So on my way home from work I was cruising in fourth and got on it pretty good and all of the sudden I hear a noise like air realease/small explosion. The truck keeps driving but has zero power. Anyways Im right around the corner from my house so i pull up, pop the hood and my intercooler boot popped off the intake horn. Im only pushing maybe 20-25psi. I got everything back together and took it for a drive, drove fine. My question is why did this happen? I was under the assumption that stock boots could withstand at least up to 35psi, maybe it loosened a bit over time or i didnt tighten it down tight enough last time I had it off?

 

Since you said you put it back on, I'm assuming it just slipped off. If the clamp wasn't as tight as it should be, the boots will slowly walk off. Mine did that to me this summer, but it was at 70 psi when it happened. Knocked the little handle off the rad drain valve, as well as broke the nipple off my windshield washer pump, draining all the fluid out of that. Those had been flawless up until that point, and I hadn't messed with the boots for 4 or 5 months.

I had the same thing happen to my dually last year when I had the twins on it. I'm guessing it was in the 110 psi range when it happened. That one gave me a scare. Big bang, and then lots of white smoke out the exhaust.


FWIW, I've had 80 psi on the stock boots without issue.

 

I had one pop off at around 40psi, totally at random, scared me, can't imagine 110psi!!

 

Trick way to keep the boots on is to spray with cheap hairspray before you slip them on.
Glues them on but can be removed easily later.
Also a good idea to use a torque wrench at least once to tighten the clamps, they take 70 in/lbs
That's a lot more than most folks would do by feel alone.