id prolly fab up one using the instructions given in post #2..no offense

 

Just loosen clamp on tester to turbo and pull it off slowly

 

ok so i just tried testing my car...made my tester like in post 2...cept i used a bike tire valve at the top. i filled the compressor to 15psi and began putting in a little air...i cud hear air getting into the turbo but my boost gauge just sat at 0 the whole time. car was off, battery unplugged. any ideas wat i cud have done wrong? sorry if this is a newb question but this is my first time doing this and im just not sure wat went wrong. thanks.

 

Doesnt a bike have the valve stem attatched to an intertube . Oh well nevermind that. Sounds like you dont have enough air. You said you filled your compressor with 15 psi. Thats not enough to fill the system. Acording to a previous post here they said they need there compressor pumped up to 120psi to fill the car system to close to 20 psi.

 

Did you plug the hose going to the top right side of the spark plug cover before trying to fill up the system with air?

Maybe that is your problem.

 

So i found all my leaks. Replaced stock damaged hoses with some samco hoses. now the only air leak that i hear is coming from the throttle body. What position should the throttle be in when doing these tests?

 

It seems there should be more to the test then just plugging the tester and pumping air. I have an mbc which i would think would leak, since that is how the work. Also is the TB air tight when closed? if not, air could get through the engine and through the valves out the exhaust? unless its turned to tdc.

 

is it leaking into the engine bay, or sound like its inside the manifold? you might wanna look up "shaft seal leak", i just replaced mine.

 

Wow! This topic certainly has caught my attention and I am still trying to figure this thing out!

So I made my own pressure tester and hooked it right up the the compressor side of the Turbo (cold side) and then used an air compressor to build up pressure in the entire system. I kept an eye on my boost pressure control gauge inside the car (mitsu gauges on my MR) to make sure I put not more than 1.3 bars so that I feel "safe".

My understanding is that this will perform a leak test on the entire system. That means the turbo itself, fittings, intercooler, throttle body, injectors, etc. The only issue is that I found that off the valve cover, there is a hose which connects directly to a nipple on the air filter's intake tubing (the green arrow in the 1st picture is pointed to the tube in question and I pulled it out of the way so the other side currently is resting close to the top of the battery as seen in the picture). When I pressurize my system, air comes out of this hose. Does this hose need to be blocked or what gives? I did temporarily try to block the hose but then I heard air trying to escape out of the oil filler cap so I immediately released the pipe and let it dispel the air.

Can anyone help in advising whether this hose should be releasing pressure and if so, should it be blocked or left alone? If left alone, it is difficult to hear whether there are any other leaks somewhere else in the system.

 

Yes you'll need to cap that hose

Bzzzz

Your TB shaft seals are shot get them changed out. Works sells the as does EvoMoto

 

Is the reason you have to block that hose that air is leaking through the valves because they're not fully closed? I'm just curious, because the hose connects to the (non-pressurized) side of the intake when the car is running, so if it was leaking then that would be one hell of a boost leak

 

OK, I noticed that even when the hose was not capped, the pressure in the gage inside the car stayed at the 1.3 bars as I wanted with the pressure regulator setting I had on my air compressor. However, when I capped the hose, a tremendous amount of pressure built up within the valve cover and pressure was trying to escape out of the oil cap. I am afraid to cap this hose if it should not for fear of hurting the valve cover seals, etc. Are we sure that this needs to be capped/closed during the test?

 

Cris at Cobb confirmed the hose should be capped off temporarily in order to conduct the test. Normally this hose vents engine gases and thus needs to be free flowing in that instance.

 

Since a few people have asked, I am adding some additonal pictures of what my leak tester looked after it was all put together. This was how I used it to test the entire system on a stock turbo on the IX.