Well, I bought a giac chip about 3-4 months ago and for the last few weeks I've had an audible leak and a noticable loss of power. I made myself a nice little tester so I can pressurize the system with a bike pump and have narrowed the noise down to around the intake manifold area, behind or below, can't really tell. Anyway, I guess what I'm getting at, is there any weak point in the system or common leak that comes with running the extra boost that any of you have experienced? I'll hopefully have it fixed by tomorrow so I can go about my daily tire shredding, but any help between now and then would be appreciated.

 

I think I may have a leak to. I guess you don't have a boost guage? Soak down all the areas you think the leak may be coming from with soapy water and then pressurize the system with your pump. Bubbles should form around the leak. By the way, how did you rig up your pump? I need to check my system as well.

 

If you have already devised a pump system to pressurize the hoses try this: Smoke. And I dont mean burning wood smoke, or cigarette smoke.
I cant remember the name, but I know there is this type of items that emits a colored smoke. You could put this on the intake of the pump. You will find your leak by the smoke spouting out of it! Very noticeable!

 

That smoke sounds like a great idea, kind of like what's used to find a leak in a gas tank. I'll have to look into that. As for my little tester, I just went to the local hardware store and in their plumbing section they had these rubber caps made I guess to cap off the top of a pipe that you didn't want water going through. I found one that was 1 1/2" diameter, this fits PERFECTLY on the metal boost pipe that goes under the radiator and tightens down with a clamp just like the stock hose. Then I just drilled about a 1/4" hole in it and popped a tire valve stem in there. I thought I'd maybe have to seal the valve stem in with some silicone or something, but it holds air just fine. Then you just pump it up with whatever you want. I chose a hand bike pump because I didn't really feel I'd have enough control of the air going in if I tried pumping it up with our air tank. I don't think the system would like 100psi all of a sudden. If you want pics of the little piece I can take some, but it's really pretty simple.

 

I dont know what A4 you have but I can guess the problem. Hoses!! I had the same problem, two hoses were totally chewed up. It seems that POS hose they give you that connects from the turbo to the manifold is crap (has some sort of cheap nylon fabric around it). I suggest taking that off and replacing it. The other hose, which I cant remember for the life of me, is like an L shaped hose.

 

Yeah, I have seen that nylon covered hose before. The thing that gets me is there's so many little hoses back there, I can't tell which are coolant, boost, oil. I think I'll soak it all down with some soapy water today and see what I can find.

 

Once the engine is cool... just trace that ugly *** hose to the turbo. Half way to the turbo, it will probably chewed to hell and back. I dont even know why that thing is there... It becomes brittle and breaks.

 

I actually found my problem this morning. I don't know how I missed it last night actually. There was a small hose coming off the back side of the intake manifold that had a zip tie holding it and another hose together. Well, this zip tie had managed to wear it's way through the hose causing about a pea size hole. It was a pretty specialized looking piece of hose I'll probably have to order from audi, but for the time being, I just went over it a few times with some silicone sealing tape and it works good as new.

Thanks for your help and ideas everyone.