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Old 05-17-05, 08:56 PM
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Car Trouble

I had recently converted my car to non-seq and put in 4 brand new platinum 9's sparkplugs. Everything was running fine. After a few days I tried starting my car on a cold day (50's) ,after it had rained, and it flooded. I unflooded it and it ran bad (loss/no power). I drove it around for a little while, parked it, and shut it off. Came to start it again and it flooded again.

Next day, I changed out the spark plugs and it fired back up. I thought it was just possibly bad plugs, so I drove it to work. Left work and it had trouble starting up. Would start and die. My buddies even tried to help me push start it with no luck. I then added marvel mystery oil and kept the revs up high. I finally stayed on.

On the way driving home I noticed the check engine light was on. Since I was 10 minutes from home, I decided to check it out once I got home. While driving, the light went out as well as all the power, the rpms just dropped and it seemed like the car just died. I then downshifted and got the rpms high and the car came back to life. The check engine light would come on for a few minutes then goes off for a few seconds ,as well the power with it, every so often on my trip home.
Finally got home and check everything. Tried pulling codes but got nothing. No loose hoses.

Next day I came to start it, gets flooded again.
The car smokes a lot, not clouds but noticeable black/greyish smoke. At first I thought it was the marvel mystery oil, but by then all of it would have burnt away. So I'm guessing the car is running extremely rich.

Could the injectors be stuck open? or the computer running rich?

My Mods are : HKS RS Intakes, Non-seq stock twins w/ ported wastegate, Efini y-pipe, Greddy Fmic, Greddy Elbow, Double Throttles Removed, Magnecore Spark Wires, Greddy Boost controller

My brother has a powerfc that I could use, but doesn't have maps for my car.

I have also searched and read all threads and they have not been followed up after their problems have been fixed or they're not the same problems I'm having. Thanks in advance.
Old 05-17-05, 09:26 PM
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You need an ECU ASAP bro... your gonna just keep swimming in gas and other problems... The car doesnt know what the **** to do.
Old 05-17-05, 10:46 PM
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im having the same problem but or it seems but i have a power fc maybe it needs to be tuned ?? help
Old 05-18-05, 08:48 PM
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Originally Posted by Image Performance
You need an ECU ASAP bro... your gonna just keep swimming in gas and other problems... The car doesnt know what the **** to do.
what i don't get is why would it be running rich. shouldn't it be leaner with the extra air flow?

also doesn't explain why it was fine after the conversion but sucks after it got flooded.
Old 05-18-05, 09:09 PM
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If your ck eng light came on then you have a code.. pull the code and it should point you in the right direction.
Old 05-18-05, 10:15 PM
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Originally Posted by Gadd
If your ck eng light came on then you have a code.. pull the code and it should point you in the right direction.
yea get those codes 1st tony, then try to use your bros pfc ans set it to the base map

chekc the sensor program on the commander, should highlight the sensors that are f* up

check the map sensor vac line??

mike
Old 05-18-05, 10:25 PM
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as stated check all lines and nothing is loose, and i tried pulling codes but the stock ecu didn't give any. i'm tony's brother, tony's pfc is currently tuned and i do not want to mess with it.
Old 05-18-05, 10:39 PM
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Originally Posted by Rotarytard
what i don't get is why would it be running rich. shouldn't it be leaner with the extra air flow?
If the stock ECU was the problem, it would be running lean. He just likes to blurt out stupid **** when he doesn't know what he's talking about. Are you sure your not running lean?

Originally Posted by Rotarytard
also doesn't explain why it was fine after the conversion but sucks after it got flooded.
I'd make sure your still not flooded. How are you unflooding the car?

You havn't said anything about an exhaust...Do you have a cat-back, or full exhaust? (downpipe/no cats/pre cat)

Have you gone back over your turbos? You might have done something wrong during the conversion.

-Alex
Old 05-18-05, 10:43 PM
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I had that problem problem with a pfc. It turned out to be the plugs for some strange reason. When I ran 9's all the way around it didn't want to fire.. faulty plugs... maybe, but when I ran 7's and 9's, it fired up fine
Old 05-18-05, 11:01 PM
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Originally Posted by Gadd
If your ck eng light came on then you have a code.. pull the code and it should point you in the right direction.
Did you disconnect the battery and reset the ecu before you tryed to pull the code/s? if you did, you'll need to drive the car until the cel comes on to flag the code again, if you didn't, the code is there.
Old 05-19-05, 11:26 AM
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Woops forgot to state that I have a straight through exhaust, no cats. I unflood the car by taking out the spark plugs, fuel relay, and egi relay then crank the engine for a few seconds a few times with about 2 minute breaks in between.

I don't think I'm running lean due to the flooding and smoke.

I went over the turbo reinstall and conversion real carefully and made sure nothing was not missed.

Gadd: I did not reset the ecu before I pulled codes. I can't even get the car started again to drive around. I put a jumper between the TEN and GND points in the diagnosis and turn the key to on which is the way to do it? Still no codes.

Canrx7gx: The 9's I had in there are all fouled. I replaced them with platinum 7's and 9's and it ran fine till I shut it off and parked at work, then came to start it and it had a hard time starting. Can't be the wires cause there is spark.

I'm trying to go through all the troubleshoot pages from the factory service manual and it sucks. I've gone through it enough that I basically memorized it, still no luck.

Right now I'm starting to think it's the injectors.

Last edited by Rotarytard; 05-19-05 at 11:29 AM.
Old 05-19-05, 01:10 PM
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Originally Posted by Rotarytard
I had recently converted my car to non-seq and put in 4 brand new platinum 9's sparkplugs. Everything was running fine. After a few days I tried starting my car on a cold day (50's) ,after it had rained, and it flooded. I unflooded it and it ran bad (loss/no power). I drove it around for a little while, parked it, and shut it off. Came to start it again and it flooded again.

Next day, I changed out the spark plugs and it fired back up. I thought it was just possibly bad plugs, so I drove it to work. Left work and it had trouble starting up. Would start and die. My buddies even tried to help me push start it with no luck. I then added marvel mystery oil and kept the revs up high. I finally stayed on.

On the way driving home I noticed the check engine light was on. Since I was 10 minutes from home, I decided to check it out once I got home. While driving, the light went out as well as all the power, the rpms just dropped and it seemed like the car just died. I then downshifted and got the rpms high and the car came back to life. The check engine light would come on for a few minutes then goes off for a few seconds ,as well the power with it, every so often on my trip home.
Finally got home and check everything. Tried pulling codes but got nothing. No loose hoses.

Next day I came to start it, gets flooded again.
The car smokes a lot, not clouds but noticeable black/greyish smoke. At first I thought it was the marvel mystery oil, but by then all of it would have burnt away. So I'm guessing the car is running extremely rich.

Could the injectors be stuck open? or the computer running rich?

My Mods are : HKS RS Intakes, Non-seq stock twins w/ ported wastegate, Efini y-pipe, Greddy Fmic, Greddy Elbow, Double Throttles Removed, Magnecore Spark Wires, Greddy Boost controller

My brother has a powerfc that I could use, but doesn't have maps for my car.

I have also searched and read all threads and they have not been followed up after their problems have been fixed or they're not the same problems I'm having. Thanks in advance.
That blackish grey smoke suspended in the air is due to large amounts of unburnt fuel coming out of the car. An ignition coil going bad can cause conditions very similar to this. Symptoms include what you just described, running like ****, trouble starting, running super rich at idle, fouling plugs, rpm oscillation at idle and at a roll, greater than normal backfiring. But you checked for spark, so it might not be relevant.
Old 05-19-05, 02:22 PM
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A leaky injector is one possibility - you shut it off and it keeps dripping.

You say you have spark. Are you sure? You know got fuel. You know you got air. You ought to get fire if you have spark. Put a spark testor on it?

Hard starting in wet weather is often the plug wires. Spray some water in there at night and see if you are getting any flashes under the hood while you are trying to start it. If so, spray WD-40 on the wires. That provides a temporary seal against moisture.

The first step is to get a code but if you can't get one then recheck the ignition & pull each plug and be sure you are getting a good fat blue spark out of the plugs. I have never heard of 9s fouling and 7/9s not. I run all 9s. PFS used to use nothing but all 9s.

And by the way, stupid question, but are your battery cables tight & all your ground straps tight? I had an experience similar to yours while driving. Car kept shutting off, misfiring, then running ok. Turned out to be a lose ground strap.
Old 05-19-05, 10:41 PM
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You mentioned that you have access to a PFC. It might be useful in telling you what the injector duty of the car is. In other words, if the injector duty remains constant 5% or so at idle, it indicates your problem is probably ignition related. If the injector duty reads at 10-20% or something, maybe its fuel related.

However, the PFC takes a while to "learn" your car, and I'm not sure how wise it would be to install one on your car if it isn't running right. You may just flood the car again. Don't flame me if this is a dumb idea, I just thought of it 5 min ago

You need an ECU ASAP bro... your gonna just keep swimming in gas and other problems... The car doesnt know what the **** to do.
I agree. You seem to have a lot of mods for your car. Perhaps something is triggering some sort of "safe mode" similar to an unplugged MAP sensor. Perhaps someone else can chime in on this topic
Old 05-19-05, 11:22 PM
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Hey, if you have a two channel oscilloscope handy you can just calculate the idle duty cycle yourself. Thus in about 15 minutes you can rule out whether it is the injectors or not (unless they are somehow being mechanically stuck open).

Just thought I'd throw that out there. Of course, I don't know as much as the rest of you guys so please don't mock me if that was already the first thing you tried. I just didn't see anyone suggesting it yet.
Old 05-20-05, 09:38 AM
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I just installed the pfc and tried starting it with no luck. It starts for 3 seconds then dies and gets flooded again. I just bought some injectors, hopefully that's the problem.

Where do I go in the pfc to see the duty cycle?

Thanks
Old 05-20-05, 10:00 AM
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There should be 3 displays that come up when you have the key in the ignition. Monitor, settings, and etc. You need to go to monitor, go to 1 channel, then select duty cycle (I believe its the first option). If you select duty cycle, you can play with the buttons to cycle between graphical and digital display. There is also an option to get the peak feature (I believe its hitting the up key). You should ask your brother about the operation of the pfc.

By the way did you pull codes on the stock ecu yet?
Did you double check all 4 plugs for good spark?
Old 05-20-05, 10:08 AM
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Originally Posted by pos7
By the way did you pull codes on the stock ecu yet?
Did you double check all 4 plugs for good spark?
I second the questions.

Last edited by tcb100; 05-20-05 at 10:10 AM.
Old 05-20-05, 12:41 PM
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No codes, and yes i checked all plugs for spark.

Just pulled the injectors. They look pretty banged up. The bottom o-ring on both injectors have tears in them. Now just waiting for my new injectors to arrive.


Last edited by Rotarytard; 05-20-05 at 12:49 PM.
Old 05-20-05, 12:48 PM
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doublepost
Old 07-29-05, 10:20 PM
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Originally Posted by Rotarytard
No codes, and yes i checked all plugs for spark.

Just pulled the injectors. They look pretty banged up. The bottom o-ring on both injectors have tears in them. Now just waiting for my new injectors to arrive.
Did the new injectors and o-rings fix it?

Dave
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