ohio1973

I really enjoy reading this site. Its very informative. I have never owned a turbo car before and I was wondering as a owner of a SS how to read the boost gauge and if my turbo is working properly. I have read on some turbo problems on this site and it just makes me curious about my own turbo. It seems to be working properly but I am not sure i would know if I were to have a problem. I drive mostly city driving and I would really like to know what my boost gauge is supposed to be on. The gauge needle moves around quite a bit when I am accelerating(towards the bottom of the gauge) but I have never seen the needle move above the zero, only below. Everything seems to be fine with it though. Sorry for dragging this on. If you could just familiarize me with the boost gauge and if there is anything I should inspect on my car for the turbo, etc. And is there any extra upkeep that I have to do because of the turbo. Thanks for all for your time in reading this.

xzombiex66

I thought when you accelerate the needle should move into the boost portion of the gauge when idling it should be in the vacuumed (Lower)part of the gauge. I could be wrong though i don't know much about them either, someone else chime in here.

vwkyote

Mine spends most of it's time in the vacuum side of the gauge, and only moves into the boost side when I accellerate VERY quickly (we're talking heavy foot here)

Normal driving it never goes above 0...

Jeff®

I must have a lead foot then.

Xsta Z 28

Mine varies . . . For me:

In 1st gear the guage barely if ever goes about 0 . . .

In 2nd gear the needle I've seen up and around 5 + . . .

In third the needle has gotten above 10 . . .

I have to admit I do not pay a huge amount of attention to it . . .

Scrivs

Mine starts at 0 and upon idle, drops to vacumm and stays below 0 if I accelerate slowly, only harder acceleration will lift needle into the boost portion of the guage. If that helps

vwkyote

I'm still in the break-in period, driving different speeds. The car is only a week old. Once the engine is broken in I'm going to be in the boost a lot too!

itsallu

If auto, put in L and stomp on the peddle.... provided youre in a remote area. 20-25 psi easy.

RFT

Sorry, you might know this some/all of this, however, trying to give some extra info just in case. It's been sometime since I've ran a turbo, so

It depends on how hard you are hitting the gas when accelerating. If you are not putting a very big load on the motor, IE - not accelerating hard - going downhill - etc, the needle will stay in the vacuum area (bottom of the gauge).

That gauge is really a measurement of pressure inside the motor, relative to the air pressure outside of the motor, so if it is negative, the motor is doing what "Normally aspirated" motors do, and suck in the air. Once it is a positive number, the turbo is forcing air in, which forces more fuel in, and normally a bigger smile results. (Not the freaky enzyte smile - mind you)

I don't have the SS - yet - so I don't know how sensitive it is for the turbo to kick in. Provided the motor is broken in fairly will, I would say find an empty stretch of road. Come to a stop, and then hit the gas pretty hard. If by the time you or the car is switching to second, you're not seeing the dial above zero, you may have a leak.

XXL

The stock BW turbo starts coming on strong at 2500-2800 RPM, and so with a first gear redline of 6300, you'll see plenty of boost there.