Lack of power plus bad starting

[stanlis]

I have recently purchased a 1998 Eclipse GSX about 2 weeks ago. When i got the car i immediatly changed the spark plugs and wires and the fuel filter. Then a couple days after that i ordered an Extreme Psi intake w/ a K&N. Now here is my problem..When i first got the car it started fine on a cold start and sometimes hot. But most of the time when it was hot instead of my car starting and reving up to 1500rpms, then dropping down to 750, my car would start, an idle at 400rpms then go up to 750. Now that i've had the car for a couple of weeks, it does it when it's cold and hot almost everytime. Okay now for my second problem(maybe something to do w/ problem one or thinking it could be a whole different problem)...I can "get on" my car sometimes and my turbo sounds really loud but my car doesn't hardly move(almost like my turbo isn't working) then at other times i can "get on it" and my car pulls really strong. Other symptoms that i think go along w/ the above, is my oil cap and dipstick smell really strong in gas, and with my car at a dead stop if i rev it to 4 or 5k and let it idle back down there will be a small cloud of smoke that comes out( it looks like a blueish tint but not exactly sure)..I'm kinda thinking that the smoking thing is either my turbo or my car running rich???...Things i've checked so far for is...checked for boost leaks and only had a small one coming for the bov..i've ran injector cleaner through my car several times..checked my coil packed and got 16.4k ohms between 1&4 and 2&3, then at the 3 pin connector i got different numbers each way i tested it and all of them where above one?... Any help would be greatly appreciated..Thanks in advance!

 

[VtecvrsTurbo]

Did you do a compession check yet? Black smoke would be running rich, (from boost leaks) Check the color of your plugs. Blue smoke is oil. Check for shaft play on the turbo, but that wont always tell you if its leaking. Make sure the timing is ok, you should also get a logger to let you know what else is going on.

 

[stanlis]

Okay well it's definately not black smoke, i believe it has a bluish tint to it. Today i will do a compression test and check for shaft play on the turbo or if ya'll can think of anything else let me know. I will repost the results asap!

 

[stanlis]

A friend of mines dad(which is a mechanic) said that it could be the intake gasket leaking. Would any of my problems be caused by this?

 

[95talon_in_ma]

That is one of the many things it could be...
Spray starter fluid around it and other areas that may leak and see if your idle changes.
But if you did a boost leak, that would also tell you where it's leaking, if that's the problem.
The first issue sounds like it might be the vss,biss, or ISC. The second thing sounds like a leak somewhere...

There are a bunch of other things that could be the smoke issue.
I'd fix the leak and check the other things then look for the cause of the smoke.

 

[stanlis]

Alright..Well i plan on doing another boost leak test, because i did it when i first got the car and now the problem is worse. Maybe if there is a probably with it, it will stand out more..I just did a compression test on my car(cold) and the number are:

#4 cyl- 170
#3 cyl- 163
#2 cyl- 160
#1 cyl- 170

I'm not postive where the numbers should be around, but i think it's susposed to be around 170???..Anyways thanks for the help so far!

 

[95talon_in_ma]

Good numbers. Along as they are close to each other like they are, you're all set. 170 seems to be the norm...

 

[stanlis]

okay good, that's what i was thinking.. I did another boost leak test and had 0 leaks..the only place air came out of was my vavle cover breather. Also my turbo has hardly any shaft play at all..I am clueless to what it could be .. Can anyone else think of anythign i can try?

 

[95talon_in_ma]

I'm thinking this is what you want to follow for the idle problems. At least to rule out anything.
http://www.dsm.org/how-tos/tttt/tttt3.html
It explains allot...

I'm not sure if you mentioned it, but if you don't have one you should definitely get a boost gauge.

CEL didn't come on correct?

A datalogger might help you narrow down any other gremlins.

If it's a small amount of smoke once and a while, probably isn't anything to worry about. But if it's all the time, you might want to track it down. Bad pcv valve etc...

 

[stanlis]

I'm sorry i might not have clarified this good..It idles perfect, it's just right when i start the car it low idles for 2 secs and then goes up like it would usually when you start your car cold and it idles back down to normal lke perfect. But it does this bad start thing wether it's hot or cold outside.. Another thing that is very strange to me,is that my car runs worse when it's cooler outside than it would when it's 100 degrees outside. Usually in my other turboed cars i could tell a great difference in power when it was cooler outside, but it's the exact opposite with the car i have now. It's almost unexplain able, so i'm sorry if everything seems jumble up or anything. i'm just trying to give out any valuable infomation possible.. But to answer your question i dont a CEL and the car barely puts out a puff of smoke whenever i rev it real high.

 

[VtecvrsTurbo]

I think it is a fuel issue. Fuel filters are cheap and easy and never hurt. If that doesnt work, check your fuel pressure when you start the car. See if your fuel pump is 100%. Post your results!

 

[andymoraitis]

Bad pcv valve

Bingo. A bad PCV will always eat a little bit of oil. I'd definitely look into that for the minor amount of blue smoke you're getting.

The idle issues is likely related to the ISC or even the BISS. Check to make sure that the BISS O-ring is in place since these have a tendency to crack and fall apart. With respect to the ISC, it's basically a stepper motor, so if it starts to go bad, idle will do funny things like surge, stick, etc.

Good job to everyone who helped out on this thread and please keep us posted as to your results.

Andy

P.S. I'd really like to see a picture of your sparkplugs to give them a read.

 

[stanlis]

Okay..i'll check into gettin the pcv replaced

I checked the biss screw and it wasn't leaking or anything, but to be sure i put silicone in the hole to stop any leaks.. And as far as the ISC goes, i dont think it's that, because my car idles perfect w/ and w/out the AC on and my idle doesnt do anything funny at all. Wouldn't the ISC cause more problems??.. IT's like my car isn't getting good fuel or spark right when i start my car for the first 2 seconds then my car is normal...Shouldn't i get a new coil pack, since my numbers were way outta range?..And last my spark plugs looked good and i matched them to the picture in the haynes manual that said normal. I'm guessing this would be right, since i've only had them in for about 1000-2000 miles. . Thank for the help so far guys.

 

[stanlis]

Today i put a boost gauge in my car and i noticed that either one of my sensor or something isnt' working.. It takes like 1-3mins before my boost gauge even starts working. So therefor my fuel regulator isnt' even gettin vacuum for the first couple of mins. Does this make any since to anyone? Or does every dsm do this?... I'm not 100% postive, but i'm pretty sure my 97gst didnt' do this at all.. Any help from you guys will be greatly appreciated.

 

[stanlis]

Is there anyway to test the fuel pressure solenoid?

 

[stanlis]

????????

 

[forcefed4]

check where you installed the boost gauge, sounds like you have it after the fpr solenoid.

it should be intake manifold>tee for gauge>fpr solenoid>fpr


edit-make sure you zip tie all of the vac line connections, you don't want them coming off under boost

 

[Royzgsxfontana1]

well the blueish tint means your turbo is going bye-bye,its sounds like you also have a bad case of turbo lag which is why your turbo sounds loud but car goes no where.Try lowering your boost or try using lucas oil stabilizer that always seems to do the trick.As for your turbo what kind of abuse have u been doing to it and try taking it out and doing a full inspection look for oily gunk or cased oil.Good Luck

 

[stanlis]

That's probably my problem w/ my boost gauge, i thought it didnt matter which place you put it.. Thanks



As far as the turbo, it is stock. There was an older lady who had it before me, so there was really no abuse on the car. And so far since i've had it, i haven't been just giving it hell. But i did put some lucas oil stablizer in it and it helped out some. Could the turbo just be bad because it has never really been "got on to" or turbo timed??? I'm still getting crappy starts anybody have any clue to what that might be?..Thanks

 

[bluetlr2001]

You may be running lean that is what mine was doing when you fisrt start it. It would idle low then idle up. It may also be your fiav going bad which will cause it to idle low when you first start it

 

[stanlis]

Maybe that is what it is, here is a look at my log. Going from 3rd gear.

2558 0.00 33
2644 0.00 23
2746 0.93 5
2945 0.93 6
3160 0.93 7
3363 0.93 7
3554 0.93 8
3718 0.95 9
4054 0.95 10
4371 0.95 10
4515 0.95 10
4796 0.95 11
5085 0.95 12
5203 0.95 13
5460 0.93 15
5730 0.93 17
5996 0.93 17
6324 0.93 16
6515 0.93 17

There it is, idk if it's good or not. So ya'll tell me the good, bad and the ugly. Also it was only running at 96% throttle and i check it to make sure it was opening all the way and it is???

 

[stanlis]

I've been reading on this some, and i think my numbers are bad. I think my numbers should be between 20-25???.. Well another thing i read was that if it was having to retard it, then it was sparking to late or something. My car is mostly stock so how would this happen?? I'm still thinking it's my coil pack..

 

[forcefed4]

I'm no expert on tuning, but your timing is low between 2700-3700ish...
If I didn't forget my palm at work I would post one of mine for comparison.
o2 readings do not look too bad, mine runs .94 at wot. you may be getting phantom knock. are you sure you have good gas?


edit- dont worry too much about your tps being at 96, mine is 97 at wot, your tps is just slightly off. If you are really worried about it check out http://www.plymouthlaser.com/tps.htm

 

[stanlis]

What's phantom knock?.. I dont run nothing other than 93oct, so i'm thinking that it couldn't be bad gas... I put a boost controller on my car and lowerd the boost down to 10psi and it got worse, it pulled timing all the way down to 3 degrees.. I honestly dont wanna blow nothing up, so with me gettin on it and it bringing timing down that much, how bad is it messing up my engine? And is there anything other things i can check for?

 

[stanlis]

I'm not sure if this will help figure out the problem, but i can reset my ecu and for the first couple of mins my car will hardly run at all.. It will idle real low and try to cut off???