weaklink

Hey Guys,

A boost leak is ruining all the fun. I am in the process of wading through the 8 pages of posts at rx7club.com with "boost" and "leak", but was hoping for a quick fix from one of you geniuses. From a stop I can hear a loud whoosh inside the cabin and power is notably less. My autometer gauge still goes to 10 though, but I haven't really stayed on it because the whoosh noise is not normal. It sounds almost like it is coming through the vents. One time I did stay on it, and when it came to the second one it again went/stayed at around 10 on the gauge and seemed to start pulling a little harder with a little less "whooshing". I tightened all of the IC pipes and all of the hoses I can see look to be on. I get a rock solid -20 on the gauge at idle. Any ideas?

alwan16

are you sure there are not invisible cracks in those couplers? did you replace those with silicone ones yet? sometimes they only leak under boost and you can't see the crack.

spooledUP7

Let me get this straight. You have 10 psi and you think you have a leak? This is on a stock setup right? Are you venting your Charge relief valve (CRV) to the atmospher? The CRV is designed to vent the prespooling of the second turbo, and is often mistaken for a boost leak. I honestly don't think that you have a boost leak.

weaklink

exactly...I wouldn't think so either, except that I can hear it plainly and very loud inside the cabin. It's new and it's not normal. Also there is a definate and obvious power loss, plus I used to hit like 12-13 psi. I thought it might help weed out some areas to look since my gauge shows 10. The PFC records a high of like .7. I haven't had time to pull off all of the hoses. I don't think it's under the UIM because it doesn't seem to be a control problem. Could be a leaking CRV or BOV, I'm not sure. I can't get the car to boost in neutral and I can't be under the hood when I'm driving around. I'll just have to pull em all. My guess is it's a crack that opens with >10 psi.

legendr35

if you can't get into boost in neutral, it usually means that you are having an air leak somewhere. I couldn't get boost in N, until I tightened the intercooler hoses, there were so loose that I could unscrew the clamps with my finger nails, hehe.

weaklink

Could it be the gasket for the throttle body intake? I recently had the elbow off, but didn't change the gasket. I took off all of the intercooler piping, but didn't find anything obvious. All of the hoses I can see are ok too.

M2PerformanceTTRx-7

Ive got the same EXACT problem. The turbos are working fine....making plenty of boost. Not too much of it is going to the engine. Whoosh sound is very loud under throttle. If i let go of the throttle fast enough, i can hear a BOV-sounding noise as all the boost pressure escapes at once. My boost guage reads about 5 pounds of boost to the engine under full throttle. WTF!!!!!!!!!!!

weaklink

Well I just took all of the big hoses off today, cleaned and inspected everything and put it all back on. Boost leak seems better now, the noise is not as loud. I hit over 10 psi several times...but the car is still not making power. Probably the plugs. M2PTTRX7-check and tighten all of your intercooler hoses. I think if you are hearing the loud whoosh then it is probably one of the big hoses.

M2PerformanceTTRx-7

Uhh yeah...thanks checked the lower IC pipe......split right down the middle. Almost like it exploded or something.

Rated R1

That one always seems to be the one to go.