Engine Issue-Help
 

Hello, I'm currently having some issues with my fd. I'll try and explain what I can but being fairly new to the car I'm stumped.
Since I purchased the car about 2 months ago it ran fine, never had an issue with it, had a boost leak that I never really knew about (used to driving really slow vehicles lol) I fixed the boost leak about 2 days ago, yah sad that it took that long to really source it...it was at the time that I replaced the waterpump and thermostat. The thermostat itself was leaking due to a bad seal and the waterpump was just a bad diagnostic on a leak but its replaced anyway so no more leaks.
Now on to today, I had the car all buttoned up, coolant and oil were at proper levels (check before I take the car anywhere), all intake and intercooler plumbing was back on and clamped good. I took the car for a short drive to a car wash, so about 10 minutes of driving...No overheating issues, oil pressure was fine. I washed the car and took it out and hand dried it so it sat for about another 10 minutes.
So I leave the carwash to go back home and about 4 minutes into my drive I get onto a main road and run 1st and 2nd normally (easy) and then get into it in 3rd hard at about 3500rpm, It was pulling great and I didn't notice anything strange and then I hit about 6000rpm and the car pretty much fell on its face, (felt like a lack of boost) so I immediately pulled over and stopped to idle.
The car was idling rough and low, about 500rpm and it was trying hard to keep itself running but I shut it off anyway. At the time there was no coloration in the exhaust, It didn't smell any different then before. No coolant leaks or oil leaks to be seen and no difference in noise.
My brother and friend came to see if they could help but no luck with tools available. I was thinking a vacuum line may have popped but I'm really not sure, and we figured it sounded like only 1 chamber was running.
So I limped it home and got it into the shop. Pulled the plugs and they didnt look too bad, the spark plugs from the rear chamber looked a little wet around the threads but they were all so close I didn't consider it a factor. So I got a different set of plugs with few miles into the car and pulled the intercooler piping and started it up, it wasn't able to get into cold start rpm range and instead bounced around at about 1200rpm and then settled to about 700rpm, it idled a bit better but still very poorly. The whole time the exhaust fumes were colder then normal. And it smelt very rich, the car had a hard time reaching higher rpms then normal just from being rich I presume.

I'm hoping I didn't cause any severe damage to the car, it's stock besides exhaust and air filters. I drive the car with care and only the rare time do I open it up. When I washed the car I did not wash the engine bay but underneath so I can't see that doing much.

Sorry for a long write-up but I'm trying to give as much information as I can, the car has 110,000kms and the motor looks very clean to my standard, prior the car ran fine and idled properly but I had a small boost leak before.

Any help is greatly appreciated or even advice on where to start looking, I don't have source to a repair manual atm and I'm going to look for schematics for the vacuum lines in the car ect.

Thanks Again.

You seem fairly knowledgeable about cars, but just for completeness, did you check the vacuum line to the map sensor?

If that is still attached, I would do a quick compression test with a piston engine tester.

I have not checked that, Will a standard compression tester work on the rotary? I was told that it won't work because pressure would continue to build giving false readings? Or do I have to be quick with the key haha

a standard compression tester will work(with a simple mod). put a zip tie to hold the comp release button down. look for 3 equal spikes. your problem sounds vacuum related. if need be remove your air filters and put caps or plug them some how(beer bottles work). remove the power brake booster line and add air psi to the upper intake manifold(15psi) listen for leaks, than turn the key on and check again. this will check 85% of your vacuum sys.

good luck!!!

I haven't checked anything yet but someone told me because I had different exhaust and air cleaners I had been over boosting, is this a very common problem?

Increasing the airflow can increase the boost. These cars use a MAP based system so it will not automatically adjust for the increased flow. If you overboost for what your ECU is mapped to run, you can risk running lean and damaging the engine.

Wow and I was pretty in favor of the stock nature but evil prevails today and it looks like seals are toast..

compression test turned:
0psi rear
30psi front

must be pretty inaccurate, I didn't think it would make the drive home with so little compression and still no coloration in the exhaust :scratch:
still enough evidence I guess.:(

Thanks for the help everyone

damn bro that sucks i know the feeling good luck with the rebuild

thanks lol, this just means I can start looking into a single turbo build haha:icon_tup: