Boost Pressure Sensor

RFCRD · **Posted:** Tue Jan 02, 2007 6:36 pm

Joe Romas wrote:

Boy those round clips were a B@#$H

...and they gotta go....You didn't by chance find the thread size to put on real nuts or wingnuts? I didn't have anything that would fit in my can of tricks.

RFCRD · **Posted:** Tue Jan 02, 2007 6:49 pm

DnA Diesel wrote:

Has anyone had any issues with the dealers and the Provent?

I had a face-to face meeting with a DC District Service Manager and a Product Support Rep that looked over the Provent on mine and took a copy of Provent's technical literature which I printed for them. They weren't admitting to anything but acknowledged why I was using one. Their main concern was that I didn't disconnect any emissions equipment with the install (ie... they would have a big problem if they saw an EHM).

The last oil change was done at the dealer and I left them a clean drain bottle to swap while servicing. They didn't have any problem with this.

MACKJ · **Posted:** Tue Jan 02, 2007 7:30 pm

RFCRD wrote:

Joe Romas wrote:

Boy those round clips were a B@#$H

...and they gotta go....You didn't by chance find the thread size to put on real nuts or wingnuts? I didn't have anything that would fit in my can of tricks.

If you guys are talking about the clips on the plastic wiring harness cover...I think the threaded section on the support is M6 x 1.0 pitch.

crdmike · **Joined:** Tue May 16, 2006 7:25 pm **Posts:** 138

I cleaned mine as well; just had soot build up no oil residue but I have had a Provent on since 300 miles. Now I have the Inmotion Tune so I'll check it out in a few months a let you'all know how it looks.

Ranger1 · **Joined:** Mon Oct 17, 2005 7:40 pm **Posts:** 1137

Quote:

I cleaned mine as well; just had soot build up no oil residue but I have had a Provent on since 300 miles. Now I have the Imotion Tune so I'll check it out in a few months a let you'all know how it looks.

Please do. I'm going to pull mine in 1K miles, hoping that since ULSD is out the problem will not be as bad. Due to the Provent, mine only had soot, but plenty of that. I think that it will only take a small coating on the yellow sensor to cause less than optimal readings - soot is a pretty good insulator. I took pictures before/after cleaning, will do the same at 1K for my service records. Hearing that the sensor sooted up in 4600 miles surprised me, especially if those were ULSD miles. DC must be running the egr pretty heavy on the CRD.

RFCRD · **Posted:** Tue Jan 02, 2007 8:49 pm

Ranger1 wrote:

Quote:

I cleaned mine as well; just had soot build up no oil residue but I have had a Provent on since 300 miles. Now I have the Imotion Tune so I'll check it out in a few months a let you'all know how it looks.

Please do. I'm going to pull mine in 1K miles, hoping that since ULSD is out the problem will not be as bad. Due to the Provent, mine only had soot, but plenty of that. I think that it will only take a small coating on the yellow sensor to cause less than optimal readings - soot is a pretty good insulator. I took pictures before/after cleaning, will do the same at 1K for my service records. Hearing that the sensor sooted up in 4600 miles surprised me, especially if those were ULSD miles. DC must be running the egr pretty heavy on the CRD.

Have to wonder if the "Italian tune-up" was seemed to work because it was really clearing this sensor???

Joe Romas · **Posted:** Tue Jan 02, 2007 8:52 pm

[quote="Ranger1. Hearing that the sensor sooted up in 4600 miles surprised me, especially if those were ULSD miles. DC must be running the egr pretty heavy on the CRD.[/quote]

Ranger.
My 4600 miles is almost all short trip stop and go driving and I'm not in a hurry :lol:

As I recall my driving gives the most egr. And I got it at the end of May 06 so I suspect the LSD was diluted by then. I just wish the B20 station was not 25 miles away :cry:

RFCRD · **Posted:** Tue Jan 02, 2007 8:54 pm

crdmike wrote:

I cleaned mine as well; just had soot build up no oil residue but I have had a Provent on since 300 miles.

This is a very important observation for those inspecting these sensors. How dry is the soot in this mess? I was encouraged because mine was chalky and very dry (no oil). If you are sucking oil through your CAC, oil deposits at this point could indicate a real mess developing inside your intake manifold.

oz_crd · **Posted:** Tue Jan 02, 2007 10:42 pm

I pulled mine and cleaned it yesterday. It was packed, but with 100% dry particulate. I just scraped it out with a pick, and blew it out with compressed air. Amazing how much soot was deposited in a small sensor. Our CRD just turned over 30k yesterday, and we have had a Provent in it since a year ago at 12k.

Ranger1 · **Joined:** Mon Oct 17, 2005 7:40 pm **Posts:** 1137

Quote:

Have to wonder if the "Italian tune-up" was seemed to work because it was really clearing this sensor???

Didn't work on mine :-)

It gets one Italian tune-up a day, and on B20 with PS Gray at that. 50 Interstate miles a day. Soot was packed solid, very fine and pretty dry. No oily residue that I could see.

One other test I may try at the 1K inspection - if the sensor is coated with soot at that point, I may try some spray silicon on the sensor to see if that will retard the soot formation.

Joe Romas · **Posted:** Wed Jan 03, 2007 7:11 am

[quote="Ranger1
One other test I may try at the 1K inspection - if the sensor is coated with soot at that point, I may try some spray silicon on the sensor to see if that will retard the soot formation.[/quote]

Be carefull here :!:

I know for sure that silicon will distroy a MAF on a TDI :cry:

DnA Diesel · **Posted:** Wed Jan 03, 2007 3:53 pm

Mine was a combination oily/sooty, although more sooty. I'm tempted to get the Provent and am fairly confident that the ULSD throughout Canada will keep the soot down.

Cheers,
Duey

Ranger1 · **Joined:** Mon Oct 17, 2005 7:40 pm **Posts:** 1137

Joe Romas wrote:

[quote="Ranger1
One other test I may try at the 1K inspection - if the sensor is coated with soot at that point, I may try some spray silicon on the sensor to see if that will retard the soot formation.

Be carefull here :!:

I know for sure that silicon will distroy a MAF on a TDI :cry:

[/quote]

It will on the CRD MAF also - FSM warns not to touch the heated wire on the MAF. The boost sensor yellow probe is shiny plastic - I'm willing to sacrifice one in an attempt to keep the soot off the sensor. I would never use silicon on the MAF.

Ranger1 · **Joined:** Mon Oct 17, 2005 7:40 pm **Posts:** 1137

Notice how the yellow sensor looks to be some kind of sealed package. I think it may be able to handle a light coating of silicon spray - if not, a new sensor will be required.

Jeger · **Posted:** Thu Jan 04, 2007 7:03 am

Nice shots, suddenly I feel this strange urge to go take my boost sensor off!

greiswig · **Posted:** Thu Jan 04, 2007 2:02 pm

I pulled mine last night. At 22k miles, it didn't look nearly as bad as what Ranger1 posted. There was a thin coating of soot on it, no oil. Apparently my pneumatic water separator is working well to keep oil out of the intake and my fuel additive (B100) is working well.

Interesting little device: it almost looks like a thermistor (the yellow thing), but who knows? No obvious effect on performance or mileage after cleaning it off. If it is a true pressure sensor only, I would not expect soot to have much effect on its ability to sense changes in pressure.

Ranger1 · **Joined:** Mon Oct 17, 2005 7:40 pm **Posts:** 1137

According to the FSM, its a dual pressure/intake air temperature sensor. It's difficult to see in web page resolution, but on the other side of the yellow sensor, the bottom has an almost translucent half moon coating on the bottom. Just guessing, I'd say the yellow probe is the temperature probe and the other is the pressure sensor. Or the yellow sensor could be both...

greiswig · **Posted:** Thu Jan 04, 2007 3:08 pm

Ranger1 wrote:

According to the FSM, its a dual pressure/intake air temperature sensor. It's difficult to see in web page resolution, but on the other side of the yellow sensor, the bottom has an almost translucent half moon coating on the bottom. Just guessing, I'd say the yellow probe is the temperature probe and the other is the pressure sensor. Or the yellow sensor could be both...

Aha! Yes, that would explain it. I bet the yellow thing IS a thermistor, so it's the temperature sensor. That would be affected by deposits, especially a lot of insulating carbon. Still, I'd expect a pressure transducer to withstand a fair amount of soot or soot/oil before it wasn't working properly.

Ranger1 · **Joined:** Mon Oct 17, 2005 7:40 pm **Posts:** 1137

Quote:

I'd expect a pressure transducer to withstand a fair amount of soot or soot/oil before it wasn't working properly.

Agreed. The air intake temperature should be the most affected. I know it makes a big difference in driveability and mileage is now consistently reading 3 mpg higher on the EVIC. My long term concern is what the intake air passages will look like at 50K 70K or 100K. If the soot level is high enough to pack a 3/8" diameter sensor housing in 26K miles, the intake ports near the valves could be nearly 100% clogged at 100K. Unless ULSD cuts the soot formation by at least 90%. I should be able to tell after the next 1K miles - if that yellow sensor is coated with soot, it will mean constant regular cleaning throughout its lifetime.

Exactly what was soot covered on yours - just the sensor, or the housing as well? Was the sensor blocked by soot from direct air flow?

greiswig · **Posted:** Thu Jan 04, 2007 5:37 pm

Ranger1 wrote:

Exactly what was soot covered on yours - just the sensor, or the housing as well? Was the sensor blocked by soot from direct air flow?

From your pix, it appeared that the cage surrounding the sensors was actually packed with soot, or at least had a blanket of it that pretty much shrouded the thermistor. On mine, all four of the windows in that cage were open...but there was a thin (maybe .5mm) film of soot on all exposed surfaces.

HTH,

Boost Pressure Sensor

Who is online