URGENT HELP! Loss of Boost should I be driving the car?????

Hi chaps,

I'm hoping someone can help me out or at least give me some advice.

On the way to dropping my wife and her friends in town I noticed that my boost gauge was not registering anything at all. The car felt a little bit sluggish and there was a hissing/wirring sound coming from the engine under acceleration. I limped back home...

What could the problem be, is a connection loose on my boost gauge or is it something more sinister?

I also will need to head back into town to pick the girls up, is the car ok to drive or should I get it looked at asap??

I don't really know what to look for so any advice much appreciated!!

Cheers,
Rusty

Are all other gauges, indicators ok? It could have just rubbed through your line to your boost gauge somewhere, check all your lines and intake pipes make sure all are tight and well sealed. Check all your hose clamps are pulling up well also.

Yeah not entirely sure what I'm looking for in this department, I didn't install the gauges and my mech trouble shooting knowledge is pretty limited.

I'm hopefully gonna be able to get it into my mechanic tomorrow morning.

Judging from the hissing sound it sounds like you have mentioned above. Other gauges are all good, egt's are a little higher but that's to be expected with no boost is that right? Engine was revving slightly higher for not much throttle.

Would a problem with the line to the gauge make the engine perform differently at all, because there's def no boost when accelarating from a stand still.

Thanks for the feedback :)

Is it just no boost on the gauge or can you not feel the boost in the acceleration? If you have a broken boost hose it will leak boost with a hiss and be a little sluggish as it is leaking boost kinda like a tyre going down.

Keep an eye on everything else but I would have thought you probably could do th drive in.

What engine is it? Your boost line will be coming out the side of the intake close to the intake pipe have a look you should b able to clearly figure out hich hose it is, it will be a 2 to 4mm hose only,

Good luck mate

I just meant like there are no other lights coming up on your dash or anythin as well. If nothing else seems to be wrong then it should be fine to take to your mechanic just give it a good eye over before driving to make sure nothing looks out of place.

Thanks heaps guys :)

Drove back in and home again, taking it easy and everything else seems to be fine (besides slightly higher egts). I didn't go above 2000 rpm and cruised at about 50km/h with not much throttle. No lights on in dash or anything.

Mudrunner, no Im definitely not feeling the boost when accelerating or it's not 100%, and the sound is similar to a tyre deflating, so hopefully it's just as u mention.

It's a ZD30, I'll check it out tomorrow morning and let you know how I get on.

Thanks for the prompt replies they've been a great help :)

Cheers

Unfortunately don't have access to any tools so couldn't even get the engine cover off, but I followed back what looked like the boost line, and the end of the skinny white plastic tube wasn't attached to anything at the other end, so I re-attached this to the obvious spot. Pic is re-attached tube.

Went for a spin around the block and I'm getting boost back but pressure is still low, it didn't seem to want to go above 10psi where usually I'll get the usual ZD30 spikes above 16psi. The hissing sound is much less too, and it's def a bit more drivable. So there may be a leak further in or air still escaping?

I can't really see any other connections which look loose. My mechanic won't be open till Monday so I think I can wait till then and monitor things.

Is there any other things you think I may be able to check?

Cheers,
Rusty

other boost leaking areas are the egr valve area or leaking turbo gaskets or when I has this problem it was a blown turbo but you'll hear a metal rattle and boost hiss with that one.
Zd 30 boost leaks are normally leaking intercooler or intercooler hoses not on properly or the gaskets on turbo or egr valve

A similar thing has happened to me a few times , small split in the actuator pipe , intercooler hose leaking/blow off , have a real good look at these areas , even if it means taking them off to see underneath .

Hey guys,

Car is at the mechanics today, he found a few hoses slightly loose and tightened them up, came back for a drive and while it's registering boost, it still seems low compared to where it was. But when not looking at the gauge the car seems to feel fine through acceleration.

I left it with him and he will delve deeper, but I wonder if these boost pressures I'm getting now are 'normal' and my readings before were abnormal?? Would it be a good idea now to fit Dawes and block egr or try and rectify 'problem' before doing these mods?? It's doing my head in a bit haha

My problems are:

1. Looking at the in depth 'EGT survey' on the Patrol4x4 forum , my 'new' readings would fall into the category of a 3.0L without NADS, maybe a little low boost, but there are a wide variety of different boost levels and EGTs

2. Looking at the boost graph on Chaz's website for an unmodified engine my 'old' boost levels were more like this, with the initial spike then drop etc.

Now under not much acceleration (ie taking off from the lights conservatively), it will boost to under 5psi and I'd have to really floor it to get the big spike and higher readings.

Should I be worried at all or just accept that I may now have lower boost? Will this result in anything like high EGTs?

I think if my mechanic can't find anything else wrong I'll try and get in touch with Chaz or anyone else in Adelaide with NADS to check if it feels 'normal'.

Any comments greatly appreciated

Cheers,
Rusty