What happens if the wastegate pressure is set too high?

Is it running lean? Does it make boost too late?

 

Actually, the stronger your wastegate spring, the later it opens... and if it's too strong, it may not open at all.

When the wastegate is closed, all the exhaust flow (energy) is directed through the turbo. This aids is spoolup as well as holding a higher boost. However, if the spring is too strong, the solinoid that controls the vacuum signal to the wastegate may not be able to effectively control the wastegate, which results in your boost not being properly regulated. This can result in overboosting, boost fluctations, etc.

To run a stronger wastegate, you have to ensure that the solinoid is capable of controling the wastegate via its pulses/cycles. You also have to make sure that the ecu has the parameters in place to control the solinoid as well as potential higher boost conditions, and maybe even fail-safe over-boost shutdowns. Additionally, you've got to make sure that the spring isn't in fact too strong for your application.

 

KABOOM