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Are you putting down all the power from your turbo!?
Doing a simple boost leak test will give you that answer.
A boost leak test will detect every single leak in your turbo engine! Fixing these leaks will let you spool your turbo with confidence knowing the engine is making the most power, fuel economy and extending the turbos life dramatically!
Turbo Boost Leak Testers is your number one source for high quality, simple and effective boost leak testers since 2007! Always pro-active to help you troubleshoot your turbo engine issue and guide you through fixing your boost leaks. Feel free to reach out any time directly by cell or email.
How it works?
The boost leak tester attaches to the turbo's compressor inlet, or in some cases, pre-turbo, and allows for a shop air compressor to pressurize the tester and all of the pressure holding components while the engine is off. This will let you easily check the system for any leaks. Every single boost leak tester includes a built-in boost gauge that allows you to monitor exactly how much air is in the system to avoid putting dangerous amounts of pressure into the system.
Boost leak testing will check for all hoses, pipes, clamped connections worm gear clamp, v-band clamps, diverter valves, blow off valves, EGR valves stuck open, one-way check valves, brake booster check valve, intercooler core and end tanks, charge air cooler / CAC. throttle body seals, intake manifold, manifold air connections, injector o-rings, PCV valves - all these components that the turbo normally pressurizes every single time its spooling to make full boost!
With turbo engines becoming more popular now paired to smaller engines making more power, it is even more important to keep any leaks out of the charge pipe path. That is, the path the pressurized air takes after leaving the turbo outlet and through to your engine into the cylinders. ANY leak in between is considered a boost leak and your turbo has to make up for the leak by spinning faster and consequently creates more heat.
When should I check for boost leaks?
Routine maintenance: Checking for boost leaks periodically, is becoming more important now that tuning is widespread for almost every turbo car or truck out there. Everyone wants to go faster and it's becoming easy to do so. However, turning up the boost puts a significant load on the turbo. “With great power comes great responsibility”
Upgrading with a Tune or any hardware mods: A boost leak test should be performed when any modification or upgrade is made to the air charge path. Upgrades like FMIC or charge pipe upgrades for example, may never see their full potential because a boost leak was left undetected from the install from a bad clamped connection, or whatever it might be. If going in for a custom tune, any good tuner will require a check for any boost leaks before strapping the car down to the dyno. It is critical not to tune in a boost leak. If so, and that leak does get fixed in the future with the same tune it will cause a lean condition.
Replacing failed turbos: Replacing turbos is another time when a boost leak test is absolutely required since the boost leak may have been the cause of the turbo failure to begin with!
Racing!: Road race track days, street racing, drag racing - all are high demand situations for the motor and turbos - last thing you'll want is to put all that additional stress on the motor due to a boost leak.
Out of warranty: Hoses, seals, gaskets, rubber, vacuum lines all deteriorate and fail with heat and age just like any other components that often get a lot of attention such as spark plugs, oil changes… air leaks are just as important to address.
“My turbo sounds so cool!”
Yes, you can sometimes hear a boost leak while you are driving, but that's after it has developed into a HUGE leak. These huge boost leaks get attention and get fixed quickly because it's a new noise and usually accompanied by a loss of power. The more detrimental leaks are the ones that you cannot feel or hear when you pedal to the metal, and impossible to hear over the sound of the intake and exhaust.
Why is a boost leak bad?
A boost leak in any turbo motor can be just as detrimental as a worn or failed spark plug, injector or any other critical component in the engine. A boost leak in the charge path overworks the turbos. Puts a tremendous amount of stress on the entire system since the turbos need to overcome that leak by spinning faster just to make up for the loss of air. Depending on severity of the leak, the turbo shaft bearings are compromised from a lack of lubrication leading to the shaft play and ultimately compressor and turbine wheel failure. Broken shafts, chewed up compressor wheels dumping aluminum pieces into the intake are examples of the worst case.
The worst leaks! - In most cases boost leaks are subtle undetected by the driver and do harm over time. This causes anomalies in the target air fuel ratios, higher ignition retard and other tuning related issues that unfortunately get blamed on the tune or tuner. Spinning turbos faster and out of their efficiency range puts a lot more heat into the intake, causing the ignition/spark retard, AFR's to be chasing the target AFR fuel since the expected air is not present due to the leak. The boost leaks, ignition spark timing, and AFR can act together in a synergy of stress on the motor.
New engine built owner says, “Na… I dont have a leak because I looked it all over...”
Time after time we've seen stock and high horse-power cars come through and the owner of the car has done a visual check and confidently says "I looked it all over...tightened all the clamps down, i don't have any leaks!' only to find an unobvious vacuum line or some other overlooked connection was leaking. You can never be sure unless the system is pressurized! These later become the die-hard fans of boost leak testing.
What about smoke testing?
A smoke test is a good option for finding low pressure & evap leaks but will never put the charge pipes to the test to detect higher boost leaks that surface above 10 PSI, 15PSI or even greater. That being said, if your smoke tester can reach higher pressure levels or combined with a boost leak tester, then that would work just as good.
The good news is that any uncertainty can be avoided with a simple and cost effective boost leak test. Boost leak testing can be cheap insurance for your turbo engine especially when compared to the cost of a turbo replacement and the dreaded downtime from being able to drive and enjoy your turbo car!
Spool the turbo with confidence and peace of mind!