GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

Finally got to it! Was sick of the whistling, idling, and 5psi of boost!Just got the blower off and peeled off the gasket. Could see that air and heat was bypassing the seal, so everything should be fixed after it all gets hooked up. I'll have pictures showing the issue.......nothing like taking those bolts off the head agian. What a PITA!

hope it fixes it! cant wait to see pics of what this old gasket looked like....

What do you think it was,bad gasket or maybe crushed up on install?Hope it sets everything back straight,I know you've had lot's of fun.

The old gasket, I believe, was the one taken off the guy I bought the SC'er off of.......so it was a used gasket (stupid on my part). That gasket was flat and thin metal, and was then covered with the Permatex stuff. This new gasket, for an 02 Corolla, was a Fel-Pro one that was already somewhat coated and a bit thicker......I still put on the Permatex stuff. I think one corner was just too flattened originally, or it just couldn't hold the pressure of the air towards the end.

All done!Seems to run and pull a lot better. Although it just eclipses 5psi.I'll see how the ECU adjusts and maybe the gasket has to form and seat itself a bit. Will monitor and report.Pictures await.

I hated those manifold bolts. Glad you got pressure now.

Wanna comeup and do mine? I need to take off my s/c to get to the vvt-i valve. I too have been putting it off. New job, now moving to bigger house has kept me buisy. And I dread those manifold bolts!! Your ecu should adjust and give you more boost. Mine always does that when I reset the ecu. First 2 days are only 5-7 psi. Then after a few days it's back to 9-10 (when it's cooler).

dang...i need a boost gaugeadam - glad its helping! I hope you get this thing figured out !

Quote, originally posted by Lancer »Wanna comeup and do mine? I need to take off my s/c to get to the vvt-i valve. I too have been putting it off. New job, now moving to bigger house has kept me buisy. And I dread those manifold bolts!! Your ecu should adjust and give you more boost. Mine always does that when I reset the ecu. First 2 days are only 5-7 psi. Then after a few days it's back to 9-10 (when it's cooler).Ya, brother. Pick a weekend and I'll help you out. Just make sure you have plenty of wrenches, w/ and w/o ratcheting ends and we'll get'er done!

Glad to hear you may have the low boost situation resloved.

Bad gasket!

Attached files

That's screwed pretty good.I didn't know you re-used the old gasket.I guess that's a lesson for any new s/c owners not to do.Have your boost levels gone up??

A little over 5psi....but it's running a lot better and has more power. I know my exhaust and header will result in lower psi......I dunno.Any thoughts on that solenoid mod?

It's a gray area for me,I'm not tuned for it.But...when you changed your hoses,the ones that were cracked.Did you use a larger size.Because I did the same,and noticed about 1/2 to a pound difference with same size to larger hose.

Just one larger hose........from the actuator to the throttle body.When you bypass the solenoid what does it do? Maybe there's leak with the boost gauge.

It spools to full boost right away.I haven't got any leaks,but the hose size seemed to make a difference,weird.

What average boost do you put out?

Right now with the new header and x-haust,6.5lbs.I still haven't put that pulley on yet.The header dropped my boost levels,which isn't a bad thing.

I could have an issue my exhaust. I was at a drive-thru the other day and I heard a rattle off the building. I re-used the donut gasket when installing the header, so maybe that's leaking.I suck! haha.