P2261 (Fixed)

[Rael Nema]

Ok, I beat my car nearly to death. Car has run strong on all current mods for months now so I hadn't been under the hood recently except for a bumper off oil change. Three days ago I went out for 6-7 hours of hard driving, street racing, 90f-95f heat. I know the heat is bad so I stopped to rest often. Near the end of the day my BOV started clucking like a kicked rooster. On the way home I got code P2261 "Turbocharger/supercharger Bypass Valve-Mechanical". Car goes into limp mode, no cruise control, boost stuck at 6psi on the factory gauge.

I started going through the motions with varying degrees of change but BOV still sounds like a hurt chicken or doesn't even open until higher boost levels. Code takes more or less time to come up during these changes. ECU reset between all changes.

1. I tore apart the plumbing for the Forge BOV/Boost Control. Checked and cleared hoses. They're already silicone. No change.
2. I tested the solenoids with a battery and suction. All checked out fine but the OEM solenoid doesn't click as loud as the Forge solenoid. No change.
3. I adjusted the Forge wastegate actuator dead on stock with a pressure gauge. (yellow spring, moves at 6psi, full motion from 10-14psi). No change.
4. I swapped the OEM WGA back in repeated the adjustments. No Change.
5. I swapped in the stronger blue spring on the BOV knowing it could only be worse. Much worse. Throws code in first gear.
6. I swapped back to the yellow spring on the BOV and rerouted hoses for cleaner/shorter runs. Still throws code on mild Phase 2 pull.
7. I removed the small spring from the BOV. Also added some engine oil. Car pulls hard again. Very minor BOV clucks on max Phase 2 pulls. No Codes.
   (This was temporary. Car went to hell again after a week or so.)
8. Replaced Forge Boost Solenoid, Moved it down and away from the heat, rerouted all the lines.
   Everything seems normal. Running strong for 2 weeks with all mods reinstalled.

[texanbrit]

Mine liked to throw that code when it was developing a manifold leak.

Also I think it can be a problem with the actual waste-gate flapper. Not the actuator but the actual physical flapper piece in the turbo. My car was throwing that a lot a couple of weeks ago, but has mysteriously stopped again just to keep me on my toes.

[Rael Nema]

I'm not in the mood to pull the radiator support. I just paid for wheels and tires and it'll be Fall before I can spend $2k again without going into a credit card. On the plus side it could convince my wife to let me get a stuffed turbo. But I haven't done exhaust yet either so that's another stack of bills. We'll see what's what when my leak tester comes in.

[mr16valve]

For what its worth, heres what happened to me:
I installed the Forge BOV. My kit came with plastic T fittings & zip ties. I used these for the install.
1 day later I had the exact same symptoms as you and the same code that wouldn't clear, along with an ongoing limp mode.
Reset ECU and very soon followed was limp mode again.
What I found was that one of the plastic T fittings (the one that splits the line on the back of the turbo) was broken - literally blown apart.
I replaced the T fitting. The code continued.
I check all of the lines and everything was as it should be. Tested the Forge solenoid (9v battery) and it clicked.

Longer story short - I swapped Forge solenoids with a coworker and the problem was immediately gone.
According to Forge:
when the plastic broke there was an overboost situation. Inside the Forge solenoid there is a pencil eraser sized stopper, & this eraser was dislodged.
The solenoid will still click and may even test properly but mine was bad. Forge acknowledged that these valves are frail.
Forge replaced it.
I replaced all of the plastic T's with brass and did away with the ghetto zip ties and used proper spring clamps for the lines, so this won't happen again.
I have since bought an extra Forge solenoid to have onhand as a spare.

[Rael Nema]

Thanks for the tips. I already suspected the stock solenoid. Now I suspect both.

My Forge stuff is pretty new so it came with brass Ts and reused all the spring clips from the stock set up. Just a couple zip ties on the brake booster side. I'm fairly confident the plumbing is ok. I ran the car hard for too long and thinking my WGA wasn't adjusted very well and that could have blown one or both solenoids out. I used a digital pressure guage that does great at 200psi but it's pretty fiddly to get it set as low as 6psi. Doesn't help that I put it in front of a 600psi shop compressor. I used a 30psi brake bleeder the second time. Cheap version of what MadFiat just used in his video, lol.

Once the leak tests are in I'll get new solenoids just in case. I imagine the OEM Fiat one will work in place of the Forge one? I didn't notice a difference in their flow directions but I didn't think to make note of it when I had them out.

[Rael Nema]

Just to close this out. I finally got the Boost solenoid in from Forge and that was the issue. Kinda mad they charge $20 shipping for 7 day shipping from 350 miles away but such is life. After I did everything in the OP the solenoid just got weaker and weaker. Just before I put the new solenoid in I was getting a p2261 before I could get out of my driveway at barely over idle. That was with the weakest spring in the BOV, no helper spring, and on the stock tune.

I got my boost leak tester and OBD2 scanner in. Leak tests came out near perfect and the main thing I learned from the scanner is that my IATs are ridiculous. Regular driving gets upto 130f. Thrashing it gets to 145f. Sitting still gets to 160f. What do you guys get? I need to work on the exhaust and hood to help get the heat out. Hovering my hand over the spot I had the solenoid was the equivalent of holding it over the grill while cooking steaks. Couldn't stand to get closer than about 3". There's still the possibility I was over boosting but my WGA was set more conservative than many I've seen. If the solenoid can't handle 30psi then there's an issue because I don't see that Forge sells a better one and some tune past 30psi on purpose.

In the end I moved the Forge solenoid down and away from the motor. Almost into the bumper cover. Hoping to keep it out of the worst of the heat. Moral of the story, I think, is don't put your boost solenoid on top of the motor. It's hot AF.

[texanbrit]

Glad you found the issue, and thanks for sharing!

[MadFiat]

Just to close this out. I finally got the Boost solenoid in from Forge and that was the issue. Kinda mad they charge $20 shipping for 7 day shipping from 350 miles away but such is life. After I did everything in the OP the solenoid just got weaker and weaker. Just before I put the new solenoid in I was getting a p2261 before I could get out of my driveway at barely over idle. That was with the weakest spring in the BOV, no helper spring, and on the stock tune.

Outside of shipping, how much did the replacement solenoid cost?

[mr16valve]

The spare that I bought was $40

[Rael Nema]

Outside of shipping, how much did the replacement solenoid cost?

It was $40. So $60 all in.