Hey everyone!

First of all this is my first post, I love this forum as the great individuals have helped me out in a variety of ways in the past.

A little background, I just purchased a 1996 Volvo 850 turbo less than 3 weeks ago(been looking for one with a manual transmission for over 2 years). The transmission was a Manuel swap(not done by myself). The body is in fantastic condition but the internals definetly needed some work. List of all work done so far:
-new head gasket
-head machined and new valve seats/seals
-new dist cap/rotor
-new plugs/wires/coil
-new timing belt/serpentine belt
-fuel filter
-various other maintenance can't remember everything off top of my head

The issue I'm having relates to the turbo. When I first purchased the car I noticed to my excitement that there was a 16t turbo already installed in the vehicle. The problem I'm having is the lack of boost. I already had a suspicioun that I was losing boost so I purchased and installed a boost gauge. Sure enough I was only getting 5 psi in 1st and 6-7 in 2nd gear etc. I've checked all my vacuum lines and they all seem to be fine. The only problem I can see is the fact that my turbo doesn't have a compression bypass valve(cbv) in the turbo and the end of the turbo where it should be, is sealed with a half assed metal plate. Is this my definite issue? Could it also be related to the tcv?

Thanks very much for the interest any help at all would be greatly appreciated!!

 

Is there a BOV anywhere else in the system? There needs to be something or your going to waste that turbo.

Lets just start with what is called limp mode where the ECU will put the car in a low boost scenario until a problem is fixed. If this happened, Pull the ECU, count to 15 and put it back in. Start the car, let it idle about 5 minutes then take it out for a very smooth drive. Let the ECU relearn. You can gradually push it. See if that resolves the issue.

If not, you have a boost leak and will need to find it by pressurizing the system. Typical location is the underside of the hose that attaches to the throttle body.

You need to get some sort of bov installed

 

Thanks a lot for the reply boxpin. Sorry in advance I'm still a bit of a turbo newb at this point. After doing more reading I realized that the blow off valve that I have installed(should of mentioned that in the first place) replaces the cbv essentially, hence why I have the block off plate. So no thoughts on the tcv? And I could try resetting the ecu, but I'm a little concerned since I may or may not have a tune so I'm told? My vehicle has a manual transmission swap but I don't have a service light on which could possibly mean the ecu is tuned? Let me know what you think.