Help! DSM gurus needed! Car lacks power. Long

[GsXtacY325]

Ok well i guess i shoud start from the beggining. Within the past couple months my '95 awd turbo has gone from bad to worse. A few months ago i noticed that the car didn't seem to pull as hard through every gear. I got to reading up on pressurizing the intake system to detect boost leaks. Well low and behold i had a massive leak from my Throttle Body. So i searched and searched and came up with 2 possible causes. 1) Bad gaskets 2) Bad Shaft Seals. So i go out and get new gaskets, throw them on, run my boost leak tests and unfortunately i was still getting a leak from somewhere in my TB . Well, around this time i start noticing that, at times, my car will not pull at all while boosting, the car just acts like it is under heavy accel (loud), but it just does not pull at all. However this only happens every so often, and it does not seem to vary depending on temp (which i have heard of this problem occuring in cold temps). I immediatly thought that my Throttle Plate was to blame for sticking at times. So this time i reordered new gaskets and also new Shaft Seals from Mach v. This past weekend i spent the entire sunday night tearing apart my TB w/ my dad and we successfuly replaced the shaft seals and torqued every bolt to spec. Now my Throttle Plate does not have any play and does not stick . However, my car still seems like it won't pull under boost at times and it seems as though the problem is getting worse and worse and occuring more often (since a few months ago when it first occured, not since this past weekend). Well, i finally said hell with it and took it to mitsu (satan). They threw a new fuel filter and said the problem was fixed. However, after driving around the block i could certainly tell that the problem was deffinitly not fixed I was also told that a noise i thought was a wheel bearing was actually an internal transmission bearing. Anyway, i ran another boost leak test today and found that i now have a massive leak coming from my bov (1g redrilled to fit greddy flange). I realize the only real fix is getting a greddy bov. Also, i was getting bubbles (soapy water) from my TB gasket (connected to UICP) even though it is a new gasket properly torqued to spec. Also, i would like to point out that i know it is not my clutch slipping. My question is, what could be causing the car to pull sometimes and not pull at all sometimes? Could a boost leak be blame? Could my transmission be taking a dump on me? Could be problem be lack of AFPR since i run a walbro 255hp fuel pump? (for over a year) Thanks for Any possible help! And feel free to ask any questions if it helps diagnose the problem. I know it is difficult to detect a problem like this without seeing the car, which is why i tried to include all the details.

 

[ZachM31]

does your blow off valve leak from the flange? or is it internally? do you have a boost gauge? if you have a boost gauge, it is extremely easy to know if something is leaking. mine would jump up to 15, and fall down to 10, so i went through everything, and sealed up the blow off valve and now it doesnt leak... do you clean your air filter too? i can't think of anything else that would cause it to not pull very good, other than the engine lacking something (air, fuel, spark)..

nvm, i see that you have an A/F gauge and a boost gauge.... anyways, does your car smoke? if so, what color, and btw, by looking at your spark plug's, it tells you valuable information about the engine without tearing it apart.

 

[GsXtacY325]

Air filter is 5 months old and spark plugs and wires are almost 1 month old. Sorry i forgot to leave out those details. Well i peak at 12 psi and fall to 10 psi. Is this an iminnent (sp?) sign of boost leak? btw, the bov leaks around the flange. It will bubble up if i spray soapy water on it and i put a 1/2"hose up to it and held it up to my ear and i was able to pinpoint the exact location of the leak. Also, car does not smoke at all. turbo is about 8 months old. new motor 20k mi ago.

 

[urcnjoe]

Ok well i guess i shoud start from the beggining. Within the past couple months my '95 awd turbo has gone from bad to worse. A few months ago i noticed that the car didn't seem to pull as hard through every gear. I got to reading up on pressurizing the intake system to detect boost leaks. Well low and behold i had a massive leak from my Throttle Body. So i searched and searched and came up with 2 possible causes. 1) Bad gaskets 2) Bad Shaft Seals. So i go out and get new gaskets, throw them on, run my boost leak tests and unfortunately i was still getting a leak from somewhere in my TB . Well, around this time i start noticing that, at times, my car will not pull at all while boosting, the car just acts like it is under heavy accel (loud), but it just does not pull at all. However this only happens every so often, and it does not seem to vary depending on temp (which i have heard of this problem occuring in cold temps). I immediatly thought that my Throttle Plate was to blame for sticking at times. So this time i reordered new gaskets and also new Shaft Seals from Mach v. This past weekend i spent the entire sunday night tearing apart my TB w/ my dad and we successfuly replaced the shaft seals and torqued every bolt to spec. Now my Throttle Plate does not have any play and does not stick . However, my car still seems like it won't pull under boost at times and it seems as though the problem is getting worse and worse and occuring more often (since a few months ago when it first occured, not since this past weekend). Well, i finally said hell with it and took it to mitsu (satan). They threw a new fuel filter and said the problem was fixed. However, after driving around the block i could certainly tell that the problem was deffinitly not fixed I was also told that a noise i thought was a wheel bearing was actually an internal transmission bearing. Anyway, i ran another boost leak test today and found that i now have a massive leak coming from my bov (1g redrilled to fit greddy flange). I realize the only real fix is getting a greddy bov. Also, i was getting bubbles (soapy water) from my TB gasket (connected to UICP) even though it is a new gasket properly torqued to spec. Also, i would like to point out that i know it is not my clutch slipping. My question is, what could be causing the car to pull sometimes and not pull at all sometimes? Could a boost leak be blame? Could my transmission be taking a dump on me? Could be problem be lack of AFPR since i run a walbro 255hp fuel pump? (for over a year) Thanks for Any possible help! And feel free to ask any questions if it helps diagnose the problem. I know it is difficult to detect a problem like this without seeing the car, which is why i tried to include all the details.

Please get that boost leak problem squared away and then go from there. You will see severe power loss when a boost leak is present. Your clutch has probably had it since you have upgraded, and that factor is more than likely not helping. I didn't see anything about upgraded injectors or fuel control. With that 255 you may need a fpr to control the amount of fuel. So you may be running extremely rich. Like I said before fix the leak and you should most definately get a logger so you can see what's going on with your car. Best of luck to you.

 

[Dred]

I got the same problem, and it's a weird one to figure out. I have a few minor boost leaks so I turned down my boost to about 5psi, and the problem is still there. I checked my pump pressure w/ vacuum line on and off, and they're both at about 37-35ps (weird huh?) Anyways, sometimes the car runs like it's on majorly retarted timing, but if I rev a few times and drop the clutch it pulls great. This is what I have figured out my probelm to be. It is either the FPR solenoid, or the FPR it self.

*Try this*

Disconnect the vacuum line from the FPR and go for a drive. Do a WOT pull and tell us how it feels. When I do this, the car pulls like a mofo w/ any weird "Extra Load" feeling and sounds from engine. I ordered an OEM FPR and cant wait to put it on, hoping it's just the FPR and not the solenoid. Hope this helps.