[Subie_Go_Vroom]

Neither. You do it with the car off and see if smoke is escaping from anywhere. I put mine in the turbo inlet just past the MAF so all the connections and potential leak points are tested.

Where did you get your smoke tester? Some of these smoke testers can go up to 100 PSI? I heard if you shoot high pressure through smaller lines it can damage them and other components.

 

[a5m]

Where did you get your smoke tester? Some of these smoke testers can go up to 100 PSI? I heard if you shoot high pressure through smaller lines it can damage them and other components.

I bought mine from AutoLine. Autool makes some too with compressors built-in. The one I got has a 1 psi pressure regulator. You can pump 100 psi into it it'll only output 1 psi. You definitely don't want to push too much without capping off the crankcase vent line that connects to the turbo inlet. At that point you're basically doing a boost leak test, where you're pressuring the system to near actual boost levels to see if you have any leaks.

There's guides and videos out there outlining what you need to do and what lines need to be capped off to do a boost leak test properly.

 

[nissanfanatic]

Where did you get your smoke tester? Some of these smoke testers can go up to 100 PSI? I heard if you shoot high pressure through smaller lines it can damage them and other components.

How to video:

 

[Subie_Go_Vroom]

I bought mine from AutoLine. Autool makes some too with compressors built-in. The one I got has a 1 psi pressure regulator. You can pump 100 psi into it it'll only output 1 psi. You definitely don't want to push too much without capping off the crankcase vent line that connects to the turbo inlet. At that point you're basically doing a boost leak test, where you're pressuring the system to near actual boost levels to see if you have any leaks.

There's guides and videos out there outlining what you need to do and what lines need to be capped off to do a boost leak test properly.

Okay thanks. I found a loose hose on the boost control solenoid. It was loose enough to pull off even with the old zip tie in place. I cut the old one off and put two in place of it.

 

[Subie_Go_Vroom]

Update: Purchased a smoke tester. Bought the same one shown in the video.
In addition to checking all the lines I replaced the cone filter and cleaned the MAFS in hopes this would solve the issue, but it didn’t.

Anyone recommend a specific pressure test kit? I think knowing how to perform both pressure and smoke test would be good.

 

[nissanfanatic]

I would just start with the smoke test. I always did boost leak tests on my cars but that's because I was cheap and just found shit laying around in my shop to plug the compressor inlet. lol IMO a smoke tester is a superior testing system for most use cases excluding some edge cases that only manifest at high boost pressures. If you are feeling it down on power though and there is a leak, it's likely to show up at low pressure and you'll see it right away with the smoke.

 

[Subie_Go_Vroom]

Engine - Did I perform the boost leak test correctly?

Hey everyone, I'm in the process of chasing down some rich conditions as diagnosed by Terry Dyson via used oil analysis, and verified by me via an OBDII scanner measuring STFT/LTFT. I'm all stock, and have torn apart my intake system several times in the past few months due to various tasks...

www.iwsti.com

A tune shop was going to perform a leak down, compression test, and smoke test (I don’t have external air pressure to run my smoke tester).

They test drove it and said it’s hitting 18 to 20 PSI, runs fine. I didn’t drive the car hard when driving it there. I believe it was a bad batch of gas. I only use shell gas now, no more Chevron. They didn’t charge me, thankfully.