Car just stops pulling....sometimes...

[insanewayne]

Hey guys,
Sorry to bother you with a "what's wrong with my car question" but I've been reading for the last week on it and I'm stuck.
Ok, so, my car is bone stock, 14b, free mods, and a crack in my valve cover....(it was cracked before, got a new one, my friends dad says he knows what he's doin, (he's 64) so he cracks my new one...after I told him 6 times how it's thin alluminum and they crack damn easy. There hard to find here on vancouver island, and the gasket is 50$)

So all i have is the free mods....ok so my friends sells me the car, new O2 sensor, new clutch new brakes new T-belt...says the car stopped pulling for him...then the day before he sells it to me, he notices and exhaust manifold nut backed off quite a ways, tightens it down, pulls like new again. I get the car....good for week....then weird shit starts happening...I recently retightened the nut so the manifolds not leaking, besides i was gettin full boost while the problem was happening anyways.(im not right now cause i have to snug it down again..but im like 2-3 mm's under 1.0 kg vac pressure on the POS stock boost gauge)

Ok, so enough with that, here's the problem....driving along...2000 rpm boost is rising...3k im at full boost..and the car stops pulling...lil ####in slut just doesnt want to pull...boost stays up, RPM's keep rising...but no pull...it's like its out of steam....I also have an exhaust leak in my flexpipe section, so it loud and sounds like shit. But i can get up to 6K and it feels almost like it pulling less then at 3K...

Now here's the ####ed up part....its doesnt always happen...i'll head out to my g/fs house..feel like doin a nice lil rip off the light...bam i'm haulin ass in 1st till 5500, slam 2nd start laying a patch in 2nd gear (real bald tires) and im doin 110 (km/h) in 3rd, in no time.....but lets say on the way back from her house (just an examlple...it does either one whenever it wants) it just wont pull....

I'm stuck guys...It's got me stumped cause its not consitent. Is my timing getin pulled?, Do i have a boost leak? But if i do then why am i gettin full boost? cause the gauge takes vac pressure from the intake manifold (right?) so if there was a leak it would be before the manifold in the IC, or Tubing, right?.....o yeh and one more thing....this may sound very stupid not to have mentioned....but i cleaned my IC, and did the silencer mod at the same time....and afterwards i noticed a differnt turbo hissing sound...not like a nice louder one..almost like its "pshhhh" ing out somewhere...but i ruled that out cause i'm still gettin full boost on the POS gauge?...but ive heard that cleanin the IC can actually clean out dirt that was glogging holes...so they get re-opened....possible?

Ok...almost done...(sorry for the F-ing novel here guys)
I was told (by my buddies dad again) that if i feel pressure on my finger when pluggin it over the dip stick tube...i have blow-by in my rings...cause i got a nasty strong smell of gas in my oil when i stick my finger in the valve cover and smell....so i tried it..and couldnt tell cause my finger was just sleaing it....but i pulled my finger away...and i could feel air blowing onto my finger out of that damn lil tube from like 3 inches away. Now i know a lil crankcase pressure is common in our dsm's....people shootin dipsticks out of there cars...but that doesnt make it right...what do you guys think of that...i was hopin the gas was maybe from leaky injectors drippin gas onto the cylinders when the car is off then getting into the oil....but now im not so sure.....

By the way the car has 200,000 KM's on it...and thank you so much to anyone who has bothered to read this far in my post. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks again

Wayne

P.S...I'll be building a leak tester from the Vfaq AS SOON AS I CAN....but I'm so broke its not funny...i have 10$ for gas for the rest of the month and im on empty..and no money for insurance on the 3rd of sept...(waiting for a job to pop up..hopefully tomorow actually)
And im workin on finding a compression gauge.....
But in the mean time....any insight?

 

[Mareno]

that is the exact same deal with my car and i too have no idea what it is.if you find a fix please let me know.Are you goin to be at the shootout?im goin up today and i will see if any one there can figure it out.I hate it though cu everyonce in a while when it does IT ill be goin up a hill and it fricken feels like the thing aint gonna make it But the car never dies on me so i have no idea.

 

[siceclipse]

maybe its because you both look like girls.....
I have the same problem at times. tomarrow im doing the valve cover, boost leak test, checking both manifolds, and i think i might replace my actuator with the 17lb spring one that i have.

 

[insanewayne]

"maybe its because you both look like girls....."

That was very helpful...But.....I don't look like a girl...I'm just broker then shit and can't afford to do the things you've listed...thanks for the help....

What's with some people....

Any knowledgeable people have any suggestions for me?

Wayne

 

[siceclipse]

im sorry for hurting you feelings. <~~~~~~ you. i already said have the same problem and that i would be taking alook into some of the more obvious problems. if your a good boy i'll post up my findings tomarrow or monday.

 

[92awddsm]

Do a boost leak test. That pos boost gauge doesnt measure boost at all. The ecu guesses what the boost is based on how much air flows through the mas. http://www.vfaq.com/mods/ICtester.html

Check your ecu for leaking caps.
http://www.tmo.com/howto/ecu1g/caps.htm

Get a boost gauge. You need to keep tabs on the boost level after you make any mods. Dont give us the "cant afford it" line. If you cant afford it, put it back stock. Remember, a new or even a used engine is a lot more than a boost gauge.

 

[1991gs-t]

I have had many problems like this numerous amounts of times, and i guess ill just tell you what the problems were with my car so you could check those things out.

First off...The number one problem with our cars (especially older years) are boost leaks. If you dont have money for a 5 dollar tester, then the first thing you should do is go over all the plumming connections after the turbo and tighten everything down. It sounds like you have a nice leak somewhere, and if its not a loose connection, its gonna be a small hole/crack in a hose that you most likely wont see with your eyes, so your really gonna need that tester eventually. The reason it's not consistent is probably because different times of day will cause different amounts of airflow. I personally had many problems at nightime simply because the difference in the density of the air. So maybe on the example you gave of coming back from your gf house, it was cooler then on teh way up (just a guess). Also you may wanna look at your wastegate actuator. Mine was screwed up and was stuck in the open position so I was only getting ~ 4 psi. Also, you cannot rely on the factory boost guage, its merly there for looks. Autometer makes a decent mechanical guage that will run you ~25 bux. This will also help you out a bunch in the long run. Also change your plugs (NGK BPR6ES gapped to .028). You can get all 4 for around 8 dollars at almost any auto parts store. Its a cheap price to pay for reasurement that theres no problem there , I learned the real hard way = \ . There are tons of other things that you should do, but start off with these and if the problem is still there, then I'll go over some other things. So bottom line, get a hold of ~ 40 bux for the tester, boost guage, and some plugs and hopefully you will be set.

Hope this helps

 

[insanewayne]

Thanks guys, both post were very helpful....I'm worried now cause i had a real badrotting fish smell in my car for awhile....so now i know what it was...just gotta find out if its the heater fan motor, or my ECU capacitors....arg..

Thanks again

Wayne

 

[1991gs-t]

Thanks guys, both post were very helpful....I'm worried now cause i had a real badrotting fish smell in my car for awhile....so now i know what it was...just gotta find out if its the heater fan motor, or my ECU capacitors....arg..

Thanks again

Wayne

Most likely ECU...

 

[insanewayne]

Took a lil sniff in behind the radio console... That where my rotting fish is.....I'm just praying I'm not to late...I've read a few fried ECU posts, and seen a few pictures

:thumbdown

Wayne

 

[insanewayne]

Ok , opened up the Ecu, definately where the smell is coming from...But the good thing is there is no visual signs of corrion or buring..so i don't think I'm to late...Everything looks good. So i guesse i got lucky...now im working on finding the correct capacitors, but everythings closed right now.

The smell started about a 3-4 weeks ago...do you think that I'd be Ok driving another week...or should i play it smart and leave it parked? (i'll prolly play it safe)...oh and those capacitors are the only thing that a rotting fish smell could be comming from in my ecu right?

Thanks

Wayne

P.S what do you guys think a good price would be for auto electric shop to put the 3 new capacitors in? I'd do it..but my experience isnt huge, and I don't want to hurt my baby's brain.

 

[insanewayne]

Oh, sorry to post again, but that wouldn't account for my loss of power above 3000 rpm would it?...Cause these 3 capacitors purpose is just to filter the power supply....But i didnt know that the stock boost gauge was that much of a POS...i just thought it was a low accuracy vac gauge....So i guesse i must have a boost leak...

Wayne

 

[1991gs-t]

Ok , opened up the Ecu, definately where the smell is coming from...But the good thing is there is no visual signs of corrion or buring..so i don't think I'm to late...Everything looks good. So i guesse i got lucky...now im working on finding the correct capacitors, but everythings closed right now.

The smell started about a 3-4 weeks ago...do you think that I'd be Ok driving another week...or should i play it smart and leave it parked? (i'll prolly play it safe)...oh and those capacitors are the only thing that a rotting fish smell could be comming from in my ecu right?

Thanks

Wayne

P.S what do you guys think a good price would be for auto electric shop to put the 3 new capacitors in? I'd do it..but my experience isnt huge, and I don't want to hurt my baby's brain.

Don't trust any electric shop. Send it to http://www.zeitronix.com/. That guy repaired my ecu and has all the right capacitors. He specializes on our cars and frankly i wouldnt trust anyone else. He can test your ecu to make sure everything is working correctly. He's also real cheap.

As far as driving on it, i wouldnt take a chance. Not worth paying 200 bux for another one. The sooner you get it done, the better.

 

[insanewayne]

Ok, I just e-mailed him for an estimate, but I doubt I'm going to be able to afford the S&H on that one cause im in canada ...So I'm either going to have to get a friend to do it, or a shop...I think I'd rather get my friend to do it, using the VFAQ as a guide rather then a shop, but we'll see what buddy from zeitronix says in the E-mail.

Wayne

 

[my95tsi]

It sounds to me that you may have an exhaust manifold leak still. Same thing happened to me. My car felt alittle sluggish, hard to really smoke them in 2nd and they would barely chirp. Still got full boost but it made a weird clicking noise under hard acceleration. Fixed the manifold leak and not only can i chirp them in 2nd but they smoke through 2nd all down the road. Major difference! The funny thing was that it has been like this for the past 3-4 months but never got around to fixing it. I beat so many honda's that i think back and now i would destroy those guys even worse if my car was running right. It pisses me off b/c i raced my buddy in his supercharged s2000 and i could hear my manifold leaking down the whole run. I only lost by 2 car lengths but i would have done much better with a properly running car. Oh well his clutch was slipping the whole way too!

 

[insanewayne]

Right on man, yeh i went to tighten it up the other day and snapped the stud off in the head...so now i gotta deal with that....yaye . :thumbdown