where o where are all the boost leaks

[tumorhuntr]

hey everyone. new to the forum and enjoying every minute of it. lots of info on here that is greatly appreciated. proud new daddy to a 2013 black abarth and loving every minute of it. what an awesome little car. so im new to turbo charged engines. this is my first. have learned alot so far by reading all the posts on here. so of course the first thing i want to do is get the most out of my new baby. first thing i would like to do is fix all the boost leaks. i have noticed that as the rpms climb, boost just starts falling off. so where are all the leaks so i can get to fixing them? thanks in advance for all the info. paul

[banzaitoyota]

Paul,
The "boost" gauge in your dash reads the boost level that the ECU is calling for, it does not read actually post turbo manifold pressure. ATM makes a kit to install a real gauge in the pod.

[tknospdr]

As far as I've been able to tell:

Evaporation system - Easy fix, find the sticky
Stock BOV plate - Easy fix buy a new plate
Intercooler piping - Easy (but expensive) fix, buy a FMIC

[trevc]

Congratulations on the new Abarth and welcome to the forum!

[tumorhuntr]

thanks for the info guys. appreciate it. ive been looking at the forge bov. read about the evap, should be fairly easy to do. the fmic may have to wait for a little while, but 2 outta 3 aint too bad. will doing these 2 things make a noticeable difference in how the car feels? what will feel different the acceleration?

[redred]

thanks for the info guys. appreciate it. ive been looking at the forge bov. read about the evap, should be fairly easy to do. the fmic may have to wait for a little while, but 2 outta 3 aint too bad. will doing these 2 things make a noticeable difference in how the car feels? what will feel different the acceleration?

Apparently the biggest issue is the intercooler piping. There are several diameter changes, direction changes, T-offs, and clamps. All places for things to go wrong and leak. From what I've heard from folks who have installed a new FMIC is that it makes the biggest difference to the boost surge from the turbo. I am going to be going to a Fiat Studio in the next week to do some tests with a tech there (mainly because we are both just super curious). He and I want to determine how bad the leaks are so he is going to be fabricating a test rig to test the entire system from intake to throttle body. We'll see how it does and I will report back my findings once we have some.

I have often wondered if it would be worth just changing out the intercooler piping but it seems like it would be A LOT of work.

[shadowshaggy]

They'll curb the boost dips (most people call them spikes, but it's dropping not gaining) and level out the acceleration. Check out this thread: http://www.fiat500usaforum.com/showt...=ryephile+evap It'll explain everything about the boost leak of which you inquire.

[lenswerks]

Apparently the biggest issue is the intercooler piping. There are several diameter changes, direction changes, T-offs, and clamps. All places for things to go wrong and leak. From what I've heard from folks who have installed a new FMIC is that it makes the biggest difference to the boost surge from the turbo. I am going to be going to a Fiat Studio in the next week to do some tests with a tech there (mainly because we are both just super curious). He and I want to determine how bad the leaks are so he is going to be fabricating a test rig to test the entire system from intake to throttle body. We'll see how it does and I will report back my findings once we have some.

I have often wondered if it would be worth just changing out the intercooler piping but it seems like it would be A LOT of work.

This is the tester I have should anyone be interested - http://www.turboboostleaktesters.com...101/Categories

[dart1.4t]

hey everyone. new to the forum and enjoying every minute of it. lots of info on here that is greatly appreciated. proud new daddy to a 2013 black abarth and loving every minute of it. what an awesome little car. so im new to turbo charged engines. this is my first. have learned alot so far by reading all the posts on here. so of course the first thing i want to do is get the most out of my new baby. first thing i would like to do is fix all the boost leaks. i have noticed that as the rpms climb, boost just starts falling off. so where are all the leaks so i can get to fixing them? thanks in advance for all the info. paul

loss of pressure with more rpm doesn't indicate a leak and the gauge is not actual boost, it's commanded boost. there is however a boost sensor and a map sensor so boost before and after he throttle body can be logged with a obd2 dongle and phone or computer application.

the truth is that the boost is supposed to fall with rpm. the car has an intentional midrange hump... tuning companies who have forced boost all the way up the rpm range have seen excessive backpressure and you will see high intake temperatures and maybe need a different intercooler, but that would also make the boost fall faster when the turbo chokes out.. the turbo is too small to actually hold boost to redline and if you had a larger turbo that did, it would make a ton of hp at the wheels.

as far as leaks, they exist. there is a designed in leak that is part of the evap system. the leak feeds a very small venturi pump that evacuates the evap caniser. this is because the engine often runs under boost for extended periods. the engine pulls very low manifold vacuum because the multi air system limits valve opening time so much under low load. however much of the problem stems from a nonsensical routing of the evap tubing, they may have decided they needed the venturi pump then figured it gives them enough headroom to have a sloppy hose route,,, i dunno but many people are having success deleting the T that contains venturi and removing much of the hoses... look into ryephiles evap reroute. some are just blocking the leak, or using a check valve with mixed results. my math says this mod is worth 2hp in a tuned car. (the venturi is very small) but if the reroute fixes unintentional leaks in the process, well it could make a couple more..

there could also be some leakage in the recirculator valve. you would want a true blow off valve for this. not just a plate that makes the stock valve into a non recirculating valve. the BOV plate mod is essentially a noise maker and nothing more. you want a passive BOV to fix any leakage, they may make both recirculating (silent) and non recirulating (noisy) BOV's.

the simpler fmic is also a great idea. the stock dual intercooler may be enough cooling and flow as stock but there are many more fittings to leak... tork lifted a safety limiter in the ecu that allowed them to push the engine to it's limits and saw atleast 10hp more from adding a fmic... well with the turbo being the choke point and boost is no longer regulated at peak hp, rather just the result of what the engine can do with the air the turbo is strugling to give, the idea that the air load dropped 10hp seems far fetched, the added hp likely had to do with sealing leaks during the conversion. though temperatures and timing may have had something to do with it, they didn't publish intake temps and pressures between the two..

[Tweak]

Congrats on the new Abarth and welcome to the forum.

Seems plenty of response already provided so I really have no additional beneficial information to add.

[TorkMe]

hey everyone. new to the forum and enjoying every minute of it. lots of info on here that is greatly appreciated. proud new daddy to a 2013 black abarth and loving every minute of it. what an awesome little car. so im new to turbo charged engines. this is my first. have learned alot so far by reading all the posts on here. so of course the first thing i want to do is get the most out of my new baby. first thing i would like to do is fix all the boost leaks. i have noticed that as the rpms climb, boost just starts falling off. so where are all the leaks so i can get to fixing them? thanks in advance for all the info. paul

If you want to fix all the boost leaks here is what I recommend.

ATM FMIC
Boost leak fix from us
I recommend that you wait for the new intake from ATM if you get the FMIC from them or you install the ATM intake and get a catch can.
ATM boost gauge pod and quality boost gauge.

These should be the bare minimum you have on your Fiat 500T or Abarth. These few items will be the best mods at getting rid of the leaks inside your current system and it will open up the air flow to allow the air into the engine vs running the restrictive factory air box and the leaking factory intercooler system.

Hit me up if you need any pricing or if you are looking for any further recommendations.

Thanks,

John

[Dioready]

As far as I've been able to tell:

Evaporation system - Easy fix, find the sticky
Stock BOV plate - Easy fix buy a new plate
Intercooler piping - Easy (but expensive) fix, buy a FMIC

Sorry to bring this back up but what do you mean by “find the sticky”?