GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

I have the TRD Supercharger for a Matrix. A few days ago I noticed a loud whistling noise. It turned out to be the actuator that controls the bypass valve. I took the car to Irvine Toyota and they didn't even know the SC was released for the car or how to fix it. Pretty poor service. I called TRD to get a part number and was informed the next day they don't have a part number for it. Great. I E-mailed the person I bought the SC from at Carson Toyota and he called TRD. He was told the same thing and it'll take at least two weeks for the part to come in. As of now, the bypass valve is always closed. For an explanation of this go to http://www.timskelton.com/ligh...s.htm My question is, is the bypass valve there for efficiency only or is it also a safey measure. Will driving the car like this damage the eninge?

hmmm... i have absolutely no idea. sorry but i know i bot a lot of my trd parts for my tundra from carson. they seemed to really know their stuff and were by far more informed about the TRD parts then any of the other dealers i talked to.

Quote, originally posted by trdvibe »hmmm... i have absolutely no idea. sorry but i know i bot a lot of my trd parts for my tundra from carson. they seemed to really know their stuff and were by far more informed about the TRD parts then any of the other dealers i talked to.Yes, Carson Toyota has been great for me. Steve Ganz is always very helpful. The problem is I work about 2 minutes away from Irvine Toyota but if something really goes wrong I know I can make the trip down to Carson Toyota if need be. It's about an hour drive. Not too bad.

still, that blows that no one seems to know how to fix the prob... maybe it's a good thing gm is waiting for the 5 spd s/c afterall... but i doubt it. i'm sure they'll get you all squared away in no time! hopefully that is...ot, larry, do you have any video of a scxr racing an xrs... not your super duper scxr.. just an xr w/ the sc vs a stock xrs?

Quote, originally posted by trdvibe »still, that blows that no one seems to know how to fix the prob... maybe it's a good thing gm is waiting for the 5 spd s/c afterall... but i doubt it. i'm sure they'll get you all squared away in no time! hopefully that is...ot, larry, do you have any video of a scxr racing an xrs... not your super duper scxr.. just an xr w/ the sc vs a stock xrs?I called Magnuson Products and asked them about it. They said it won't harm the engine to have the bypass valve closed. I think it's main purpose is for fuel efficiency. As for the SCXR vs. XRS - stock. No I don't but here's what I think would happen. The SC XR would take off quicker and win from 0-60. The XRS would catch it by the end of the 1/4 mile and win the 1/4 mile. I'm not certain of this but it is how I think it would happen.

ya... that's what i was thinking as well because the xrs low end torque cannot compete with the sc torque! even tho hp is very close, the torque is what would get the xrs in the end until it had enough time to catch up! now do some modifications to the xrs for the torque and that will be a good match! love to see the xrs w/ cai and unichip vs the scxr!

I actually have a video of me vs. an XRS with CAI and Unichip. I won but he has a stock exhuast. An open exhaust seems to really help both models. The video in case you missed it at http://larry.neptune.com

i saw your video where you smoked him. i have the same set up as him, no exhaust.. just stock. i know you've done a lot more work on yours then just the sc. so....

Yeah, I've done a couple of things hehe. The XRS with intake, catback exhaust and the Unichip is pretty quick. Faster than me when they're in lift and probably quicker in the 1/4 mile. I may find out for sure this Saturday if I get the part in time. A couple of the guys with that setup on their XRS are going to the track. I was able to order the actuator directly from Magnason Products. TRD really dropped the ball on this one. The Magnason rep told me how to open the bypass valve manually. No boost but it's safer for the SC and engine. With it closed all the time he said it can build up a lot of heat in the SC. No boost for a couple of days.

really? the exhaust makes THAT much of a diff? hmm... oh well, i'll be waiting awhile befor i can get that...

It seems to. The Magnaflow exhaust with a CAI and Unichip seems to be a good combo for the GT/XRS. With the Unichip, it seems to be important to have it custom tuned. The guys that bought it that I know of - 2 of them - both got better results with the custom tune vs the premapped Unichip.

ya, that'd be pretty diff for me to do being that i'm in alaska! maybe if i have exactly what they have, then they can tune it to their specs? i don't know... that's a long way off from happening so i won't worry. but, that's good that you will be able to get your part soon!

Yeah I hope your Trix is up to speed soon because your ride is sweet.

I received a reply from Magnuson from a different rep. He seemed to be very familiar with this particular SC. He said it could do damage by causing the SC to overheat and force very hot air into the engine. I manually opened the bypass valve per his instructions and now have no boost. My car feels so slow now. I should be back up to speed, pun intended, by Friday.

Welcome back to our world lol... slow.

I'm only familiar with this in a turbo application. In one, a bypass valve is there to release any pressure trapped between the throttle body and compressor after letting of the gas. This prevents any damage to compressor also known as compressor surge. It also helps the compressor spool faster since the air is in the intake already compressed. Maybe they are similar on a supercharger.

Quote, originally posted by mu_ohio »I'm only familiar with this in a turbo application. In one, a bypass valve is there to release any pressure trapped between the throttle body and compressor after letting of the gas. This prevents any damage to compressor also known as compressor surge. It also helps the compressor spool faster since the air is in the intake already compressed. Maybe they are similar on a supercharger.Sounds about right to me.

So how is your car coming along there Larry? All fixed up and showing vids again soon?

Quote, originally posted by Mavrik »So how is your car coming along there Larry? All fixed up and showing vids again soon?It's back to normal. Way to many cops out here in So. Cal. lately to make any new videos.

Thats to bad, maybe out into the countryside you gotta go with that.

larry have you gone to the track to get any time slips? i'd like to know what kinda numbers you're putting out!

The bypass valve on an SC like the Vibe/Matrix's (also on GM SC 3800 V-6 & Mustang/F150 Lightning) is mostly to improve fuel economy at part throttle. (although at least on the 3800 it does also dump excess pressure) It does this by recirculating the SC outlet air back into the intake side of the SC, so the rotors are essentially spinning in a vacuum, using almost no power. On the 3800 V-6, they claim it takes less than 1/2 HP to spin the blower at part throttle.

Quote, originally posted by trdvibe »larry have you gone to the track to get any time slips? i'd like to know what kinda numbers you're putting out! One time. I ran a 16.03. The weather was bad for FI that day so I hope do try it again soon.

oh, now i know you can run a much faster time than that! let me know next time you go... would love to see some footage of that!

Quote, originally posted by trdvibe »oh, now i know you can run a much faster time than that! let me know next time you go... would love to see some footage of that! Thanks. I actually have footage up of the first run. You can see in the video how much steam blew out of the exhaust. http://larry.neptune.com It was a pretty humbling experience. I didn't know it at the time but there was a competition there the next day and a lot of those guys were there to run and get some final tuning done on there cars. I think the worst I got beat was by 6 seconds. Lost to a 6-speed XRS with CAI, Magnaflow catback and Unichip by 1/2 a second. Oh yes, very humbling indeed.

thanks, larry! i'll be sure to check that out later! so, larry, what do you think if i get an exhaust w/ my trd cai and unichip.... think that'll get me running some decent numbers? especially on the low end torque? i appreciate your input since you seem to have more experience w/ this f/i unichip/thing.

Quote, originally posted by trdvibe »thanks, larry! i'll be sure to check that out later! so, larry, what do you think if i get an exhaust w/ my trd cai and unichip.... think that'll get me running some decent numbers? especially on the low end torque? i appreciate your input since you seem to have more experience w/ this f/i unichip/thing.It was actually a friend of mine that ran the 15.5 1/4 mile that same day. Before he got the Unichip and Magnaflow catback, I was able to take him off the line. Now it's pretty even and he starts pulling ahead when he hits lift. He pulled ahead when in lift before but I was able to take him from a dead start. I think the Unichip, intake, and cat-back exhaust is a very good combo for the 2ZZ.

thanks larry! that's what i wanted to hear just gotta get some funds for the exhaust and retune the chip... but will most likely be next summer.

You told her what her bank account did not need to hear... I'm going supercharger on my Vibe at some point, what things do you suggest I have done at the same time?