Waterguy

Did my first extended "spirited" driving on Saturday (see other posts on Vancouver / Squamish / Whistler trip.) I was on the boost extensively climbing up to a mountain pass through switchbacks while trying to keep Lance (K27) in sight. About halfway up, I started to hear air venting to the atmosphere and loosing power. Below 1.2 bar, everything was fine, but at higher boost I lost pressure.

Since I have only had the car a month, I was half expecting to crack or blow off an intercooler hose (age unknown.) The problem persisted on the return drive to Squamish, where we had an extended coffee break and the car cooled down. During the drive home, the problem had dissappeared and I got full (1.8 bar) boost consistently.

I have gone over the car and not found any obvious problems. I am tempted to put it down to a loose hose clamp (although I didn't find any) and assume that tightening them will fix it. However, the air leak sounded like it was coming from the right hand side of the engine compartment.

My question (finally) is: could this be a wastegate problem? How do I check that out if it only leaks when the car is hot?

TIA, Don

special tool

Check all rubber hoses very carefully - sometimes you can't see the split unless it is pressurized, particularly on the underside of the hose.