DrKrazy Posted October 24, 2006 Share Posted October 24, 2006 Ok left for work this morning and a few miles down the road I get this random but violent surging and then it goes away, does it again and the car actually dies. Get it restarted and turn back to go home and grab the lifted sedan to drive to work. Does it several more times on the way back too...well once I got home tonight I dove right in to try and get it fixed. Don't get me wrong I love driving the lifted rig but not as my commuter car. Never threw a check engine and no codes stored :-\ Checked, Rechecked, and checked again all my hoses and connections. Figured it was the fuel pump, swapped from my parts RX...nope Okay maybe the coil is giving up on me, swap it....nope Notice the alt is getting pretty hot on a short drive, swap it for the heck of it..nope After the last test drive I pulled into the driveway and it ran for a sec then all a sudden died...this time it let off a bad smell, pretty sure it was unburnt fuel. All tune-up componets have about 10k on them, got too dark to do anymore investigating. So turning to you guys after all my searching (turns out most people replaced what I already have) to see what everyone else thinks for tomorrow night's 2nd round battle with the RX. Disty going bad? Runs fine except for when it decides to surge/stumble or even die. This marks the first break-down (though I could still drive just don't want to risk it) for my RX since I bought it and redid the motor and everything else with it 2 years ago...guess it had to happen sometime Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JWX Posted October 24, 2006 Share Posted October 24, 2006 check the water temp sensor (the one for the ECU) although everytime there is an issue with them they usually throw a check engine light, this kinda sounds like what mine have done before. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeshoup Posted October 24, 2006 Share Posted October 24, 2006 Definitely check that dizzy. Pull the spark plugs and check them out too. It sounds like something in the ignition isn't right... Maybe a bad set of plug wires? Sounds like what the wagon did a couple weeks after I bought it. A tune up of the ignition system, and she was all good. But you said you did all that stuff 10k ago... odd. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrKrazy Posted October 25, 2006 Author Share Posted October 25, 2006 Round 2! And DrKrazy comes out ahead! (I'm pretty sure) Check the CTS was as clean as I left it a month ago during my "winter" inspection, cleaning, fluid changes on all the cars. Tested out fine too.. Back to my first thought and Mike's too obviously the distributor... Swapped in one of my spares, kept my cap and rotor since they are like brand new and warmed it up for about 15 mins (wanted to see if it would die or stumble before I even bothered taking it out for a test drive) then got in and took off for a drive. Well my drive got longer and longer..running perfect. Boosted it hard several times, along with lugging it hard trying to make it do it..nope ran perfect So with that said my rebuilt disty with about 10k on it, is screwy :-\ . Now the RX has a disty with who knows how many miles on it and is running fine, it PAYS to have a fairly large stash of parts and a parts car for these types of situations. Pretty happy though, driving the lifted rig in traffic commuting for the last few days was growing old. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrKrazy Posted November 5, 2006 Author Share Posted November 5, 2006 Well damn, 10 days later and it's back again....doubting the disty went bad again. If so what the heck could cause a distributor to go bad? Going to pull out the FSM's and start checking everything with a volt meter in the morning after I limp it home from work tonight, maybe TPS is going...still no codes. If everything checks out okay guess I'll swap in my spare ECU if needed. Anyone else got ideas? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JWX Posted November 5, 2006 Share Posted November 5, 2006 how bad was the CTS connectors when you cleaned them? are they tight? did you pull the connector before you did the dist? go wiggle it and see what happens Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrKrazy Posted November 5, 2006 Author Share Posted November 5, 2006 how bad was the CTS connectors when you cleaned them? are they tight? did you pull the connector before you did the dist? go wiggle it and see what happens Well several months ago, the CTS started acting up on me and was throwing a code. It was pretty bad then, so I spent awhile cleaning it up and used Gary's method of fixing it so the actual sensor is now soldered and filled with RTV. So it's just the connector that's been moved and it's super shiny and clean. I did pull, checked and cleaned the connector for the disty when I swapped it, was pretty clean and tight. Did try shaking with the car running and no changes. I ended up taking the highway home last night (thinking quicker I drive, closer I'll make it to home if it completely dies on me, which it hasn't, always been able to get it to restart) and was bucking/surging a tad until I hit the highway and it ran fine the whole way home from there so maybe it is the TPS freaking out...will get a few more cups of coffee in my system and will start checking things out this morning. I did promise the car I was going to park it for the winter (except nice days) and haven't yet so maybe it's just pissed at me for breaking my promise Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snowman Posted November 5, 2006 Share Posted November 5, 2006 Checked the MAF sensor? Water in fuel? (it's getting to be that time of year). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrKrazy Posted November 5, 2006 Author Share Posted November 5, 2006 Ding Ding Round 3.... Checked the TPS, working fine Checked MAS, fine too Starting to get pissed.... Notice my check engine light is burned out, so went ahead and replaced that. Swapped the ECU out just for the hell of it (Running out of ideas if you can't tell)...no change Re-checked and swapped the CTS just cause...no change Spend hours checking wires, cleaning connections, notta... Getting real pissed now almost to the point of throwing tools Okay take a few mins and go calm down, read through the FSM a bit more and head back out. Swapped the knock sensor and the tranistor for the coil...take it out again hmmm running fine again, so keep driving and no signs of it. Finally turn around and head home, showed no signs of the problem. My guess lies on the knock sensor, but of course not sure it's totally fixed yet (crossing fingers). Time will tell I guess....my pulled and tested parts pile is getting rather large now, and if it starts doing it again I'll be at a total loss. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
subiemech85 Posted November 5, 2006 Share Posted November 5, 2006 check your fuel, did you put E-85 in?, COULD have a bad tank of gas will it run better if you keep it above 3-4k? the tps should show a nice steady change in ohm's as you go from open to close, be sure to follow the setting procedure with feeler gauges make sure timing is set to 10* btdc, you have ngk bpr9ey-11 plugs and a cap and rotor MADE IN JAPAN unplug the maf sensor and see what happens you should have atleast a "ok" code Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrKrazy Posted November 7, 2006 Author Share Posted November 7, 2006 Well starting to think you guys may be on to something with the bad tank of gas. Ran perfect yesterday to and from work....started bucking a bit on my way to work this morning. So instead of turning around to get the lifted rig I kept it running and headed to the closest gas station. Was down to around a 1/3rd of a tank left, so filled it up with my regular 91 octane (highest we get out here, and always what I put in the RX). Did some surging/bucking the next two miles to work but they weren't as hard as before..will see how my drive home goes (crossing fingers)... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brianbarber Posted November 7, 2006 Share Posted November 7, 2006 I encountered similar symptoms in my previous car. I normally use regular grade gas and two consecutive fill-ups with premium gas made the symptoms disappear. As a bonus, they never returned in the last three years of its life. BB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JWX Posted November 7, 2006 Share Posted November 7, 2006 Well starting to think you guys may be on to something with the bad tank of gas. Ran perfect yesterday to and from work....started bucking a bit on my way to work this morning. So instead of turning around to get the lifted rig I kept it running and headed to the closest gas station. Was down to around a 1/3rd of a tank left, so filled it up with my regular 91 octane (highest we get out here, and always what I put in the RX). Did some surging/bucking the next two miles to work but they weren't as hard as before..will see how my drive home goes (crossing fingers)... maybe try some seafoam or B12 chem tool in the gas tank. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrKrazy Posted November 8, 2006 Author Share Posted November 8, 2006 Well barely made it home, surging got extremely bad again, died several times..but I did make it home! This problem is really ticking me off..but here's what I learned in my trip home tonight: Starts to cut off, if you try and give it gas (even flooring) it WILL die unless you stick the clutch in and free rev it, even then it's 50/50 if you can keep it running No jumping/change in the tach when it does this (unless of course it dies out then the rpm's smoothly go down to 0)- So engine is still spinning and ignition is working it seems, while this happens. Did it a few times while under boost, turbo light still on and showing positive manifold pressure even when it's dying out on me, or trying to The smell returned today while surging/dying out, and I can now say it does not smell like unburnt fuel.. in fact I've never smelled anything like it before and can't even describe it. I may swap the MAF tonight and take it for a drive, but at this point I'm pretty well sick of it and will prob just drive the lifted rig until I can positively identify the problem and get it fixed. I got a good solid two years after my engine install/redoing everything, so this is payback for two years of being trouble-free I guess. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeffast Posted November 8, 2006 Share Posted November 8, 2006 try putting a bottle or two of heet in the tank you can get it at most auto parts stores, it removes water and can clean things out a little, let me know i can bring a bottle or two out with me Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ct_bob Posted November 15, 2006 Share Posted November 15, 2006 it WILL die unless you stick the clutch in and free rev it, even then it's 50/50 if you can keep it running This is sounding a lot like the problem I have been experiencing and just submitted a question about. My problem only occurs when it is wet out, but not all the time. (actually, I ride motorcycles 45k a year and the car 7k a year in New Hampshire) The last few days it has been raining. I had thought I had solved the problem but it came back after drining in the rain for about an hour. Then I dropped it off at a mechanic and it was running fine. He could not duplicate the problem. I picked it up tonight. It was rainy all day, but just foggy tonight. I made it less than a mile. I finally got fed up and removed the MAF sensor connector. It runs OK for now. At least I can get to work if it snows ( I hope) Bob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrKrazy Posted November 16, 2006 Author Share Posted November 16, 2006 Whoops forgot to update this thread... Last week/weekend I had some more time to fool around with it. Put some new NGK's in (old ones still looked perfect but hey), and went to swap the Mass Air Flow sensor and what do you know...... The intake boot was slightly loose at the turbo, enough that in the right situation it would suck in air, un-metered too... :banghead: Went ahead and replaced the MAF anyways, now I have a strange idle is loopy by like 20-40 rpms but drives me nuts as it used to idle dead on. So going to swap my other MAF back on this weekend. Anyways been driving to/from work and around since Saturday night and no problems. So I'm 99% sure it was just that loose intake boot. And that's my kinda luck peeps! Something totally dumb the whole time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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