Shooting this out to everyone, hoping someone can help me tomorrow. Yes, tomorrow (Sunday). I'm available between noon and 4:30pm. I live in St. Paul near St. Clair & Lexington. EDIT: Piddster believes this to be an uppipe issue. The car finally cooled down enough so I could feel around the bottom of the downpipe and sure enough, all bolts and nuts on the turbo are present and accounted for. Looks, then, like my EGT probe bolt came loose. '04 WRX, I need a jack to check (been waiting 4 months for a replacement grease fitting for mine) but I think I need an EGT probe hole bolt... 1/8 NPT? My exhaust lost something on the way from Hastings to Edina at around 6:30pm (and I live in St. Paul... so I had to limp it all the way home tonight). It's easy to hear. No mistaking SOME kind of exhaust leak in the engine bay... my car sounds like a freakin' WW2-era motorcycle, and I have zero power. Everything looks fine from the top so I need someone to help me get under the car... having someone else to look at it wouldn't hurt, either. AND on the way home tonight I was passed by a pack of riced-up Civics. The car gods are laughing at me... and some of you might be as well. Can anyone help me out?!?!
If you have no power or boost at all, your problem isn't the downpipe to turbo gasket. Something upstream has a really big hole in it.
Hmm... could be. I'm wondering now if it was the bolt that's supposed to be in the EGT gauge hole in my catless up? Still need a jack to check this out / fill the hole. Anyone have a bolt that might fit?
EGT probes typically have a tapered pipe thread, so a straight bolt usually does not last when trying to fill a NPT hole. You need a steel NPT plug, most likely 1/8 NPT.
Awesome. Where would I find one of those? Of course, I have no way of knowing that's really what I need until I can look under the car. Grr.
Yeah, you need to find the leak first. If it is that plug, a good hardware store should have something, I think. Try 4 Corners? I think that is the big one in St. Paul. Was there once, up the street (7th) from Grimmspeed. IIRC.
Thanks! I'll check that out for sure. Now that I think about it some more, a big hole in my uppipe would make a lot of sense given its behavior and sound. Anyone have a jack + garage I could use tomorrow?
Exhaust cooled down enough so I could feel around the turbo. All bolts and nuts seem to be present and accounted for, so it's probably an EGT probe bolt thing... first post edited. Still need someone to help me check it out. Also checked wastegate C-clip just in case... and that is still there.
I'll be in the garage all day. I'm near 35e and Cliff Rd in Eagan. I have a jack and a spare bung plug. PM me if you'd like to drive down.
Ended up not having enough time to run to the hardware store and pull everything apart (and I figured I'd be screwed if I ran into any issues). I don't have a ton of time today, either, so my plan is to have Morrie's deal with it tomorrow morning, since I have a service appointment out there anyway. Not expecting them to stock an EGT bung plug, so I'll run to the hardware store today and pick up some bolts that might fit. And if none of those work I'll bring my stock uppipe for them to put back on as a last resort. My week is totally packed day and night. Next week would have been such better timing for an exhaust leak.
It can be squeezed in without turbo or uppipe removal. Just have to take the airbox out to get a good shot at it. A couple of extensions and a u-joint and it can be cranked down pretty good without removing anything time-consuming. This was on an ebay uppipe, not sure if the plug is in the exact same place on all of them.
