well, I got it running yesterday! I'm the happiest man alive. Seems to work great, except for the following:
I've got an oil leak at the front of the block, where the upper oil line connects to the oil cooler. How the #)($* do I tighten this, wtf? Is there suppossed to be a washer or something? If I remove it and put it back together, will it leak more oil or is it above the level of oil when its just sitting, it seems to only leak under pressure (when running)

It vibrates and hesitates above 4000RPM. My plugs are new, but have been fouled a few times, and my plug wires are garbage. I'm replacing both this weekend. Any other things that I can change?

I'm also not seeing a lot of boost, and the car feels sluggish. It seems to work well at low RPMS, but not above 3500 or maybe 4000. Which would explain boost, too... because I see plenty down low, even in 5th gear at 2500RPM (I passed someone on the way home, car just took off and went). I raced a geo storm (with a HUGE stereo) last night, and got my *** kicked. Something is wrong here. its a STORM for crying out loud! At least the handling part is working well, WOW do these cars handle well! WTF could be going on here?


Once again, thanks for helping with my unlimited issues with this car.

 

Well the oil line you speak of is the oil cooler line right?? Well if it is they use crush washers amd it may be missing or be an old one. They sell new ones at mazdatrix. I am not turbo guy so I cant help very much with the second and third question but youshould definatly change the wires, plugs, so a full tune-up while you are at it. Try setting the TPS also that might cause it.

 

I did set the TPS.. connecting the TPS to the right connector helped amazingly Got the O2 sensor hooked up also.

I don't really want to wait for mazdatrix to ship something here, is there something else I could use instead?

 

I have never heard of alternatives to the crush washers. Sorry I can't help for that. But if you have the cash bust out for the express shipping they are only like three ounces lol it should not cost much to have them shipped in two days or one.

 

I always recommend cleaning the all of the main electrical grounds, on the engine, at the coils, etc..

As for the boost, what kind of pressure are you seeing when it works right? Is there any specific point at which it doesn't work right? Have you done the TB mod? If not, maybe the secondary throttle plates are sticking. Here is a little test for that.

Pull off the IC then look at the front of the TB. Turn the thing that is connected to the throttle cable with your hand while looking at the front of the TB. You will see a spring connected to a lever that will actuate the secondary throttle plates. It should open up when you turn the TB with your hand. Many times it will be slow to open and maybe not even open.

 

my secondary throttle plates work fine! I remember playing with just about everything throttle related with the UIM off the car, because so much **** moves
I have no idea how much boost to expect to see, but the boost gauge goes up about halfway. 20-25 out of 40mmhg or whatevert the hell it measures in! Is that full boost? Because it seems pretty slow...

 

Dude, you do not have to order copper crush washers from Mazdatrix, lmao.

You can get them pretty much anywhere, especially the dealer.

 

How's the exhaust system? Could be clogged up.

Ok... I just read your sig Should have read that in the first place! It seems like you should be getting a good amount of power out of it.

So it vibrates at and road speed above 4000 rpm? Maybe one of the secondary injectors are misfiring or dirty?

 

I actually just gutted the PRECAT... not the cat. So my cat may be clogged, I was thinking that yesterday! I don't think its possible to check it without pulling it though, so I'm not doing that till this weekend anyways.

I've got an exhaust leak too (turbo-to-precat, I think.. but maybe manifold to turbo or manifold to block.. somwhere in that area) because I notice some noise and alot of smoke rising from that area (it comes out the hood scoop lol)... thats getting fixed tomorrow morning too.

I was going to get a new air filter, but the parts store price was $75! so I think I'm going to hold off on that for a while. I did order new plug wires though, they weren't too pricey at $26.

How would I check if an injector was misfiring/bad/whatever?

Also, what are the symptoms of a bad injector, aside from that? Because I stalled it twice yesterday and both times it flooded. But if I shut it off or if it stalls on its own (idle is still a little funky, I dunno why?) it will start back up just fine. if I stall it (tried starting in 3rd accidentally) it won't start EVER until I pull the EGI fuses, crank, and put them back in. then it starts.

Yeah, it vibrates, and it hasn't always done it! it only started doing it after I had been driving around for a while.

I cleaned the injectors myself (just with carb cleaner and a Q-tip) and have some injector cleaner in the tank.

 

ohhh.. that reminds me!

I am running pre-mix (for now, anyways) and I ran it at a pretty thick ratio.. like 40:1 or so. Now its' diluted to maybe 100:1 or even 120:1. Could the large amount of oil clog an injector? Or the fuel filter?

 

A big enough exhaust leak BEFORE the turbo would cause some boost loss so after you fix that see how it feels.

Unless you have one dirty *** air filter I doubt that is your problem.

No real way to check the injector, sorry. Only thing to do is swap them with known good ones or get them cleaned by a shop like RC Eng or some diesel shops will clean them as well.

Problems of a bad injector could be running rich or if it is bad enough it will drown the engine like mine did. It stuck open and flooded the engine Does it flood even when warmed up? If it does I would pull those injectors and get them fixed. The cold flooding has to do with the ECU and some goofy programming.

40:1!!!? Whoa I dunno if that stuff can clog things but I would definitely have them cleaned by a shop, and even better if they can blueprint them like RC Eng.

 

hmm.. I fixed the oil leak

it doesnt' flood unless I stall it, and only when warm. The cold flooding is ghetto, and yeah.. due to weirdo programming.
I still have high RPM hesitation and vibration, the car is NOT fast up high. I think I'm getting a respectable amount of boost, I hit about 2/3 of the gauge today, which translates to ~6PSI. About right, right? And that's with a misfire or SOMETHING causing stumble and vibration up high. I'm actually afraid to rev the car now.. What's detonation sound like?

New plugs and wires go in tomorrow morning. I'm also going to check the timing again.

-- Posted by Terrh at CompuBob's house

 

bump

 

bump..
Replaced all plugs and wires, the problem seemed to be a little better... then I messed with the timing, it seems to be worse... I'm going to mess with it again, and retard it (I advanced it a little)
its now doing this vibration **** at all RPMs, not just up high. Seems to be down on power that much more, too
Is this detanation or something? am I hurting my car? help!

 

I FIXED IT! w00t!

have another problem now, but that's the story of a different thread.
I advanced the timing a little, the vibration settled WAY down, but was still there, especially at high RPMS.
on a whim, I took off my fan. VIBRATION IS GONE! put the fan back on, but I'm going to be replacing it with an e-fan monday.