I've had a boost leak that's progressively gotten worse over the past month or so. Normally I have 18-20 psi with GIAC but now I cant hold more than 11-12. I've checked all the vac lines and did the tennis ball test but the system didn't hold pressure for very long aka it was escaping somewhere near the TIP.

I had my car inspected recently and had my guy blow some smoke through to find the leak but he didn't spend much time on it and said he didn't see anything.

Yesterday I seafoamed through a vac line and noticed that smoke was pouring out steadily at the exhaust mani/turbo connection. Could a bad gasket there be the culprit for loss of pressure? The leak is extremely noticeable under load...sounds like a compressor tank releasing pressure.

One more piece of info is that for the past year or so, when I'd start the car (cold) it would need a few minutes of driving to warm up before I could go into boost. This is what I would do anyway of course but if I were to try to go into boost while the engine was cold, there would be a loud leak/low power. Once warmed up and metal expanded, the leak would be gone and the turbo would function/sound like it should.

If I replace the gasket would i get my boost back or does it not affect that at all?

 

It would have to be leaking a lot to make a big difference.

 

That's the thing, it is leaking a lot. During the seafoam, a lot of smoke was coming out of that connection and when I drove it smoke was pouring out from under the hood because of it. Also, like I said it seemed to have progressively gotten worse over time

 

Then you definitely need to fix that, yes. Yes, it can kill boost if it's leaking badly.