It may be the leaks. You need to fix them then do another pull to see if it fixes the problem. It almost answered your own question. If you still have knock check your knock sensor. If it has some gunk coming out of it then it is bad. I had the same problem and it turned out to be that the knock sensor had vibrated out causing the motor to knock and pull timing like crazy.

Fix all the boost leaks. There could be one on a metal surface and when it gets warm the metal expands and closes where it is leaking. Which would make it better. Mine did this because there was a small hole in the turbo outlet. You need to find out why it is knocking also.

Since we turned down the boost, the knock was gone. I'm fairly certain since it isn't knocking like crazy that the sensor must be in at least decent shape and not hanging out or anything.

I tried another boost leak test the other day. Required alot of patience cause the nipple on my IC pipe where my mbc connects was leaking so it made it hard to pinpoint real leaks. I couldn't find anything though. Tried spraying soapy water around the TB, turbo outlet, and any coupling i could find on the intercooler piping. Saw no soapy bubbles so I must be good there.

I've read about checking the coil pack with a multimeter but it doesn't make much sense to me. To check the primary resistance do I put the multimeter inside the terminals of the plug I disconnect from the coil pack or do i touch them to the pins inside the connector? Even my Haynes was pretty vague on this.

I think I need a better mbc for one (I have a feeling this one is either homemade or a e-bay one, last owner purchased and installed it ) but what else can I check?

This is what my maf looks like:

I know thats not good but could it be that alone?

check the gaps on the plugs, i had the same problem about a week ago. my gap was set at .044 (stupid autozone) then i closed it in to about .029....and wallah! problem solved!! i'd check that first. gluck!

ADR2g said:

check the gaps on the plugs, i had the same problem about a week ago. my gap was set at .044 (stupid autozone) then i closed it in to about .029....and wallah! problem solved!! i'd check that first. gluck!

Click to expand...

Already put new plugs and gapped them correctly. Thanks for the response though.

Tonight I was driving home and noticed the problem coming on after driving for about 10 min so I decided to play with it some. When I accelerate slowly there's alot of jerking, if I punch it hard, the jerking is very minimal, but it feels like theres very little power, almost like im trying to accelerate in too high of a gear. I then pulled up to the 4-way stop and got on it really hard and it ran seemingly better but i noticed my boost going up to 15psi (according to my aftermarket boost gauge) where it's only set to 10. I made a couple more passes up and down the road, without varying results (either 10 or 15psi, sometimes moving around a bit during the run).

I need a new MBC I'm sure cause this is a cheap ebay one, but what else could the problem be here? I'm tired of fixing!

Got a Concept Illusions MBC on the way. Tonight I noticed my boost going all the way to like 18 psi.

Anything else it could possibly be causing this crap? I don't understand why a crappy mbc would cause a vibe like this

The problem is almost constant now. It happens 95% of the time I'm driving. What else is there to check?!

Sometimes it seems like 1st gear particularly has issues. When I get on it hard in 1st, it is doggggggy but once I shift to second, it seems extensively better (although not quite right). This also seems to be worst in the high rpms.

How are your O2v? Could you post a log of RPM, timing, knock, and O2v? I know that on a 2g, the ECU can enter limp mode when the O2 sensor is flaking out, but my recollection on that is a bit hazy - maybe do a search on "limp mode".

How's your fuel economy? If it's sucking fuel (running rich), that'd be good to know. Any other signs of it running pig rich (read the plugs, black exhaust smoke, gas smell)?

If your MBC vac line is leaking, that's a boost leak.

I assume you received and installed that new MBC. How's your boost behaving now?

kenamond said:

How are your O2v? Could you post a log of RPM, timing, knock, and O2v? I know that on a 2g, the ECU can enter limp mode when the O2 sensor is flaking out, but my recollection on that is a bit hazy - maybe do a search on "limp mode".

How's your fuel economy? If it's sucking fuel (running rich), that'd be good to know. Any other signs of it running pig rich (read the plugs, black exhaust smoke, gas smell)?

If your MBC vac line is leaking, that's a boost leak.

I assume you received and installed that new MBC. How's your boost behaving now?

Click to expand...

The MBC situation is a sad one. I'm in the middle of a claim with the ebay seller that I tried to buy my new one from. Warning to the wise: Beware of Concept Illusions!!

Anyways, here's my most recent log (It's about 90 days old. My new palm will be here within several days and I can take a new log then, I was getting the same symptoms at the time of this log though so I expect similar results.)

Time RPM Knck o2v Timing
143.45, 4812.50, 3.00, 0.94, 17.00
143.70, 4875.00, 3.00, 0.94, 17.00
143.95, 5156.25, 2.00, 0.94, 18.00
144.21, 5187.50, 3.00, 0.94, 18.00
144.47, 5468.75, 2.00, 0.94, 19.00
144.73, 5500.00, 2.00, 0.94, 20.00
145.00, 5687.50, 2.00, 0.94, 21.00
145.26 5812.50, 1.00, 0.94, 21.00
145.48, 6000.00, 1.00, 0.94, 21.00
145.68, 6093.75, 2.00, 0.94, 20.00
145.88, 6281.25, 2.00, 0.94, 19.00
146.08, 6312.50, 2.00, 0.94, 19.00
146.28, 6312.50, 1.00, 0.94, 18.00
146.48, 6500.00, 1.00, 0.94, 18.00
146.68, 6531.25, 1.00, 0.94, 18.00
146.88, 6718.75, 0.00, 0.94, 19.00
147.08, 6687.50, 1.00, 0.94, 17.00
147.29, 6687.50, 1.00, 0.92, 17.00
147.49, 6937.50, 0.00, 0.94, 19.00
147.71, 6500.00, 0.00, 0.76, 28.00
147.94, 5593.75, 0.00, 0.94, 18.00
148.19, 4750.00, 0.00, 0.94, 17.00
148.44, 4750.00, 0.00, 0.94, 18.00
148.69, 4812.50, 0.00, 0.94, 18.00
148.94, 4937.50, 0.00, 0.94, 18.00
149.19, 5000.00, 0.00, 0.94, 18.00
149.44, 5062.50, 0.00, 0.94, 18.00
149.69, 5062.50, 0.00, 0.94, 18.00
149.94, 5156.25, 0.00, 0.94, 19.00
150.19, 5250.00, 0.00, 0.94, 20.00
150.45, 5250.00, 0.00, 0.94, 20.00
150.71, 5343.75, 0.00, 0.94, 21.00
150.97, 5437.50, 0.00, 0.94, 20.00
151.23, 5500.00, 1.00, 0.94, 21.00
151.49, 5468.75, 0.00, 0.94, 22.00
151.75, 5656.25, 0.00, 0.94, 22.00
152.00, 5593.75, 0.00, 0.94, 21.00
152.25, 5656.25, 1.00, 0.94, 21.00
152.50, 5718.75, 0.00, 0.94, 22.00
152.75, 5843.75, 0.00, 0.94, 23.00
153.01, 5781.25, 0.00, 0.94, 23.00
153.26, 5843.75, 0.00, 0.94, 23.00
153.50, 5937.50, 0.00, 0.94, 23.00
153.74, 6093.75, 0.00, 0.94, 23.00
153.98, 6156.25, 0.00, 0.94, 23.00
154.19, 6093.75, 0.00, 0.94, 22.00
154.39, 6250.00, 0.00, 0.92, 22.00
154.60, 6125.00, 1.00, 0.92, 21.00
154.80, 6281.25, 1.00, 0.92, 21.00
154.99, 6281.25, 0.00, 0.92, 21.00
155.18, 6281.25, 0.00, 0.92, 21.00
155.38, 6250.00, 0.00, 0.92, 20.00
155.57, 6406.25, 0.00, 0.92, 20.00
155.77, 6406.25, 0.00, 0.92, 20.00
155.96, 6468.75, 0.00, 0.92, 20.00
156.16, 6500.00, 0.00, 0.92, 20.00
156.37, 6531.25, 0.00, 0.92, 19.00
156.57, 6500.00, 1.00, 0.92, 18.00
156.77, 6593.75, 0.00, 0.92, 18.00
156.97, 6718.75, 0.00, 0.92, 18.00
157.17, 6687.50, 0.00, 0.92, 19.00
157.37, 6656.25, 0.00, 0.92, 19.00
157.57, 6718.75, 0.00, 0.92, 19.00

As you can see my knck isn't too shabby (considering I've done no tuning...), is my o2v close to where it should be or not? For the record, I'm not throwing any CELs.

My MBC line isn't leaking, I actually just replaced those lines. When I try to run a boost leak test, my MBC leaks air, but that's normal from what I've read on here (right?).

There's no smoke, and I'll certainly pull my plugs and give them a look later tonight or early tomorrow (black == rich, white == lean, right?). There is kind of a gassy smell sometimes when I accelerate. I credit this to my test pipe though.

Fuel economy seems a little on the poor side, I don't have an exact number, but I'd say I'm probably 3-4mpg below avg.

I finally got a good working logger and experimented more. During good WOT pulls, I get no knock but there's terrible phantom knock under normal street driving conditions and usually my jerkyness/power loss is when there's retarded timing. So I'm going to replace the knock sensor and then see what happens.