too rich?

[desertspyder]

When idling there is a STRONG smell of fuel coming from my car. Also when I crank the car up I get a black spray from my exhaust that covers my driveway. The car has also felt sluggish when accelerating lately. I just adjusted my TPS and set my BISS. My plugs and wires are fine. And I have no boost leaks. Any suggestions?

 

[Dark_Horse]

From your vehicle profile, you've got a cat. Have you rescently removed it? Black spray definitely means you're running rich. Has your MPG dropped too?

 

[Drift_SM]

a good sign of running rich is a stuttering exhaust tone.
if you can taste the gas in the air and smell it..then you proly are running rich.
What plugs and wires are you running? how old are they?
try taking out your plugs and gaping them closer.

also are you venting your BOV to atmosphere? or is it recirculated?

 

[desertspyder]

I have a 2 1/2 inch magnaflow cat. MPG has always been worse than I thought it should be but I live with it because I love my car. I have Denso Iridium plugs (carefully) gapped at .027- .028. and Bosch platinum wires. Plugs only have about 4k miles on them Wires only about 500 miles. I'm recirculating my BOV. Earlier today I took out both of my side honeycolmbs and now I'm getting a crappy idle but when I accelerate the car pulls a lot better than before.

 

[desertspyder]

(by the way) cat is new, i just replaced downpipe and cat

 

[dherron]

You running your blow off valve to the atmosphere probably has an effect on the richness problem. Being that the blow off valves leak at idle, the maf still compensates for that air and put more fuel in, making this a rich mixture. Try hooking up the bov again and see what happens. Also try getting a 1g bov if you dont already. Just get ahold of me for that i have some. Thanks

 

[dherron]

nevermind on the bov i see you have the greddy, how much boost are you hitting?

 

[dherron]

My friend has that BOV on his WRX and it starts to leak just b4 20psi, so we swapped it back for his arc.

 

[K_Hill]

Hmm.. I am wondering what the problem is also. My car does the exact thing. Could it be that my plug gap is off?? I also have the same plugs.. I know I know I need to invest in some ngks..

 

[Ultimatedsm]

I am just wondering, what kind of fuel pump are you running, it doesn't say in your profile. Also, you should get a logger and log your idle and your cruise to see whats going on.

 

[desertspyder]

I keep it at 14 (peak) but of course it tapers off. by the way I'm not venting my BOV to the atmosphere. I'm upgrading to 16G with supporting fuel mods/ datalogger when tax returns get here but I don't think I'll take it over 20psi. Can greddy type s not hold over 20?

 

[desertspyder]

K Hill.... That's a good question. Before I gapped them they would (blow out) at about 10 psi. I still get a pop when accelerating from a standstill every now and then. I want the NGK's also.

 

[desertspyder]

Ultimatedsm. Still on stock fuel pump. Pocketlogger is coming real soon.

 

[91FORLIFE]

this may be wrong but i thought that there could be some sludge laying around in your engine. that stuff coud easily spray!

 

[Drift_SM]

Try some single prong NGK plugs ... BPR7ES < one of the best recomended for our cars. ( gap 0.028)
Also try some NGK wires. i had bosch wires and bad idle problems.

 

[andymoraitis]

The reason that you're so rich is that this is way the ECU has been mapped from the factory. In order to keep the motor well within a safe zone under boost, the factory ECU runs at a very rich 9.5:1 Air/Fuel ratio and only allows for 16 degrees of timing. Since you still have the stock fuel setup and have made no changes through an EPROM ECU or AFC, you'll still run at this air/fuel ratio.

There's nothing wrong with your car. When you start performing upgrades, it would be wise to invest in either a wideband O2 so you can lean the car out safety, or an EPROM ECU with custom A/F and timing maps. I saw a huge difference simply swapping chips from the stock settings to an 11:1 with more timing advance (I now run 11.7:1 with 19-23 advance depending on what type of gas I'm running).

Let me know if that makes sense,

Andy