boost leak under intake manifold.

[airrick]

So i got a boost leak D=. Works stage 2 turbo kit.

I have a 7 psi spring and thats what i usually drive at. I have an Electronic boost control solenoid that raises it to 10psi on another map.when it was first tuned it was doing 10psi no problem and holding, even a little overboosting to 11psi. Now the 10psi map wont push past 8.5psi.

I have clamps on the 3 evap solenoid hoses. I checked again today and replaced them with new ones. When i did the boost leak test it does not hold any pressure even for 1 second. I hear the air escaping under the passenger side of the manifold almost immediately.

The only thing i didnt check was the PCV valve. I replaced the stock on with the 2015+ WRX one. 11810AA141.
Ill check again tomorrow if i have time and report back if it any future people with this problem.

anyone had this weird problem of boost leaking from under the passenger side intake manifold? Any help is appreciated. Thanks!

edit:
okay so i went for a drive. The car only holds 3 psi boost now and it stutters/sputters when on boost. It drives fine out of boost. I honestly dont know where to start to find out whats wrong. I'm thinking about removing the intake manifold and checkin. I think my intake manifold is cracked/damaged but if that were true, how can the car still drive fine? I was thinking about going to shop and have them do a smoke test and boost leak test. i have sent my datalogs to my tuner as well but im sure its something with the hardware not the tune.
Any input would really really be awesome.

Short video below showing what happens when i go WOT. theres a weird thumping noise coming from the turbo.

LOGS

EDIT 2: for anyone in the future.
i have since found a big leak at my throttlebody coupler, tightened it and back to 8.5psi maximum boost. Now i think i have isolated the issue. My 3 port EBCS may have gone bad. I plumped in the wastegate pressure and ran that which resulted in the same boost levels with the boost controller. (~8.5psi). I believe my boost solenoid is stuck open. Its my understanding that when not powered the solenoid's ports should not be open. I was blowing air through with my lungs easily without it being powered on.

edit3: some electrical problem. brand new EBCS has the same result. seems like the theres no signal wire to the ecu. the ports are just open so not holding boost. checked with multimeter and got 200 ohms of resistance in of the the pins in the blue connector. pulled off the intake manifold to find damage in the wires. none, didnt want to start cutting into the engine harness to check. so yea. maybe its time for a trip to the shop.

[CSG Mike]

Remove the intake and check for open hoses

[airrick]

I'm back to square one it seems. I got a brand new EBCS (thanks Ptuning) and yea same result. 8.5 psi. i recall my spring is 7 psi. Also tested the new boost solenoid and it does the clicking noise when adding power to it.

Now I have taken off my wastegate actuator to test and it moves at the expected psi moves around 5-6psi and opens at 7-8psi. I did loosen the actuator arm/rod a little bit since the tension where its holding the wastegate pivot/flapper seemed really really tight. Made sure it was still holding the flapper shut. Did a few pulls at the different MAPs i have:
Map 1 wastegate pressure: .53 bar ~ 6.9-7.5psi
Map 2 8.5psi: .55-.58 bar ~ 7.90-8.4psi
map 3 10psi: .55-59p bar ~ 7.9-8.5psi.

Hmm. im a little stuck here. I bought a new actuator to test with it. I havent checked the wastegate flapper since im not sure how to inspect it.

[ninjan00dles]

Hey airrick, how did do your boost leak test? In the past I’ve pressurized the intake via turbo inlet and sprayed soapy water everywhere to find leaks. I have a tester if you need to borrow one.

If you want to test the waste gate flapper you could remove your down pipe and apply boost to the wastegate actuator to see if it’s doing what you expect it to

[airrick]

Originally Posted by ninjan00dles

Hey airrick, how did do your boost leak test? In the past I’ve pressurized the intake via turbo inlet and sprayed soapy water everywhere to find leaks. I have a tester if you need to borrow one.

If you want to test the waste gate flapper you could remove your down pipe and apply boost to the wastegate actuator to see if it’s doing what you expect it to

I attached the tester via turbo inlet and capped off the rebreather hose and opened the oil cap. Pressure was holding fine and sprayed all my connections everywhere. no leaks no hissing or anything like that. I've done it multiple times now im sure. Thanks for the offer but i may have found the issue.

it seems i have a bad ground connection where the EBCS plugs into. Now i have to figure out how to look for the ground connections. Ugh.

edit: i actually pulled off the turbo and tested the wastegate that way. lol it was annoying but i had to be sure and its doing what is expected.

[ninjan00dles]

Originally Posted by airrick

I attached the tester via turbo inlet and capped off the rebreather hose and opened the oil cap. Pressure was holding fine and sprayed all my connections everywhere. no leaks no hissing or anything like that. I've done it multiple times now im sure. Thanks for the offer but i may have found the issue.

it seems i have a bad ground connection where the EBCS plugs into. Now i have to figure out how to look for the ground connections. Ugh.

edit: i actually pulled off the turbo and tested the wastegate that way. lol it was annoying but i had to be sure and its doing what is expected.

Cool beans! Let me know once you get things ironed out. I have an Edelbrock kit now, would be cool to compare what our cars both feel like. I'm really curious about the Works kit.

[ptuning]

Originally Posted by airrick

I attached the tester via turbo inlet and capped off the rebreather hose and opened the oil cap. Pressure was holding fine and sprayed all my connections everywhere. no leaks no hissing or anything like that. I've done it multiple times now im sure. Thanks for the offer but i may have found the issue.

it seems i have a bad ground connection where the EBCS plugs into. Now i have to figure out how to look for the ground connections. Ugh.

edit: i actually pulled off the turbo and tested the wastegate that way. lol it was annoying but i had to be sure and its doing what is expected.

For grounds check the two main grounds that are at the rear of the engine on the case halves as well as check the ground straps that attack to the cylinder heads underneath the vehicle.

[airrick]

Originally Posted by ptuning

For grounds check the two main grounds that are at the rear of the engine on the case halves as well as check the ground straps that attack to the cylinder heads underneath the vehicle.

yea i checked the grounds. All good there. Now im trying to check for continuity since i got a high resistance (200 ohms) in the blue plug that the boost solenoid plugs into.

i pulled the intake manifold and visually inspected the wires. I couldn't see any damage. ugh

Next i checked for continuity between the blue plug (CD1) and the big engine harness connector(AC1). Seems to be fine. I just couldnt figure out where the ecu signal wire is located at in the main ecu in the passengerside. the pdfs of the wiring diagram below states the wire is RED-GREEN. and located somewhere at the main ecu. which connector is it? A33(A), A34(B), A35(C), A36(D). its not clear to me

im close to waving the white flag and sending it to the shop. D=