Will do. My idea was that it was drawing air passed the o rings into the charge pipe since I'm usually in vacuum.

O rings have been ordered! Thanks for the help!

 

Where did anyone mention the metal rib location? And the rotation of the filter does effect fuel trims, watched it happen on mine.

 

I mentioned placing my metal rib at 1130.

My metal rib happens to be at the high point of the lobe. Therefore i could use it as an indicator.

 

Tried the boost test on my way to work this morning.

Trims settled to 10.2 if under boost. 14.8 if coasting in gear. 23-25 if coasting in neutral. No CELs.

There was a noticable drop when I went into boost. Right after leaving the driveway it was most apparent as the trims had not settled.

My theory on why the intake would not work is that since I am already so lean, the car could not compensate well enough once I put the less restrictive intake on resulting in rough idle and poor overall performance.
Basically, adding the intake just made the problem worse.

 

Yup. Going Straight To 10 Like That Pretty Much Makes The Leak Appear To Be On The Charged Side. I HoperReplacing The O-ringS Fixes Your problem

 

I was planning on jacking the car up to double check for any leaks as well as clean the maf with some electric parts spray. The two bosch sensors (on the IM and the lower charge pipe) seem to be kind of dirty. Do you think it'd be safe to give them a quick jet too?

Still waiting on the O-rings. Paying 7.50 for shipping through a USPS envelope seemed kind of steep.

 

Pull them and see if theres oil on them, if they look clean then Id just leave them alone. Its a good idea to look for any small cracks in the system. The factory intercooler is notorious for the condenser bar getting cracked or smashed off. Its pretty obvious when it happens. Another spot could be the plastic endtanks (you'd actually have to take the bumper off to get a good look at it. and yet a third spot could be the plastic "nipple" that one of the vac lines connects to near the lower MAP sensor.

Those are the spots that ive seen

 

Example photos of cracked ICs just so you can see why pulling the bumper is necessary. Obviously these are really bad and there would be no boost what so ever.







Cant find any photos, but the condenser bar may also be damaged or separated. If its separated at the screw side, not the clip side, it will cause a boost leak.


^Thats it, and that one looks like it hit a curb bad lol.

 

I inspected everything including taking off the upper charge pipe but do not go as far as the front bumper.

New o rings arrived today. Installed the o rings and cleaned the sensors first and reset the fuel trims.

Trims stayed at 0 for about a half mile and then slowly migrated to 7 where they held for a mile. Then they migrated further to settle to 10.9 under load, 11.6 coasting in gear, and 12.2 neutral coasting. Total of about 3 miles of driving in 80 degree weather.

Not sure if this is good enough as I was very close to claiming victory when they held at 7.

 

Also just raised the car and did a thorough inspection. Found a scuff on the condenser passenger side and found very small cracks running through the piece that a bolt runs through to mount the condenser to the plastic IC housing. Tried poking it with a sharp dental pick and it only seemed superficial. Tried spraying a jet of ether to see if it was leaking there but no luck.

And stupid question but when I put my hand over the pcv vent coupling at the intake tube I hear a tone change but ether did nothing. The arrow on the check valve is pointing towards the valve cover, is this normal? I would think flow would be towards the intake.

 

I have blue O-rings in mine. When the kit first came out they we're what was supplied with it (I found an original install document), it appears the black ones have replaced those now from what I have been reading.

Try a bottle of soap and water and spray on connections. Bubbles=leak.

 

I was thinking that but in vacuum I don't think I'd make bubbles. Extra air is getting in not out. Thats why I tried starting fluid.

 

Well thats alot better, if your still on the stock airbox, they should be closer to +/- 3.0 I think for GMS1.

I still think thats pretty high LTFT for factory installed system. Spraying soapy water is still not a bad idea, coupled with a boost leak tester. Something like dawn dish detergeant mixed with water. For a system with a leak to manage the fuel adjustments and hold them the best it can, it has to be a small leak. The condenser bar is not out of the question to me. A scruff tells me it had an impact with something and could possibly have made a crack all the way through. Spray the soapy water there with a boost leak tester hooked up. Somebody here probably has directions for making one easy and cheap

When I had a boost leak, it was the plastic nipple on the lower MAP sensor snapped off and the vac line floating around in their, it gave me a CEL. I mean thats a pencil tip sized hole.

Taking the bumper off isnt too tough, I'd save it for the weekend though. Should be okay to drive it normally for the time being and maybe get some more miles down to see where the LTFTs move too.


This sounds like it going to come down to taking the whole intake system out and carefully inspecting each part.

 

Yeah this is normal. The intakes always under vacuum so air should be pulled into the valve cover as a "vent in" and another braided hose leads from the valve cover to the turbo or just before it still on vacuum side to "vent out". This is where oil can get pulled into the intake system.

Thats my understanding of it, never pulled it apart to really inspect it, Someone will correct me if im wrong :p

 

Here you go, I found a link. Too bad the photos are broken linked.

https://www.cobaltss.net/forums/how-...tester-193561/

Youtube video

 

Another really bad case of "cracked" intercooler just happened to this guy
https://www.cobaltss.net/forums/08-1...losion-299950/

They are very breakable from factory.

 

Well trims went back to 15-17 so no luck.

Thanks for all the help and advice. I am going to pull the bumper this weekend or see about building a tester.

Question, my lower charge pipe MAP sensor is attached with a black one inch long wood/plastic screw that would have to actually screw into the pipe itself. Is this right?

 

FOUND THE LEAK

Made my boost leak tester and hooked her up for 15psi. Barely noticed the sound under the hiss from the oil cap but thought I heard it on the lower part of the hot side pipe so I sprayed my soap mix onto the coupling from the plastic hot side pipe to the rubber tube that runs to the IC and WHAM, lots of bubbles and foaming. The entire band there is leaking.

 

Thats a new location to me, so the stock upper charge pipe is crap for you, you cant fix that, only replace it. I recommend the ZZP one, its cheap, functional, looks good and for a cheaper price you can use the factory rubber couplers. Since that stock plastic band clamp is not working at all, who cares if you destroy it for the factory rubber couplers?

ZZPerformance - LNF Upper Intercooler Pipe #ZZ-LNFUPICP

I have it under my hood. But, if you want colorful stuff Im sure somebodies gonna chime in soon lol.



Glad you found the leak though without having to take the bumper off. That would have ended in frustration.

 

Weird spot indeed, nice to see you found it.

 

Man, 200 bucks for a new pipe. I wonder if the stealership would cover it under power train warranty being that its critical to a good functioning engine. After spending money on new rotors, OEM pads, hardware, k&n intake, tires, a set of used stock wheels and new TPMS sensors, my bank account is in the intensive care unit haha.

 

seems this thread is miss-titled

Should be called GM fail


Yeah it should be covered. Its considered part of the powertrain. I understand about the money thing, really do. They will replace it. Show them this picture and explain how the test work and how you did it so they fully understand this charge pipe failed.

They will ask you. Did it illuminate a CEL? Your gonna say no but it was pretty damn close to it. lol. Make sure there is nothing aftermarket on the car engine related when you go. (A.k.a - no K&N intake.) They may try to make that take the fall for the obvious failure of the charge pipe..

The factory upper charge pipe I believe costs ~$180 if they go that route.

 

Haha yup. I actually tried changing the title a long time ago but realized i couldn't. I apologize k&n. Its not you, it's me.

 

The stealership said it is not covered under power train warranty. For ***** and giggles I asked if the turbo would be covered if it blew up and they also said no. WTF? They wanted 265 bucks for a stock charge pipe. The lady in the parts department didn't have a clue what I was talking about.

I called two stealerships. One had no idea and the other had to call me back two hours later. Looks like I'm spending the money on the ZZP.

 

hold on hold on. The charge pipe is 100% covered under powertrain warranty. Stock charge pipe cost about $180 at CED.

Okay, its the 2014 warranty here, cant remember where I can find the 2010 one but its the same thing so read it.
http://www.chevrolet.com/owners/warranty.html

Turbocharger is covered. Id say the charge pipe is part of the turbocharger system. This is an obvious defect and not the cause of the owner. Call the GM service help desk and explain to them that one of there dealerships are denying you a warrantable fix without a cause.



P.S. - Id prefer the ZZP one over the stock one anyday lol. That will definately make sure you dont have this issue again.