Car Sputtering Under Boost w/ Water-Meth

Pure2GDSM · 06-26-2012, 09:18 PM

Hey everyone,
I'm in dire need for some help. Here's what's going on: I just put a DevilsOwn Water-Meth Kit on my 97 GST. Everything was fine for about a week or so until some strange things started happening. First off, in 1st gear it only pulls about 10 psi max, which is strange because my internal wastegate (FP Big T28 Turbo) is set to 15 psi anyway.

The water-meth doesn't even kick on until I hit about 13-14 psi, so obviously nothing is injected at this point. As I shift into 2nd, things seem alright until I hit the 13-14 psi mark when the meth pump kicks on. My car starts to sputter and pop badly. So I back off the throttle completely. It's weird to me since I never had this problem until the kit was in for about a week or so now. And on top of all of this, my boost controller (Halman Pro) is set to 22psi and my car will barely get half way to that mark now. I have DSMLink v. 2 and I bumped up the timing a couple degrees, took out some fuel, and still have the same problem. I run NGKBPR7ES plugs, but at 22lbs + Water/Meth, should I bump them to a step colder? I'm thinking I might have more than one problem, like a boost leak and something else. I don't know where to start with all of this but any input would be appreciated

79magnumgt · 06-26-2012, 09:25 PM

Well first off you should definitely check for boost leaks and do a compression test. After those two are done and check out ok I would look at your plugs next double check your gap. I personally have had spark blow out but I'm not running a stock turbo .

3kgt2nv · 06-26-2012, 09:50 PM

make sure that you havent been leaking meth from the nozzle. i had one of my valves fail and i emptied about 2 gallons of 60/40 meth into my intercooler causing all kinds of running rich issues. since it was choking the airflow plus causing stupid rich issues.

2gjlc · 06-26-2012, 10:13 PM

Where did you tap the meth kit in for a boost source?

Pure2GDSM · 06-27-2012, 09:49 AM

3kgt, that's a good point. I bought the kit used that came out of another 2g. When I was installing it, the nozzle was leaking pretty good. I wonder if I have a bad valve causing a pool...which would make sense why it took about a week to happen as it pooled.

Pure2GDSM · 06-30-2012, 07:55 AM

Well guys, I have an update but it's not a good one. The other night I took off my intercooler and checked for pooling, it was bone dry, and I put in brand new plugs. I also did a spark test to make sure they're getting a nice bright blue spark color on each cylinder. Everything checked out fine. I set the boost controller all the way down to 15psi max, and turned the water/meth off for the time being. Yesterday, I took it around the block and within a mile, it died on me. The whole time it was sputtering and coughing in all rpm ranges and it was so bad I couldn't even boost it. My next thought is, I put in ARP Head Studs last weekend. I used the ARP Ultra Torque Lube and torqued them at 80ft.lbs. Just like the instructions specified. I did them one at a time, working from the inside out. Everything was great until a few days after. Could it be that the new studs may have backed out enough to cause a gap in the head gasket? It definetly feels like it could be something like that because it starts up everytime, but does not want to drive. It feels like there's no compression. Today will be a compression test so I'm betting it's the head gasket. Do you think re torquing the studs would help?

LeeSD1 · 06-30-2012, 08:18 AM

You could probably just take the valve cover off and torque them down a little more. With headstuds you can torque them down a little bit tighter

3kgt2nv · 06-30-2012, 09:03 AM

Did you step them when you torqued them or went straight to 80. If so that might be the issue but i would do a compression test first before touching anything. If you have good compression and leakdown then i doubt that the studs are the issue.

Pure2GDSM · 06-30-2012, 12:23 PM

Hey guys, I had one of my good buddies who has a shop here in town and works on DSM's come check it out this morning. I had 150-150-150-150 compression, so the studs aren't the problem. We found an intercooler piping coupler completely ripped wide open, so we replaced that. We thought it was good to go, but it still does the same thing and won't make it out of the garage. We're gonna tow it to the shop to make sure the FPR isn't shot, or the diaphragm in the fuel pump isn't gone bad. It's dumping way too much fuel in it, looks like a diesel roaling some coal. We're also thinking there could be a bad ground somewhere because when I press the brake pedal, the dome lights dim and fuel pump's noise is dramatically reduced. (Weirdest thing ever.) The guy who had the car before me hardwired the pump, so we're gonna pull it out, wire it correctly and put in a different FPR. If that does nothing, we are gonna check battery, alt, and other grounds. I'll update again later tonight, and hopefully with good news of being back on the road. Figured I'd keep this post going in case anyone has similar problems down the road.

mattasi · 06-30-2012, 12:43 PM

Lots of small problems here and there. Good luck on the work today. I would suggest you do a boost leak test today.

platinumstar17 · 07-02-2012, 02:05 PM

whats your afrs looking like?

Pure2GDSM · 07-15-2012, 01:40 PM

Sorry I took so long to update this thread, I completely forgot about it. But everything is now fixed. Turns out I blew a coupler off my intercooler and ripped another that connected the charge piping to the turbo. It runs a ton better now needless to say. Amazing what a couple boost leaks will do right?