Electronic Boost Controllers Worth It?

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So Ive had my second turbotech ball and spring manual boost controller malfunction. The first came apart (maybe my fault, though I did tighten everything well), the second one has recently mysteriously caused the turbo to overboost/infinite boost like an open wastegate actuator, except that the controller still appears to be normal. Nothing has loosened, spring isn't stuck.

In both cases they failed unsafely, ie resulting in massive overboost. I was thinking of going back to a safer bleed system, however I really like the response of the ball and spring system. It allows the vehicle to build full boost sub 2500rpms, which makes it great for hills and such in the heavy stagea.

Are electronic controllers capable of giving that fast spool? Also do they fail safely, ie if power was cut to the solenoid, would it simply result in the wastegate opening at the standard spring setting?

Also is there any problems with parts? For example I had a stepper motor boost gauge where the pressure sender broke, resulting in the whole thing being useless. Available spare parts would be good.

[Ben C34]

Electronic controller is definitely better. You can set the gate pressure (or whatever other brands call it) to wait until a certain psi is reached before allowing any signal to wastegate, which is what the ball and spring totally guesses . This is what you want for maximum spooling. You can set them up to run different boost curves, different per gear etc.

Also take the place of a boost gauge.

and yes, they are fail safe, so if they stuff up you will be back on gate pressure.

[Sklyn]

if you have been using turbotech then i guess budget could be an issue?, ebc is substantially more expensive and takes more installation.

I never had an issue with my turbotech one on the old car but spent the extra $ and got a turbosmart one this time and had no issues either. possibly try getting one direct from turbosmart with warranty as i think a new ebc will be in the region of $400+.

How much boost do you run? could try just replacing the gate and running straight off that.

[iruvyouskyrine]

You can pick up a Greddy Profec B spec II unit for between 200-250. They are proven reliable and an excellent all round unit for that price.

[GTSBoy]

I have same effect as ball and spring cheapo or electronically gated controller by using a simple 1/4" pneumatic relief valve in series with a 1/4" pneumatic pressure regulator and with a check valve in parallel to them to let the air back out of the wastegate hose after boost event finished.

Provides excellent control of boost ramp rate, excellent control of maximum boost. Costs ~$100.

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Im only running about 0.6 bar which is why the electronic boost controller didn't seem such good value for money. On the plus side, there doesn't seem to be anything physically wrong with the turbotech controller. The ball and spring was gummed up with some grayish sticky powdery substance. The ball was sticking to the seat, resulting in it overboosting.

[LTHLRB]

The profec b spec ii has the features of setting the boost to come on quicker and harder but it isnt as user friendly as other ebc's. If you're running a stock or highflow turbo and don't really wana throw cash and want something better than a bleed valve you can't go past an adjustable hks actuator. Close-to-no spike or boost bleed. Easy to adjust. Works good.

[AngryRB]

get an apexi AVCR and never look back, you'll love it long time

[Blackkers]

If you know exactly what boost you are going for, I would buy a new actuator if that's an option.

There are also adjustable actuators but I'm not sure how good they are.

I'm using GFB's geforce 2 EBC. It's okay. It's not the fault of the product though.

My problem with an EBC is that you can set the GAIN to keep the wastegate shut (zero bleed) until a certain pressure has been reached to spool the turbo quicker in higher gears for better response. This sounds like a great feature however if you are at 5000RPM in ANY gear and you mash the throttle, the boost rises quickly anyway and the EBC keeps the wastegate shut for too long causing overboosting by up to 3 psi in my case. Lowering the GAIN just kills low end turbo response. This wouldn't be a problem however I've already maxed out the injectors and I don't want to run them over 100% duty, which is exactly what will happen if it overboosts over 6500 RPM.

I'm going to install a stronger wastegate so using the EBC to only increase boost by 2-3psi above wastegate pressure. It should work better then.

hope that provides some insight