97 eclipse

[JeffGS-T97]

Thank you for the help you guys, i tend to over think pretty much everything to the point that i stop re-do it multiple time and eventually end up in stasis. Now i feel assured to proceed. The screw driver trick works well Tony, always good to have an extra technique in the knowledge arsenal.

 

[JeffGS-T97]

Doing the timing over again was a blessing in disguise though, while tightening the cam bolt the gear adjust slightly about 3° R. On the intake. So i reset it and torqued the adjustment bolts over. I figured being HKS they would be torqued to spec from them. They are now and tragedy avoided.According to my torque wrench they were all under by several inch pounds. Talk about getting lucky.

 

[JeffGS-T97]

Just finished setting the timing again have to keep getting back in there for odds and ends. Here's the marks. Look solid my DSM bretheran?

Hoping to do some driving tomorrow

 

[JeffGS-T97]

Stayed up a little later than i should but i was able to finish reassembly and get the car back on four wheels. Got some concerns though. There is no parasitic power draw but the optima battery is in constant need to be recharged so it must be defective unfortunately. Which comes to issue 2. The transistor pack has to be faulty. Now if my facts are straight the 1 and 2g use the same pack. I bought a remanufactured one and the car won't even start. I'm thinking of going used OEM and try to hunt down some heat sink compound like some of you guys suggested. Another important need is some fuel, it can't be good for the pump being as low as it is, its just under 1/8 cap. Get all this done and I can begin cleaning up the tune and make some extra power.
This time the reason i broke into the head was lifter based. I rebled the lifters and let them soak in oil a few days, they didn't stiffen how they should resulting in low valve lift. Don't think anything was damaged but it was enough to run like crap and have a significant drop in power.
Hopefully i can be ready to post a driving video and might do a few pulls and share them.

 

[AWD-Tony]

Timing looks good. When you soaked the lifters, did you pump them while they're soaked? This will fill them with oil and make them stiff.

 

[JeffGS-T97]

Timing looks good. When you soaked the lifters, did you pump them while they're soaked? This will fill them with oil and make them stiff.

Sure did Tony i think you gave me that tip back this March when i switched from 1g lifters to the type 3's. I just had an attack of the stupids when i installed them the time before this .
The start up thismorning was really smooth. Before the engine would stumble on a dry start. The valves must have not been opening enough with the lifters soft, it's really the only thing i can think of that was out of place. It definitely didn't like going past 30%TP it would choke like it ran out of fuel. Had plenty of fuel the FP raised perfectly 1:1 under load but exactly on the nose of 30% it stalled. Stabbing the throttle now no longer presents the issue, then again i haven't thrown a big helping of boost in there yet.

 

[JeffGS-T97]

Alright test drive was disheartening...
Amazing idle just perfect. The moment i start putting heavy load to the engine it falls flat and then throttle off it starts sputtering like crazy and require foot work with the throttle to prevent dying. One you do that the idle usually returns to normal but the revs rise to 1300 then drops to 800 once about every 2 seconds. Turn the car off a few seconds try to restart and it doesn't have the juice to engage the starter. This brick wall it hits under throttle is this battery related just not able to deliver enough fuel and spark for the engine do to lack of battery output? I have a damn optima battery for Christ's sake and it performs like garbage. The alternator tested perfect a couple weeks ago so im guessing something has gone wrong with the battery. When i turn the key to restart car my voltmeter reads between 9.6v and 9.9v after being off for about 10 to 20 seconds. I don't know if the redtop can be tested at the parts store accurately. Optima states that they cant be charged by ordinary chargers. So im thinking they couldn't do a proper diagnosis.

 

[AWD-Tony]

What’s the battery voltage when this starts happening? Do you have a spare maf?

 

[JeffGS-T97]

It drops to around 10.3 - 11.2
I had a spare MAF but it is defective the car runs horrible when its equipped.
I also suspect the transistor pack but can't seem to locate how the test it with a multimeter. I just dropped off my red top and it has to be charged so i have to wait an hour and a half until they can get results. To be honest im really hoping the battery is just garbage and it causing all these annoying gremlins. Alternator tested good about a month ago. All this random crap is getting very frustrating and getting to the point i don't want to make time to work on it

This is me working on my car as of late
=>
Over and over and over

 

[JeffGS-T97]

Update just got called by the auto place and it is worse than bad, its lower than the last 1/4 life span according to the machine. Instructions were replace battery.

 

[AWD-Tony]

Trust me Jeff, we’ve all been there and sometimes you need to take a break. Is the voltage dropping before it starts acting up or as it’s acting up. Any drop in rpm will cause low voltage readings, I’m sure you’re aware.

 

[AWD-Tony]

That’s one gremblin. Hopefully that’s all it is

 

[JeffGS-T97]

That’s one gremblin. Hopefully that’s all it is

I appreciate the support brother. Now i have to some how get my warrenty to activate so i can get a new one. I bought it from the Optima official website cuz i dont trust 2nd party battery vendors.

 

[JeffGS-T97]

I appreciate the support brother. Now i have to some how get my warrenty to activate so i can get a new one. I bought it from the Optima official website cuz i dont trust 2nd party battery vendors.

Well brother they denied my warranty. I only had that since February. I will never buy optima again. All my duralast batteries i have ever bought have lasted an average of 7 years. Its very apparent paying for a brand isn't always the best. Ive been talking to people that have gone through 3 red tops in under 3 years and always had issues with them honoring the warranty. I suggest anyone that reads this to think carefully before buying an over priced pile of crap and keep it simple. IMO the normal duralast battery has been the most reliable battery I have ever used. My srt4 battery was 8 years old, and duralast. Sold the car battery still worked like new.

 

[pauleyman]

Have you at least tried charging it?

 

[Dericsh]

I just read earlier on the tundra page that optima batteries aren’t what they used to be. It said they changed ownership a few years ago, I don’t remember reading anything about that but I wasn’t surprised.

 

[JeffGS-T97]

Have you at least tried charging it?

At least and i mean this literally to the max, over 50 times. Its been an on going issue that originally was thought to be a hidden parasitic draw. It was premature battery degradation. Ive been working on cars since i was 9 and would not come to this conclusion without doing something as basic as recharging the battery. The rate of degredation has exponentially increased over the past 3 months. I refused to test the battery at first due to refusing to believe a redtop would go bad in under a year so my guess was always bad ground or volt regulator on the alternator. It has been trickle charged each of those 50 times and believe me it was annoying every time. i actually drove the car around with a 50 foot extension cord and fast charger so i didn't get stranded.

 

[JeffGS-T97]

I just read earlier on the tundra page that optima batteries aren’t what they used to be. It said they changed ownership a few years ago, I don’t remember reading anything about that but I wasn’t surprised.

Man that is pretty crazy. You certainly cant rule out something just because its new and expensive and i spent so much time chasing my tail. Should have gotten it load tested the first time it went dead. I got my old battery out that was in there before and it started the car with charging it . Just been sitting on the garage shelf since Feb.

 

[pauleyman]

Man that is pretty crazy. You certainly cant rule out something just because its new and expensive and i spent so much time chasing my tail. Should have gotten it load tested the first time it went dead. I got my old battery out that was in there before and it started the car with charging it . Just been sitting on the garage shelf since Feb.

I recently read up on ago technology and realized it took some doing to charge one. Just a thought. Even though I had an agm charger it still didnt work when it got really low.

 

[JeffGS-T97]

I recently read up on ago technology and realized it took some doing to charge one. Just a thought. Even though I had an agm charger it still didnt work when it got really low.

Yeah the battery came with a small instruction book that alludes to using specific optima chargers to get their peak potential. My buddy swears by these batteries and i used his optima charger and followed the directions to a t. When i unhooked it i threw my multimeter on to watch the charge degen. It dropped .05v every one to two seconds. I might think this a fluke but I bought my buddies car with a 6 month old redtop installed. That battery never made it to the end of the year. That one lost all charge completely. I'm 0-2 on these batteries and 250$ is way too much to take a third chance on. Back then they denied me a replacement as well. I don't know how they stay in business treating their customers this way. I'm sure some people have great luck with optima, I however would buy a $50 economy blue light special battery in there before id put an optima back in. The generic battery would probably perform better.

 

[JeffGS-T97]

I will start out positive on the first part of this update. Car starts great with the old battery battery isn't degrading while resting and hooked to the terminals so the parasitic issue was the optima as suspected.
Now for the negative stuff...
Car operates incredibly smooth, top notch idle all that. Trying to build boost is impossible it just doesnt do it. I hear a weird faint hum coming from somewhere when i press the throttle enough to start boosting. Let off and and it gets pissed like its been under fueled. AFR registers as rich??? It lines out with a steady 10 to 20% throttle while moving. I'm guess the following and let me know if you suspect other variables.
1. Turbo is going out.
2. Boost leak that isn't showing itself on a BLT.
3. MAF malfunction as suggested by Tony
4. Coil Transistor pack.
There is a CEL, and one count of detonation. The code is P1105 fuel solenoid circuit. Perhaps this is triggered by a 5th option being a faulty fuel pump.
Kind of where im at, not sure what i should look into first after a BLT.
My head is ported to match up with the 1g intake manifold and i used the 1g MLS gasket on the intake manifold joint. Im hoping that wasn't a mistake.

 

[AWD-Tony]

Hard on to diag over the web. Can you post a video?

 

[JeffGS-T97]

Yeah i can put one up i just down think that humming sound will show up though. I will focus the camera on the pressure gauge it really illustrates some strange behavior. I did a BLT and there is no way it shouldn't be able to build boost.

 

[JeffGS-T97]

heres a video i tried really hard to show everything and the hum did in fact show up on audio.

 

[DSMPT]

Jeff, check the turbo for shaft play. you may have a blown turbo or massive exhaust leak...
When a turbo goes bad, it would sometimes make some sort of hum noise (high pitch noise), so if you hear it under the hood and no pressure is built, you should suspect it first. Exhaust leak also would make weird noise.