I just installed my Autometer Cobalt Boost/Vacuum gauge and I ran into a little problem. The gauge seems to not be registering vacuum, and the boost is not hitting as high as it should. At first I thought that there might be a leak somewhere, but then I plugged my AccessPort in and the boost levels were reading normal. But the gauge isn't reading this, so could I still have a leak somewhere? And if so, how come the AP is reading boost fine? Does it have anything to do with where I wired the gauge into (I used the wires that were for the EOM clock)
Can anybody shine some light on this for me, because I have ran out of ideas.
Thanks,
-Tom

Where did you tap the vacuum line for the gauge? From your description it sounds like you tapped the line that goes to the wastegate, which will give the readings you reported- no vacuum, only boost, and no higher than wastegate pressure of about 7 psi. To get your gauge to read properly you must tap a direct manifold source instead. The easiest place to do this is the vacuum hose that connects to the factory bypass valve on the intercooler, connect your "T" tap there.

I tapped into the hose that comes off the front of the factory BOV. I thought that was where it was suppose to go. I went about halfway down the hose (had to take off the IC to get down in there) and tapped in there. It sounds like I tapped the right spot, but all the clues point to the idea that I went with the wrong one. grrrrrrrr, this sucks!

Hm, if you did tap the right place the next thing to do is check the hose all the way from the tap to the gauge and see if it is blocked or kinked anyplace.

...can't find any kinks... :(
-back to the drawingn board

ok, so now i'm starting to think (once in a blue moon) and my hypothosis is this: the instructions say to wire in the power to a source that turns on with the ignition, but it can't turn off for that split second during startup when everything else turns off. So now i think that because i wired it to the clock power supply (which shuts off during start-up) that the gauge doesn't caliberate properly. So now i need to find another place to run pwer from. I need a wire that has constant power through the startup process. Where did you guys wire your gauges into? Please try to be specific, I need things spelled out for me. :confused:

ok, so now i'm starting to think (once in a blue moon) and my hypothosis is this: the instructions say to wire in the power to a source that turns on with the ignition, but it can't turn off for that split second during startup when everything else turns off. So now i think that because i wired it to the clock power supply (which shuts off during start-up) that the gauge doesn't caliberate properly. So now i need to find another place to run pwer from. I need a wire that has constant power through the startup process. Where did you guys wire your gauges into? Please try to be specific, I need things spelled out for me. :confused:
Is the Cobalt seires an electronic gauge or mechanical? How many wires were there in the installation. If there were only two wires these are most likely for the light only and would have nothing to do with the problem. I would check the the connection on the back of the gauge. I had a similar problem on an autometer gauge and it ended up that the nylon tube had cracked inside the compression fitting and was not allowing pressure to be transferred to the gauge.

it's an electrical guage... it does the needle sweep at startup. i really am starting to believe that the gauge isn't caliberating right, because it loses power for that split second during start up. Where is the proper place to tap into 12v power?

Code Systems Tech Support 68392 Code Systems ID:
SUBARU IMPREZA WRX 2004 4DR SEDAN
Security Color Polarity Location
Battery WHITE (+) IGNITION SWITCH HARNESS
Ignition 1 GREEN (+) IGNITION SWITCH HARNESS


i stole that from code alarms tech site, the green should keep 12v during startup....but it wouldnt hurt to test it