Yesterday while pulling the trailer my boost went from 29 lbs to 12 while pulling a hill.My EGT's also climbed from 800 w/29 lbs boost, to 1150 w/12 lbs boost.It also made a swoshing sound like a high powered heater. Very noticeable.I never heard a pop,like a boot blew off. I checked them out ,and did not see any holes.
Question:Is it most likely the boots or the intercooler itself? Are after market boots the way to go?

 

The stock boots are usually the weak link here. Use soapy water to find the leaks. You can fab up a rig to attach compressed air at 30psi to your turbo inlet housing, this makes trouble shooting much easier.

 

Had a boot come off.It has happened twice before to the same boot. I ordered another set .
Having the EGT gauge realy helps in situation like this.Being able to observe those temps rise when a boot blows off lets one know why there so important.I was also able to get home keeping the temps below 1250.