Just came from the dealer. The little boost gauge on the A pillar, I think it was in inches of Mercury, either way it would only get up to about 4, maybe 5 out of a total of 20. Is that all it will get? It felt like something was wrong with this car. Please advise. Thanks !!!!

 

It will push the full 12.5 psi, which is the halfway line between 10 and 15, close to Redline at WOT.

 

Something's gotta be wrong with this car then, I had it at WOT for almost the whole test drive (as well as at the redline) and I got nowehere near 12.5 on it. It felt really slow, and I kept waiting for something to happen. No power / no hit to it at all.

 

You get 5-10 psi easily after 3000 rpms at WOT

 

Yea if your at like 5000 or 6000 + RPM's you should see 11-13 PSI. if your at like 2000 RPMS and floor it wont go strait to 12.5 it will slowly gain, usually from a high gear my boost will shoot up to 5-8 and slowly build from there.

 

That also assumes you have the pedal to the metal, if you dont completely gun it the car wont make boost either... I assume this is for engine reliability and gas milage.

 

Thats what the boost bypass valve is for. If the engine isn't under load the by pass opens up and relieves the boost. This also helps keep the blower from chewing up HP and gas when it's not being used.

 

Trace out the vacuum line coming off the manifold behind the plastic Ecotec Supercharged piece on the center of the engine. It should run into a little black box with a connector plugged into it, then to the boost bypass valve. If the connector is unplugged, at WOT the boost will not go past 3-5 psi. I had this exact problem when I bought my car. Then I realized I had bought an animal of a car instead of what I thought was quick! I still remember the first time 12.5 psi was, ---Grin from ear to ear!----

 

OniMirage had that problem on his first test drive. Tried another car and got the full effect.

 

something like this happened to me too. over the summer i drove one and the boost gauge didnt even move even past 5,000 rpm it was sitting at 0 so i was like wtf. i was with my grandpa and saying what the car can do and hes like no way it just doesnt feel like it and i agreed with him.... about a month ago i was bored and went to drive another one and the boost gauge was working and i could def feel a difference in it

 

Nah - it would have to physically disconnect the SC from the accessory drive to do that!

The bypass valve simply allows the ECU to dump the boost when its not needed. It will save fuel but not HP...

Ta, Paul.

 

When I dynoed the car, my boost gauge hit 14 right befor redline.

 

Possibly the car was not warmed up , they wont built full boost untill they get to normal operating temp. No Hot rodding till warmed up

 

Oh it was warmed up, I made sure of that.

I'm headed back to the dealer in a few minutes here, I will check out the vacuum line and wiring harness.

I'll report back in an hour or so.

Thanks for the info !!

 

Well I got some good news and some bad news.

First the good news:

I went back to the dealer and told him I wanted to see the black SS I drove yesterday. I told him something was wrong with it and he wouldn't let me near it. He gave me a silver one to drive, man what a ROCKET !! I was hitting 13psi all day long. So I got back to the dealer and he said he would send the black one in for repair.

Now the bad news:

I stopped at the Saturn dealer on the way back, and checked out the Ion Redline. The first one (a black one also) spit the catalytic converter out of the tailpipe onto the Vue behind me. All these little pieces the size of a gumball, they were hot like lava rocks !! The sales guy was a little embarassed, but he got me another car (also silver, are we seeing a pattern here?) and that one was cool. Felt slower than the Cobalt, and it didn't have a boost gauge. It was indeed a S/C 2.0L, but it was just not as cool as the Cobalt.

Conclusion:

The black Cobalt SS was either in "safe mode" or that little connector was unplugged. The silver Cobalt SS was an addictive and highly entertaining little rocket of a car. The black Ion Redline spit the converter out of the tailpipe. The silver Ion Redline was not as fun or as cool as the Cobalt SS.

Thanks for your help guys !!

 

ehhhh ive looked at the ss/sc when i was considering getting one of the two and i found that the RL was alot more fuctional with the rear suicide doors and its a total sleeper. if you were around me id let ya take mine for a test and see if it is slower than the ss/sc

 

Whoa!!!

Now that I think of it, I usually dont go past 5 on the boost and I've pushed the car a few times.

What is WOT btw? Sorry I am not knowledgeable.

 

wide open throttle. i also drove the redline and almost bought one. then i was told that someone previously owned it and it was not new. saturn has the program where if you dont like the car for idk some amount of time you can trade it in for something else and the person did that. was not ok with buyin a used redline so i bought my cobalt ss.