I have checked the cold side of the turbo and spins freely with no shaft play.
Ive checked the intake crossover pipe and all seems fine.
havent really checked the cooler to manifold pipe as it looks quite difficult to get the pipe off the underside of inlet manifold but I haven’t had a very close inspection.
We have listened for boost leaks under load and cannot hear anything and the boost gauge was working fine in the last vehicle it was in and it’s a good quality one.
maybe it’s the intercooler leaking somewhere or could it be the PCV system?