I recently bought an 94 850 turbo and was wondering if there is anyway i can check i there is a tubo leak. Also, when the car is idle, is the turbo gauge supposed to be in the center or what? when im at idle its at 1/4, dont know if its good or bad, just want to learn how to read it. Thanks

 

On the turbo gauge there is a "clear" part to the left and a white part to the right. The clear bit is when the turbo isn't on and the white bit is when the turbo is on.

If car is at tickover the needle should be well into the clear (over to the left). Under heavy acceleration the needle should be far over to the right in the white.

If you look at this video
http://youtube.com/watch?v=QvQsTUP4DeY

You'll see it first under heavy acceleration and then right at the end you'll see it throttle back.

I'm not sure if that car is stock because my T5's turbo gauge doesn't go anywhere near that far to the right under full throttle (only about half way), however mine has problems so it might be that I'm not getting full boost.

hth
Iain

 

The best way to see if you have a leak is to get REAL boost gauge one that measure 30 In Hg of vaccum and 30PSI of boost.

http://www.egauges.com (Sells nice Autometer gauges at good prices.)

http://www.gaugepods.com (The sell A-pillar gauge pods for Volvos.)

 

by turbo leak, you mean boost leak. You can make the device pretty easily. You need a 2.25 silicone hose coupler, 2 hose clamps, tire valve stem, and pcv pipe that's capped or put a cap over it over the pcv pipe end. Assemble it, put it over the turbo inlet, pump air into it and check for leaks. Sorry for the crappy description, but I'm sure you can figure it out.

 

I have seen folks make a tool like this one described by 96dtm850 to not only check for leaks around the turbo, but the whole intake system -- intercooler hoses between turbo and intercooler, intercooler itself, and intercooler hoses between intercooler and throttlebody.

Any leaks between air flow meter and throttle body -- no matter how small -- will just cause annoying problems.