safe mode! please help? Options

[toyotacrazy]

Ok, heres my delima. Ive had my 1995 celica gt with the 3sgte for about 6 months now. Ive had an on going issue with boost not going past 7-8 and it goes into safe mode. Heres what I did to try and correct these issues.

-front mount intercooler 26x5.5x2.5
-aluminum 2mm thick mandrel bent intercooler piping
-header wrap on intercooler piping anywhere it may get hot (photos in my profile)
-rerouted intercooler piping away from exhaust as much as possible.
-ngk spark plugs BKR7E (gapped at .032)
-installed tvsv led monitor green/red
-disconnected stock gt exhaust and running 2.25 (after engine is open)
-xs power 3" dump pipe

I dont understand what exactly (other than knock) will cause the 3sgte to go into low boost mode. When its 80* outside and Im at a light it will go into safe mode. Once Im on the road moving for a minute or two it comes back to normal. Is this normal? Does anyone know what symptoms will cause the 3s to go into low boost mode? I know when its cold it goes into low boost mode, if it gets to hot will it do the same? Thanks

[lagos]

http://autoshop101.com/autoshop15.html

look through those articles. its all the stuff the bgb wont tell you.

ill try to give you a basic rundown of how tvsv works.

the ecu used the air intake sensor inside the afm as well as the coolant temp sensors and knock sensor to determine if its safe to allow full boost (tvsv green). when you start your car up in the morning, it will take a few moments for the light to go green. this is because the ecu knows the motor is not up to temp yet, and you should never boost on a cold motor. then after the engine has come up to temp, youll see the led turn to green when giving it some light throttle.

the ecu also looks at the air intake temp sensor inside the afm. if its 40deg or colder, it will keep the car in low boost mode (tvsv red), for the rest of the day. sometimes when you are stopped at a light, it might go back to green for a few seconds, because the engine bay temps are heating up the sensor, but soon it will go back to red and stay there.

the third sensor it looks at is the knock sensor. if you do a boosted run, and the ecu detects knock, it will put the car into low boost mode, and keep it there for quite some time. the ecu is smart enough to realize that if you just got knock from one boosted run, then chances are it will happen again. it could be anywhere from 1min or even 30min or longer that the car stays in low boost mode. during this time the ecu slowly advances timing back to where it thinks will work correctly without knock. if you turn the car off, wait a few min, and turn it back on, it should clear the low boost mode.

a lot of times people have an idea set in their head of what boost is ok for them to run, but what you have to remember is that ever car is different. you could have anything from low octane gas, bad intercooler, bad afm, bad fuel pump or problems with your fpr, causing you not to be able to run as much boost as you should. a good way to diagnose these issues is to reset your ecu, and lower your boost as much as possible. if you are still seeing the problem at 7psi, then chances are its a bad afm or maybe a bad coolant temp sensor causing you these problems. if the problem goes away, then you can start to slowly turn up the boost little by little to see whats going on. going to a dyno while you do this would help diagnose things even more.

good luck!