car developed a fuel problem today..

[CompuBob_TSi]

Everytime I get on the gas, my AFR's rise right to 17:1 and above, the car makes no power and chugs.. I'm afraid I'll blow something.. it also likes to idle at 16.5 to 17:1.. not sure if that is off, but untill today it would idle at 14.5:1
anyways
I have a AEM wideband and a S-AFC, both seem to be working fine. aswell as all my sensors that interact with it.

the car has a Walbro 190 pump I'm thinking it's dying.. I do have a 255 pump sitting here waiting to go in.. but I don't have time right now to do it.. so I hope it's another problem!

oh, and the injectors are new OEM replacements, the car ran awesome untill today.

also the car is NOT warming up. today is a really cold day, I just installed a new thermostat today thinking the old one was dead, and it's still staying cold, it's not low on coolant and I've tried to get airbubbles out, and there is none.

so, I've covered just about everything I can think of.

 

[romeen]

Everytime I get on the gas, my AFR's rise right to 17:1 and above, the car makes no power and chugs.. I'm afraid I'll blow something.. it also likes to idle at 16.5 to 17:1.. not sure if that is off, but untill today it would idle at 14.5:1
anyways
I have a AEM wideband and a S-AFC, both seem to be working fine. aswell as all my sensors that interact with it.

the car has a Walbro 190 pump I'm thinking it's dying.. I do have a 255 pump sitting here waiting to go in.. but I don't have time right now to do it.. so I hope it's another problem!

oh, and the injectors are new OEM replacements, the car ran awesome untill today.

also the car is NOT warming up. today is a really cold day, I just installed a new thermostat today thinking the old one was dead, and it's still staying cold, it's not low on coolant and I've tried to get airbubbles out, and there is none.

so, I've covered just about everything I can think of.

If you have a S-AFC that suggests to me that you had larger than stock injectors installed. But you state that you recently replaced the injectors with oem ones. If this is true then you are running 450cc injectors on a S-AFC which is adjusted to run larger ones and it is pulling fuel. Am I understanding you correctly?

 

[CompuBob_TSi]

If you have a S-AFC that suggests to me that you had larger than stock injectors installed. But you state that you recently replaced the injectors with oem ones. If this is true then you are running 450cc injectors on a S-AFC which is adjusted to run larger ones and it is pulling fuel. Am I understanding you correctly?

nope, I have stock 450CC injectors.. I have a S-AFC and wideband for because I'm running higher than stock boost with a 16G (I was running out of injector at about 5500RPM), and it's there for when I do upgrade the fuel system. but anyways the only fuel mod I have is a 190LPH fuel pump and rewire.
the tune is fine and it was working properly untill today, so I would have to think it's another problem.

 

[romeen]

I'm confused. You state that you have a SAFC because you are running higher than stock boost on stock 450cc injectors. The SAFC is used to decrease fuel flow when using larger than stock injectors. It cannot make an injector flow more than it's max flow rating.

Are you saying that the SAFC is not actually hooked up right now?

If you are running higher than stock boost on stock fuel injectors then of course you will run lean. If you are running stock fuel injectors with a SAFC wired in then it will just make the problem worse.

Do you have a logger to check for knock? How much boost are you running?

 

[jstipp79]

hey man, i would check ## fuel pressure. i have had experience with my and my roommates dsm, and on both cars the regulator was bad. IN MY case it was running max press. causing the injectors to stay open. but they could also go bad by sticking open and just letting the fuel dump into the tank instead of building pressure.

 

[rrussell]

Sounds like a fuel regulator to me. I would do a fuel pressure check like the poster above said.^^

 

[GVR4592]

Check for leaks between the maf sensor and the turbo.

 

[CompuBob_TSi]

I'm confused. You state that you have a SAFC because you are running higher than stock boost on stock 450cc injectors. The SAFC is used to decrease fuel flow when using larger than stock injectors. It cannot make an injector flow more than it's max flow rating.

Are you saying that the SAFC is not actually hooked up right now?

If you are running higher than stock boost on stock fuel injectors then of course you will run lean. If you are running stock fuel injectors with a SAFC wired in then it will just make the problem worse.

Do you have a logger to check for knock? How much boost are you running?

what are you talking about? you can make a stock injector flow more fuel than it's meant to at a certain RPM but of course you cannot make it flow more than it's maximum rate, but anyways it it NOT a injector/s-afc problem, I know this for a fact, I have logged, checked, double checked and made my tune almost as perfect as I can get it with 450cc injectors and it was perfect untill yesterday.. yes I was running out of fuel near redline but not at 2000RPM like I am now..

it's way too cold outside now, if I can get it in a garage today I will check the FPR, I might have a extra fuel rail laying around somewhere I will try to swap it out. or if I can I will just install a Aeromotive if I can find one this week, I will let everyone know. if it's the pump, then I will remove the 190 and put in a 255, and definatly get a aeromotive FPR. It might not be a bad idea to change the fuel filter while I'm at it. that could be clogged.

 

[CompuBob_TSi]

Check for leaks between the maf sensor and the turbo.

I will do this also!

 

[Ravenous]

I don't know about you but it only took an hour to install my 255hp and 3 hours total for the afpr, injectors, and pump. It would behoove you to just make some time and do it. That would eliminate your lean problem. Although I didn't see what psi you were running, you may be reaching the max potential of your 450s, which are more like 411s on the stock fpr.

 

[CompuBob_TSi]

ok, well I think I figured out the problem and it has turned into a whole other problem.
My alternator died, and I'm pretty sure it was no giving enough power to feed the fuel pump, and then it finally died.. so I replaced it with a known working recently rebuilt alternator, and the car will not hold a charge, I checked all the fuses, the alternator relay and wiring.. everything seems to be fine, but it will just not charge.
any clue what could be causing this.. once again I already checked the wiring, fuses and relay, Battery is also brand new and holds a charge just fine.. the car just runs off it, which kills it eventually.

 

[CompuBob_TSi]

well, I figured it out.. it was an electrical problem, my alternator died and somehow my car must have been running right off the battery or just getting really low voltage for the last few days when the problems started happening.. but I repalced it with a known good alternator and still nothing worked. but it turned out that my recently rebuilt and recently pulled from a running car alternator was bad (my luck) so I had another laying around that I threw in and the car works better than ever.. I also replaced the battery terminals while I was at it, because I'm pretty sure that was the start of the problem.. sometimes I would have to jiggle them to get the car running.

 

[Splitpi]

Be wary of depleted car batteries they are prone to dieing after being drained excessively.