I hate to air my dirty laundry but I don’t know what else to do.
first the configuration:
The synapse diverter valve (DV) has 2 vacuum ports on top, A and B. I have had mine configured to recirculate and to vent to atmosphere at different times, but mostly venting to atmosphere just because of the sound.
I have since changed the configuration to recirculate the boost. Still not good. When on boost my AFR drops to 12 but as RPM’s go up so does the AFR until 6500 it hits 14.8!! it does this no matter how low I set the control pressure. I removed the DV completely and now my AFR stays at 12.1-12.5 at 6500.
The original problem:
My AFR’s where very lean at cruise. 16.5. so I was having to run it very rich to get them down to 15 and make it drivable. I was only using one of the ports at the time. I pulled the DV off and found BOTH vac ports were not holding vacuum and leaking to atmosphere. As soon as I plugged both ports together my AFR IMMEDIATELY went rich. It was down in the upper 11’s lower 12’s. something was still wrong because If I set the AFR’s up above 12.8 or 13, the car ran bad so I had to keep running it rich. (now i look back and think the DV was staying open). The engineer ,Peter, confirmed that it was open but says it is suppose to be and that was not my problem. More on that later.
I took the DV apart and found that the piston was rubbing on the valve body and had worn away part of the finish and perhaps metal and that was why it was leaking. See pics. One side had wear, the other had 2 “nicks” or grooves.
The warranty:
So I send it back to synapse. Short story, they tell me it WAS leaking but they put new seals in it and put grease in it and it was fine and it was tested at 65psi.
The problem with synapse, the BS and the lies:
So I sent the DV to them on 1/13. I call about 10 days later. They don’t have it and don’t know where it is even though they signed for it 4days after I shipped it. Several phone calls later over the next 5 weeks I am told the story above. It was tested to 60 psi and it is fine. I finally get it back on 2/23. 6 WEEKS!
I get the valve and first thing I notice is only 2 screws were put back in the top (see pic). Next thing I do is test the ports. Port B will open the valve and hold vac. Port A will NOT open the valve and will not hold a vacuum. So I call them back. At this point I am so madd I am shaking. I get, what sounds like a 15 yr old, Darden. He feeds all the crap that the thing was tested to 60 psi (remember this) and if they send me a new one it will just do the same thing blah blah blah. He finally agrees to send me one but want s me to put mine on my car to test it. ??? so I did. Once again I think it sent me down the wrong road because I had it vented to atmosphere and I think the valve was open at idle.
2 weeks later NO DV! I call and get darden. His response was: “I thought you were going to test yours on your car”. We go round and round about the port leaking vacuum and I complain that with the wear on the valve body and just putting Orings in it and grease was not a “fix” for a bad valve. I keep getting the “we tested to to 60 psi” and “how does it work on the car”. He says that if he sends me a new one it will just do the same thing???
Finally I get the engineer(CEO) on the phone (peter). Here is were the lies and BS really start to fly.
1. He tells me that I should not use port A alone. Either port B or port A+B. look in the manual for the DV. It says it can be configured A, B, A+B. what is correct? The manual or peter?
2. He tells me that when I plugged the leaking vacuum port, that likely opened the valve and made it run rich at idle(vented to atmosphere). He claims that at idle the turbo is pushing air out of the DV when it is open, thus less air is going to the engine so it is running rich. I don’t think this is true because in the manual it says you can vent it to atmosphere. Does that mean it is suppose to go rich at idle? How can ANY car run right if the metered air is not correct?
3. He tells me another DV is on the way. As of 3\23 I have no new DV. at least 2 weeks now.
4. He asks how am I testing the vac port. I say with a hand vac that has a gauge on it. He tells me that wont work. Why I aks? Because it does not pull enough vacuum. They use a big machine to test them and that both ports tested good. I tell him with a big machine and enough vac I am sure it does test good. But I can test port B and port B works. Also, I tested the DV when it was new because the manual sucked and did not explain how it worked so I could decide what the best configuration was. When I tested it new both ports would open the valve and both held a vacuum. I was even able to confirm at what vac each port opened. I have video of testing the2 ports but I don’t know how to put it on here.
5. I don’t remember all of this one. I was telling him I had it connected to recirculate and with the boost “pushing” the valve closed. He said that did not matter. Even with boost on the vac port it will eventually open???? (but yet it is tested to 60 psi). if it is connected with the boost pushing the valve open it will open at 7 psi. so how is it tested at 60 psi and it holds?????
So 6 weeks to tests a little DV and get it back and another month of BS and promises that they will send me a new DV.
Here is the manual. Almost impossible to find on their site.
http://www.synapseengineering.com/support/faq/pdf/DV_manual_webres.pdf
i have video but dont know hos to put it on here.
