car trying to stall while moving - any ideas?

[Dortmunder13]

Okay, heres the deal:

Last week I installed a boost gauge, cause I figured it was time after I had done my other mods. I was hitting 16psi with the stock boost controller...so, I went out and bought a hallman.

I installed it with the screw basically all the way out and it is set at about 14psi, which is fine for me.

However, since I've installed it, the car has been randomly almost-stalling while I'm moving. What happens is, the CEL comes on, theres a bunch of click sounds like I'm starting the car and the battery is dead, the abs light flashes, and then it all comes back. My power steering doesnt die and the car stays alive, but the RPMs drop to below idle.

Anyway, the first couple times it happened I either pressed my brakes or turned the lights on, so I figured I might have shorted something when I wired up the lights for the boost gauge, even though it worked fine before the boost controller. For a while I thought I Had fixed everything, but then the car pulled the same thing going about 45mph without me hitting the brakes or anything else electrical.

After that, the car idled at about 500-550 RPM until I got to where I was going which was about 10 minutes away. I parked it for 4 hours, came out, started up fine, idle was perfect, drove home fine (about 6 miles). Boost is still a solid 14psi and the car was great on the way home.

I've checked the boost controller lines and they seem fine although I'm not sure how well the compressor line is attached to the compressor because it was pretty hard for me to get a zip tie around it.

A couple other things--
When I installed the boost controller I noticed that there was nothing plugged into the plug in the airbox that should have a line from the stock BCS. That line was just hanging there (and still is, I left the BCS in to prevent a CEL). The hole was not plugged, but when I installed the controller I plugged it with a vacum plug.

When I installed my boost gauge I also switched my BOV from venting to recirculating because I read that it was bad to vent. The car was fine when I was venting and I never had any idle problems but I know that I wouldn't actually feel it when I was driving so I went ahead and recirculated. The car was fine between when I changed the bov back to recirculating and when I installed the boost controller.

Tomorrow I'm gonna go over everything with a voltmeter - what kind of voltage should I be getting at the interior light dimmer switch (where I wired the boost gauge light) ? Also, the switch doesnt work anymore, the lights just stay all the way bright. I cut the plug out of the car and soldered longer wires on it to make attaching the boost gauge wires easier, but this shouldn't affect the dimmer switch, and I used better wire then what was already in the car so I dont think thats a problem.

What kind of voltage should I Get across the terminals of my battery? I have no idea how old it is, its at least a year old (came with the car) and its a 5yr OEM mitsubishi battery. I have no idea if the battery in the car has ever been replaced but I assume it has since its a 95...could this be a sympton of a dying battery?

Any ideas are appreciated, thanks.

 

[Chris95GST]

I have had the same problem before. Mine was a bad MAP sensor due to an improper intake manifold swap though. I did learn many other things that can cause this. The air intake line sounds like the problem to me. It might be giving the MAS sesnor bad readings. I also don't think you installed your BC correctly. Take it to someone that knows DSMs and see what they think. Does it happen more when you put your clutch in?

 

[Chris95GST]

Also are you terminals connected to your battery tightly.

 

[TurboAxe]

The first thing I'd do is get a battery and clean the terminals real well. This could be a problem of the battery. I had a problem with my car shuddering during acceleration and after my battery died, I cleaned the terminals and installed a new battery and my car started running well again. A new battery works wonders. If any thing else, at least make sure your terminals are good clean. Now on another note, I had a similar problem when i had a crank position sensor go out. My car would run fine, then I'd hit a bump or just be plain driving and my rpms would drop to just about dead and then come right back. My check egine light would come on then go right back off after a few seconds. It finally came on and stayed on and I went to get it checked and discovered that it was the crank position sensor.
Try the battery and if you still have problems try and get that cel code checked when it stays on.

Hope that helps

Later

 

[Dortmunder13]

I'm pretty sure the BC is installed correctly- I followed the instuctions on the hallman website. One line goes to the wastegate, the other line goes to the nipple on the compressor side of the turbo that the line that used to go to the wastegate was T'd too (if that makes any sense)

I'll clean the battery termincals and tighten everything up tomorrow, thanks

Edit - Oh, and I'm not sure about when the clutch is in, its happened with it in and with it out - the first time it was out, next two times it was in, next time (when I was just cruising at about 45) it was out...the other thing is when I had the boost gauge light powered, if I turned on say my turn signal all my lights including my headlights flickered when the turn signal turned on, so I'll definitely have to check that wiring again. When its light out.

 

[mr2gixxer]

dortmunder13- Did you ever get your problem fixed? I am having the same exact problems you have regarding this. Please let me know if you remedied the problem. Thanks!!!!! Email me at [email protected]

 

[Dortmunder13]

Yeah, I just tightened everything on the battery, something was loose.