I lost my boost gauge and power brakes at the same time!

[Eulers Ghost]

Suddenly boost gauge says zero all the time, and the car get a rough erratic idling and I lose power brakes. I had it in for warranty work to fix a bent shift fork in the tranny, and on the way home it went from showing normal boost and normal brakes instantly to zero boost and no power brakes.

It sounds like a vacum line got unhooked somewhere, but after pouring through the service manual I dont know where to begin. I did have the dash off and the line is still connected to the boost gauge, so there is just no signal getting to the gauge.

Any ideas? Where else can I look in the service manual besides the section on the brake booster? It SEEMED all the lines to the master were intact. Where else can I look? I really dont want to have to drive all the way to the dealer without power brakes, as its a bitch to stop and in a panic situation id be fscked.

Thanks.

[punkrokdood]

up near the firewall on the driver's side is the brake booster... there's a little vacuum elbow there, that's what popped off, that is the culprit... it happens ALL the time... zip tie that fucker down good, and it'll never come off again :thumb:

mine popped off in rush hour traffic :rofl: :owned:

[Eulers Ghost]

Ok i'll double check... when I looked at it, it appeared to still be in place, but I'll check it again when the car is a little cooler and im not burning my fingers.

[Eulers Ghost]

mine popped off in rush hour traffic :rofl: :owned:

when it did, did you lose your boost reading and get the erratic idle and all the other effects?

[punkrokdood]

when it did, did you lose your boost reading and get the erratic idle and all the other effects?
yup... lemme go look at mine to get the EXACT location

[Eulers Ghost]

the vacum elbow is in place. where is the other side of that line? they were working with the tranny so I suspect they unhooked it from the other end, and when they rehooked it it popped off somehow.

[punkrokdood]

ok...

1. find intake tube
2. where intake tube curves to the left to meet the turbo, look to the right, directly behind the positive terminal on the battery
3. there is a plug with wires in it.
4. from the plug, go 2 inches down, 2 inches to the left, and about 2 inches back towards the firewall, and there is a big vacuum fitting there. there is an elbow that goes to it that has a green disk shaped piece on it before it turns into the small hard line going back up and to the right

hope that helps :thumb:

[Eulers Ghost]

ok i checked that. it seems like everything there is connected. :(

[punkrokdood]

the vacum elbow is in place. where is the other side of that line? they were working with the tranny so I suspect they unhooked it from the other end, and when they rehooked it it popped off somehow.
that can't be...

the other end goes up and through the firewall to the boost gauge IIRC

it could have popped off there somewhere

[Eulers Ghost]

I had the dash off, and it was hooked to the boost gauge properly. Could my boost gauge have crapped out?

[punkrokdood]

I had the dash off, and it was hooked to the boost gauge properly. Could my boost gauge have crapped out?
sure, but it wouldn't cause all this, unless the gauge is what's leaking...

i've never heard of that before...

and even so, i'd think that the gauge would still move a bit...

the line from the brake booster to the gauge MIGHT not be one solid piece... trace it either from the gauge, or from the booster, and see if there are any places that use a coupler, particularly near the firewall

[punkrokdood]

i gotta go, hope you find it, if not, i'll think more about it while i'm gone

[Eulers Ghost]

theres a vacum line that hooks to the intake manifold. someone on another board suggested that. could that be the culprit?

[Eulers Ghost]

yeah I found the problem on the underside of the intake manifold is a brass fitting that is sticking out toward the drivers side (if facing front of car) but I cant find the hose that was supposed to hook in there. According to the manual, that is the other side of the line for the brake booster.

[Eulers Ghost]

YOU GUYS ROCK!!!!!!!!!

Thanks for all your suggestions. I found the line that came off the intake manifold and SNAP! brakes are back.

Thanks everyone! between you guys and the service manual, you saved me about 3 hours of my time and some dangerous driving.

Thanks for the service manual too! PDF FTW!

[punkrokdood]

i was just about to suggest that... i thought of that when i was out :lol:

[psi chick]

i blew that line at the track once. that sucked. i have that damn thing clamped on now.

[dres]

same thing happened to me driving from the track. freaked me out. my idel was all over the place too. zip tie ftw

[Eulers Ghost]

well the engine should be cool enough that I can zip tie that side. Im waiting for it to cool before I try to push high boost again so it doesn't pop off and give me a suprise.