Somethings wrong. Bad turbo? Vacuum leak? Please help. kinda long

[dashtz69]

Ok, so here's the thing. My car has been running pretty crappy for a while. I got it back to almost running normal, nothing really bad was noticeable. Well then I start hearing this weird when I get on the interstate at around 3K. Like a little whistle. I didn't think anything of it and just kept driving. Well now that little whistle is getting worse. The whistle is louder and now I cannot get the car over 3K when I am at or around WOT. If I accelerate slowly I can get over 3K, but if I am on it it just won't go up and it doesn't accelerate. I don't know if it has been progressively been getting worse or if it just because we are having a cold week, but it's really bad now. It does happen around 1 psi in second, and in the other gears it will get to around 3 or 4 before this noise starts to happen. If I drive really carefully I can get around without the noise, but thats pretty hard to do when getting on the interstate. Anyways, I have a Greddy UIP, Type-S BOV, and an Injen Intake. These are the possible scenarios the guys at the shop gave me -
1. Turbo is going bad. The more I think about it, i can understand this. It spools, but not all the way like it used to, unless I just can't hear it under the noise.
2. Vacuum leak somewhere with the BOV. The guy at the shop for some reason or another thinks the top line from the BOV to the intake manifold is leaking. How would I check this and/or fix it?
3. Another guy at the shop said that there is a little sensor in the stock air box with a wire running to it, and when I put the intake on this was left off and now it is not reading air correctly. I have no idea what he's talking about as I don't remember anything like that when I took the intake off. but maybe I missed something?
4. Maybe the Intercooler pipe is slipping off or something, but I already had it come off once before and it shut the car off and idled like crap when I restarted it.
If anyone has any other possible ideas or thinks one of the above may be correct, please let me know. If it's the turbo that's not all bad I guess, but I just hope my engine isn't totally screwed. I hate to bring it up, but could it be crankwalk? I don't know much about it, so I'm not sure of the symptoms. it still drives fine, and the clutch seems to engage consistently. Also, if I do stay on it, the boost will get to 10. But that is it. It used to be around 13. Well that's all I can think of now. Hopefully I gave enough info. Thanks a lot.

 

[00 Agent]

Sounds like a boost leak.

 

[Lordpaxin]

if the engine isnt getting its air suplied from the turbo, it wont do shit,
friends talon, we took the upper intercooler pipe off to test it, and damn think wouldnt run for shit.

 

[dashtz69]

A boost leak would cause it do that? It doesn't want to go at all. I think the UIP at the elbow is starting to come off, but I won't know for sure until Sunday... Boost leaks are that bad huh?

 

[TheTSiGuy]

Originally posted by dashtz69
A boost leak would cause it do that? It doesn't want to go at all. I think the UIP at the elbow is starting to come off, but I won't know for sure until Sunday... Boost leaks are that bad huh?

Man, like you wouldnt believe. Before i went around tightening all my hoses, and clamps, my car ran really rough, and my boost would drop down like a dead fly after hitting max boost. As soon as i checked for boost leaks, did all the tightening, tightened clamps and hoses, it was like a totally different car.

 

[dashtz69]

Wow, I didn't know they were so bad. Alright, I'll make one of those testers this weekend and try to find some. So you don't think it could be something more serious? I sure hope not... Ohh... one more stupid question... Is a vacuum leak the same as a boost leak?

 

[00 Agent]

Originally posted by dashtz69
Wow, I didn't know they were so bad. Alright, I'll make one of those testers this weekend and try to find some. So you don't think it could be something more serious? I sure hope not... Ohh... one more stupid question... Is a vacuum leak the same as a boost leak?

Ya basically. They are both leaks somewhere in your system. Typically if it leaks under vacuum it'll leak under boost. My friend's '97 GS-T blew the lower IC pipe off of the intercooler (and we didn't find it right away ) and it wouldn't rev past like 2k and ran like absolute shit.

 

[dashtz69]

Ok, I am pretty sure it is the elbow at the upper intercooler pipe, but is there any way it could be the BOV? The guys at the shop kept saying that was it, but I don't really trust them. But I do remember reading that Type-S do leak, but would it be that bad? It is only two months old...

 

[flinguist]

I installed a used 1G BOV that leaked alot and caused a whistling sound in the intake. To check it, and the integrity of the rest of the intake system do a leak check. See http://www.vfaq.com/mods/ICtester.html

 

[Staged]

I'm not the expert. By ANY MEANS!
But we should all check the fitment of the aftermarket intake to the turbo. I just installed a 3" on my 90, and it went crazy rough for a while. Finally, I tightened the clamp for the intake at the turbo.
Also, my SVO gave off a crazy loud siren sound that started small and then got bigger. It turned out the shaft in the turbo had major play in it and the wheel was skimming the side. Check your shaft play to.
One last possibility, and I am wondering why it didn't happen in the first place,
Why couldn't the shop that gave you all those possibilities in the first place just check it? $2 for the replacement line from the BOV, and 5 minutes to check the wire and reconnect it in the MAFS, or 5 more minutes to check play on the turbo, and then reseal the intake to it.
Just wonderin'.

 

[dashtz69]

I have no idea why they couldn't check it... It was a Chrysler dealership. We went there because we could get cheap parts and labor discounts, and I thought they were supposed to be connected to Eagle somehow... Either way they didn't seem to know what to look for and had no idea how to check. They told me to check myself and thought I should return everything to stock. heh, well I got a couple of days off coming up so I should be able to get down and look a little closer. Thanks for the help