Hard running issue.
09-18-2013, 07:14 PM
#1
Thread Starter
Hard running issue.
I am posting this up for one of the local Buckeye landshark members (does not do forums much)
any thoughts i will pass on to this fellow sharkling.....
OK then, let's see how I do;
Up until I changed the engine, because of a thrust bearing failure last year, the original engine ran fine, and gave me @ 25 MPG.
I had to transfer everything from the heads up, from the original to the used engine; sensors, injectors, intake, fuel system, crank sensor, everything in the valley, basically, I received a long block... NO electrical parts... Everything on the front of the engine also...
After installing the used [ not new or rebuilt ] engine, I drove out to Oregon, then SoCal, back to Oregon, then back to Ohio.
MPG was all over the place; anywhere from 23, to as low as 13, and the lower counts were happening the most.
One of the two times I was in the 23 MPG range, was when I was at triple digits for more than 55 miles... Of course, that didn't consume the whole tank of fuel...
I kept driving the car after I got home, but it's running slowly got worse, and I started noticing a light black, sooty smoke coming out the end of the tail pipe.
Winter hit, they started throwing salt, and Rosy got put away for the winter, as usual.
Spring came, and the spring drive came along, broke Rosy out of storage, and she was running poorly, hard to keep running, surging, sooty smoke out the pipe, and now something new; stepping on the pedal slowly, as if trying to add more power to keep up to road speed, nothing happens, in fact, it seemed the car's engine was trying to "jake brake", or coast?
Until I mashed the pedal all the way to the floor, and the kickdown engaged, then I started to get some fuel, and a stumbling sort of poor acceleration started to occur, NOWHERE near the horse power I expected.
Take my foot off the pedal to get to cruising RPM's, and the whole cycle starts again.
Had to quit the drive early.
Driving home was a chore! Floored, then coast to a low speed, trying to get a reaction out of the pedal, other than floored... never happened... Except, sometimes, JUST starting to engage the pedal, like just off idle, I'd get some reaction, but never enough to sustain the rate of travel speed, just an elongation of the time before I had to mash the pedal.
After I got home, I filled up and computed the MPG, and it was down to only 11 MPG!
OUCH!
I let Rosy sit for quite awhile, dagnabbit.
I have an electrical sensor for a fuel pressure gauge installed on the fuel rail, plugged the connection in and to the gauge, it only read 33 PSI, I thought I'd read the system was supposed to have @ 45 at idle, 55 with the vacuum line off the FPR? + or - a couple?
Finally, I managed to arrange a tech session with our local 'guru', Ron Carr.
He suggested I put a mechanical fuel pressure gauge on, just to double check that the reading on the electrical gauge was correct, and at idle, I got 48 and 56 PSI, so the electrical sensor, or the gauge needs to be calibrated, or replaced...?
Then, Ron started looking at the shop manuals, and the blue Bosch FI book.
We tried to apply those ideas to the problem, logically...
At some point, Ron looked at my vacuum check valve, and determined it wasn't functioning.
Got his off his shark, and there seemed to be a marked improvement to the car's running.
While he was fussing with that, I got to looking for wherever my vacuum leak was coming from, we could hear it, from inside and outside the car, eventually, Ron found a disconnected line! The black one to the manifold, why I couldn't find it... I had been in there lightly pulling on the lines! Trying to find a loose one.
I now have AC!!!! Now, each time I turn the key on, I hear the actuators working! The system is FINALLY holding vacuum! It's been YEARS....
Rich A. had rebuilt my LH in '05.
He suggested that I check the operation of the throttle position switch, and the WOT switch, which we did, and they work, although the Idle switch sometimes sticks open... Pop the pedal, and the switch closes correctly.
That was yesterday.
Today, it's as bad as it was, the car stalling twice on the way home from work. Once while coming to a stop light, once getting off the pedal to make a turn.
Filled the tank up with a fresh supply of premium fuel and injector cleaner, yesterday. Almost 18 gallons...
I've replaced the O2 sensor, the temp II sensor... Had to have the MAF rebuilt... Ask Rich. JUST this year.
It seems as if the symptoms change every time I turn the key on! Sometimes they change as the car's engine heats up...
Sometimes, when I am able to get the engine to run somewhat 'normally, there is a light stumbling shuddering hesitation in the running...
Edit: I've now replaced the cam position sensor, and now rosy will not idle.
I'm thinking to take the intake off, and replace the idle speed stabilizer with the old one, since that old problem wasn't the idle speed sensor...
any thoughts i will pass on to this fellow sharkling.....
OK then, let's see how I do;
Up until I changed the engine, because of a thrust bearing failure last year, the original engine ran fine, and gave me @ 25 MPG.
I had to transfer everything from the heads up, from the original to the used engine; sensors, injectors, intake, fuel system, crank sensor, everything in the valley, basically, I received a long block... NO electrical parts... Everything on the front of the engine also...
After installing the used [ not new or rebuilt ] engine, I drove out to Oregon, then SoCal, back to Oregon, then back to Ohio.
MPG was all over the place; anywhere from 23, to as low as 13, and the lower counts were happening the most.
One of the two times I was in the 23 MPG range, was when I was at triple digits for more than 55 miles... Of course, that didn't consume the whole tank of fuel...
I kept driving the car after I got home, but it's running slowly got worse, and I started noticing a light black, sooty smoke coming out the end of the tail pipe.
Winter hit, they started throwing salt, and Rosy got put away for the winter, as usual.
Spring came, and the spring drive came along, broke Rosy out of storage, and she was running poorly, hard to keep running, surging, sooty smoke out the pipe, and now something new; stepping on the pedal slowly, as if trying to add more power to keep up to road speed, nothing happens, in fact, it seemed the car's engine was trying to "jake brake", or coast?
Until I mashed the pedal all the way to the floor, and the kickdown engaged, then I started to get some fuel, and a stumbling sort of poor acceleration started to occur, NOWHERE near the horse power I expected.
Take my foot off the pedal to get to cruising RPM's, and the whole cycle starts again.
Had to quit the drive early.
Driving home was a chore! Floored, then coast to a low speed, trying to get a reaction out of the pedal, other than floored... never happened... Except, sometimes, JUST starting to engage the pedal, like just off idle, I'd get some reaction, but never enough to sustain the rate of travel speed, just an elongation of the time before I had to mash the pedal.
After I got home, I filled up and computed the MPG, and it was down to only 11 MPG!
OUCH!
I let Rosy sit for quite awhile, dagnabbit.
I have an electrical sensor for a fuel pressure gauge installed on the fuel rail, plugged the connection in and to the gauge, it only read 33 PSI, I thought I'd read the system was supposed to have @ 45 at idle, 55 with the vacuum line off the FPR? + or - a couple?
Finally, I managed to arrange a tech session with our local 'guru', Ron Carr.
He suggested I put a mechanical fuel pressure gauge on, just to double check that the reading on the electrical gauge was correct, and at idle, I got 48 and 56 PSI, so the electrical sensor, or the gauge needs to be calibrated, or replaced...?
Then, Ron started looking at the shop manuals, and the blue Bosch FI book.
We tried to apply those ideas to the problem, logically...
At some point, Ron looked at my vacuum check valve, and determined it wasn't functioning.
Got his off his shark, and there seemed to be a marked improvement to the car's running.
While he was fussing with that, I got to looking for wherever my vacuum leak was coming from, we could hear it, from inside and outside the car, eventually, Ron found a disconnected line! The black one to the manifold, why I couldn't find it... I had been in there lightly pulling on the lines! Trying to find a loose one.
I now have AC!!!! Now, each time I turn the key on, I hear the actuators working! The system is FINALLY holding vacuum! It's been YEARS....
Rich A. had rebuilt my LH in '05.
He suggested that I check the operation of the throttle position switch, and the WOT switch, which we did, and they work, although the Idle switch sometimes sticks open... Pop the pedal, and the switch closes correctly.
That was yesterday.
Today, it's as bad as it was, the car stalling twice on the way home from work. Once while coming to a stop light, once getting off the pedal to make a turn.
Filled the tank up with a fresh supply of premium fuel and injector cleaner, yesterday. Almost 18 gallons...
I've replaced the O2 sensor, the temp II sensor... Had to have the MAF rebuilt... Ask Rich. JUST this year.
It seems as if the symptoms change every time I turn the key on! Sometimes they change as the car's engine heats up...
Sometimes, when I am able to get the engine to run somewhat 'normally, there is a light stumbling shuddering hesitation in the running...
Edit: I've now replaced the cam position sensor, and now rosy will not idle.
I'm thinking to take the intake off, and replace the idle speed stabilizer with the old one, since that old problem wasn't the idle speed sensor...
09-18-2013, 07:34 PM
#2
Nordschleife Master
Sooty exhaust. What's combusting in there ? Doesn't sound like oil. When was fuel filter last changed ? Maybe combusting varnish or whatever other junk is in there. Low pressure and signs of fuel starvation ??
Just a WAG.
Just a WAG.
09-18-2013, 07:54 PM
#3
Team Owner
what year is this car we are guessing on?
09-18-2013, 09:59 PM
#5
Team Owner
an ICV could be sticking, it looks good on the outside and rusted inside,
it should be checked, thus an intake removal is necessary, also a good time to verify that the ISV and the knock sensors are all correctly connected.
the TPS needs to be readjusted via the throttle cable,
make sure that it clicks off,.
this will require loosening the housing adjuster nut on the quadrant.
Check this first, the throttle cable from pedal to quadrant,
disconnect it ,
you have to to verify that the T cable is not damaged in its housing.
Check the coil wires that they are not rubbing on any part of their run.
Do a firefly test to verify the ignition wires are good as well as the coil wires.
make sure the wires are correctly routed
it should be checked, thus an intake removal is necessary, also a good time to verify that the ISV and the knock sensors are all correctly connected.
the TPS needs to be readjusted via the throttle cable,
make sure that it clicks off,.
this will require loosening the housing adjuster nut on the quadrant.
Check this first, the throttle cable from pedal to quadrant,
disconnect it ,
you have to to verify that the T cable is not damaged in its housing.
Check the coil wires that they are not rubbing on any part of their run.
Do a firefly test to verify the ignition wires are good as well as the coil wires.
make sure the wires are correctly routed