This is a fast and cheap fix for the leaky stock surge valve on our cars, you read all the negative about them now lets look at how you can fix the problem for less than three dollars. This can be done with or with out the Mopar conversion plate, if you want this mod now is a good time to have it handy. As you have to remove the surge valve.
After you have removed the surge valve from your car, place it on a work table with the rubber diafram facing up. Pull the rubber up around the edges, with your thumb in the center of the diafram gently push it to one side, at the same time pull up on the rubber diafram, it will pop right out.
The first two pics attached below are of the surge valve complety diasembled. The weakest two links are the tan colored cap and the spring, due to making this as easy as possible for the novice, the tan cap/spring retainer must be reused. Holding it away from your face pull stright up and it will pop off, so will the spring as it is under some tension, but it will not going bouncing around.
In the third pic you will notice that with my forefingers and my thumb i can completly compress the spring, not good at all. This is were all the gripes about the leaking surge/BOV come from. Boost pressure can actually push it open, the result is a boost leak anything over 15psi, in some cases talked about elsewhere, starting as low as 8psi of boost.
Now picking a spring is no easy task. Two things to look for.
1st. It must be able to compress and be helt in by the cap/spring retainer.
2nd. It must be able to allow the diafram to move up to release boost when a vacum is applied to it.
So we do not want a 20lb spring. What i did with mine was i measured the distance of the spring compressed between the diaphram and cap/spring retainer...off the top of my head was like one and a quarter inch, the spring seat is a little less then one inch diameter. Now to select your spring go for something in the 4 to 6 pound per square inch range. This makes a nice leak free seal for the surge valve and it starts to open with less than 6hz of vacum applied, boost will do the rest. Another plus is that you do not have to "tee" into the intake vacum lines like most aftermarket BOV's, you can still keep the stock look with the pink line.
The best place to purchase your spring is your local hardawre store or do an internet search. I found what i was looking for at Home Depot.
The last pic is with the mod done and installed on a '04 car with S1, large FMIC,mopar bov,2.5 mopar cat back exhaust,agp wga,greedy e-01 emanage...yes you see right...18.5 on the stock turbo...with spikes to 21psi...for many,many miles with no ill effects.

 

Please note that unless you are taking boost control away from the computer, this mod is a waste of time, as under normal operation, boost is applied to both sides, and spring pressure is all that's neede to hold it closed.

10psi + 4lb spring > 10psi

15psi = 4lb spring STILL > 15 psi


Of course, if you are taking boost control away from the computer, then the above may very well work for you. But DO consider the source of this info. Just remember, if the computer controls the valve, IT CANNOT LEAK unless it's broken.

 

And i higher spring pressure means it stays closed....aka dosent leak...This is a good mod for either the stock sit up or even one of the countless boost controllers on the market for the srt-4.....pics are worth a thousand words.

 

andy, i know that you've been banished to war stories on srtforums, but even you must know that the spring mod has been around for over a year now.

 

I was under the impression he was totally banned after all the fur-flying there in Jan and Feb.....

 

wow

 

It's good reading Roach, if they ever give you guys a break over there.....

 

Psi Chick, he's talking about the stock BOV/diverter, not the WGA, which the spring mods affects.


andy, here's the thing. when hooked up stock, it doesn't leak at any pressure you can achieve with the system. All you accomplish is to throw the system off. I have pressurized my system up to 20 psi static (using an air compressor), the ONLY leak was through the throttle plate.

A boost gauge at 18 psi? You can get that without messing with the diverter valve, just the WGA or spring mod. My point is that under stock boost control, even at S2 boost levels, it won't leak.

You picture was achieved with just this change? Not likely. Since you have asked a vendor about the WGA you bought, that is what is giving you the boost levels, which tells me you are not using stock boost control.

Please prove your assertion that this mod has a benefit for cars using stock boost control. There is none.

 

Well if you had read the entire post over there you would have came across the key words....it was my brothers SRT-4...and i listed his mods..all of them...and he was having problems, and did not want me to tee or modify from stock...cause dad told me if i void the warranty i get to flip the bill when he breaks it.

Next it takes exactly five seconds for the boost to equalize on the diafram...enough time for the boost at the turbo to push it open and allow it to leak...go get yourself two pressure gauges and tee them, or how ever you want to and see for your self...then...do this mod and post what happens.

 

I DID read the entire post. There is NO mention of either your brother, but you did list mods as shown here

"S1, large FMIC,mopar bov,2.5 mopar cat back exhaust,agp wga,greedy e-01 emanage...".

As far as this

"and he was having problems, and did not want me to tee or modify from stock...cause dad told me if i void the warranty i get to flip the bill when he breaks it"

"not modify from stock"? What, the surge valve vac lines are the ONLY thing left stock? I see both a WGA and a electronic boost controller. Either of which are more likely to cause warranty problems than a vac line tee. How is that EO1 plumbed in, anyway?

My point here is that you talk about the benefit of this mod for stock cars, but you don't have it applied to a stock car, unless that will surface now that I have asked.

As far as the time it takes to equalize the boost, please explain that 5 second thing. So when I hit the gas, I have to wait for five seconds before the boost equalizes? I want everyone to do a potato count now.

One potato
Two potato
Three potato
Four potato
Five potato

Now take a drive and floor it at 3200 rpms hold your foot down for that long. Bet you have to shift before you get to five potatoes. Also bet your boost gauge settles long before that. If not, you most likely DO have a boost leak, but from loose clamps on the pressure pipes, NOT from your surge valve (the real name of the BOV). I expect to have actual test results here fairly soon from a pressure test.

But until then, andy, riddle me this. How much force does it take to compress the surge valve spring?