Hello all, I own a 94 FD with 26,000 miles. And I have 2 of what I would call big problems

#1 - If I don't crank my car and let it run at least once every 3-4 days my battery dies. I cant put a finger on what exactly it is that is drawing off the batter when the car is shut off, only thing I can think is that annoying flashing security light on the center arm rest.

#2 - When driving around town, on the highway, or anywhere in between the car has a massive power loss. 1st gear at around 4500-5500rpm, 2nd gear at around 6,000rpm, 3rd gear at around 7,000rpm. I as well cant put a finger on what exactly it is. My car is completely stock. Oil pressure, Water Temp all are fine. It seems as if the boost is just cutting out. The rpms will continue to climb but at a slower rate.

 

you need to get a boost gauge so you can see just how much boost you're loosing, you probably have a boost leak. Either the ACV or some other part or hose it shouldn't be that hard to find. that alarm is probably drawing a lot of power. you should try disconnecting it and then if you can get your hands on an ammeter then compare the difference.

 

What gauges do I need, some people say replace the water temp, boost gauge is a must, but what else? If I get gauges I wanna buy them all at the same time. Also I can get a fluke from work probably I might try this, are batteries dying a common issue in fds?

 

Whatever it is thats drawing power I dont think its the alarm. Pretty much every FD comes with one and its an uncommon issue. On the other hand if you have an aftermarket stereo in the car that might stay on even when the din is off.

Is your trunk light on?

Is your battery old?

 

yeah, I'll have to agree with shibbiy, I thought you meant you had an aftermarket alarm. if I were you I would disconnect the battery, check the leads for how many volts it has, then reconnect and see how much it drops, if it doesn't drop at all then it's probably a bad/old battery, if it does drop a bit then you can figure it out from there. at least that's the method I used when I work on cars a lot. you don't really have to replace the water temp gauge, it's very in accurate but you can fix it, or you can do like this guy http://www.maxcooper.com/rx7/how-to/...ges/index.html and replace the stock gauges with SPA digital gauges. at a stock car it's not as important to have all kinds of gauges like AFR and EGT cause it's a stock tune, not saying it's not good info to know, but I just stick with the basics, boost, water temp, and oil press. whenever I start tuning though I'll need to get AFR and EGT

 

i do in fact have an aftermarket radio, i think you might have hit the nail on the head there. as far as gauges i think i will most def grab a boost gauge as soon as I can and see where that takes me. ty for the help!

 

boost gauge is a must

 

If you have a full exhaust, stock computer, and no boost gauge, that could be your problem. The stock boost level is 10psi, and the ECU cuts fuel at 12psi. The limit of the stock fuel system in terms of boost levels it can support is not much higher.

The stock boost control system does not adjust, and with a full exhaust the peak boost can easily exceed 12psi. Therefore you'll feel fuel cut every time it hits 12psi or so. This is not good, because you're also at risk of running lean on stock fuel maps and it would only take a bad tank of gas or bad injector to blow your engine.

Get a boost gauge installed and figure out if you're above 10psi. If you feel the need to buy a set of gauges I'd put water temp 2nd.

Regarding the battery drain, get a wiring diagram (there are links in this forum to download it) and the fluke. I would find all of the fuses coming off the battery and pull them one at a time and use the ammeter to see which one has the excess current. Then you'll know where to look for the problem, and depending which circuit is the problem you can leave that fuse out to stop the drain.

 

If it's a loss of boost, the first suspect on a stock car is the 'Y' pipe to cross-over coupler.
If it's NOT a boost leak and NOT fuel cut, AND you still have a stock exhaust, I'd replace the pre-cat with a downpipe and see what you get. Regardless, the pre-cat needs to come out if it's still there.

 

I don't think it's fuel cut, because he says the revs continue to climb, but at a slower rate. If it were fuel cut, it would lose pretty much all power. It could be as simple as a turbo intake hose collapsing. That might fit the power-loss RPM increasing with higher gears (pressurized intake because of speed delaying the collapse).

 

Regarding the full exhaust I saw it in the signature and mistook that for a mod already in place.

I agree with the others, on an all stock car a loss of power is almost always due to a loss of boost. Loss of boost (especially as a sudden change) is frequently a leak in the pressuzied intake piping. You need a boost gauge to determine if this is the reason for power loss.

 

Thanks for your input on this, I have this basic meter (link included) I know how to check voltage and continuity and that is about it. and I am also having a battery drain all the way down to 3.9 volts when I let it sit for a few days. Anyway can you give some specifics on which fuse box and what to do. I am pretty mechanically inclined I swapped the engine and tranny but this is my first hunt for an electrical gremlin.

Thanks

http://www.harborfreightusa.com/usa/...o?itemid=90899

 

See that's the thing, I'm not very electrical either.

I think you can do it this way:
- set up your multimeter as an ammeter (disconnect the negative cable, use the multimeter to reconnect them. Leave the ignition off). If the current draw exceeds the spec (20mA rings a bell but check on that) then you have a problem. If the draw is below the spec, it's the battery.

if it's not the battery:
- download the electrical diagram. Locate the battery and all of the fuses that come off of the battery.
- with the multimeter still set up as an ammeter, pull each fuse and put it back one by one until your current drops. I expect that your current draw will decrease to acceptable levels when one of the fuses is out.
- once you figure out which fuse has the excess current passing through it, inspect that circuit and any relays on it to figure out if it's a bad relay or shorted component that causes the excess current draw.

Dave

 

Dee Seal, how long has this "drain issue" been happening? If this happened quite some time and your battery has been drained a couple of times, mostly your battery is tired and needs an replacement. That's the first thing.

Then with a newer or fully charged battery, like Dgeesaman suggested. With your Multimeter put on AMP setting ( I usually put it on A, after 15minutes later, I then change it to mA setting).

To set up the amp meter to battery:
1) Ignition key out, window down. Close and locked doors.
2) Place you DVOM (Digital volt/ohm meter) to amp setting. (Make sure your red lead is also on the Amp port)
3) Hook the Black/negative led from the DVOM to negative terminal on battery.
4) Hook the red/positive led from DVOM to the connection that connects to the negative terminal. (Ground cable)
5) Then remove the ground/black cable from the battery negative terminal so now your amp meter is in series with the battery circuit. Let it sit and observe your battery draw.
6) If current draw is over 20mA, you have a circuit draw that is draining your battery. If not, you're good to go. Disconnect the amp meter and reconnect all connections.
7) If there is a current draw, you do as what Dgeesaman suggested to isolate each circuit and when you find out which circuit you are having a draw, update us and let us know.


Good luck!

-AzEKnightz

 

see im not sure why no body saw that, i just saw the thread and saw his sig say that, but i was reading all the post to make sure so i didnt have to repeat what someone said

 

LOL that list is what i Plan to do, not what i have, notice the ? after RE?