer]

Originally Posted by rosullivan04

Hmm, neither my friend nor I have ever adjusted wastegates on N54s before; I'll have to find a FAQ on it and try that out, thank you! There's no other codes being thrown; it's literally just 30FF. Not even at 100% throttle oftentimes, just when moderately accelerating. It's so extremely random that it's been very difficult to pin down unless I do 110+MPH.

You need 3.5mm 4 to 6ft long diesel fuel line, vacuum pump, 4mm and 10mm stubby wrenches.

[Rob335i]

I'm having the same issue only in 4th gear above 100 mph

[sloweste9x]

I had this problem too, my friend's shop told me while it rattled it was not leaking any boost. Swapped the turbos and no more code! It would underboost every day anytime I got on it

[Tim603]

My wastegates get stuck open every now and again (107,000 miles orig turbos) and I get this code. Goes away shortly after

[GaryR13G]

120k miles, got the 30FF with the tune and on long WOT pulls with stock on the highway. It's your wastegates man, adjust the rear one and good luck with the front one. I ended up spacing the actuator out with washers to make it work "right" again. I ran around like you chasing my tail trying to find leaks, and that fixed it completely.

[rosullivan04]

My buddy and I are looking for a FAQ now to see what's involved to do that. I'll definitely try that if it'll buy me a few more months to save up for better replacement turbos. Thank you!!!

[BlueArcher]

http://www.hexonautowerks.com/products_list_5.htm

[rosullivan04]

Let's try tightening them up first tiger, so I can save up money to upgrade, lol

[nukezero]

I've been chasing 30FF issues since June. Replaced just about everything like vacuum lines and boost solenoids and smoke test at the shop.

If you have 100k miles on the stock turbos, then it is safe to say, 99.9% your wastegate door is getting jammed periodically. The shop pulled the turbos and I was able to inspect that the front turbo wastegate bushing gets jammed and that's why I got boost leak.

There is no way around this other than to replace the turbos. There is a bushing fix but you won't find many shops willing to do that work and for the amount of money to do it, you might as well buy a new OEM turbo for like $600.

Expect to replace turbos every 100k+ miles. I got 124k miles before the front turbo bushing wore out and jammed open. Another tell-tale sign is that it will leak so much exhaust your exhaust tone gets louder.

[rosullivan04]

I'm thinking the same thing, sadly enough. I flashed 100% stock and I'm going to put stock parts back on tomorrow. Here's a lot with 100% stock flash on the DME:

http://datazap.me/u/rosullivan04/sto...=0&data=4-6-23