BOV on car doesn't have vacuum hose fitted?

[wintertidenz]

I've been looking at a few installation guides for my Blitz BOV that was fitted on the car when I got it. All of the guides say that I need to have the vacuum pipe fitted on the BOV, however my one doesn't have that hose fitted. It still seems to vent to air fine when releasing the throttle while on boost, but I'm wondering if I should fit the vacuum hose to it and if it will do any damage?

Picture of BOV so you can see what I mean:

[AlanDITD]

AFAIK it should have one, the vacuum basically is there to open and close the dump valve when the pressure changes, i.e off throttle.

As it sits there now its probs not doing alot.

[Wodjno]

Yes it should be fitted. Without it you will be running low on boost pressure.

[hi flyer]

you'll be running lower that stock boost pressure like that. I broke the plastic connection on the standard bov. went from 14psi to about 6-7psi.

[Louis]

Yeah!, there should be a vacum hose attached to your new BOV, otherwise it isn't doing anything!, Has your old one been removed definitely?, I have attached a pic!.

[wintertidenz]

The old one has definitely been removed, the pipes going to it have been blocked off. Will check that vacuum hose beside the BOV that you circled and see where it goes to... could have possibly come loose before I got the car.

Cheers guys!

[wintertidenz]

OK, I have pulled the cover off this morning to check where the vacuum pipe is going to and I found this:





Something just doesn't seem right there!

[peter thomson]

Can you see what it connects to??

[wintertidenz]

Just seems to connect to two fittings on each side of the head, one as Louis highlighted and another one the same on the other side. Second photo is a bit clearer as to where the other end of the hose connects... wondering if there is meant to be a t-junction in there or something?

[Louis]

Looks to me like some one has removed the old BOV and blocked off the two main big pipes, (good), then fitted new BOV, but not known what they are doing!, and found that they have air being drawn into the inlet pipework through the small hose that should be attached to the BOV, and I guess they have lengthened the hose and attachit bac into something random??, to stop it drawing air into the inlet pipework.
The new BOV won't be doing anything, but you probably wouldn't notice too much when driving regularly, I would disconect the small hose at the joint and attach it to the BOV, anf that will get it working, I can't think of anything down the timing belt side of the engine that has a hose connection on it?
I wouldn't go full throttle till you get it plumbed correctly, it shouldn't cause any damage it will just affect the performance, (no bov causes the turbo to stall)

[wintertidenz]

OK, I will check what the other end is connected to in the morning.

I wouldn't have thought that the BOV worked, but it still does work fine without the vacuum hose connected... makes the 'pssssssht' sound when releasing throttle, and it's coming from the BOV.

[Turbo_Steve]

Chances are that the spring has been wound fully out on the BOV to allow it to open purely from the pressure on the turbo side when the throttle is shut. Unfortunately if this is the case, it is probably opening partially under boost pressure. Get the vacuum line back on, and things should improve, as the positive pressure in the top half should help keep it closed on boost. You may need to adjust the sprint tension, however.

It looks to me like someone fitted the BOV, the pipe has come off after the car has been sold, and so someone (not knowing where it went) stuck a bolt in the end?

[wintertidenz]

Pulled the hoses apart and connected the one that Louis circled onto the BOV. The other hose started to suck vacuum when the car was on and the car was almost stalling. Have taken a couple of pictures to show where the other pipe goes and circled where it goes under the head - it seems to link up to the joiner on the head near the oil fill? I've put a screw in it for now to seal it up.




Car does boost a lot better now with the BOV adjusted, will probably adjust it a bit more as I get used to it working like it should - don't think it's perfectly set yet, but it does let off pressure after the car hits boost and you release the throttle.

[wintertidenz]

Erm... There seems to be a boost solenoid missing from my car.
Was out looking at the pipework, and on the intake there is a piece of pipe looping back in on itself. Looked in the EBC installation article, and it's meant to be going to the wastegate and something else... then I noticed there was a blank spot where the solenoid was meant to be. Compared it with pictures from the same thread, and it is definitely missing. Wiring for it and something else is just hanging loose in the engine bay.
The hose that is coming from the wastegate goes directly back into the intake manifold, not sure if this is correct though.

I'm guessing I definitely need to have a boost solenoid?

Intake pipe:

[Kieran]

I think the hose beneath the throttle body in the last picture is a coolant hose, that looks about right as I recall.

But yeah, what's going on with your boost/vacc system?! looks like someone's been randomly removing stuff... Is the fuel pressure solenoid also missing or is that there?

Strange thing is, I always thought that disconnecting the boost solenoid lit up the 'Check Engine' lamp?

[scott.mohekey]

The boost solenoid is probably still there and connected electronically. It's hard to see if you haven't removed a few charge pipes etc.

[wintertidenz]

Fuel pressure solenoid also seems to be missing, the wiring that I circled seems to be part of that.

Only thing I removed for the pictures was the intake pipe with the BOV and the pod filter.

[wintertidenz]

OK, been out again to check that I'm not blind and check that the parts are actually missing.

Checked the FPR, the hose you can see where my fingers are is meant to go to the FPR solenoid:


However, the hose goes from where my fingers are indicating the FPR, to a t-piece and then off to the throttle body (as you can see in the picture) and somewhere else:


This is where the other end goes to - don't know what it goes into, and hard to photograph the right place:



Think I will be calling round a few parts places on Tuesday and finding how much the parts are so I can replace them. Oh - the check engine light does not seem to light up on the dash either, think it's been cut or the bulb removed.

[Louis]

The best thing to do would be to find another club member near you, who you could meet up with and compare how things are under the bonnet. You could then get an idea of what's missing and what has been changed. It might be that the engine light bulb has been removed or disabled.
The fact that your car has been running, means that there is no major damage, so it should just be a case of putting it back to standard set up which shouldn't be too difficult, and then taking it from there.
I can't help much from over here, but I will check and see if I have a diagram of the vacum pipes that I could put up for you, or I will try and find some photos of standard set up, hang in there, cheers Louis

[Turbo_Steve]

Now may also be the time to confirm that you have a standard ECU in there........