so this morning on the way to work, going up the big hill by my house, i was in 5th gear, kinda low RPMs, and i had some minivan riding my ass, so i gave it some gas. i didnt realize i was in 5th, but i loaded up the car, probably built 2-3 psi, then the car jerked. at first, i thought maybe it was just my enthalpy ROM running off the load scale (TTP limit), because it's just a basemap and it will do that from time to time, but usually only after i've been driving it for a while. the car hadn't fully reached full operating temp, as i had only driven about a mile on my short 10 mile trek to work.

i didnt have time to bother with it, so i limped it there and home tonight, and chocked it up to a charge pipe coupler coming off (which with the way i have it setup, never happens).

well, i get home and i dont find any couplers off, i check all connections and all vacuum lines, and wiring connectors, things look good.

the car acts like it has blown an intercooler pipe. with partial throttle it gets lopey and bah bah bah, it hates life at idle, but it wont necessarily want to stall it just hangs out in the 600 RPMs, the wideband reads 'rich' alot, esp during decel (when it should read 'lean'), and cruising a/f's are 10-11's, instead of 14-16 like normal. the car is NOT in safe mode, and while ive only blipped a full throttle once or twice, a decent amount of load the car seems to run okay, but the one time i punched it it built a few psi and then cut out on me.

too late tonight to go to lowe's or HD and get shit for a homemade boost leak tester (something i been meaning to make lately anyways), but i pulled the plugs, black fouled crap (due to the richness), compression checked out 180 across, whew! there was some smoke pouring out of cyl 4 and some smoke lingering around the back of the head while it idled like shit, but couldnt find where it was coming from....assuming i have an exhaust leak at the turbo manifold to head flange still (slightly).

put in some decent spare plugs, still crap. the water temp sensor is like 2 months old, and things are pointing to the Z mafs. with the enthalpy ecu i have, the s14 > s13 conversion harness got rid of my check engine light, but it is now on again, and the red LED light in the ECU does not turn off when i start the car (and it should).

i unplugged the mafs to throw it in safe mode, and the idle seems a little smoother but its still ragged...so i cant really pinpoint it at the mafs yet. plus im not sure that throwing the car into safe mode on an enthalpy ecu with 600cc injectors will allow me to distinguish a mafs problem as easily as on an n/a car (since diagnosing a bad mafs can be found by unplugging it and seeing if the car runs smoother in safe mode).

also, i have stock fans, and the a/c fan (my a/c is broke right now, btw) comes on HIGH speed with the key in the ON position. usually i never hear it come on...all fuses look okay....i suspect the relay is fine still for it, but perhaps the CEL that was thrown has the fan coming on like that now? the car took an awfully long time to get to operating temp but its cool out side AND running pig rich constantly will do that to you (luckily i think i survived any cylinder washdown).

so, sorry for the novel, but im stumped. anyone have a Z mafs i can borrow and test (come to my house, ill buy you dinner for your troubles?) i dont really have much time to look at it, so suggestions are appreciated. Z mafs is the only thing i can figure is on the fritz, everything else seems normal (besides the loud ass injectors ticking and the crappy idling and stuff.

and im only running the enthalpy base map since i have some plans to pick up a set of cams and re-do my exhaust setup before going in for the fine tuning.

 

john and scott!!!

man you guys are smart.


i didnt pay attn earlier but as soon as i went to turn the ecu over to get at the screws, it sounded like the UPS box from the beginning of ace ventura: pet detective... ok not THAT bad.

thanks guys, must've been all those hard launches

 

nice, breaking stuff on hard launches is cool