Boost help!!!

[breakdancnkid26]

So i posted this in the car problems area as well but I figured people look in here more often. Here's the issue, my brother just bought a 03 MSP with 28,000 miles on it. A few weeks after he bought it he said it feels like the turbo isn't working. I installed a boost gauge and turbo xs manual boost controller. I'm pretty sure they are both hooked up correctly. I t'd the boost gauge off the vac line off the top of the intake manifold. And the MBC is also t'd off the same vac line and the wastegate line. With the bottom of the MBC going to the wastegate line. But his boost gauge reads nothing. With the MBC all the way turned down I turned it up 1/4 of a turn. And still nothing at all. Anyone have any solutions? I read that the wastegates in these cars go bad pretty easily? Maybe I have something hooked up wrong? He's been driving it and it drives fine just no boost. Turbo isn't grinding or making any noise or anything. If more info is needed let me know. I can get pictures of whatever is needed. It also looks like his turbo is leaking oil. I'm hoping it's not a bad turbo but it's looking like it. Thanks for the help!!!

Ryan

 

[Carlinator]

Does the boost gauge read vacuum as well? Is there a whistling coming from the engine bay during acceleration? You might have a boost leak somewhere.

 

[KrayzieFox]

Wow.. a MSP with 28K miles?! If that's truly the case, there's no reason for the turbo to be shot already. Where is it leaking oil from? Is it actually leaking past the seals or do you just see some oil residue in the compressor housing/intake pipe? If it's just a little bit of oil in the intake that's normal. It could also be leaking from the oil feed or return line as well, the return line has a small o-ring gasket that wears out after a while and may start to leak like mine did. But if you can see oil leaking past the seals then the turbo is done for. Does it have a lot of shaft play?

Also, what kind of gauge did you install anyway? Are you sure it's hooked up properly? In other words, does it read vacuum properly -- should be around -22 inMg at idle? And then when you accelerate hard does it just reach 0 and stop or does it actually bump into boost for a short bit and drop? If the turbo is ok, and your gauge is hooked up properly, then you may have a massive leak somewhere. Check to make sure all the pipes are on securely, and if they're stock pipes check for cracks in the plastic.

Last question, is the car stock? If it has an aftermarket intercooler installed, then it may have had the MAF relocated to the cold pipe.. which would allow for one of the couplers to pop off somewhere and lead to a complete loss of boost without affecting driveability (it would just act as a NA powered engine at that point).

I wouldn't mind seeing a pic of your vacuum T location, the entire engine bay, and the car itself of course. By the way, you may want to ditch the MBC until you get your issue resolved.

P.S. Where in Iowa are you from?

 

[speedpx]

Ok i have a problem with boost too, i used to have 8 psi, now only 4 psi i check for cracks but i don't see any also, where do you install the vacum line for a proper boost/vacum reading?

 

[yudkib]

ill bet money on blown coupler or IC pipe. could be cracked, too. occam's razor.

 

[breakdancnkid26]

Ok, so we finally got the car up and running. Thanks to a member on here we were able to pick up a brand new stock turbo and low mileage replacement motor. Installed everything and the car runs fine. Except I don't think the turbo is boosting at all. When rev'd the motor up in first and second I don't hear any spooling or anything coming out of the turbo, and the boost gauge doesn't ready anything. I turned the MBC counter clockwise two full turns and I can hear what seems like air leaking out of the MBC.(Brand new TurboXS MBC but could it be bad?) I'm going to take pics of how the MBC and the boost gauge are hooked up. I'd really appreciate any help on this!

 

[breakdancnkid26]

Here is a picture of the line coming out of the wastegate. It is going straight to the bottom of the MBC. Both the turbo and turboXS MBC are brand new.

 

[breakdancnkid26]

Here is a full pic of the line going from the wastegate to the MBC.

 

[breakdancnkid26]

This shows the T just before the BOV? that goes into the side of the MBC(the side with the arrow).


And this shows the T from the line going into the intake manifold going to the boost gauge.