Stumped (drivetrain, ignition, etc)

[DKneble]

First off the car has been running great for the last couple of months, making 450awhp on pump gas and over 600 on race. By far the best it had ever been running since I finally got some time to tune it.

About two weeks ago I decided to route my PCV back into my SMIM instead of just doing the catch can just to see if it would be a little more driveable (my tune did account for air loss through the pcv). Thats about when things started going wrong, whether its related or not I don't know.

-Lifter tick got noticeably louder, to the point I'm considering swapping them now for 3gs.
-Started getting another "crackling" noice from the valve cover area that sounds like a spark arching...I have COP setup and checked all the boots but can't find anywhere it would be arching from.
-Clutch engagement is getting sloppy which I'm hoping is just the master cylinder going out so I ordered a new one already (Its an ACT2900 btw).
-Vibration that is related to engine speed but only when the car is moving (ie clutch engaged)
-HUGE loss in power!!! Feels like 200hp, not 450hp, and car is hesitant. Feels like its trying to put the power down but something is holding it back (like the motor is struggling to push the car). BTW clutch was not slipping at all.

So far here is what I have thought of and my plans thus far but I'm worried there could be something I am not thinking of:
-Ordered new boots and springs for the COP setup (overdue anyway)
-Ordered new plugs just in case BPR7es gapped to .024
-Ordered new master cylinder and motul clutch fluid (will do full flush of system and adjust pedal)
-Reroute PCV back into catch can
-There were NO boost leaks up 40psi
-NO exhaust leaks and AFR was always on the mark
-Replacing fuel filter which was clogged (could this do all that?)
-Compression is 158-160-158-157

I am thinking that it is yanking timing but I don't know why it would (here is my reasoning):
Turbo is still flowing the same CFM and PSI and afr is still dead on so therefore its still getting the same amount of fuel. Only thing that would make it decrease power would be if it pulled timing which should only happen if its getting knock. I have my stock boost guage setup to display knock but it doesnt show anything when I'm driving so that doesn't make sense to me.

Any ideas? I was also considering that my x-case may be damaged and binding or my clutch is somehow damaged but it only has about 8k miles on it (along with the trans which is a brand new shep stg 4 trans)

Dave (This one has me pondering)

PS - Could bearing failure on the crank do this? I thought that would have alot more noise with it though.

 

[turbizzle]

Quite the problem you have, the good news is it dosent sound like anything to serious. As far as the fuel pump being plugged, yes it has the power to do this but in your case if the afr stayed normal then it wasnt your filter that caused the problem(this would have made you run lean). As far as the bearing goes it could do that, its a bit extreme for it to cause that much power loss and you not know for certain it was the bearing. Cause it would be screaming at you, and your engine would have probably ceized already. What i would do is have your car scanned for codes, find out which monitor failed and start from there. you cant really diagnose the problem without knowing exactly what it is.

 

[DKneble]

Well its not throwing any codes right b/c I have them disabled in DSMlink and since I have already started the tear down I can't really check now...I realize now that I should have done some logging before I put her up on jackstands but too late.

I'm trying to do some process of elimination though first and would appreciate any feedback:

In order for a bearing (crank or rod) to cause this I would assume that it would have to be pretty badly eaten up and therefore there should be some metal in the pan...so if I drain the oil and check the plug and there isn't any metal do you think its safe to rule that out for now?

Also since compression is good, rule out rings, bent rod or HG? (Didn't notice any huge amounts of white smoke)

Trans is new and shifts fine so I don't suspect that it has anything to do with this.

Transfer case has me a little worried since I know they don't like 600+hp and it is original on the car. Fluid level should be good since I filled it a month ago but I'll check it. Aside from fluid level how can I check the health of the case? Just try to turn the input and see if the output turns too?

Rear end should be fine...I think if that would have gone then there would be parts everywhere

Clutch engagement worries me but it is not slipping so how else could the clutch affect acceleration?

New master cylinder comes today so I'll be doing that but not sure what to do next. Probably going to try to inspect clutch/flywheel for anything obvious and if I don't see anything button her back up and drive it a few miles.

Dave (my DSM lives in my back pocket)

 

[turbizzle]

well if there was nothing in the pan as far as metal shavings go, then you can definately rule out the bearing. In these cars they use a viscious coupling method of transfereing power to the rear, so if yours was out you wouldn't be down on power just blowing off the front tires every launch. so you can rule this out to. when you get on it, did it ever have a miss or feel like one of the cylinders cut out? mine developed this problem and it turned out to be the coils. it wasnt really a miss were the engine ran rough, just where it also seemed to be down on power. fortuneatly mine was an interminent so it was fairly easy to catch. but this might be your problem. check your coils for proper resistance on both primary and secondary circuits.( primary should be between 1-4ohms, secondary resistance should be 2-5k ohms)

 

[DKneble]

how would I check each coil independently (what range am I looking for for resistance)?

300m coils

Thanks for the info on the x-case, I forgot what type of coupler they used.

If a knock sensor went bad or shorted out, does the ecu pull timing automatically (like a limp mode) or not?

Dave

And it doesn't feel like missing, the car doesn't buck under accel....it just feels like i'm trying to pull a dump truck behind me. The motor sounds like its workin hard and timing belt has not jumped btw.