Troubleshooting Basic Boost Leak
 

I have a boost leak, can't get above 6psi, and there's a whooshing sound coming from the engine.

I recently changed my plugs and wires, and I'm sure that I created the leak myself at that point.

My question: Is there anyway I can visually or audibly locate the leak with the car running in neutral? Could I have my wife give is gas?

Or, should I just take it all back apart again (UIM), check the gaskets, and stick it all back together?

I'd like to be able to find the leak before I get out the wrenches. And since I can see all of the parts I took off (nothing really internal), I figured there might be a way of finding it quickly.

Thanks.

a boost leak normally can be a vaccuum leak too. Is your vaccuum a bit lower than usual and does it make the idle run a bit rough?

if it's just a boost leak, it could be a bit harder to hear/see it unless the car is given boost and then you can trace where the WHOOSH is coming from. You can try to give the car boost in neutral and try to spot it that way. Could be the intercooler pipes or the y-couplers etc.

Danny

I've taken off the elbow and retighened the pipe between the elbow and the intercooler.

My idle is awesome. It smoothed out once I finished the plugs and wires, and after I figured out I had disconnected my MAP sensor...

Still consistently between 16-17 as far as idle vacuum on the boost gauge.

I probably ruined the UIM gasket or knocked something loose. Everything else is all tightened up, and there's not a lot else I have touched.

But I'm not positive that it happened as a result of my plug change... That's just the only thing I have done besides coolant flushing recently.

Check the AWS hose coming out of the elbow. I forgot to hook mine up once and I had similar symptoms.

In a system with no leaks, when reving the engine in neutral, you can usually get a couple of pounds of boost for about a second before the rpms get to red line. Show you wife how to watch the boost gauge and tachometer. Tell her to try to floor it to try to get a positive boost reading, but to get off the gas when it hits redline.

If it's whooshing as you said, and it's not the AWS hose that rated R1 mentioned, you should be able to zero in on the whooshing when your wife revs the engine. Sometimes you can just put your hand near the hoses and feel the air flow.

If the AWS is on, I'd bet first on the coupler coming off the Y pipe and second on a tear in the accordion section of the hose between the Y pipe and the intercooler.

Let us know how it goes.

Jim

A whooshing sound is more like a IC hose tear. Take them off ond fell around for tears.