Boost leak...bad wastegate??

[s14daver]

Ok ive searched for a while today to find a similar situation to mine and didnt find much...Ive checked all my IC piping and connections for a leak and havent found any...with that said what else could be causing me to lose boost pressure? Right now my car spikes up the 7 or 8 which is where the internal wastegate on my turbo usually hits and then it falls quick down to like 4 or 5 maybe 6psi at best and usually ends up at 5 or lower by redline...the internal wastegate seems tight and to be functioning and if i dont have a leak somewhere is there anything else that it could be?? Also if i turn on my EBC and try to run more boost it will spike the desired 10psi or w/e and yet again just fall off to 5ish...Any ideas??? Thanks

[DrifterProdigy85]

Is the Actuator Adjustable? Also do you have an Exhaust Leak at the Manifold?

[s14daver]

No, the actuator is not adjustable and no there are no leaks, i just put a new exhaust manifold gasket and manifold/turbo gasket on. BTWI checked for boost leaks just with the car running a friend revving it up...im sure i should get an actual tester so theres some actual pressure in the sytem but everything seemed sealed...ANY suggestion, and i mean anything to check would be appreciated im at my wits end trying to figure out why it wont boost properly...vacuum leak? boost leak? bad wastegate? anything come to mind at all....

[ZL-Auto]

what kind of blow off valve do you have ? We had a guy with a generic hks ssqv come in with a bad boost leak, under idle the car was fine, but under load the seals in the bov were shot and it literally spewed air.

[s14daver]

^i actually had that happening as well...i had a generic greddy doing the exact same thing so i bought a greddy type rs and it smoothed up the car quite a bit and helped a bunch but now i just hit my wastegate boost level then it falls off just after...its got to be a leak somewhere or something i dunno. Good call on that tho...i was praying to god that the new BOV was gonna take care of this bc i knew it was leaking but it didnt...any other ideas guys???

[DrifterProdigy85]

Boost leak your pipes. Its pretty easy to do. All it takes is to pull your Hotpipe off and put something in the coupler to seal it, then blow air into a vacuum line going to the TB. Have a friend watch the boost gauge and listen for the hissing.

[masterteque]

I would first try and bypass the boost controller to see what happens. I have had quite a few boost controllers bleed off. Next, I would get a adjustable wastegate actuator and tighten it up pretty good to make sure it is not prematurely opening. I have my adjustable actuator set at 10psi and my boost controller set a 14psi. I also have injectors, maf and an rom tuned ecu. Good luck...

[IanS]

it sounds like your wastegate actuator may be leaking

[s14daver]

Yeah im worried its the wastegate....figures ill have to get a $100 adjustable actuator or somehing...Im gonna leak test it this weekend and hope its just a boost leak but im def. worried its the wastegate itself...

As far as the boost controller thats on of the first things i did was unhook my EBC and just see what it was running off the wastegate =\

Thanks for the input guys

[IanS]

if you pay shipping I have 2 extra stock wastegage actuators laying around, you can have one

[s14daver]

i actually have 2 stock t25 ones laying around as well, so if it turns out i need one ill try and rig one of those up most likely. Thanks for the offer tho.