need help! dont know what to do.

[henze44]

I am lost. I have a 97 gst. From 2 grand till 3 grand it loses all the power just falls flat on its face. The wideband bottoms out at 10 and my guess is its running richer than that. I have no clue what to do anymore and don't have the kind of money where I can take it to a shop and just tell them to fix it. The car has a greddy blowoff valve, greddy profec type s boost controller, safc2, aem wide band setup, pte5857 turbo. Any suggestions on what I can do where I can possibly take it? Willing to here everyone out on this... please help!

 

[bryanwheat]

What do your a/f ratio's look like under wot?

 

[henze44]

Well never really had it wot afraid that with the high oil pressure that I might hurt something. But at 5500 reads around 11:1

And to answer the other question I forgot I would like to run 13 for low and 18 for high boost.

 

[BogusSVO]

the vacuum line was disconected. Only problem is when it is connected there is a leak at the regulator not sure if that is normal or not. The set screw is bout half way in... not sure if I unscrew or screw it in if it goes away...

and what could cause higgh oil pressure when im in neutral the oil pressure sits at 25 psi and raises as rpm goes up and peaks out around 90. Seems kind of high to me.

Your AFPR has a leak at the hose that is the vac line to the IM?

If yes, there is your running rich issue, you are sucking raw gas from the AFPR into the intake.

The Oil pressure sounds about right if you have a BSE, and a Unported OFH.

Also, please break your questions up, trying to read your post hurt my eyes.

 

[henze44]

Your AFPR has a leak at the hose that is the vac line to the IM?

If yes, there is your running rich issue, you are sucking raw gas from the AFPR into the intake.

The Oil pressure sounds about right if you have a BSE, and a Unported OFH.

Also, please break your questions up, trying to read your post hurt my eyes.

Ok I will try and do that.
I do have an unported oil filter housing
The regulater at the end of the fuel rail. Not sure if that is the afpr you are talking about. But the vacuum line that goes to that regulator is suppose to go to the im? Right now I have it unplugged due to it leaking vacuum.

 

[kchaazz]

Well this helps out. I don not have a logger for my car. Any recomendations for a logger? And what all do I need for it? And yes the vacuum line was disconected. Only problem is when it is connected there is a leak at the regulator not sure if that is normal or not. The set screw is bout half way in... not sure if I unscrew or screw it in if it goes away... and what could cause higgh oil pressure when im in neutral the oil pressure sits at 25 psi and raises as rpm goes up and peaks out around 90. Seems kind of high to me. Not sure what would cause this. My pcv is good. Any ideas on this problem and all the testing I do is in my drive way. Don't know if that affects anything or not. It seems after I get past the 3 grand mark also my a/f ration comes back to 11 or 12 at around 4 n 5 k

Regarding the logger, I believe Pocketlogger would be your best bet, and stop trying to tune your car until you get a logger because you have no way to know whats going on in the motor without one, otherwise you are running the risk of grenading your motor.

Regarding the Fuel pressure regulator, can you take a picture of your setup? Im curious because in another post you seemed to be stating that the factory regulator is still on the rail and you also have an adjustable regulator hooked up as well- just correct me if Im wrong about this, I just like to be thourough. And, is your regulator leaking vacuum at the adjustment screw, or is the vacuum line itself leaking? Or are you leaking fuel out of the regulator? You absolutely cannot be running this car with the vacuum line disconnected from the regulator! When you are boosting, that line sends boost pressure to the regulator and causes the regulator to increase fuel pressure 1PSI for every 1PSI of boost, and you will run lean and possibly kill your motor.

Your oil pressure is a little high at idle, but otherwise its just fine, do not be concerned at this point.

Running 12:1 AFR at wide open throttle on pump gas and boost is too lean. How much boost are you running? Your best bet until you get a logger is to fix the vaccum leak at the fuel pressure regulator, set your base fuel pressure to 43.5psi with the vaccum line off of the reg, then put the line back on and secure each end of the line with a small ziptie (use the ziptie as you would use a hose clamp), set your high and low settings on the safc to around -20 on the low from 800rpm to 7500rpm, and set the high to -18. Also, a little off subject, check your spark plugs and be sure you are using NGK BPR6ES, and gap them to .028.

 

[Bud92gsx]

Ill give you scrap yard prices for the gst.Ill also throw in a case of beer.

 

[henze44]

ok to make it clear it does look like an aftermarket fuel pressure regulator.

it is not leaking fuel and that vacuum line is not leaking leaking the leak is from the regulator it self.

i attached a photo of the setup at the regulator dont know if its going to show or not

 

[kchaazz]

^^ Your regulator looks to be a B&M Command Flo unit, or variant; not the best AFPR, in my opinion, though some people like them and run these with no issues. So, is your vacuum leak at the pressure adjustment screw then? Many regulators leak boost and vacuum here, and if thats the case, you can try removing the locking nut from the adjustment screw, then place an oring that fits tightly around the shaft of the screw on it, then put a washer on top of the oring before putting the nut back on- this usually works. Also, you should at least use small zipties at all your vacuum hose connections to ensure they remain sealed under boost and cannot come unattached.

 

[henze44]

Ok thanks itseemstobe leaking frombehind the regulator it self.hard to explain. But when its leaking I can twist the regulator and hear the leak change pitch. Almost sounds like its coming out of the back side.

What kind of regulator would be recomended?

 

[kchaazz]

Ok thanks itseemstobe leaking frombehind the regulator it self.hard to explain. But when its leaking I can twist the regulator and hear the leak change pitch. Almost sounds like its coming out of the back side.

What kind of regulator would be recomended?

Its probably leaking because that regulator is designed so that you cut your factory regulator off and then the B&M unit clamps onto the body of the factory regulator, and whoever installed it probably didnt do a clean job of cutting and what not. You could search out the install instructions for it and then take it apart and see if you can fix the problem, or if you want a better unit Id try the Aeromotive or Fuel Lab units, though these do not bolt to the fuel rail and will require an install kit which can be purchased with the regulator as a package specifically for your car from some of our supporting vendors. I can say that you definitely dont want the reg leaking vacuum and boost the way it is cause it will certainly cause fueling and driveability issues.

 

[avefenix]

it seems like you have done a lot of research...i once had a vehicle that would run great for about 20 minutes too then after warmed up a while once id hit about 2200 to 2300 rpm it would feel like it was bogging down and wanting to die barely making it to three grand on rpms...give it more gas and it just wanted to die so id have to let up on the gas and try to run it at low rpms to continue running....i tested everything and everything was super close to where it should be, in the end i found a clog in my cat...which wouldn affect it right away and it wasnt fully clogged but once heated up, i believe we all know that metal expands under heat...

just an idea for you to look at, since it happened to me i figured i would share this with you

 

[henze44]

it seems like you have done a lot of research...i once had a vehicle that would run great for about 20 minutes too then after warmed up a while once id hit about 2200 to 2300 rpm it would feel like it was bogging down and wanting to die barely making it to three grand on rpms...give it more gas and it just wanted to die so id have to let up on the gas and try to run it at low rpms to continue running....i tested everything and everything was super close to where it should be, in the end i found a clog in my cat...which wouldn affect it right away and it wasnt fully clogged but once heated up, i believe we all know that metal expands under heat...

just an idea for you to look at, since it happened to me i figured i would share this with you

Thanks for suggestion. Only thing is I have a 3 inch catless exhaust on the vehicle. So the onlything that possibly be clogged is the muffler ands its all a newer exhaust.

 

[henze44]

Had the fuel pressure adjusted and its sitting at 44 PSI now spec is from 41 to 46 PSI.

 

[kchaazz]

Had the fuel pressure adjusted and its sitting at 44 PSI now spec is from 41 to 46 PSI.

44 is ok. Where was the pressure at before you got it adjusted? Now all you have to do is stop that vacuum/boost leak at the FPR and you should be golden. Does the car drive better now?

 

[henze44]

44 is ok. Where was the pressure at before you got it adjusted? Now all you have to do is stop that vacuum/boost leak at the FPR and you should be golden. Does the car drive better now?

It does drive better a little stil has that lag tho just not as bad as it use to be. fuel pressure was at 39psi...

Did anther boost leak test and this time used soapy water. Found out that there is a screw leaking in the throttle boddy its up front. its a round screw that is sunk in a hole. the hole is right above the tps sensor. also figured out that i have a 1 g manifold and 1 g throttle body i believe. The manifold says eci multi on it. any suggestion on what that screw is used for?

 

[kchaazz]

That screw is used to adjust the base idle of the engine. What is causing it to leak is just a small oring on the end of the screw, which has gone bad over time. If you remove the screw to replace the oring, you will have to reset the base idle, which requires the use of a scanner on a 2G car, however, if you were to carefully note the position of the phillips cross on the screw, then carefully measure the depth of the screw within the hole before removing the screw, it would be possible to remove it and replace the oring and then try and get the screw as close to its former position as possible. I would also do the test again with soapy water and spray where the injectors go into the head because the insulators (part# MD087060- approximately $8.00 at the dealership) on the ends of the injectors are often bad and leak boost there as well. Also, spray the spring where the throttle cable is attatched and the TPS side as well, and if youre leaking here, its throttlebody shaft seals http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/articles-intake-exhaust/245124-91-94-throttle-body-shaft-seal-replacement.html

 

[henze44]

ok well just ordered all the seals for the throttle body found out i have a 2g tb with a 1g mani. sounds pointless to me forwho ever did this,dont understand why. also decided to trash the commandflo afpr and went with a fuel lab one. so hopefully by firday all te boost leaks should be fixed. still have to check the injectors.

Also will a modis or a verus scanner work to set the biss screw. I just decided to buy a new one with everything. The other one was stripped and everything.

 

[kchaazz]

The Modis will, Im not sure about the other. Do you think you have an entire 6 bolt motor swap in this car, or just a 6 bolt head and intake manifold on a 7 bolt block, OR, is it just a 1G manifold on a 2G head, which is even crazier because the 2G intake ports on the head are much smaller than the 1G ports? They probably used the 2G throttle body so they didnt have to change the sensors and wiring, Im unfamiliar with what it takes to utilize the 1G throttle body on the 2G, but could look it up for ya if youre interested.

 

[henze44]

Not sure about the head or if its a 6 bolt or 7 bolt What are the easy ways of telling the differences? But its starting to get frustrating trying to order stuff for it.

And the way my lucks been with this car it ###### be a 2g head with a 1g mani.

I do know the numbers on the say RY8235 if that means anything.

^^^ numbers are on the engine block

 

[viridionplague]

kinda skimmed the thread quick but is the car still falling flat on its face at 2-3k rpm?

if it is. can you get it above 2-3k rpm by keeping it out of boost??

 

[henze44]

Yeah its still falling on face at 2 to 3 grand.

Don't understand what you mean by keeping it out of boost but once it hits three grand its got a lot of get up and go to it. Throws u in the back seat when its gets past that point.

 

[viridionplague]

keeping it out of boost, like no positive pressure on the boost guage, just vacuum.

i had a similar problem where at 2-3k rpm it would just die. but i could get it to 4-5k rpm with very light throttle adjustment. as soon as the turbo started making boost it died. this turned out to be a bad maf.

 

[kchaazz]

Not sure about the head or if its a 6 bolt or 7 bolt What are the easy ways of telling the differences? But its starting to get frustrating trying to order stuff for it.

And the way my lucks been with this car it ###### be a 2g head with a 1g mani.

I do know the numbers on the say RY8235 if that means anything.

^^^ numbers are on the engine block

You can tell if its a 6 bolt head by looking at the exhaust manifold studs- if theyre all the same size (8mm studs) then its a 6 bolt head, if the studs on the corners of the manifold are 10mm, its a 7 bolt head, however, I forgot to mention that it could be a 1G 7 bolt head- 10mm corner exhaust studs, large intake ports, or still be a 2G 7 bolt head- 10mm exhaust corner studs, small intake ports. Im going to see what external identifying markings may be present on the different heads and get back to you on this. If you want to see if youve got a 6 bolt bottom end, just look at the oil pan and check out these pictures. The top pan is a 6bolt, the bottom pan is the seven bolt.

 

[henze44]

Yeah. Sounds like same thing. Had a maf code and bought a new one. Installed it and e everything didn't help out any. Maybe one of the wires are bad. I don't know on that. Would have to do some back probbing to find out. That's on the list as well.

Ok well when I changed my exhaust manifold they were the same all the way accross im pretty sure the corners were same. All the nuts were the same. And I believe there is no indent on the oil pan but I would have to double check

So by the looks of it I have a 6 bolt swap in the car.... is this good? I see a lot of people doing this on the forums I been one.

 

[ghostd'GST4life]

6 bolt swap is a big plus. stronger engine no risk of crank walk. from reading through the post i had a car that would run good in first gear and as long as i kept it high rpm's it would rip. if i tried to cruise around and kept it at a certain point it would bog and buck. i had a cel on that was because of an o2 sensor. i changed the sensor and the car would pull hard again and drove normal. Did you check out your o2 sensors for being clogged up and S##ty.. could be something simple like that that hasnt been suggested yet on this post..