HELP JM! car issues! PLEASE HELP!

Prince Nismo · Post by **Prince Nismo** » Wed Sep 08, 2004 7:01 pm

ok so now i have car issues... i have brought it down to a number of things.... broken coil-pack, mis-firing spark plug, or a loose wire.... here's the scenario...

ok so occassionally when i start and drive my car it idles like a frickin cam'd out mustang V8.. the idle is rough but not lobing... if that makes since like the car shakes up and down but the idle stays btw like 7-800 rpms. ok well when i drive the car if feels like it's running on 1 or 2 few cylinders, i know it's not the turbo b/c it is spooling just fine and boost is near normal operation and always hits hard. but it will pull but it almost feels like something is blocking my exhaust... i can't explain it. it's like if i revved really high and just let it back fire a tad it would clear it out. (which i have tried and didn't work). so i don't know whats going on but see the wierd thing is sometimes i will crank the car and run and be fine... like nothing out of the norm...whats up with that? but if i ever do any fancy driving such as weaving etc etc. it will revert back to the wierd idle and choppy driving. how messed up is that?! someone please help me.

kraynakadon · Post by **kraynakadon** » Wed Sep 08, 2004 7:05 pm

Just a wild ass guess, but if you have a cat, smack it with a hammer. If it rattles, maybe it is breaking up and getting clogged. Could definitely cause intermittant power issues, though I've never seen it like you've described.

Prince Nismo · Post by **Prince Nismo** » Wed Sep 08, 2004 7:07 pm

sorry no cat. dp and 1 ft exhaust...

slidewaysgolf · Post by **slidewaysgolf** » Wed Sep 08, 2004 8:09 pm

Ok you have a gremlin. It could be a 100 things, check the easy stuff fuel filter could be getting crap in it, or you might have a bad ground wire "i have seen one cause troublie like that" i doubt its a timing isue but it could be so put a timing light on it i am not shure if you car has a cam position sensor or a crack sensor but it could be one of those. check the coil packs, and well hell check everything, and if you are still stumped hook it up to a computer and see if you have any strange codes.

Post by **andysapp** » Wed Sep 08, 2004 10:13 pm

Yikes! I'm clueless.

djdorifto · Post by **djdorifto** » Wed Sep 08, 2004 10:26 pm

yup could be anything, from a simple loose wire or connection to hell anything lol. Your running a RB engine right? Am clueless in that department. But yeah make a check list from small simple to large complex. gl!

ChadMK4 · Post by **ChadMK4** » Thu Sep 09, 2004 1:02 am

Ok this is what you need to do to find out what Cylinder you're having issues with..

1st: crank the engine w/o touching anything under the hood... Because you said, Could be anything.

2nd: if the car is running poorly (which it has to be to do this test) like it usually does disconnect each coil pack one at a time. Make sure when unplugging the coil packs you unplug them by pulling on the plastic plug and not pulling on the wires themselves. That will make them go bad really fast. Listen and see if it makes a noticable audible sound difference. If it does then hook that coild pack back up and move to the next until you find the one that doesn't change anything once you've got it unplugged.. Once U"ve got that one isolated then U'll know which one has the Issue.

3rd: Plug the coil pack harness back onto the coil pack and then while the car is running and everything is plugged back together move the wires around Very Slowly on the plug of the one thats bad and see if that changes anything.. But remember to do it slowly cause this is checking for a broken wire. If it does change things then just issolate it even more by going to each individual wire and moving it the same way til you've got you wire figured out and just replace that section of wire and Problem solved.

4th: Turn off the car and unplug the coil that has the problem. Take out the coil pack to see if you can see any hairline cracks/ Fractures anywhere on it. If you don't see anything then just leave it out for the moment. If you do then swap that coil pack out with another coil pack on the engine and plug everything in like usual and Do step #2 again to see if the coil pack that you swapped out from another part of the engine is bad. If you have an issue with that very same coil pack but just in the new spot then you know that your problem is that coil pack. Replace it with a new one and your problem should be fixed.

5th: take out the Spark Plug and look at it. See if it still has the Electrode ( the little ark thing that shoots a spark between it and the center conductor of the plug). Look at it to see how much Carbon build up there is. Just do a general inspection of the plug. If it looks like Shiat then replace all of your plugs and gap all of them the same.. I use NGK 3330's.. Good for about 4K miles. And like a $1.50 a peice.

6th: (from step #4) Swap that coil pack out with another coil pack on the engine and plug everything in like usual and Do step #2 again to see if the coil pack that you swapped out from another part of the engine is bad. If you have an issue with that very same coil pack but just in the new spot then you know that your problem is that coil pack. Replace it with a new one and your problem should be fixed. Sometimes you can't see the hairline fractures because they are so small but they will still ark to the head causing a miss. Thats why I used this one again.. It's another good way to Troubleshoot the issue.

I hope this will help Aid you in your troubleshooting of the Problem.
Chad C..

SLYDSHW · Post by **SLYDSHW** » Thu Sep 09, 2004 1:54 pm

Check the ecu plug into the box. A friend of mines was loose and his car would start running horribly when he turned hard or hit a bump, and stay that way. And sometimes it ran fine. The main plug wasnt seated totally and his fuel pump was cutting in and out.

The maf plug being loose or having bad connections is another culprit. Like Chad said,Coil packs are a good place to start and see if you can isolate it to one cylinder or pack. There are just a lot of little things that can go wrong but because of what you said about it acting up during rough driving I am thinking it is a connection somewhere..

turbofb · Post by **turbofb** » Thu Sep 09, 2004 4:59 pm

Back it up to the computer, i'll take a look at it

aburazaru · Post by **aburazaru** » Fri Sep 10, 2004 9:27 am

i once had a very similar problem with my hooptie and it, belive it or not, actually turned out to be that the computer was not bolted down in a good spot. in fact mine was sitting on the floor. if it is bolted down right, do the whole coil pack thing. if nothing changes with the coil pack play, look at the front cover of the engine right under where it says "rb20" now on the ex side there should be a little circle with a mitsubishi sign on it(i know i know) that little mitsu part is your crank angle sensor see if the plugg is still stout in there. if so pop off the plugg and see it any of the six prongs are bent or broken, these are basically what tells your packs to fire. if that or anything else on this page didn't help you i reccomend seeking a shop that can give you a free diagnostic.

Prince Nismo · Post by **Prince Nismo** » Fri Sep 10, 2004 10:05 am

ok well i check my sensors and stuff and it was all good, haven't had a chance to check the coil-packs yet only b/c i can't find a single allen key, go figure. but i will be check soon for the packs, cracks, and ecu. i have a feeling it's a loose wire though from the way it's acting... b/c it has run strong and fine today. go figure.

thanks everyone for all their help i appreciate it! >jm i'll keep ya posted.

aburazaru · Post by **aburazaru** » Fri Sep 10, 2004 10:48 am

when ever it's running good just zip tie every wire to something solid and then they wont move and mess up again. and plus you could get a zip tie sponsorship...haha

ChadMK4 · Post by **ChadMK4** » Fri Sep 10, 2004 6:22 pm

Ha!!!