Leaking Intercooler?

[z31jaime]

ok, so for over a year now my car has been running on lower boost than what my Green tune is ment for.

Car was running fine at 14psi ish with OEM ecu and MBC. Then suddenly 1 day it was stuck at 10psi.

Ordered ARD green tune.

While doing the tune I decided to strip down the car and do a total build on it (external)

new PCV system.

3" Dp 3" exhaust

NA cams

NA throttle body

16T upgrade (fresh rebuild)

Snabb spacer

samco and snabb silicones all around.

white injectors

new fuel pump

new EGR

Bosch plugs

kingsborn wires.

still wouldn't boost past 10 psi

well after a few months I found a leak in the snabb spacer so I assumed that was my boost leak. I removed it and still had low PSI.

so I swapped my 16T for another 15G... still no more than 10 psi. (thats 3 turbos)

swapped out the waste gate actuator... still nothing. Brand new CBV.... nothing.

Multiple MBC, BCS, and now I'm running an AEM true boost EBC and still can't get it over 10psi

Then FCP did the "recall" on the leaking PCV system and sent me a BNIB Volvo PCV kit... still no more than 10psi.

Vac in park is -18

Vac when in Drive but not moving is -13ish

I removed all the silicone and went back to OEM rubber intercooler lines and still got nothing. placed everything back and made a DIY pressure tester.

Turbo to intercooler holds 20psi no problems....

intercooler to TB holds 20 PSI no problems.

Tried full system and the Intercooler looks to be blowing a TON of PSI out the weep hole. wouldn't hold 17psi.

its hard to listen for holes in the Intercooler when you have the weep hole blowing... but thats the only thing I could clearly notice.

CAN that weep hole really bleed off 7+psi? I find it hard to imagine something that small loosing that much PSI.

With the exception of the intercooler I have now removed and inspected/replaced everything on the charging system.

Tech suggested I do a short run with the WG line disconnected to see if I build boost.... slight improvement to 12psi but thats it. the car won't build up any more than 12psi even with the WG disconnected.

I did all the upgrades because i couldn't locate the problem on the stock setup, so I figured I'll just upgrade everything in 1 shot and it should resolve itself......... it didn't.

Long story short, i'm about to order a FMIC kit, unless anyone has a suggestion on something else to check?

[lookforjoe]

With all the turbo swapping, did you actually check your WG flap in the hotside housing? With no pressure acting on the WG by way of the WGA, you should see very high boost at low throttle - that's why you have to be very careful doing that check. Sounds like your WG is stuck open.

Clogged cat would do a similar thing, but you've replaced all that.

Sorry to hear you've thrown so many parts at it, however those are all things to be addressed anyway, so not such a biggie.

Remember than the charge system doesn't see static positive pressure, so the bleed hole is largely irrelevant in the scheme if things. Unclear how you could have tested from IC to TB and not noticed the weep though.

[z31jaime]

I did from the pipe Out of the intercooler... not the intercooler it self.

so.....

Lower Intercooler line to Turbo.... was 1 test.

upper intercooler line to TB was the other...

then 1 full test of everything in 1 shot.

your right im not upset at the parts I've spent, as I would have needed to change them at some point but I'm still scratching my head.

WG... I've done 2 different hot sides, and I've checked the flap on both. When I do the WG disconnected test I feel no change, if I had a boost leak I should feel the turbo spooling like crazy but just not building past a point....it feels exactly like it always feels. (your correct like it has an open WG)

NOW you did mention something... CLOGGED cat. I did a high flow cat, on my car. but I know when we did Robt5's cams his car started to shoot out "confetti" (little carbon papers) from the muffler and he had no cat. I did run the car Open DP from my house to the exhaust shop so I thought I would have spit them all out by then but maybe that's my problem.

I'll pull my vband off and check my cat. Thanks for the suggestion.

[TainterRacing]

That weep hole is stock.....did you look closely at the hot side of the turbo maybe the flap is not sealing well. The By pass valve can do that as well. if there is a bad spring or it has a small hole.

[Smiles855R]

This is just a long shot but did you mix up the vacuum lines to the BCS when you replaced them? Also what do you have your WG psi set at?

[z31jaime]

just a foot note I forgot 2 say....

EACH turbo had its own waste gate and CBV. so I'm on turbo #3 with Waste gate #3 and CBV#4... I picked up a BNIB one from FCP just to rule the CBV out.

Its not the BCS/TCV because I'm not running one now. I have bypassed it and I'm running just the EBC. I bypassed it before with MBC and it still wouldn't build pressure.

[98t5M]

If you duct tape the s#it out of the weep hole it will hold strong enough to pressure test, I've tried it and got to at least 20psi before the tape came off. Oh yeah clean the area around it really well first so the tape sticks.

I've heard of a few cracked intercoolers, mostly from people running into parking blocks.

[z31jaime]

OK so update....

built my own pressure tester and the car held 22psi with no leaks. I tried to go up more and blew the tester off. so I can for sure say its not the intercooler.

tested compression in the motor and got 150 - 154 across all the cylinders.

ONLY CEL I'm throwing is rear 02 slow response which I assume is from my high flow cat.

so now that were looking at suggestions....

Clogged cat? Or timing maybe?

When I did the cams I followed the directions on ARD's site...

" For ARD Green tunes, cam timing is recommended to be -2 degrees intake and -1 degrees exhaust for stock cars. For cars with downpipe, catback, and intake of FMIC, set the exhaust cam to -2 degrees.

For cars with N/A cams follow the above recommendations with the following changes; advance the exhaust cam 2 degrees and retard the intake cam 2 degrees."

so from what I understand if I'm running N/A cams... my intake should be at 0 (following above recommendation then making the change for N/A cams), and my exhaust should be at -4 (start at -2 then retard 2 more per directions)? that's how I set it. If I'm wrong then maybe that's my problem......

Next step is going to be pull the downpipe off the exhaust and see who she run open DP. if it runs better then I'm going to assume its the Cat.

Tonight I'm going to drop in my R ECU and see how it runs and if anything changes.

[Rod'sT-5]

Hey Jaime,

The way I'm reading it, you should be at 0 degrees for Ex cam (-2 degrees then+2 degrees).

For the intake cam -4 degrees (retarded), (-2 degrees then-2 degrees).

But I dont think that would cause 4lb loss of boost, Maybe it could. Looks like you did the cams after the loss of boost?

Rod

[z31jaime]

ok guys, update time again...

dropped the 628 ecu in and the car "feels" stronger. hits 10psi really early on, and holds till I shift.

Talked to tech who suggested I drop the Wastegate line and see what I boost to. hit it and got 12.9psi. at which point something started to bleed boost back to 8psi.

Talked to MattyXXL who thinks my CBV was pushed open at the 12psi mark. Suggested I get an upgraded spring.

But I can see a clear difference in the R vs Green tune. and I'm hitting 12psi for the first time in months. so I have made some progress.

I also dropped the Green tune into my 96 t5, and got the same result as my wagon... "feels stock". no change in boost levels. I've already had this discussion with Lucky (in June) who says the stock BCS on her car won't hold the 17psi... because its probably failing like mine.

I'm seriously thinking of just putting in my oem ECU (072) and running my MBC at 12psi Like I had before all this.

[lookforjoe]

Have you tried wiring the WG arm shut? You should not be limited to 12psi regardless of what boost/tune you are running. With no WG bleed, you should be hitting serious over boost.

Have you used multiple WGA's, with each turbo?

[z31jaime]

another update... had to go get some stuff at the store... half throttle on R ecu with WG disconnected =14.5PSI.....

Looks like it just took a few miles for the car and tune to adjust.

[z31jaime]

when I got each turbo it was a Complete "assembly" from the JY or local sellers. so I didn't peace together different turbo's. Each one had its own WG, CBV, etc etc etc.

This last 15G I've started to add stuff to like the new CBV because I'm done swapping turbos. after 3 turbos I think its safe to say its nothing there.

[lookforjoe]

another update... had to go get some stuff at the store... half throttle on R ecu with WG disconnected =14.5PSI.....

Looks like it just took a few miles for the car and tune to adjust.

When you say WG disconnected - it sounds like you mean the WG Actuator - there is no way to disconnect the WG itself, it's part of the hot side - is that what you meant?

Sounds like it's acting more as it should now.

[S70-R]

With all you have done and specially because you are not getting insane boost levels with your WG line disconnected, why don't you consider that the problem might be a leaking exhaust manifold?

If all the system can hold high boost levels and if with your WG line disconnected you still have no high boost, the problem must be related to turbo/exhaust mani or the intake system (filters/inlet turbo hose...)