Hi all! I've had this minor issue ever since I bought the car, but I'm interested to see if this is a problem. I went to the junkyard and installed a set of turbo gauges in my non-turbo 83 245 DL, installing the turbo oil pressure sensor and running all the electrical connections and vacuum hose necessary to get things working. Afterwards I was happy to see them all light up and show readings, but one kinda puzzles me. When the throttle pedal isn't being pressed the vacuum gauge reads normal outside air pressure as opposed to any sort of vacuum, and when I revv the engine it will drop to a solid vacuum and then rise again depending on how much throttle I give it.

I figure it's quite normal to have the gauge rise towards 1 atm when I gas it, but when the car's idling or when I'm coasting in gear it reads 1 atm too which seems strange. My friend's 80 245 non-turbo reads like I'd expect it to - biggest vacuum when the car idles or is coasting in gear, and less vacuum when the throttle is pressed. Is this a problem, or is it simply a difference in fuel injection systems design between the years? If it's a problem, what's the source of it and what might need to be done about it? Also, what might have been affected by running the car with a problem like this for half a year? Is it just a bit worse fuel economy, or is it something more severe?

I've replaced all the vacuum hoses with new ones just to be sure it wasn't a weird leak due to bad hoses, just in case that was a possibility. Perhaps I missed some???

Thanks for the help!
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-jp