why is my car running so rich? help?
 

my car has been running very rich for quiet a while now.
to begin, when i start the car, the engine will warm up and my air fuel gauge will be stuck in stoich right in the middle.
after the car gets totally warmed up, i go drive around.
when i floor it, the a/f gauge gets a little above stoich and when my secondaries come on, the exhaust pops and the car just kind of bogs, but the rpms will keep rising. however, it seems that i can get the secondaries to come on if i give it just enough gas pedal, and the car will accelerate fine.
bottom line, if i give the car too much gas, it pops and bogs a little (from what i assume is being too rich) above 3800 (i assume from the secondaries coming online)

my question is, why would my car be doing this? i have a crack on my TID, which will be fixed soon, but..

are there any sensors or anything that the ECU needs that could be dead making the computer want to run the car rich?

can you chart your air/fuel at all at the dyno? That would probably tell you.

A crack in the TID will make the car run like total shit, expecially in the higher rpms when the car is sucking in more air. I had a similar prolbem where the car would pop and carry on, it turned out to be a bad ground.

interesting.

You might need to check your afm. It sounds like its not reading properly and the TID doesnt help

i'm gonna go fix my TID right now, i'll see if that fixes it.

because i failed emmisions so many god damn times ive learned to check stuff that could have a link with A/F. the maf and engine air thermosensor could be bad which puts them in safe mode. same with the coolant temp sensor. check the variable resistor as well. as for the sensors if they are bad the computer could think its hotter or colder than it really is and thus giving it not enough or too much fuel. in your case too much fuel. a cracked tid is basically a vacuum leak which will always make your car run like shit.

if your not already. make a "home depot" tid for cheap. cost me about $40 canadian ($25 american)

Classic symptom of the ECU ground wires not being grounded properly, causing the secondarys to bogg. Go to the ECU, splice another ground to each of the ground wires on the small plug of the ECU. Terminate the new grounds at one of the nuts that hold the ECU to the chassis.

My 87 n/a will bogg at 3800 each and every time if I remove the new ground lugs at the small plug of the ECU. Before anyone says anything about grounding the engine.......I read .1 ohm from any point on my engine to the battery neg post. Ain't that on my car. Its bad or cold solder joints inside the harness where the ground wires are spliced together. And It ain't the ground lug on top of the engine being loose or off. Its the cold solder joints inside the harness itself, located where the harness crosses over to the engine. Inside the harness wrapping.

i have already addressed this problem in the past.
the secondaries come on and it makes the mixture so rich that it pops a couple times and gasolineish smoke comes out of the exhaust. so the secondaries are definitely coming on. the question is, why is so much gas getting into the engine.

this bitch is richer than bill gates

update
 

update, car is sitting at the gas station. the car has been running so rich that it has already fouled out my trailing spark plugs (i put them in saturday) i have to take them out and clean them before it will work...

i do know of one sensor that keeps grounding out my cooling fan. that sensor is up on the coolant fillup neck up right next to the coolant fillup cap.
i have heard of your suggestion before, and thats exactly what i think is causing it.


can you find me a picture of those sensors?
i think the only thing good about this car is the compression and the transmission. everything that has electricity running through it sucks...

anyone there?

bump

car still at gas station.

I'll come take that T2 off your hand *cough* answer my PMs *cough* ;) Are you sure that your secondary injectors are working correctly, and not leaking? Also Hailers suggestion sounds very good, although you said that you have already addressed that issue.

Secondaries bigger than 550's?

Odd....what you said about the trail plugs. I've yet to see a RX that I couldn't take the wires off the trail plugs....drive it.....and not be able to tell any difference b/t the plugs being on or off.

Somethings wrong allright, if the car won't start without the trail plugs working. Sure your Lead coil is firing????

the trailings are the ones on top right? yeah, and when the car is running on just the leading, it idles perfect and is real quiet. and rich smoke comes out the exhaust. secondaries are stock 550's i dont think the problem has anything to do with the injectors guys.

Is your boost/pressure sensor connected up and working????? One indication would be if the boost gauge is registering anything when boosting.

yeah, boost gauge is working. i replaced the boost sensor a few months ago when it went out.

i have been checking the thread religiously for the last couple hours :) car is still sitting at gas station.

i'm a monster, 'braawwwrr'

help

do you still have emmissions? if you do double check the ORANGE SOLENOID (facing the engine) Right side/Drivers Side under the intercooler.

I know that controls the fuel but i don't know how to check if it's up and running.double check the fsm to see how to check if it still works.

forgot orange soleniod is connect to the FPR, fuel pressure regulator.........

-mike

do you still have emmissions? if you do double check the ORANGE SOLENOID (facing the engine) Right side/Drivers Side under the intercooler.

I know that controls the fuel but i don't know how to check if it's up and running.double check the fsm to see how to check if it still works.

no emissions.