I seem to be running rich since I am shootin flames out of my exhaust. It seems to drive ok at light throttle, but if i give it some throttle and enter boost, it just lags big time. Compression is good. Changed out the Pulsation Dampener and Fuel Regulator which fixed the hard starting when hot. Fuel pump is good. Injectors are within resistance specs. TPS is within specs. No Malfunction Codes. My mods are listed below except I took out the 720cc injectors and now have 4x550cc injectors. I haven't gotten any good responses in my posts lately, so hopefully someone can help me out. I'm gettin real sick and tired of this car and feel like parting it out. Its been one thing after another from mechanical to electrical problems. But this problem I just can't quite figure out. Someone help me out before I do something stupid like part this b*tch out.

 

how about exaust issues? clogged cat? exaust issues can cause major backpressure and turbo lag, also can cause it to run prettttty rich.

 

i had a similar problem. I tcould b from jsut running rich. Remember those wastegates on those stock turbos are really small.

 

As you can see in my mods, I have no cat.

What do you mean it could be from just running rich. I think I am running rich as I am shooting flames out of my exhaust liek I mentioned. And what does wastegates on the stock turbos have to do with running rich? If your talking about boost creep, it never went past 8psi when it was running right.

 

I guess no one has any good suggestions huh? I'm pretty stuck myself. I know someone can help me.

 

Im just saying about the wastegate, with the mods you have, that wastegate is dangerously small.

Running extra rich is reliable , but you dont make good power

 

How is the wastegate dangerous? Its an S5 Turbo. So it has the better wastegate. The wastegate can't be contributing to my loss of power, because I only get 8psi boost.

 

this must sound dumb, but did you check to see if any couplers are blown or loose. that would cause some of the trouble your having now.

 

Sorry, im not clear. I wasnt saying your wastegtate being the source of the problem. I would just watch out with those stock wastegates, s4 especially of course. If you keeping it low boost, then you should be fine.

 

yes. i've checked everything out. nothing is blown or loose. Remember That I am shooting flames which indicates me running rich, and I have never shot flames before, and now its doing it constantly and I have a huge lost of power under boost which would mean more fuel. Correct me if I'm wrong, you can only shoot flames if it is running rich, right?

 

Right! And you can be pig rich if you have an intake leak between the turbo and intake ports. Air is compressed in the intake, air leaks out coupler, calculated fuel still makes it into the motor, but not all the air. So your final result it more fuel than expected.

Is it possible that a hose came loose? How about the oil injection vacuum spider? Also, maybe you have an intake gasket that leaks? It is possible for the couplers to leak under pressure, but not under vacuum.

 

I have checked all the couplers and they are all secure and tight and not leaking. If there was a vacuum leak, the idle wouldn't be stable, right? which mine keeps it pretty stable at 750rpm. I've taken a look at the rats nest(Vacuum spiderweb) and everything is in tact. I doubt it is a vacuum leak that is causing the problem, because I get the same vacuum reading as I did before, and the car ran superb before. How big of a vacuum leak and where would it cause the car too run pig rich? Any vacuum leak I have had before would give me a fucked up idle or wouldnt hold idle. BTW, I am boosting, but once i enter boost it doesn't pickup and feels like its slowing down if anything even though my engine is screaming. And it may seem like the shooting flames is what I am concerned about, but its the loss of power that bugs me which I think its fuel related.

 

What does this have to do with the problem? It's totally irrevelant to this issue and in this thread just confuses the matter...

Have you tuned the F-Con?

What is the condition of your plugs and wires?

Checked all injectors for leaks?

Do you have any way to read A/F ratio? Can you confirm that the car goes pig rich when you are under boost?

Tested the pressure sensor lately? If you have an FCD, try running the car at low boost without it. They can fail...

 

The F-con is set at setting number 2. I have tried running it with just the stock ECU and no FCD or FCON and it doesn't change anything. I even swapped out to a spare ECU to make sure my ECU wasnt fried, but nothing. The injectors don't leak and swapped em out anyways, and still nothing. Plugs have about 2-3 months of usage and tried swapping them out as well and nothing. The Wires I am not sure how I am supposed to test them, but it sparks when grounded. I have no wideband A/F Gauge, which is a big downfall of this all. I'm so broke, because of this car. lol. The only thing that confirms a running rich situation is the flames in the exhaust. I have never shot flames even when I had the fcon at setting 4. I have the fcon at setting 2 so it can compensate for my 10psi boost. i know its kinda blind but it ran smooth and perfect like that.

 

did this come about slowly or did it just happen one day? did this happen after you played with your FCON? or after you changed your fuel components?

 

"did this come about slowly or did it just happen one day? did this happen after you played with your FCON? or after you changed your fuel components?"

This just happened one day. It was driving good in the morning and I even punched it in 2nd gear and it was pulling really hard and smooth. I drove normal the rest of the way on the freeway and giving it some boost to like 4-5psi when I got to the streets then to my auto class. when I got out, I was driving normally to work and then from one of the stoplights, I take off normally and noticed when I got into boost it lacked power big time. Ever since then, it hasnt been the same. I've tried so much **** Fuel related, but can't figure it out.

Today, I changed the spark plugs(which had some carbon deposits which means unburnt fuel), and put the stock spark wires back on. With the stock spark wires, it would fire up but not idle at all. I threw the Racing Beat 8MM wires back on and it was idling back to normal. Now my question is, can bad coil packs cause flames in the exhaust from a misfire or backfire? I'm gonna check out the coils tommorow, but I was thinking, wouldn't the ECU detect a malfuntioning coil? I'm starting to think maybe I am not running rich, but Im not getting enough spark. Or maybe bad timing? Tell me what you guys think.

 

I would check your pressure sensor and coils, and definitely make sure you've got your timing set correctly. There's not really much it could be, so at least you know that you'll eventually figure the problem out...

Also, it's important that you replace your fuel-injector o-rings and grommets. If there's even just a little crack in one of the seals, it can cause major issues (popping, loss of power, poor idle)--after replacing those, make sure that you install the injectors very carefully so that you create a good seal. If you pinch the o-ring even just a little bit, it can cause problems.

 

just a suggestion, even though you might not be getting the Check Engine light come on there might still be an intermittent error or an output device error which will not show up as a CEL.
to see these you must leave the test connector jumper connected while you drive, and see if you get any flashing error codes. try that and see if you get anything.

 

The Fuel injector o-rings look good, I lubed them up, so they went in easy. I however didn't check the mixing plate(whatever its called) o-rings which is below the injector, but i never took that out either. Would that cause the loss of power? I'm gonna check the coils tonight. The timing I need to get ahold of a timing gun, but it was set already, unless it went out of spec by itself.

ill try that tonight, but wouldn't the ecu record anything as soon as it comes on?

 

last time my car started shooting flames my TPS was bad. however, this doesnt sound like your problem, the ignition thing would be a good place to start but its wierd that it happened while you were driving. did you check to make sure the coils are indeed firing? getting sparks to the plugs? if the trailing coils arent firing sounds like it would cause your rich problem.

best thing to do is just give up and sell me the car. :-)

g/l let us know more when you check more into it.

 

i believe the ECU only records error codes for "input devices" not "output devices".
also if the problem is intermittent the ECU might not record it, there is an amount of time that the error needs to be detected for in order to be recorded.

Aaron

 

sell the car to you? yea right.

Anyways, I was right after all about checking the ignition system. Damn, I fucked up by not going with the basics. I just kept thinking Fuel, because of flooding and flames. Leading Coil went out. Put in one of my 3 spares, and it pulls just as good as ever, if not better. I'm pretty happy that I solved this **** myself. This car is a pain in the ***. Ever since I got it running 3 months ago, I have been troubleshooting electrical and mechanical malfunctions. From Engine swaps to short circuits and etc., I have done a lot more work on the Rx-7s this year than the past 4 years of my experience with Rotary engines and Rx-7s. I should be ASE Certified and graduated by the end of 2008 and plan to be a rotary mechanic one day with my own shop, so I'm glad I didn't quit. And about parting the car out, that was just my ego crushed from frustation and anger because I only got 1 hour every 2-3 days to work on my car. And all these people trying to put me down saying I shouldn't be messing with rotaries even though I been troubleshooting local rx-7s for a while now. I still feel like a rookie, but I've gone a long way since 4 years ago. Well, now my confidence is building back up. I've been to busy and stressed out as of late, but I'm glad I made it through. This car truly represents my determination of becoming a mechanic. I'm tackling something that the majority of mechanics are afraid to touch. Even though most of the posts didn't help, thanks to everyone for the help.