I saw someone here having problems with their car running UNDERPOWERED when its cold. Then someone else said it could be cause the secondary throttle plates aren't opening yet. Well, WHAT CONTROLS that function? What makes the secondary throttle plates OPEN UP? How to check if mine is working properly or not? Cause my car runs the SAME either COLD or HOT....actually a bit better when COLDER...

 

I'm not sure how to check, but I suspected mine weren't opening and just did the throttle body mod. Just get rid of them and eliminate the possibility.

 

pull off your intercooler..
remove the rubber coupler that attaches the IC to the throttlebody..
Stick your fingers into the opening.. you should be able to feel the set of plates..
now using your other hand, start opening the throttle.. there should be a tiny delay before the secondary plates open... if you don't feel the plates moving, then you've found your problem..

usually the culprit is a bad checkvalve .. if you don't want to do the full TB mod to get rid of the plates you can easily disable the system and just wire the linkage to leave the plates in the open position all the time..

 

Just a suggestion,
Clean the butterfly plates. All you need is a Q-tip and some carb cleaner. You would be amazed at how much carbon you will get off of those things. Just wipe around the edges of the plate with the Q-tip and also wipe the areas in the throttle body that come into contact with the plates. Excess Carbon will cause them to stick and possibly a delayed or no reaction to opening. Cleaning them will free up these plates.
Remeber the easiest solution is probably the one that will work (Ochmann's razor).

 

The reason the secondary butterflies dont open when cold is because there are two "choke" butterflies that close in front of the secondary butterflies when the car is cold. On many cars (like mine) the diaphragm that operates these "choke" butterflies does not work, so they never close.

 

If the SECONDARY throttle plates are wired OPEN all that time....what's the BAD side to this? Or is it ALL good?...

 

You would lose some of your low end power. Many people say that it helps a LOT on your top end power, and doesn't affect low end power too much, but I tried wiring them on my car, and it DID help out the top end greatly (I mean a huge difference), but it hurt my low end power quite a bit. So, although I agree that wiring them open helps power out overall, I've decided that I'm just going to get the Pineapple Racing port sleeves, and get them working RIGHT.


PEACE,
Derek

 

Wer'e talking about the secondary throttle plates, not yrou aux ports..

The main reason for the plates being there is for safety reasons.. When your motor is cold the plates remain shut which limits the ammount of bosot that enters your motor .. hense less stress to your cold motor (You shouldn't be boosting at that point anyways) once your motor is warmed up the plates will open along with your other plates to allow your motor to recieve the full boost and power...

Common problem with FC's.. the checkvalve or the diaphram that controls the plates opening, go bad and so you get inconsistent power.. you may show that you are hitting normal boost levels, but the car doesn't feel like it's boosting to those levels.. that's cause the plates arn't opening..

If you wire your plates open then there should be no adverse side affects to drivability or low end power etc.. you will just have to remember to stay off the accelerator until your car is at operating temp..

 

HOLY CRAP!!! Major power to be gained...I'm wiring those suckers open, cause I don't trust the system that's suppose to make it work right, not on a 14 year old car! Many thanks Chris!

 

Actually there is ANOHTER reason for the plates. They are there to prevent detonation. If you notice they will delay opening after you quickly go full throttle. The reason for this is because the ECU cannot compensate for the increased airflow quick enough, so Mazda designed this in to prevent a lean condition. Believe it or not, I have actually known one person with a 10AE that had detonation problems because of this. I have never understood why people remove this SAFETY system that Mazda obviously felt was needed. If you look in the Mazda Workshop Supplement manual, you should be able to find a full explantion of exactly how and why Mazda designed this in.


BTW- If you want to "hear" the delay, park somewhere quiet after the car has warmed up. Pop the hood and have a friend quickly push the throttle to the floor (or you can reach behind the IC and do it yourself) You should hear them opening after this. It will sound like a "click" when they fully open. Should take about .5 - 1.0 second(s).

 

OH CRAP!!!! NOW I DON'T KNOW WHAT I SHOULD DO, WIRE THEM OPEN OR NOT? Damn, if my car is running RICH, would this be SAFE ENOUGH to do?

 

Make sure they are working properly, and leave them in. They aren't hurting anything... and you won't really get power gains from it either. If you remove them you might notice that the throttle response is weird as it kinda "hesitates" if you quickly go WOT. This is because of the lean condition that is created.

Take care,