Alright, I finally got my GXL -> turbo conversion finished, and it runs smooth, no smoke, no oil leaks. Only one problem remains. The car absolutely refuses to start with the AFM plugged in, I can unplug it, start it, and it will hold an idle (at 1K at the moment) The TPS is adjusted properly, and checks out just fine, it's just it will NOT start with the AFM plugged in. Everyone once in a while it'll start up and run normal, but won't idle, and then it stalls and dies, and won't start again. Any ideas, please help!

 

I assume this problem did not exist before you pulled the engine the 2nd time? You did drive it before, right?

All I can say is fool with the wiring. Maybe a poor connection at the ecu, or maybe a broken wire/short int eh harness, which is more common than you might think. Move the wiring all around, just play with it, and see where you get.

Might also inspect the afm for free movement and such.

 

fokker quit posting so damn much! I was getting close to you last night and now look!

 

Well, the problem DID exist before hand, however I did get the car to idle with it (just flucuated like crazy with the bad TPS) Now I fixed the TPS, and I've always had the crazy issue with the AFM, but it ran before, now it just won't seem to run, I disconnect it and the car will idle rock solid at 1K, plug it in and she dies, I tried searching for a vacuum leak but didn't have much success as I ran out of carb cleaner, so I'll give that a try again tomorrow. Any other ideas? (and yes, it does move freely, and I checked the connections (cleaned them up) and wiggled them, haven't checked for shorts yet, but maybe I should start looking. And I haven't been posting much, I've been rather slow lately

 

considered trying another afm? those s5 versions dont go bad much at all in comparison to the s4 versions, but I suppose anythings possible.

 

Don't have another S5 AFM to try with, though I kind of was figuring vacuum leak because if I pry it open just a tad, the car will start. Any idea's what else to look at? Tps is set at 1Kohm and full throttle is 5.12Kohm, so I'm not thinking that's the cause. Perhaps my BAC is shot or something and when I unplug the AFM it starts?

 

None of that other stuff will make the car not run, or affect teh AFM. IF you had a vacuum leak that big, the car wouldnt run with teh afm connected or not.

I say get another afm and run. but, there are many other possibilities, but none of that little bac/acv **** is gonna cause this.

Unlesss you didnt tighten that acv blockoff plate I made :-)

 

Hahaha, it's tightened alright! I ran out of carb cleaner/staring fluid as I was nearing that area, so maybe there is some air getting in, but I'm not sure. You have a S5 AFM anywhere? I was impressed at how well it was running and starting with the AFM disconnected, started right up, revs just fine (though I made sure I kept my eye on the A/F guage to make sure I didn't lean out with the ECU not knowing what I have for air) I was quite happy with it, I pulled it in and out of the garage a couple of times, though I do feel like my clutch isn't disengaging completely, it was a little hard to put it in gear, and the car kind of moved about an inch when it went into gear. Time to adjust the pedal and bleed my hydraulics and hope it goes away, other than that, it's all good to go. It smoked for about 10 minutes burning all that oil out of the exhaust, and then it all went away, I was so damn happy I was jumping up and down. So, any idea's on things to look at? I thought maybe faulty grounding so I ran a bunch of new grounds, didn't fix it.

 

well, all I can say is that in my experience a) it is unusual for a car to start and run without the afm, especially after you give it gas, and b) I cant think of anything tht will make a car die when plugging IN an afm other than THE afm.

But, I could be way off.

You gotta admit, you're in uncharted territory here :-)

Oh, dont worry about your a/f meter right now, you cant detonate in neutral, gotta have load to do that cool stuff

 

do a quick test for me(this applies to results from s4 cars, so it might even be off base for your car).

When the afm is plugged in, crank teh car and perform a spark test: lay a plug wire by a ground, with a old plug in it, crank teh car, and watch for spark. IF you dont get any, you have found your probel; the afm. I have had a few s4 cars with bad afm's refuse to give me spark until they were unplugged, then theyd spark and try to run, until they were plugged back in again adn the spark went away.

 

Hahaha, I'm not going to listen to that advice, I know better. NO MORE DAMN RISKS WITH THIS CAR! Well, so either I have one serious intake leak, or one quite screwed AFM. And why is it unusuall for it to not start without the AFM, according to the engine error codes and causes, if the AFM is faulty, it sets it at a specific reading and should run anyway, or am I way off? By the way, you do realize that this car is made up of at least 5% of your parts? Let's see if I can name them all:

T2 LSD
T2 Driveshaft
Clutch Pedal
Slave cylinder
Alternator
Throttle Cable
ACV block-off plate
Sunroof
Front cover
Metering Oil-Pump
Transmission mount
Various Nuts/bolts
You also hooked me up with the guy who sold me the S5 Turbo, injectors, upper/lower intake manifolds/bac
That's all I can think of at the moment, you remember anything else? And got any other ideas other than don't worry, cause I'm jinxed with this car and I NEED to worry!

 

The AFM on a s5 car when closed stops spark as well? I thought it only cut fuel (as I have confirmed) do you still want me to try this?

 

I have sen bad afm's on a s4 car stop spark when plugged in, and when unplugged spark returns. I have never seen this problem on an s5, just going by what my gut feeling is. could be way off.



I have seen a few cars that will start and run just fine without it, but as soon as you tap the gas, it loses all ideas of what to do and dies. More often, I have seen cars that start and die almost immediately without it plugged in. A few times, I have seen cars that would not start at all without it. and, a few times, I have seen cars that wouldnt start with it. I have seen it all


And its the other 95% that's screwing it up

 

sunuvabitch m-f'er youve posted at least 6 times int eh last 10 minutes, rat you fokker stop posting so much!

 

Well, interesting idea on the spark, how would I be able to see that from in the car though? Stick it on the hood or something? Yeah, that damn 95% is killing me! I spent about an hour fixing my headlight switch and my wipers, and I ran into a BIZARRE incompatability with s4 and s5. the turn signals are NOT interchangable, at least not on my car, I put the s4 turn signal switch in there, and I hit it to turn left, and it tried to start my damn car! The car literally turned over, fired, started to rev up, then died when I let off the stupid thing, I was freaked! So, I swapped it back, and it was fine (strange damn thing) So, do you have a S5 AFM laying around, hell, do you have a boost sensor either? I'm pretty sure the one I have isn't working properly, stuck at 5v

 

like I said pull a wire off, use an old plug, and lay it beside the strut bolts(remove the rubber covers) and you can watch this from inside. lay it about an inch away, and you can see a blue spark.

Yeah I figured that out once too lol. that will screw you up quick, mine were working the hazards when Id turn left and the brakes when right or something crazy. anyway, the dashes are shaped differently, so you cant use an s4 cruise or turn switch anyway. unles you change dashes, but the electronic end isnt the same either. I think its actually in the wiring harness beetween the headlight switch/turn switch and the main harness, but dont screw around with it or youll have more problems then youre prepared for.

No, sorry, neither.

 

Damn you! Well, I swapped the headlight switch with a s4 switch and it's working just fine, same with the wipers, it was damn scary though, thank god I had the car in nuetral, I'm thinking hooking up a clutch-kill switch is a good idea lately And will putting it beside the strut bolts **** off my AAS at all? It still works (one of the only ones that still does?) and I wouldn't want to zap the **** out of it

 

headlight and wiper switches interchange just fine, just turn and cruie do not. look at the 2 of them, theyre shaped differently.

as for th AAS, I wouldnt worry about it, it wouldnt be a big los, really. but I dont think it would hurt ahything.

 

Of course it wouldn't be too big a loss, but it's nice to say that I still have working AAS Well, I'm going to give this a try tomorrow morning, and hopefully I can get it running enough to take it around the block. Think it's a bad idea to just take it for a test spin (without revving over 4-5K without the AFM?) I'm guessing it would be so I probably won't, but I'm dieing to take it for a spin

 

Well Kevin, I did as you asked, and it sparks with the AFM plugged in, hell, it will even start if I sit there for a half hour trying. I narrowed down the problem to 3 possible solutions. 1) EXTREME vacuum leak 2) Faulty AFM 3) not enough restriction without the filter on. Which do you think is more likely? I can get the car to idle just fine if I start it without the afm, hold it partly open with my hand and then plug it in, idles smooth. Any other ideas?

 

The air filter has nothing to do with it. an afm with nothing in front of it will still perform just fine.

I say bad afm. if you had such a big vacuum leak, you would have found it by now wouldnt you?

 

Well, i checked EVERYWHERE for vacuum leaks, and none found. I mean, EVERYWHERE. My only idea is maybe the brake booster is shot and that's where it's getting air from, but I'm doubting it. Bout time you responded, jeez, where you been all day?

 

Oh, and if I cover it up completely, it dies, it has QUITE the suction behind that damn thing, I thought it was going to swollow my hand. I covered it up with my hand to see if i could hear maybe a hiss in the general direction of a leak or something from where it would have been sucking in more air and I couldn't hear a thing, but damn I thought I was going to lose a finger!

 

Fooling with my turbo II. Finding all the stock parts, getting ready to pull the motor(stil good) and rebuild it, put it back bone stock, and trade it for a 'vert.

 

What in the HELL are you doing making an rx7 stock again, especially for trade!? that's nuts! Forget verts, they're too damn heavy for anything! Oh, I also noticed my BAC wasn't working at all (figures) could this be any cause? How about where I have it plumbed to? I have it running from the BAC -> turbo connecting pipe (from the turbo outlet -> intercooler), think that might be a cause, I doubt it since it's a loop anyway, but you never know... I'm thinking about just removing the damn thing. I played with it for about two hours today, got it to start once with the AFM plugged in (took about 5 minutes of trying) and it ran just peachy, wouldn't idle for **** but it ran great at anything over 2,000RPM. Still think bad AFM?