Ok, I didn't even want to ask this question but I'm going to anyways...

When I first bought the car and drove it home the boost felt a lot better than it has for quite a while now... I could be on the freeway drop to fourth and boost would spike 14 or so and, and it felt strong pulling. Now, the boost goes to about 11 right off and just holds there... At first I was thinking maybe it's just the cooler weather, but I'm not so sure anymore. It just doesn't feel like it has the same power...

So now I'm thinking boost leaks, I have a tester from srtoys.com but havent tested yet. I did today though tighten up all the clamps, and after that I took it for a drive and it felt better for a little bit... Boost would spike alittle and hold higher aswell. But it seemed after a handfull of WOT runs it stopped spiking and again was just boosting up to 10-11 and holding (this is in all gears btw).

So my main question is, if there are no leaks and everything is normal, is boost suppose to spike? It sure felt a lot stronger when it did compared to now. The temps are around 50-60, and cooler at night, and I for the most part I get the same boost in all gears... Go wot it jumps to 10-11 and holds there.

I think I'm going to go do the boost leak test now, but I'd still like to find out if the boost is supposed to spike.

Thanks

 

Update

Did a leak check... Don't think I accomplished much from doing it particularly... Somewhere by the turbo was leaking loud or somewhere towards the back, no idea what it was... Didn't hear much else anywhere else... But I tighted up all the clamps some more, the hot side pipe is ALMOST impossible it seems.

The results though, are decent... I've tightened up the clamps 3 different times today, and on this last time the car is running a lot stronger. Its very cold (by CA standards) low 40s high 30s and I'm getting some spikes and holding 1+psi more and its amazing how big of a different that makes in how the car feels. I'm curious to see how it's running tommarrow with the temps a bit higher.


I'd still like to hear if the boost is "supposed" to spike when you go wot.

 

due to the design of the system, yea it really should spike.

the hiss that you heard from the back was the charge pipe. it's always leaking on these cars. i found mine about to fall off a few weeks ago. tighten that up, reset the ecu and see how she does.

 

Thanks... Which pipe exactly are you refering to? I have this pic that I've been going off for clamps to tighten though I cannot figure out how you get to the turbo outlet shown in the pic. Any help?


Also, this morning after reading your post I went out and decided to tighten them all again and realized I never did the one thats like directly under the engine. So I jacked it up, and tightened all of them again shown in the pic minus the turbo outlet, reset the computer, and... MUCH better. Boost was now 2-3psi higher than it was holding and it was spiking like it was weeks ago.

[IMG]local://upfiles/19457/04B56C2800854B34906D7A1D4CE25452.jpg[/IMG]

 

The turbo outlet is the worst one, and the one that should be tightened first and paid attention to it most.

I would go after that right away... all you have to do is take out the intake pipe...

 

Okay,,now I'm thinking I have boost leaks. Do any of you have a picture of what hoses need to be tightened? I have requested a book on the SRT-4 for Xmas, so hopefully, that will help me understand what the motor parts are. Anyhow, if someone has a drawing or something of the engine, could you direct me to that site? UGH,,,,,,I don't even own a damned jack.

Forget it,,,I just saw where Andy has a drawing in his post.

 

reading ownz j00!!! haha

 

That hissing from the rear of the turbo is the killer. Really, you must, must, get that sucker sealed up tight. And you cant just crank it and call it good. You have to make sure its seated right. You can crank that clamp til it breaks and still not seal if its offset, which a lot are.

Its number three in the drawing. Folks, trust me, you HAVE to test your car for boost leaks, really you do. Ask Psi Chick and BD, I know just a bit about boost leaks I test mine every few months. Just did a test a few weeks back, found my #4 was leaking.

 

That bad huh... Well the #3 in the pic I've never touched, so I guess I'll have to get on that one. When I ran the leak tester I couldn't even see that pipe back there so I just skipped over it. After jacking up the car today I found where it was from under the car but couldn't see it from looking down on the engine (intake pipe still on). But it was really loud when I ran the test, and could possibly explain why I could only run 14.6@96 on the gtech today even with a 2.3 60ft.

Hell, if it's leaking THAT bad I should be looking at some nice performance gains fixing it. I've been missing out... Anxious to get it worked out now and glad I decided to look into this. I was only boosting 10-11 in all gears, no spikes and it felt fast but I knew it didn't feel like it should.

Thanks for the help... It's a shame we all have to go through this... I just hit 3000 miles on my car today, I love Dodge and I LOVE this car but I think they could have done something different to improve the system.

 

i have been reading that a boost leak is bad, but does it do any major damage to the car. or is it just a big power loss?