no power after hard runs. Need advice
 

mods listed in sig 89TII

Well last night I was running my car pretty hard and after hopped onto the freeway. Entering the freeway I noticed I had no power whatsoever. The car stalled while I was in motion and I quickly pulled over to the side.

After I pulled over to the side of the road and turned on my flashers I popped the hood and checked the engine bay. I couldnt see any lines that had popped off but my exhaust was smoking black. I called my friend and he stayed behind me as I limped the car home.

Symptoms:
-car started fine but would barely idle and with throttle at 50% it felt like I was barely on the gas. No power.
-The temp gauge never went over the halfway mark so I dont believe I overheated the engine.
-engine shakes very violently and hesitates like crazy at random rpms (I could only get up to 3k about)
-Highest speed I could reach without full throttle was 40-50mph ( I didnt want to push the engine too hard as I didnt know what was wrong yet)
-after limping it for 10 minutes of so the check engine light went on and I immediately pulled over again and check the engine bay. Oil level was fine and I was not leaking any fluids. I checked under the car and my tubing from my airpump to high flow cat had blown off. I reattached it but by the time I had gotten home it had blown off again.
-My friend kept the revs at 1500 for me as I pushed hoses to see if there was a leak and the thick tube going to the intercooler on the left side of the engine bay could easily be pushed in. We guessed it was this one causing a vacuum leak but I still havent confirmed it.
-car is more driveable in higher rpms. I could still get boost but didnt go over 0.

Well after wrenching all day today, I securely attached the hose to the high flow cat, took off the airbox, intercooler and blow off valve to check for any popped lines. I couldnt find any but I also didnt have the chance to check for vacuum leaks as I couldnt keep it idling by myself.

I checked all plugs to see if they were attached and could find no culprits. Upon reattaching the BOV I broke the plastic T that connects the bov, pressure sensor, and the one going into the IM.

I ghettorigged it for now and taped it close but now my boost gauge is right below 0 at 1k rpm while holding down the accelerator as opposed to -20 before I broke the T valve. Will replace this tomorrow.

What's wrong with my car? Vacuum leak? My friend suggested I had blown a gasket and was losing alot of pressure. Need help. This is my only car. Thanks all for reading and sorry its so long. I wanted to include all the details.

this may sound trivial but how is your compression?

I have never checked it since the motor always ran so strong. The rebuild, tranny and turbo have 10k miles on them.

I was hoping someone wouldnt mention compression....

Could it be limp mode maybe?

I would check the in tank fuel filter. perhaps chist got on it from the sloshing around. :/

Ill check that out but would that really affect how it wouldnt hold an idle at sometimes but while already moving it would feel like nothing was wrong with the car for a few seconds until it started hesitating again

it does sound like limp mode;
have you tried to pull codes yet something set off that idiot light.
also I know but if i was in your position (and i have been) the first thing I would do would be to confirm or to dismiss my frears... Ie. blown engine!

Sorry to hear, you should pull the code from the ECU.

http://www.johnr.com/cpucodes.html

I dont think I will be able to pull the codes unless I take the car for a drive again which may be pretty tough to do. While I was pulled over on the side of the road I remembered hearing about limp mode and decided to reset the ECU disconnecting the battery terminal and holding onto the brakes.

Anybody think I could have boost spiked?

I have a 3inch downpipe to high flow cat and stock catback with FCD. I do not have an aftermarket boost gauge but never run it to redline. Highest I revved to was 6500. Also I have the stock airbox. I would say my car ran pretty rich for the most part.

Probably not a boost spike with stock intake and catback.

bump

maybe your IC piping blew off? or something?

I checked the IC piping and they appear to be blown off. Like I said earlier though, the IC piping on the left side of the intercooler didnt have pressure while the engine was running and my friend was revving the gas. It was easily pressed in as opposed to the piping on the other side that was firm.

Are there any other intercooler piping lines I should know about?

I checked the thick piping on the bottom left of the IC, the thick piping on the top right behind the IC, and the small line on the top left of the IC on the back. Am I missing some hidden line?

Is it possible that your cat may be clogged? That would explain some of the symptoms (exhaust smoking and turbo not boosting , not being able to rev high, etc.)

Well its a bonez high flow main cat that I have had on for only 800 miles. The hose to the airpump popped off during the hard runs and again on the 20 minute drive home.

Do you think that 3 hard runs shifting at 6500rpm and a 20 minute drive limping it home not going over 3500rpm and not going over 40mph could have burned out a perfectly good cat?

TTT

same thing happened to me when TID popped off and cracked. i would wait and fix the i/c piping before anything harsh....

-steven

Well I dont have a TID but I am hoping it is just an intercooler pipe. It seems to be a very big vac leak if anything.

What does the bottom of the IC piping on the left side connect to?

I am going to second on the cloged cat idea.

What is this metal pipe? Is it supposed to be connected to anything? It is right near the downpipe.

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/...7/fab65c1b.jpg

I just finished taking out my spark plugs and they are in pretty bad shape. Proof I am running very rich I suppose.

T2
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/...0/fab65c0b.jpg

L2
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/...7/fab65be8.jpg

T1
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/...a/fab65bc6.jpg

L1
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/...c/fab65bb7.jpg

Anybody want to hazard a guess as to how many miles these have been in the engine? It would probably be hard to believe.

replace your lugs and yes you could have burned up your cat driving like youw here with out the air pipe

what do you guys think of the spark plugs?

they only have about 1300 miles. Aam I running extremely rich?

Could this because I possibly burned up my cat?

Help please!

Replace the spark plugs, anyway. Also, it sounds like your cat is clogged. You might need to replace that as well.

thanks christi.

I decided to replace the plugs once I saw them but I guess my question is.....

Do they look like they do because of a burned out cat or running extremely rich or possibly a combination of both?

trying to rule out problems one at a time

While you have the cat off:
You might want to check your O2 sensor as well.

They can be overheated - and the wiring is a weak point. Inspect the wire, and make sure it's not loose at all.

My buddy's car had a similar problem when the O2 sensor wire hit the exhaust - melted the wire's insulation, and then would intermittantly ground it's self.

Do you have the stock TID, or a home-made one?