Bad Idle/Misfire Symptoms
09-27-2008, 10:49 PM
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Bad Idle/Misfire Symptoms
First - A brief history.
Bought an 03 S used w/30k miles in Dec. '06.
Spun #4 Rod Bearing in June '07. Oil levels
Money Shift - Never happened.
Replaced w/rebuilt motor from HTG. Installed HTG clutch kit w/light flywheel (ACT)
<6k miles later - Idle problems (idle would drop during random drives almost stalling out)
2 weeks go by - Idle gets worse, then while decelerating, I disengage clutch and hear metal-on-metal. Take the S to shop.
Shop keeps S for over a month diagnosing. Finally, they say it's crankwalk. Thrust washer never installed or I ate thru it.
HTG ships out short block to replace
S lives again!!....or does she?!
Fast Forward to the present... <2k miles.
MODS: AEM V2 CAI W/INJEN Hydrolock shield, Berk Header, ACT Pressure Plate, ACT lightweight flywheel, Berk Test Pipe (Recently installed 3 weeks ago), T1R 63mm Single Exhaust... That's it for Eng/Drivetrain.
Early A.M., Temp is a pleasant 70 something, start the S and idle is REALLY rough. Acts as if she is going to stall out a violent death. I rev it slightly to keep the RPMs from dropping off. Take my foot off the throttle and hear what sounds like air getting pushed out the exhaust (couple of times - sporadic).
I immediately shut her off and recrank. Problem persists. No MIL.
I shut her off again and pop the hood. Check my vacuum lines, Throttle Body, Map, etc..
Crank her back up and problem is gone.
Drive to where I am going and I notice that there is an intermediate hestitation that isn't RPM specific as I am driving (also totally random when it occurs, i.e. I never know when my car is going to drive great or ....)
It's been a couple of days and the problem(s) seem to have intensified a bit. I was driving today and it was bogging like crazy so I decided to see if it would let go into VTEC. I pushed her to about 5k and the bogging was enough to make me question my decision of pushing her that hard with an "unknown" problem so I got out of the throttle.
Pulled up to my place and popped hood. Felt around for air leaks, connectors, etc.. again. Nothing. I did notice that the temps under the hood seemed Hotter than usual. (Had 3 Bars whole time tho)
I bought replacement spark plugs, (ODO >60K) just in case. Plan on running thru the HELMS and cleaning my IAC valve (shop said it was good to go during crankwalk issue... owner swapped his w/mine), cleaning my Map connector, and doing all the basic stuff one does w/Idle problems..
I forgot to mention that I pulled off the MAP connector w/eng running today and the car immediately started idling like crazy and stalled out. I read somewhere that idle should be sporadic but would still run??? Unsure.
I also read thru all 10 pages of the MISFIRE thread.. Fuel Injectors, contaminants.. Will follow advice in that thread and if anyone has any more/other info.. please chime in. Thx.
Bought an 03 S used w/30k miles in Dec. '06.
Spun #4 Rod Bearing in June '07. Oil levels
Money Shift - Never happened.Replaced w/rebuilt motor from HTG. Installed HTG clutch kit w/light flywheel (ACT)
<6k miles later - Idle problems (idle would drop during random drives almost stalling out)
2 weeks go by - Idle gets worse, then while decelerating, I disengage clutch and hear metal-on-metal. Take the S to shop.
Shop keeps S for over a month diagnosing. Finally, they say it's crankwalk. Thrust washer never installed or I ate thru it.
HTG ships out short block to replace
S lives again!!....or does she?!
Fast Forward to the present... <2k miles.
MODS: AEM V2 CAI W/INJEN Hydrolock shield, Berk Header, ACT Pressure Plate, ACT lightweight flywheel, Berk Test Pipe (Recently installed 3 weeks ago), T1R 63mm Single Exhaust... That's it for Eng/Drivetrain.
Early A.M., Temp is a pleasant 70 something, start the S and idle is REALLY rough. Acts as if she is going to stall out a violent death. I rev it slightly to keep the RPMs from dropping off. Take my foot off the throttle and hear what sounds like air getting pushed out the exhaust (couple of times - sporadic).
I immediately shut her off and recrank. Problem persists. No MIL.
I shut her off again and pop the hood. Check my vacuum lines, Throttle Body, Map, etc..
Crank her back up and problem is gone.
Drive to where I am going and I notice that there is an intermediate hestitation that isn't RPM specific as I am driving (also totally random when it occurs, i.e. I never know when my car is going to drive great or ....)
It's been a couple of days and the problem(s) seem to have intensified a bit. I was driving today and it was bogging like crazy so I decided to see if it would let go into VTEC. I pushed her to about 5k and the bogging was enough to make me question my decision of pushing her that hard with an "unknown" problem so I got out of the throttle.
Pulled up to my place and popped hood. Felt around for air leaks, connectors, etc.. again. Nothing. I did notice that the temps under the hood seemed Hotter than usual. (Had 3 Bars whole time tho)
I bought replacement spark plugs, (ODO >60K) just in case. Plan on running thru the HELMS and cleaning my IAC valve (shop said it was good to go during crankwalk issue... owner swapped his w/mine), cleaning my Map connector, and doing all the basic stuff one does w/Idle problems..
I forgot to mention that I pulled off the MAP connector w/eng running today and the car immediately started idling like crazy and stalled out. I read somewhere that idle should be sporadic but would still run??? Unsure.
I also read thru all 10 pages of the MISFIRE thread.. Fuel Injectors, contaminants.. Will follow advice in that thread and if anyone has any more/other info.. please chime in. Thx.
09-28-2008, 07:41 AM
#2
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Shane...sorry about the continued problems.
Couple questions: 1) what kind of replacement plugs did you put in? 2) Where do you normally buy gasoline?
With high fuel prices and a shortages in the southeast, there is some incentive for contaminated gasoline to be sold. I think I've seen enough cases in the last year to add that as an item to always check when experiencing a misfire. I have heard that an octane booster can help dry out water contamination (although I'm not sure how that works).
Couple questions: 1) what kind of replacement plugs did you put in? 2) Where do you normally buy gasoline?
With high fuel prices and a shortages in the southeast, there is some incentive for contaminated gasoline to be sold. I think I've seen enough cases in the last year to add that as an item to always check when experiencing a misfire. I have heard that an octane booster can help dry out water contamination (although I'm not sure how that works).
09-28-2008, 10:24 AM
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[QUOTE=negcamber,Sep 28 2008, 10:41 AM] Shane...sorry about the continued problems.
Couple questions: 1) what kind of replacement plugs did you put in? 2) Where do you normally buy gasoline?
With high fuel prices and a shortages in the southeast, there is some incentive for contaminated gasoline to be sold.
Couple questions: 1) what kind of replacement plugs did you put in? 2) Where do you normally buy gasoline?
With high fuel prices and a shortages in the southeast, there is some incentive for contaminated gasoline to be sold.
09-28-2008, 10:22 PM
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Drove the S today w/no signs of Idle problems or misfire symptoms. Picked up some octane booster and contact cleaner. Sprayed all of my grounds (greasy) and the MAP. Then I remembered when my Grandfather and I pulled the motor, we damaged the Camshaft Position (CMP) Sensor (Top Dead Center (TDC) Sensor) B. We damaged the Sensor itself and had it replaced. When the shop pulled the motor the 2nd time, they could have jacked up some things back there and this is what I found tonight:
The ground wire (black) has exposed wires and a couple of strands are broken. I noticed that the heatshrink around the CMP TDC A was all mangled and had to disco the connector and pull the heatshrink back to find the exposed wires. I pulled the plug to see what code would pop and my OBDII showed a P1367 which said something about misfire on my scanner, but the HELMS shows it as a "NO Signal to CMP TDC A". I fired up the S and started wigglin' the wires to the sensor and lo' and behold, she started idlin' funny. No symptoms of misfire tho. I really don't know what to make of that. I also noticed a loud hissing sound from underneath the fuel rail and with just 2 bars on the temp gauge, my berk header was hot as hell. Felt almost like it was leaking from the exhaust manifold but unsure at the moment.
Does anyone know what kind of extractor kit I need to pull the pins from that connector so I can repair those wires?
The ground wire (black) has exposed wires and a couple of strands are broken. I noticed that the heatshrink around the CMP TDC A was all mangled and had to disco the connector and pull the heatshrink back to find the exposed wires. I pulled the plug to see what code would pop and my OBDII showed a P1367 which said something about misfire on my scanner, but the HELMS shows it as a "NO Signal to CMP TDC A". I fired up the S and started wigglin' the wires to the sensor and lo' and behold, she started idlin' funny. No symptoms of misfire tho. I really don't know what to make of that. I also noticed a loud hissing sound from underneath the fuel rail and with just 2 bars on the temp gauge, my berk header was hot as hell. Felt almost like it was leaking from the exhaust manifold but unsure at the moment.
Does anyone know what kind of extractor kit I need to pull the pins from that connector so I can repair those wires?
09-29-2008, 06:28 PM
#6
I've used a large sewing needle. But it may not work, depends on the design.
Hot header is relative, unless you're comparing the temps to the same header's earlier temps. Hissing is bad. A vacuum leak, likely.
Hot header is relative, unless you're comparing the temps to the same header's earlier temps. Hissing is bad. A vacuum leak, likely.
09-30-2008, 05:01 AM
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It rained last night, but when I got up this morning it was barely sprinkling. My fuel light was on so I took her to the gas station. On the way there the S ran great. Pulled into pump and dumped some octane booster and fuel injection cleaner and filled her up w/93 oct. Upon leaving the gas station, she started to bog like crazy. Drove her a bit further and the bogging was so bad that I had to pull off of the road. As I coasted into a parking lot, she just shut off on her own. I took my contact cleaner and sprayed those exposed wires going to that sensor; upon inspection those exposed wires were bone dry. Cranked the S back up and she was still idling rough. Played with that harness and no change. Drove her about 2 miles before she decided she wanted to play nice again.
Could the fuel injector cleaner and octane booster make her bog and idle rough like that???????? I've never needed to use them before so I have no experience with them.
Could the fuel injector cleaner and octane booster make her bog and idle rough like that???????? I've never needed to use them before so I have no experience with them.
