Rotary Potato

So I've had my car out of storage for 6 days exactly. I just put in the Power FC this morning. Right now I only have a catback and an HKS intake, so I was running the base map. My car is JDM so it was restricted to 180km/h. So naturally, being the first day with the restriction removed I wanted to test it out. I had been driving lightly for about 15 minutes so the car was warm. I opened up on the highway and around 240km/h (150 mph) power just stopped. I could hear the engine was having a hard time so I slowed down the car and noticed the engine vibrating abnormally. I stopped the car and then noticed my engine heat light was on. The water temp gauge was still in the bottom third though. With the engine off I let the fans run for half an hour before the engine heat light went off. I was maybe half a mile from my house so I drove it back. It drove but it was definitely lacking in power and the vibration was still there. I've never felt it before, but to me it felt like maybe it's only running on one rotor or something.

It had 80,000km's and was rock solid. I did a little circuit racing last year and it was fine. Have never had any kind of problem with it until today when I put in the PFC. If somebody wants to take a look at the map (Datalogit file) to see if there's anything fishy it would be much appreciated. Also if anyone has any idea what might have happened, that would be awesome.

http://www.mediafire.com/?9uzpzgex10f

I just don't see how it could have heated so much. Shouldn't the engine be cooler at higher speeds? The RPM's are still the same but now you have more air flow cooling everything.

Pertinent info:
-I did a complete oil and coolant change less than a week ago. Nothing wrong there.
-Running non-synthentic 10w30
-It was 3 degrees when I was driving (37 fahrenheit).
-3 HOURS after the car was parked, in the cold, the engine was still hot. Not just warm, but hot.
-After the car was parked I also noticed that the metal right above where the driveshaft and tranny meet, behind the shifter, was very hot. Way more than normal. (Interior is stripped)

zack4173

iTrader: (3)

Do you still have the stock downpipe/cat because that causes alot of heat. Also just because your going faster doesnt mean that the engine will be cooler the engine is working hard at those speeds and for more of an extended period than in lower gears.

mono4lamar

iTrader: (32)

Simplest thing to do would be to get a compression check done. What was your vaccume reading at at idle and how low was your idling? Strange series of events but you'll need to do some diagnosing before anyone can come to any conclusions.

DriftDreamzSS

iTrader: (4)

Did you happen to check the commander to see what your air and water temp and boost pressure peaked at? Hopefully you just blew a vacuum hose off while doing extended full boost runs. Check out all your vacuum lines first and do a quick compression test before you start tearing into anything.

Rotary Potato

I still have the stock down pipe, but as far as I know the JDM ones don't have a pre-cat.

The PFC shows a boost reading of 380-440 mmHg at idle. It fluctuates between the two about twice a second. Idle is low at about 700 RPM.

Is there any way to check the max temp and boost now, or did I have to check that before turning off the car? When I got back home, I checked the air and water (not max, just what they were) and they were reading 99 C for water and 52 C for air. The water stayed at 99 for a good 10 minutes before slowly dropping but the air dropped right away.

Mahjik

iTrader: (1)

Did you first check and just make sure you just didn't pop a vacuum line?

Zokus

Exactly. I would definately check the line to the MAP sensor. Be 100 % sure that it is not leaking/broken.

Also, it doesn't sound to me like your car was running overly hot? Which light are you talking about when you say engine heat light?

Rotary Potato

The warning light that says "heat" when lit. Left group of warning lights. It automatically lights up for a second when I turn on my car.

I'll check the hoses, I hope thats all it is. I'm 1200km from home right now so my life would be so much easier if I could drive the car home opposed to freighting it.

I'm pretty new at working on this car, these hoses, are you referring to the "rats nest?"

axr6

It was not a great idea to run the car up to 150 MPH with a brand new PFC with no tuning. At that speed you could have very easily run lean on your fuel curve and pop an apex seal. Run a compression test and hope for the best.

Before you attempt such high speed operation again, be sure to get the car tuned and install a broadband fuel/air gauge to make sure that something like a weak stock fuel pump will not cause you to run lean at high RPMs. Don't ask how I learned that lesson...

kerpal

Hmmm, what are the other things you did with your car??? I don't see other reason why the car wouldn't run

Rotary Potato

Why would it need to be tuned? The car is stock except for the catback and intake, so I figured the base map would be fine. Don't they say 3 mods are ok without tuning? The shitty thing is, I have a wideband and downpipe, but it turns out not all DP's fit the JDM RX-7's, so I couldn't install either (didn't want to put wideband in stock 02 bung).

dradon03

iTrader: (2)

The stock Apexi PFC map really isn't great but it isnt as bad as earlier versions. 440 isn't that bad of a reading but under 400 really is far from stelar. This oscillation of vaccum can becaused by say blowing an apex on the rear rotor (just a stab in the dark if it turn out to be that you owe me 1,000,000 scooby snacks).

First thing to do is check all your vacuum connections as previously said. You don't need the downpipe as badly as we do, rather than being a timebomb your downpipe is just a restriction to exhaust flow.

Also is your car puffing any color of smoke and when you lost power did you car suddenly give off a huge cloud of black smoke?

Edit: 3 degrees outside could lead to lean condition caused by increased boost pressure due to the denser air.

DriftDreamzSS

iTrader: (4)

Do jdm models have an exhaust overheat light in the center console? I wonder if the heat light you have on your dash is like usdm overheat exhaust light, which becomes a warning light when pfc is installed. Your idle vacuum reading seems good which is a good sign. Check your cat to see if it has become clogged/broken it could cause the loss in power, but be sure to check all the easy stuff first, all your vacuum lines and comp test.

Wompa164

iTrader: (4)

I don't think you know what you're talking about. 380mmHg is ~15inHg which is perfect fine, especially if you have engine porting work. 440mmHg is ~17.3Hg, which is a great vacuum reading. The oscillation of vacuum can also result from minor variations in idle RPM.

Everything said, go get a compression test done before you do anything else.

Rotary Potato

I was reading 530 this morning when I went out. When I first got back home it was around 310-360, now it's 380-440.

When I lost power there was no sound or smoke, and it's not smoking now either. However, when I started the car to check the idle there was a very strong smell of gas. Not a normal smell, but kind of like the smell a dirt bike or snowmobile would give off.

Like I said I'll check the vacuum lines, but what worries me is the vibration coming from the engine. The engine definitely doesn't sound right, and it's shaking the car. Not that bad but definitely noticeable. Would a vacuum line that's been popped off make the engine vibrate like that?

DriftDreamzSS

iTrader: (4)

check the map sensor hose before you start digging in the rats nest. On a usdm car its on the firewall next to the brake booster and has a sticker that says boost sensor or something like that. Not sure of the location on a jdm car but its probably on the firewall somewhere with a hose leading down and towards the uim.

Wompa164

iTrader: (4)

I really hate to make you paranoid, but the gas smell and engine shaking sounds markedly like a blown apex seal.

Rotary Potato

That's what I immediately thought, so I'm kind of prepared for it I guess. I'll try to get a compression test done tomorrow if I can't find any hoses out of place.

Norty

Hey dont know if this will help but a friend of mine had the same kind of thing happen to him, and it turned out to be a split in the rubber intercooler joiner, replaced it and it went sweet again.

I didn't put my PFC on because of the fact even tho it is a standard base map, its mapped for Japanese fuel so thats why you have to get it tuned.

comments about this whole STOCK JDM running PFC on the base map? anyone other than this guy doing it etc..?