New E53 Owner intro/Boost leak (I think)

[Supra]

Thanks both for the reply.

OK so excuse my ignorance here, although I have heard of smoke tests, how do I generate the smoke?


Also, the brake booster on mine gets it's vac from a vacuum pump so how is the smoke goig to find its way into the inlet? And why would I need to block off the exhaust if the smoke is on the inlet side and the engine isn't running, how would it even get to the exhaust?


And yes I will need more than a few PSI as its holding boost fine right up to a point which is when the motor is under load and boosting well.


I realised last night that the stock intercoolers are made by Behr, I had almost identical symptoms on a Mercedes W210 and that was due to a split in the Behr intercooler that held up to about 1bar before it gave out, first showed up during a climb on the autobahn in Bavaria. That was a real nightmare to get at and fearing this will be the same.

Thanks again.

Edit:

OK so I have just been looking at homemade smoke machines on youtube, seems straightforward enough. But mines going to have to be pretty beffy and well sealed to get to the pressure I need to in order to get the leak to give way I guess. Does anyone know what the stock max boost pressure is on a M57? What I may do first is hook a boost gauge up so I can see what pressure it actually gives way at.

[wpoll]

Originally Posted by Supra

... Does anyone know what the stock max boost pressure is on a M57? What I may do first is hook a boost gauge up so I can see what pressure it actually gives way at.

Stock boost is a tad under 2 bar (26-28psi). It varies a little on what car (530d, X5 3.0d etc.) but they are all around this. Some tuners hike it up as high as mid-30's...