[s-cars] Boost leak found!!! JACKPOT!

[JR]

I just replaced my last Samco.  I already had the hoses and had done the 
MM hose and the IC to intake hose.  I just didn't have time to do the 
lower one at the time and forgot about it.  Well I was driving the car 
this weekend and I started to hear a whooshing sound, like escaping air, 
not a turbo spooling up.  I got under the car and found a gaping hole in 
the turbo to intercooler pipe hose (metal IC pipe...just rubbing it 
in).  I must have had that boost leak since I had the car and just blew 
the crack in the hose into a dime sized hole.  It was always a little 
stuttery as the boost came on.  I thought it was just the MTM chips that 
made it that way.  People on the email list said the MTM chip power 
delivery was quirky so I just assumed that this was that.  I don't have 
a boost gauge...yet (Why the $^%# did Audi not put one on a boost 
monster like this anyway?!).  Since I got it, the car would pull hard, 
after it hit maximum boost it would top out and stutter a little bit 
because the hose couldn't hold all the boost the turbo was making and 
was leaking out.  The crack must have needed quite a bit of pressure to 
open, but when it hit a certain PSI it began to open and close, acting 
like a pressure release valve, causing the stuttering.  I never knew any 
better and don't have a boost gauge and had never been in another S4, so 
I didn't know anything was wrong.  It was still fast and so far as I 
knew it was fine.  Now, after the lower Samco install, when I get on the 
gas it pulls like a mule all the way to redline, substantially harder 
than it ever has!  Smooth as glass power delivery now!  I'm kicking 
myself for not doing this a long time ago.  It's like a free upgrade 
finding and fixing that leak!!!  This extra power might even tide me 
over for awhile so I can I allow my bank account to recover before 
dropping a few Gs on turbo upgrades.  :-P

The moral of the story is:  Get a boost gauge (if you don't have one) so 
you know what's going on and check those OEM hoses!  You might be losing 
some free HP out a very small, soon to be larger, hole.

JR