Boost Leak?

[DiamondStarCar]

First off, I don't want to waste anyone's time by not searching, so I have done so. I found many articles about boost leaks, but I can't perform the test until tommorrow because of my final exams at school.

--Here's the problem:
I turn the car on and it runs great...no CEL, no surge, no misfire. Free revving to about
3k shows no problems either. However, when driving, under boost at WOT, the car will studder at about 2k rpms....up until this it drives normally. This is what leads me to believe it's a boost leak. Before I get in trouble here, I just want to mention that my boost guage reads 10psi max even at WOT (usually get 14-15). I had a vented HKS bov, but put the stock one back on and the problems continued. I read about 15 vac. at idle, even before the car warmed up. Any other way to do the boost leak test than the pvc pipe and bicycle pump? It should also be noted that the car drove perfect, then this problem started after parking it for 2 hours to study.

I want to apologize in advance because I know there are literally countless threads written on this, but none included the weird HARDCORE vibration my car gets when I go WOT and the turbo is done spooling.

--Chris....95 gsx

 

[DiamondStarCar]

ok, my final exams are done so I have time to work on the car. I'm going to make the boost leak tester today after work and test it.

The car is running very rich...i can smell it, see black smoke, and above all, hear it popping like crazy.

Typical signs of a boost leak?

 

[LunarEclips]

no not typical signs of a boost leak...if you're smokin black...you have a bad PCV valve, bad piston ring, bad turbo, or some type of internal problem...you shouldnt be driving it like that.

 

[mr2turbo]

still might be a small boost leak, Did you do the test? It's normal for a car to have a boost leak and run rich

 

[DiamondStarCar]

Bear with me people, I still need to do the test, but I havn't been home yet.

LunarEclips, if my piston rings were going out, the engine would run terrible regardless of boost pressure. Also, it free revs just fine and idles great with no CEL or misfire. The smoke I mentioned was VERY minimal and my sister (behind me) could barely notice it. I was hoping it would be easy like plugs/or boost leak...but what sucks is that I can't test it yet. Sorry to keep anyone waiting.

I have one question before I perform the test. Could this be my MAF by any chance? I know it's not completely out, because I ran it without it plugged in, and the car dies instantly.

Thanks for the replies, keep them coming....

P.S. When the "stumbling" starts around 2500rpms, the car stops accelerating, and reminds me of when I hit fuel cut in a neigbors gvr4...but it keeps going...DUR DUR DUR DUR DUR.....POP!

 

[DiamondStarCar]

I did the boost leak test. It wont hold more than 6psi...the second I turn off the the air compressor, the boost comes down immediately.

So yeah, there is a boost leak...it sounds like a small one around the throttle body...but the gaskets dont bubble with soapy water around them. So i dont know....