95FL993CAB

Is there enough water in the radiator?

turbojames

yep, filled to the top today. i haven't had a chance to get under the car and really check the muffler bearings yet though.

sjagernauth

Coincidentally, I drove my '95 yesterday and had similar symptoms, no pinging but way down on power, RSR exhaust has funny sound, sounds like an old Beetle. 2 weeks ago, the car ran like a scalded cat on the track. My first thought was the distributor belt is broken.
I will look at it today. What are the symptoms of a broken belt? Can it cause any further damage as I drove around locally about 5 miles?

Steve Weiner-Rennsport Systems

You should not drive the car at all if your distributor belt is broken as that puts your pistons & cylinders at risk from detonation.

Pull the lower distributor cap off and see if the rotor turns freely or not. If so, its time for a belt replacement. If the rotor cannot be moved, the belt is intact and its time to look at other things. Pull the upper cap off and observe the positions of the rotors to see that they are pointing at the rotor phasing marks when #1 is at TDC. This ensures that the belt hasn't slipped.

If the belt is OK, I'd be checking to see if both upper and lower plugs have spark. If they do, its off to check fuel delivery.

ASH.PALIN

I had this problem and I cured it by sorting out the vacuum three way port on the left hand side of the Varioram as it had collapsed.

See Jackb911's post here

https://rennlist.com/forums/993-foru...s-working.html

Sorted out my pinging problem

Ash

turbojames

This is my next step. Hash marks, right? If I can't see them I should be able to feel them?

As it's a '95 it doesn't have Varioram. One less thing to check!

sjagernauth

Thanks Steve, I tried both tests, good news is belt is intact.
1. disconnected the primary coil and the car started off the secondary
2. Took off the caps today and secondary rotor does not turn freely indicating belt is intact.
I then rotated engine to TDC (Z1) and noted that both rotors point to #1 so I assume the belt has not skipped a tooth.
The contacts in the caps are very worn and amazing the car even starts and runs.
I will be ordering cap/rotor kit soon, going through PO records to see if wires were done. Getting ready for the sticker shock. Can worn caps cause these symptoms? Car feels like it's 150hp instead of closer to 300.

johnsjmc

I just bought a set of Bosch wires from Amazon for under $300 . They have Beru ends and a lifetime warranty . You need to transfer the clips

turbojames

Update:

-Checked to see that belt was unbroken and has not slipped. Both rotors lined up to the hash marks at #1 TDC. Rotors looked practically brand new.

-Unplugged one coil at a time - car runs fine on either one. It sure doesn't sound like it's missing.

-No codes (still). MAF seems to be fine as do knock sensors. Throttle opens 100%.

-Fuel pressure is good.

-Up next - cat delete pipes. Do these updates shed any light for anyone?

a frustrated thanks in advance.

Steve Weiner-Rennsport Systems

Severely worn caps, rotors, and wires will cause rough running and in some cases, a power loss but nothing like you describe: a 50% power loss.

I'd also confirm the proper operation of the intake manifold's resonance flap: its vacuum operated and will cause a big loss of power if its not functioning.

matt777

Is fuel pressure good under load or only at part throttle? Thinking aloud, the engine needs compression, spark & fuel/air to run. You can check compression and leak down although I wouldn't start there. Plugged cats/exhaust will choke an engine. Are you saying you have cat delete pipes?

turbojames

yeah, i've got the pipes in my garage - may as well through them on. leakdown was good, btw, forgot to mention.

fuel pressure is good at idle. how to check under load?

Steve Weiner-Rennsport Systems

Do you have Bosch FR5DTC plugs in there?

Its time to look at short term fuel trims as well as Lambda values. Do you have access to a Hammer?

Don't worry any further about fuel pressure at this point,.........

TheOtherEric

A couple thoughts:

- like Steve said, replace your plugs if they're not Bosch FR5DTC. Other plugs, if gapped improperly, can make strange things happen.

- If you meet the idle fuel pressure, your fueling is most likely fine. Sure it's feasible your fuel pump is failing at high loads but I assume that you're pinging at low engine loading too. So that's probably not it.

- Might want to make sure your spark plug wires go to the right places.

- If you don't have a workshop manual, you should try to get a copy either electronic or paper. There are some good troubleshooting ideas in there. It could be something obscure like the transistors under the driver's seat that run between the ECU and the coils (1995 only), and the workshop manuals address some of that stuff.

- You should locate either a Hammer, a Durametric scanner, or a raycm (homebrew) scanner. Then start monitoring or logging parameters to make sure your ECU is getting signals. Then you can rule out a bunch of stuff, like MAF.