its not the rings having pressure up there has nothing to do with blown rings

 

maybe put cylinder # 1 on TDC???

 

Pressure in the crankcase is usually from pressure sneaking by the turbo oil seals or the PCV valve failing. Bypass the turbo and pressurize the system directly to the IC piping after the turbo. Plug off the PCV hose to track down if either of these areas are the culprit.

 

It is actually normal to get air coming out of the valve cover vent. I have done numerous boost leak checks and air always comes out. I also do a compresion check afterwards and my compression is consistantly 180 +/- 2 across all 4 cylinders.

 

There's not a lot of point to pressurizing the crankcase and checking for leaks in the engine. I would block off the upper IC pipe or rotate the engine to ensure that the intake valve is closed before doing the test. I think you are worrying over nothing. If you want to check the engine, do a compression test. Takes a $20-25 gauge from Sears and about 30 minutes tops.

 

I had already removed the PCV valve and that was not the problem, the turbo seal was another consideration but I though it unlikely after only 10,000 miles and only 23 Psi.

 

Does it blow any smoke? What color, and when? Any at startup after it sits for awhile? Anything during boost?

 

nope none, of any kind

 

Have you tried with a warmed up motor and at 1@tdc ?

 

no I have not. How do I set 1 at TDC?

 

one of two way .
Look at the crank pully/ballancer and it has marks on it aline the marks on the crank pully and block (hard to see)
OR take off the cam gear cover (4 10-mm bolts) and aline the marks on the cam gear to the marks on the valve cover . the cam gears are ezer to see the marks
To rotate the motor so the marks line up , 1st bump the motor over (like ur going to start the car but dont start her) and get the marks close to each other , then take a 1/2" werch with a 4-6" extension and put it int hte middle of the crank shaft pully and rotate clock wise slowly (car out of gear) untill the mark line up .

 

Even a new turbo will allow blow-by past the oil seals. The oil seals work by having higher oil pressure on one side than you have air pressure on the other. When you boost leak test directly on the turbo, the pressure on the turbo side is greater since there is no oil pressure present. Like they said, as long as a compression test shows no signs of excessive wear, I wouldn't worry too much about it.