[Mk2] [Turbo] Boost leak

[G-force]

When putting my foot down, my car feels likes an N/A, there is no real boost at all, feels like it is just blocked or losing boost. I can hear the turbo spooling up but the speed is not picking up. It is fairly random aswell because it might go a little quicker than other times but never as quick as it should be. I have a friend with the same spec and I know how it should go. Mine is definitely a lot slower.

I've been told by a recognised specialist that my car has definitely got a major boost leak from somewhere. It's been suggested to me that I should change the intercooler silicone hoses as a starter, because my current hks ones are very very soft - the hump part can be poked in easily, and they should be a lot tougher than this. Could this be contributing to the problem?

Currently, I have a blitz boost controller but because the screen is smashed, you can only partly see the numbers, but you can't figure it out. I've been told to get my ebc changed (which I intend to do so anyway) but I don't think it will resolve this problem. I wanna know if putting the ebc on the lowest possible settings, should the car still not run the factory boost? Meaning that the ebc would not be the direct cause of this problem?

Any other suggestions are welcome, before I blindly throw more cash on it

Any help is well appreciated.

[raptor95GTS]

if you turn the EBC off you'll get actuator pressure, since you don't mention what rev car you have I don't know what boost that will be. If however you have hoses that are known to be weak then getting them replaced seems a good starting point.

Do you have any error codes stored? Daft question, do the revs rise but the speed stays the same?

[G-force]

I have a rev3, and don't have any error codes stored.

As the revs rise, there is a wanting for a kickback by the car, but it feels restricted by something. There is a very small kick in the higher revs around 3-6k for when the turbo has picked up.

[raptor95GTS]

no error codes so it's safe to pull the fuses. ECU a and ECU B and the EFI fuse. One of the ECU fuses is in the frunk. Leave them out for a minute then put them back in. Go for a drive and see how the car behaves.

I assume you use super / vpower / tesco 99 or whatever?

Rev3 should put the std boost gauge to the top of the scale just on actuator, about 10psi

[G-force]

I've tried the fuse thing with no effect, unfortunately. I'm always using vpower.

my car doesnt feel like its running 10psi at all!

[Baker]

check your leads and diz components.

may be boost leak, but the car would probably run awful if that was the case.

[RobCrezz]

Make up a bottle of really really soapy water, and give the intercooler and boost pipes a good spray when the engine is running, youll soon see if theres a leak. Have you tried tightening up all the hoses?

Also, listen for any blowing on the exhaust, I have had manifold gaskets blow on a 200sx i had and that caused the turbo not to produce boost.

[AndyBrad]

Are you using a HKS intrcooler aswell?

[G-force]

Yes, it is a HKS intercooler.

I've just done a diagnostic and got code 34 aswell....

[AndyBrad]

I fitted a HKS intercooler the weekend before last. I wasn't really happy with the 2 inch cold pipe going within an inch of the exhaust manifold heat shield but thought I would give it a try. The car felt horrible, really laggy and struggling to make 10psi at low revs. It did eventually make 14psi by redline but it was hard work!

My first thought was a boost leak so I got a couple of core plugs and a tyre valve. I drilled one of the core plugs and stuck the tyre value through it. I then took the hoses off the throttle body and the Toyota turbo hot pipe, blocked them up with the core plugs and pumped them up. Annoyingly it held 14psi with no leaks, I even left it on there for 10mins but the pressure was still the same when I returned.

Next I blocked the dump valve return to rule it out being stuck open, no difference.

One thing you might want to check on yours is all the bolts are tight as apart from the two that go into the top vertically all the rest go right through into the core. So a missing bolt would cause a big leak. I'm going to put some PTFE tape on mine as well.

The only thing I can think is mine is a rev1/2 version hence the 2 inch pipe and with a rev1/2 throttle body its not as close to exhaust manifold.
With the combination of a small pipe that is getting to 60 degrees in traffic is whats making it feel like its losing boost.

I'm going to refit it eventually but I'm going to make my own pipe work up so the pipes don't cross over and probably make a heat shield for the cold pipe.