BlaCkPlaGUE

oh man. It seems that no matter what I try, im fucked. I always end up with the same output, shittyness.

So since im finished whining, I'll explain my problem. Part 1 and 2 were about getting the car to run, and then in part 2 I was attempting to get my idle to be in my good graces.

The car will not idle below 1500, I have no tried just about everything I can think of.

I have checked the timing, the L1 coil, (correct me, but its the coil near the front of the bumper, and L1 is the lead nearest to the engine?) and it matches up with the pully marks. I have adjusted my TPS sensor to factory spec. I have all emissions removed, and I re-installed the BAC valve.

First off, the BAC does nothing, its not functioning it seems. For example I'll start the car and it will idle at like 1500, but if I let out the clutch, it stalls, I thought the BAC was supposed to help me on this?

I found two missing nuts from my TB, so I aquired them and re-tightend them, I was sure this was my answer to my high idle. It was not, nothing changed.
So becuase it was at 1500, I started to spray carb cleaner around to find a leak, NOTHING, nothing at all. I sprayed that bitch all over the gaskets and everything to see if I could find a leak, but nothing. When I adjusted my idle screw, it made a difference, so if there is a leak, it can't be that bad cause a tiny screw is adjusting the engine speed. If I adjust it open, I instantly get the up and down surging bullshit, and if I tighten it all the way, it stays at 1500 and does not surge, like maybe once every 30 seconds. Its confirmed, that the surging is related to to unmetered air in the intake due to high idle.

I am out of ideas, I can't find a leak, yet my idle is still high? what the hell?
I adjusted the bac so that when its off, no air can pass through, so it can't be that.

I also still have an exhaust leak, I can hear the pulses from the engine, and its loud, its somewhere on the manifold, even though I torqued it down and bought a new gasket, im missing something..

Please, any ideas, shoot them this way. I am seriously this much closer to selling the car for 500$ and am going to save up for another seven after school...

WAYNE88N/A

Dude, I know you don't want to hear this, but it sounds like a vac leak, lol...

Took me a while to find mine a while back. Turned out to be the EGR block-off plate. Did you spray any carb cleaner under the UIM?

The BAC won't kick in much above 750 rpm. Just the same, you can see what the BAC is doing from it's output pin at the ECU (voltage will fall as duty cycle increases, or, if she stays steady at about 13v then she's not working at all)

Check all of your hoses and large component mating surfaces really well...

RotaryEvolution

iTrader: (30)

has your MAF adjustment screw been tampered with?

trochoid

iTrader: (6)

Last summer I chased intake leaks for nearly 2 months. I had 3 small ones, none of which by themselves would show up in the usual spray tests. The 3 together, totally messed up my idle.

It turned out 2 of the vacuume caps had split and the banjo bolt for the brake booster line on the intake mani was loose.

May not help, just another experience.

BlaCkPlaGUE

hahaha, nice to see you back wayne! as you can see, things have not changed with me and my car since you last helped me out

Alright, im back in high spirits again, I can usually only be mad at the seven for about 15 minutes, then I look at the problem again with a fresh mind. I think of it as a challenge, or else I would have given up long ago.

Alright, I think my spark plug wires may be messed up, im going to recheck those as well. Im also going to check the timing once more, becuase I just read the haynes on pg 150 something, about 50 times now. Im double checking it.
Im also going to pull the CAS and check the gear to see if its lined up, just for the hell of it.

My EGR has been blocked off. I used a brand new EGR gasket and a block off plate from mazdatrix, I doubt thats an issue.
If I can't find the vac leak tomorrow/tonight, I think im going to goto mazda and get brand new gaskets for all the intake components, as I never changed them during my overhaul. They were not ripped, just pressed onto the flanges real good and would not come off easy, so I left them, this could be my problem.

The engine is seeming to stutter and cough at the lower rpms, and I can hear a slight backfire. All signs of a misadjusted tps or the timing, two things i have checked over a shitload.

Im headed out now, wish me luck

thanks for your advice guys!

Oh yea, the AFM has not been played with to my knowledge. THe screw is still sealed, although it could have been re-sealed, im not sure. I sure as hell didn't mess with it since I owned the car. I'll check it out again to see if its been tampered with.
Another note, I unplugged the variable resistor cause its shot, and it made no difference in idle quality.

WAYNE88N/A

Ahh, so you DO have an EGR block-off plate...Keep this in mind, then-that plate is supposed to block off both the exhaust and intake ports, AND keep the two totally seperate from each other. In other words, you may not be able to sense a vac leak from outside the plate, but underneath it the exhaust is bleeding by into the intake- an internal vac leak, if you will. Just a thought. That's part of the reason it took me a couple of months to figure mine out- there were no external leaks to find, until it got really bad...

Yeah, got kind of tired seeing the same questions over and over on the forum, so decided to take a break for a while

BlaCkPlaGUE

I hear that. Wayne thats the best solution I've seen so far about my car. Yes it was a block off plate, and yes I have no idea if it was blocking off the actuall insides!

How do I do this, just fill it with JB weld? Its full of carbon, will the weld stick to that ****? That has to be it.

I just got back from doing what I said I was doing. The CAS is PERFECT. THe gear has been aligned, and I timed it from L1 (btw, all the wires match up to their locations) and its right on the nose, just perfect. The idle is smoother now that I've reset the gear.

Im now even more sure about the coolant seals, they have to be blown. When I pulled out the CAS, there was milky oil around it, I spose it could have been foam, but the white smoke from the exhaust isn't condensation when you've had it running for the past 20 minutes.

Everything is starting to fold together. I appreciate your help. Tell me what to do about the egr plate.


thxx

*EDIT* I just checked my old EGR and gasket. I can see no way that the exhaust gas can recirculate or anything if I used a block off plate and new egr gasket... im confused..

neu

poor BP... i swear man, sometimes our cars can be so ******* frustrating... i just got done workin on mine, now im reassembling the bitch, keep snapping vac lines.. and you know im too poor to buy more

Mint87RX7

does anybody have a picture of the block without the EGR or blockoff plate? i blocked mine off and have a shitty idle and never even considered the intake/exhaust ports that i was blocking, i just put the gasket and plate on.

WAYNE88N/A

Here's what I did:

Cleaned up the "old" EGR valve (acetone works well for dissolving all the gunk inside) and plugged the holes in the valve with red RTV, got a new gasket, and reinstalled the now inop EGR valve instead of the plate. Works fine, last long time

The plates have to be very thick, and NOT made of aluminum, for them to be effective in that area, because of the heat. An aluminum plate will expand faster than the housing below it, and "curl" up between the bolt locations, allowing exhaust gases to enter the intake ports. Just like riding around all day with the EGR valve stuck open, kind of...

Mint87RX7

i think it should be a federal law to take pictures of car projects

BlaCkPlaGUE

I bought one from mazdatrix, and well, its certianly not alluminum, and im sure that whatever metal they chose, it works well. Its thick too. New gasket, plus mazdatrix block off plate, plus some good ol RTV = no problems, im very sure now.

Damn, still stuck on what it could be..

Mint87RX7

have you tried turning the little screw thats about 4 inches closer to the front of the car than the idle adjust screw that has an 8mm stopnut on it? that was the only way i could get my idle to stop bouncing

BlaCkPlaGUE

You mean the screw on the TB towards the throttle cable for the plates? the screw is not adjustable, and is block welded in place by the factory for a reason.

Mint87RX7

oh, mine wasnt. and adjusting that got my idle were i wanted it

BlaCkPlaGUE

Yea mine is impossible to budge with a flathead so I figured it came from the factory that way.