OKay got my clutch install from a friend of a friend and after the car was leaking boost. I manage to remove the BR lower intercooler pipe and found it to be bad. See pictures. The gasket still looks good. Any suggestion or help to fix the pipe.

Do you think a washer on the bad side will work? Do I need a new intercooler pipe or flange?

Thks.

 

I had the same issue. It's a warped flange. Call buschur about it... I called them last time but they said they were out of stock and back ordered so they couldn't send me one then me send my old one back. It sucks so I had to fix it locally because I just couldn't get the time lately to send it back and have my car down. You can try RTV'ing it to have it seal if it is just a lot of tiny leaks...

bryan

 

I just put mine on. Thats how it comes. If its not then I have a serious problem. DOes your car make wierd noises now? Where did you put that restrictor line into. Did you get a longer hose and join them with a fiting or what? Where did you go for your boost source?

 

This is how it comes? Are you serious? Doesn't look right at all. Can anyone else with the BR lower intercooler pipe confirm?

When I bought the car it already had the intercooler so I never saw it stock. And yes the car makes a noise or whistle when trying to go into boost and car is very laggy now. I think it was leaking at this lower intercooler pipe. Like I said a friend of a friend was doing the clutch install and afterward this happen. I'm not sure what you mean resistor line or a longer hose. One side of the lower pipe goes on the turbo and the other side to the intercooler thru the black tube that you see on the picture.

 

Thanks. Glad to see I'm not a loner on this. How do you know it's warped? How did they fix the flange? Take a hammer and pound on the flange or what?

 

OK I just spent my entire weekend on this thing. When you take off the stock lower IC pipe, it has a nipple coming off of it for the boost source. The after market pipe doesnt come with one and requires to be reroute to another source. I was told to tap into the DV line that connects to the surge tank, AKA just at the valve cover there on the corner. ANway, yes thats how my pipe came. I wondered the same thing. It was hell trying to feed the bolt through there when it kept slipping out. But I finally got it. Could it be leaking??? Could, but the gasket makes the seal around the opoening. I am dealing with my car not wanting to drive normal under boost. I am thinking this is a simple fix, but I can be underestimate the crap out of these turbo cars.

 

BTW, I was under the car while under throttle and I heard or felt no leak by the pipe??? I dont know.

 

If you don't want to wait for Buschur to get more in stock, perhaps you can take the lower ic pipe to a local machine shop and have them machine the flange flat for you. It shouldn't be too hard or expensive and should save you some down time.

 

I had the same issue with my BR intercooler and outlet pipe. I ended up building a pressure tester to pressurize the intake tract in order to pinpoint the leak. A pressure tester is really the only way to find a leak without randomly trying to tighten clamps and bolts. I've never been able to hear a boost leak by revving the engine. You've got to get up to full boost and that won't happen by revving the engine in the driveway.

Anyway, I ended up using a gasket between the compressor outlet and the lower intercooler pipe to fix the issue. Like bryans2k said, some O2 sensor-safe RTV silicone could be used to seal the gap too. Just let it cure before putting it under pressure.

 

Thanks. Mine sharing how you build the pressure tester. And I agree that the leak will not be noticeable at idle. Did you use an aftermarket gasket or the stock gasket with some gasket maker. The stock gasket which is one of the picture appears to be good.

 

This is what i built for my eclispe like 2 years ago and it works Perfect. I still have it and used it on my Evo when i first bought it. I found several loose clamps.

http://www.turbo4wd.com/ICPressureTester.html

 

Here is what I found out. I called David Buschur and he said 99.99% sure the leak is at the lower IC pipe at the turbo. We need to take off the starter to get a clean shot at the pipe. Disconnect your battery as well. We may also have to torque the wastegate actuator from the pipe as well if it is touching it. This would cause unwanted pressure on the pipe as well. I have my work cut out for me once again.

Also were you able to get the screws that hold the intercooler screen to the car bumper back on? They said it should go back on but the corners of the screen are hiting the IC so I can t even push it on there anymore.

 

My pressure tester wasn't far off from what VTECH8TR built. Mine was much more simple. Basically I just capped off the intake pipe leading to the compressor inlet and then found a place to connect an air hose fitting somewhere along the intake tract. In my case I used the BPV return nipple. Once I capped it off I was able to pressurize the system to 20psi and find the leak. Then I pressurized up to 30psi to be sure.

It's amazing how much force is applied to the couplings at 30psi or even 20psi. I bet alot of people are running around with leaky intake tracts. Especially if they've done any mods.

 

Tampaturbo,

It looks like you have had a nightmare of an install. In the future hit me up as i could of lent a hand. I have alot of experience with Mitsu cars .

 

Thanks for the update. Clean shot at the pipe when bolted onto the turbo? I would hate taking the starter off. I avoided that already. The two started bolts are on there tight. I couldn't get the lower bolt to loosen up. I do recall that the pipe was touching the wastegate actuator but not sure if that was the cause. I'm not sure if there is a way to tell if the flange is warped. I have the pipe remove already and would hate to put it back just to check for warpage.