I was poking around my engine bay today and noticed that there was no hose clamp or anything on the tube that exits the top mount intercooler... I put a hose clamp on and when i drove it later the car felt totaly different... Much more linear power and alot more low end tq... also my car always made a "blow off valve" sound on shifts but now it's silent. Was this a huge boost leak?

 

I guess it's possible that the missing hose clamp could have caused air to leak and cause a "BOV-type" noise.

 

allt he psi will escape through a boost leak when the throttle plates shut.

so that was the noise.

 

Yes, that's exactly what it was. Having driven my car after forgetting to tighten that clamp, I know exactly what you experienced.

Actually much the boost would've been escaping out the unclamped hose while the throttle was open, and whatever was left would've been relieved by the BOV when the throttle closed.

 

wow... thats really cool that it's fixed now...i think it may have smoothed out my idle a bit too.

 

yes huge leak .. in essence every time you let off the gas the intercooler blew out of the elbow.

 

No, that's not what happens. The intercooler is bolted to the engine and cannot move. Air was simply being pushed out around the edges of the hose under boost.

 

nz .. im not saying the intercooler moved .. im saying the pressure of the leaking air moved the HOSES

 

Well you said "the intercooler blew out of the elbow", not "the elbow blew off of the intercooler". Either way, you're still wrong. The elbow itself would barely move, it simply expands a bit as air is forced between the rubber and metal. If it could move, it would be pushed right off.

 

well i guess since it happened to me more then a few times and it was the same problem ... i could be wrong