850 R Boost Woes

Aussie850R · Post by **Aussie850R** » 02 Jul 2011, 21:37

Right so I have just started on a new project, an 850 R manual estate bit beat up on the outside but seems to be running pretty good for the age.
I noticed when first driving it home that the factory boost gauge was sitting pretty far into the vacuum section on normal idle and didn't boost much past the 12 o'clock into the boost section when on max boost. After installing a boost gauge running off the factory line running into the cabin it sits on about 20psi in vacuum at idle and will boost up to about 10 psi at max boost. Knowing that factory boost on these is about 10-12psi Im not too worried about the boost side of things but should it be sitting so far in the vacuum area at idle?

Any help would be great

zhenya · Post by **zhenya** » 02 Jul 2011, 21:47

Vacuum is the natural state of an internal combustion engine at idle, so yes, this is normal. I don't have a real gauge on mine, but other turbo cars I have owned idled at 15-20 inHg IIRC.

Aussie850R · Post by **Aussie850R** » 02 Jul 2011, 22:00

Good stuff.
Thought I may have a leak somewhere. Checked all of the intercooler hoses and the line to the guage but couldn't see anything overtly wrong. You've just saved me ripping everything to pieces looking for a hole/crack that that doesn't exist.