Without spending my paycheck on a boost gauge for my turbo, is there a way I can check to see if it's running up to par? I don't get that turbo whine that so many of you talk about. Everything is stock from front to back except for the lift I installed. As far as the wastegate, is it supposed to be spring loaded, as to when I move the gate manually (truck OFF), should it spring back into position?

The boost gauge is probably the cheapest one you'll buy. I've seen them for under $50, heck, even $30.

I paid $27 to my door for jc-whitney's 20 psi guage, with vac.

Without spending my paycheck on a boost gauge for my turbo, is there a way I can check to see if it's running up to par? I don't get that turbo whine that so many of you talk about. Everything is stock from front to back except for the lift I installed. As far as the wastegate, is it supposed to be spring loaded, as to when I move the gate manually (truck OFF), should it spring back into position?Please take a moment and list your truck infomation in your signature so we all will know what truck we are talking about ?

And welcome to The Diesel Place :ro) rock on

you wont hear the whistle at all till you do some serious exhaust modifiying, i.e. straightpipe, downpipe and remove the turbo muffler if you have one.

Agreed, I got my boostgauge from JC whitneys for 30 something shipped. Just installed it too. Open up the exhaust (straight pipe, flow through muff, and no soot collector) and intake and you should hear the turbo whistle fairly well.

BTW - does the GM4 and factory boost control system normally boost in spurts or is that my gauge? It's like it suddenly delivers 2, then 4 then 5lbs in a jerking motion. Im thinking this MIGHT be just the action of the computer controlled waste gate...

Im goingto have to film it sometime....

Here you go Bowtie and everyone else, my signature. How about any comments concerning the spring back of the stock wastegate valve?

it will move pretty freely and will not spring back until you start up the truck it will (read should) pull it in tight and you will not be able to move it by hand. thats how it worked i think. i replaced my vac wastegate with the turbomaster manual system over a year ago. its like the infomercial says "set it and forget it"

agreed, the only thing holding the wastegate shut on the stock system is the vacuum applied by the vacuum pump through the wastegate solenoid valve. So when the engine is off, the vacuum pump is not sucking, therefore no vacuum is applied to the wastegate valve and the wastegate can be moved around by hand. Fire the truck up however, and you CANNOT move the wastegate by hand - I've tried too....lol

And we just had a huge discussion about increasing boost like this on my thread "only building 5psi" only doing it by fooling the ECU....

'Yota,
When the needle is jumpy like that it could indicate a sticky WG vac solenoid or a leaky vac line. You should be able to hold higher than 5 psi stock btw.

before i put the turbomaster on my blazer it would spike to about 10psi and drop off almost immediately to 5-6 for the remainder of the pull thats how it is supposed to work in stock dress. after i installed turbomaster it spikes to about 9 and builds to about 11-12 and holds till i let off. i have no resistors in anything so if i adjust it higher it kicks out into limp mode. i will push higher after i get an intercooler and/or water mist but resistors will be useless to me by then as i have a 4911 pump waiting to go in. i know you guys love your electronics but i have been maintaining this truck since '98 w/55k on the clock and i'm at 244k now and i have really grown to hate and distrust the electronics involved with the post '93 6.5.

i know you guys love your electronics but i have been maintaining this truck since '98 w/55k on the clock and i'm at 244k now and i have really grown to hate and distrust the electronics involved with the post '93 6.5.LOL,
Yeah, it's a love affair, just me and my hotrod.