Got Turbo? Make Sure Your Lines Aren’t Leaking!
If you have already invested in an import, chances are you’ll want to make the best features on it. A turbo system is one of the coolest enhancements you can add to your car, especially if you like racing or enjoy hanging out with fellow car enthusiasts.
You must, however, be prepared to spend more time and money making sure that your turbo is in tip-top shape.
This is because an engine hooked up to a turbo system has significantly more pipes and hoses than your average engine. Shoddy installation and lackluster maintenance can cause these connections to come loose. Even the pipes and hoses themselves could end up cracking and drying out over time.
This is why you have to faithfully inspect all those connections at least once a month. You can’t just rely on your eyes to spot potential problems, though. Hairline cracks are impossibly difficult to spot early on, but investing in a pressure tester changes all that. All you need to do is hook up the tester to the system, crank it up and listen for hissing sounds indicative of a micro fracture somewhere in your turbo system.
If you don’t have a pressure tester just yet, you can make do by using a time-honored solution: generously spray soapy water over all the connections and watch for bubbles. These bubbles will tell you that air is escaping somewhere – allowing you to spot the issue before it causes even more damage in the long run.
It is also highly recommended that you bring your car to the garage every once in a while. A pressure tester can help out a lot, but it still takes a trained a well-trained eye and dedicated machinery to make sure everything is in tip-top shape.
