Thats what I was hoping to hear.

Thanks for the help!

 

I started my boost leak test and immediately found air gushing out of the all too common hose that is post IC on the driver side. I ended up having to remove the IC so that I could better test the connection and found that the lip on the hose had been bent at some point and had to straighten it to get a good connection again. Also pulled out the tabs a little more as they had been pushed in a little from whomever had put the hose in last. Thanks to Markski for the help!
Next Im going to be trying to pinpoint a small leak somewhere near the throttle body/y-pipe. I am seeing only a very slight pressure loss from it with a faint hiss but I dont want to have any leaks. Was just too tired last night to really dig into it.

 

Good stuff Neal, its satisfying to sort these things out yourself too.

 

I agree. I find working on my car is a good stress reliever as it allows me to 'fix' something with my own hands. Of course, I couldnt do it without all the support on here.

Cheers!

 

don't rule out the #16 check valve as it is often the cause of minor vac leaks. your clue *might* be that if pressure testing from the turbo inlet and it slowly wont hold 20psi and you hear a "hissing" sound? it could well be the old cheap piece of plastic has cracked, whether "visibly" or not. it is very common to fail, esp at the age of these, if it's still the original piece. it's a tough one to find if you do NOT hear the telltale "hissing" but is also such a cheap part ( 20 bucks? ) that it should be replaced with the venturi, n75 and the other associated cheap intake parts, especially given you are already in there messing with all that intake piping!

good luck chasing this NEXT one down

 

Which one do you have to drop the motor for? Per Markski Im going to check the 3 lines to the left of the TB and the o-Ring but Im not going to rest until I dont hear a sound.

 

none (?!?) on 2nd thought.. the most you'd have to do if even removing the plenum would be to "lower" the MM's a bit!

 

Im brain dead today... "lower the motor"... not drop

I need to remove most of that stuff anyway since Im going to replace the overflow tank while im in there. My current one looks like an alcoholic's liver.

 

you do not need to lower the motor to replace the check valves or do anything you've mentioned, to the best of my recollection, no.

replacing/removing the plenum, itself, is as I've said, another story. THAT is a tight fit.

ps lets please leave my liver out of this! shall we?! LOL

 

Find the leak then address it. Don't just start taking things out.
Lowering the motors and letting it rest on the sub frame mount will give you all the room you need
Check valve #16 as it now is labeled, if busted, the test will hold no boost at all.

 

Finally got to try the leak testers while I was changing out my trans mounts. Worked great thanks Mark! I could clearly hear the leak under this check valve.
While I didn't have time today to pull it apart, it's definitely this line because you could push on top of the elbow above the white check valve and hear the pitch of the leak change. Where does this line go?

 

This line supplies vacuum from the throttle body for the vacuum system (secondary air solenoid, vacuum reservoir and change over valve to diverters). Vacuum is pulled from that system into the throttle body and the check valve (#21 at the top of the diagram, black and white in your pic) stops pressurized air (boost) from pressuring the vacuum system.

 

Here's another, simpler diagram. However, this one has 2 other lines above the check valve that I don't recognize nor do I have on my car.

 

Thanks again for the test kit! Worked awesome and it was easy to tell where the leak was coming from. It's running great now and the boost feels like it used to dead on 1.2 . The FPR line was off the plenum elbow.

Thanks for your help!

 

Well There you go. Easy way to blow up a motor running lean.