Need help diagnosing problem

[Couger85]

Hello all,

First things first my name is Brandon. I am a fellow car enthusiast that just picked up a fairly stock 96 tsi (awd). It came complete with idle problems and acceleration issues. The engine is fresh, the t-25 turbo has little shaft play with good seals, the injectors are stock, and the car has no aftermarket gages.

The car came with a botched FMIC with the turbo outlet pipes dangling about an inch off the ground. A delightful ebay RFL BOV was installed venting to the atmosphere. I found the previous owner cleverly used a shop towel jammed into the intake recirc pipe. <--- must be for extra filtration

On top of all of this, the plugs were fouled (one was even smashed creating contact with the electrode) and the engine was throwing a cel.

Fast forward to today:

Replaced fmic with a punishment style kit, replaced spark plugs, used provided BOV from punishment kit and recirculated the BOV to the intake.

CEL is gone, and the car idles like a dream. It drives very smooth unless I stomp on the gas. When I do, the car will buck like crazy until about 5k rpm's. Then it will smooth out and pull hard till redline.

I am suspecting a boost leak or fuel cut. I will be performing the boost leak test today. Is there anything else I should have in the back of my head when I tackle this pig tonight?

Thanks and best regards,
Brandon-

 

[Bud92gsx]

What kind of boost are you hitting? I'm suspecting boost leak.Why don't you do the BLT and get back to us..That should clear up the question at hand..
Also you should get an aftermarket boost gauge, the stock one is crap..

 

[tips000]

just remember that your boost leaak could be due to an improperly adjusted Blow off valve... also i suggest cleaning your throttle body or at the very least taking the elbow off and opening up the throttle to see if its all gunked up... you shouldnt be seeing fuel cut on a stock set up unless your blow off valve is not letting off properly and increasing your boost...

i suggest the throttle body and getting a real boost gauge insteaad of the junk factory one

 

[Couger85]

What kind of boost are you hitting? I'm suspecting boost leak.Why don't you do the BLT and get back to us..That should clear up the question at hand..
Also you should get an aftermarket boost gauge, the stock one is crap..

Unfortunately the car only has the innacurate stock gauge so I have no way of telling the boost. (New gauges are on the way). I will let you know the results of the boost leak test.

just remember that your boost leaak could be due to an improperly adjusted Blow off valve... also i suggest cleaning your throttle body or at the very least taking the elbow off and opening up the throttle to see if its all gunked up... you shouldnt be seeing fuel cut on a stock set up unless your blow off valve is not letting off properly and increasing your boost...

i suggest the throttle body and getting a real boost gauge insteaad of the junk factory one

I wiped the throttle body during the FMIC install so that shouldnt be the issue, I will however open it up again and double check my work.

Correct me if I am wrong, An improperly adjusted BOV would not cause bucking... just lower boost. A leaking BOV gasket would cause the bucking though. Also, the bov not releasing should not increase the boost as that is a function of the wastegate, not the BOV.

Brandon-

quick update, CEL is back on... to be expected though

 

[Couger85]

I have it figured out, spark plug gap was off big time. The car is running great now.