1G Breaking up under boost in cold weather

[mspaintexe]

92 Talon TSI, ETS intercooler, Tial wastegate set to 12PSI stock MAF. In weather above 50F, the car runs and boosts perfect, but once it falls below that the car breaks up badly under boost. No matter how much I let the car warm up, as long as the outside airtemp is below 50 degrees it does this. Can too cold intake air cause this? The intake pipe just before the throttle body is always ice cold if I have been driving at all. Could it be the denser air causing fuel starvation? I thought initially it was spark blowout and I got NGK BPR7ES gapped at .026 but still the same issue.

 

[mspaintexe]

Just checked the IAT, and the resistance stays the same no matter the temp, I started off with ambient (40F) then hit it with a hairdryer on medium and the reading did not change. I may use this as an excuse to get a MAFT since I already have a GM 3 bar MAP and GM IAT sitting on a shelf.

 

[We're on Boost]

Just checked the IAT, and the resistance stays the same no matter the temp, I started off with ambient (40F) then hit it with a hairdryer on medium and the reading did not change.

Well good, that's an actual problem that can be fixed, one way or another!

I may use this as an excuse to get a MAFT since I already have a GM 3 bar MAP and GM IAT sitting on a shelf.

This is confusing, do you mean a GM MAF and a MAF Translator?
If so, how would you use a GM 3 bar MAP and GM IAT? Those are usually used with speed-density.

 

[mspaintexe]

Well good, that's an actual problem that can be fixed, one way or another!


This is confusing, do you mean a GM MAF and a MAF Translator?
If so, how would you use a GM 3 bar MAP and GM IAT? Those are usually used with speed-density.

Oh I totally misread GM MAF as MAP when I was reading up on it. My fault. I assumed it was a MAP IAT setup, not just a GM MAF. One letter difference it can get confusing.

 

[mspaintexe]

I would love to just get ECMLink and go speed density but dont want to shell out $600+ and thats assuming my ECU has the Eprom which I haven't even checked.

 

[We're on Boost]

I would love to just get ECMLink and go speed density but dont want to shell out $600+ and thats assuming my ECU has the Eprom which I haven't even checked.

Yeah.
What is it then that you are thinking about changing over to, if you were to use something other than the stock 1g MAF (or MAS as it's sometimes called just for the sake of more confusion )

 

[pauleyman]

If you're going to upgrade I would suggest ecmlink over a MAFT. Yes it costs more. Does WAY more. Even on a bone stock car ecmlink is hands down one of the best diagnostic tools you could have

 

[92AWDHX40]

With ecmlink you have a great start and is more than you will need.

 

[habitatguy187]

I would love to just get ECMLink and go speed density but dont want to shell out $600+ and thats assuming my ECU has the Eprom which I haven't even checked.

Ppl are asking for $600-800 but are selling for less. I would bet that there’s hundreds of un-used ecmlinks laying around in ppls garages. Also, your stock ecu could be sold to help cover some of the costs.

 

[Spleen8urLSX]

From someone who has used the maf translator, if the stock maf was working before get another for the time being. It had its place and time and worked as well as any other piggyback except if the weather changes your WOT settings end up all out of whack and you find yourself fooling with it to get it back right, just to have the weather change and have to mess with it again, on top of using some form of data logger and your wideband to set it up initially as the base settings are just that and the mid and wot settings vary from car to car. As cheap as a 1g maf can be had for just find a replacement for the time being as anything other than a stock maf is going to require being backed up by some sort of piggyback or compensated for in ecmlink. If the stock maf was working for your set up before you have nothing to gain right now by switching for something else and it’s definitely not worth the headache of monkeying around with a maf translator.

 

[We're on Boost]

I still have my original 1g MAF (from my 1990) that I could sell pretty cheap. I noticed the reman 1g MAFs that you can buy on Rock Auto are about $100 plus shipping plus a $25 core charge. I'd sell mine for a lot less than that.
I don't think the 1990 is any different than the 91-94 but if there's a diff somebody in here would know.
Anyway, it was working fine as far as I could tell when I took it off the car. I can check the resistance of the IAT and Baro parts of it. And I have logs from when I was using it before I switched to a GM MAF. The way I switched to a GM MAF was a good way but it was expensive and a lot of wiring work, and for me it was not the final solution.

 

[mspaintexe]

I'm probably going to end up biting the bullet and getting ECM link I'll browse the classifieds and see if anyone's selling it pretty cheap it's okay because the car isn't my daily anyway so no big deal on the rush I don't drive it in the winter anyway. Hell e85 is so cheap where I am (2.10 vs 3.89 for 93) I may end up running that if I get ECM link. Of course that would mean bigger injectors and fuel pump which is more money. I have an AEM v1 for my 3000GT VR4 and I've been getting the hang of tuning using that. From what I heard you Ecm link is even easier to tune. I may have to wait until I get out of university in may and get a job to do all that though. Cars going to be in storage the moment they salt the roads anyway.

 

[We're on Boost]

I'm probably going to end up biting the bullet and getting ECM link

Good.

I don't drive it in the winter anyway.

Good.

Hell e85 is so cheap where I am (2.10 vs 3.89 for 93) I may end up running that if I get ECM link.

Good. Flex fuel even better.

From what I heard you Ecm link is even easier to tune.

True.

Cars going to be in storage the moment they salt the roads anyway.

Excellent!

Jeez I'm running out of words here !

BTW I see there isn't exactly a test for the Baro on the 1g MAF. Apparently all you can do is check for the +5 volt supply voltage from the harness, on terminal #4 in the harness plug. And the Baro is supposed to throw a diagnostic code #25 if it is bad, and I was always checking for codes and never saw any MAF or Baro or IAT related codes.

 

[DSMPT]

Just checked the IAT, and the resistance stays the same no matter the temp, I started off with ambient (40F) then hit it with a hairdryer on medium and the reading did not change. I may use this as an excuse to get a MAFT since I already have a GM 3 bar MAP and GM IAT sitting on a shelf.

That's great that you found something that seems to be related to the issue. We can't be sure if this was the only cause of the issue yet, but at least you found a thing that you have to fix. This is why most of OGs here recommend to start from basic maintenance, do first things first is important. If you skipped this part, everything was going to be guesswork and would cause you to spend more money and time to replace all suspicious parts that were actually not bad.

I have an AEM v1 for my 3000GT VR4 and I've been getting the hang of tuning using that

AEM v1 box itself would probably be much cheaper than ECMLink nowadays, but go with ECMLink as everyone recommended above unless you are already expert with AEM. Especially if your car is stock-ish now, it would be much easier to start and you would have less trouble and more help than AEM v1.