Keep Calm Chive On Posted January 8, 2012 Report Share Posted January 8, 2012 Sooting could be caused by either too small of a gap as I stated previouls because its not allowing the flame kernal to grow large enough before igniting the mixture or that you have too hot of a plug still. I doubt its the latter. Have you taken a gauge to the fuel rail? perhaps the FPR is bad or your pump is running wild? I noticed in your picture of the orentation of your plugs... the open end of the ground strap seems to be pointed directly at the intake port. If you have upgraded your injectors perhaps there is a chance that what I stated earlier is happening... injector peeing on spark. Also if you have a clogged injector this could make it worse because the fuel isnt being atomized and is more or less streeming rather than getting atomized & mixed properly with the incoming air? Colder plugs are obviously nessisary in some applications but remember as the plug gets colder it has more change to carbon up & foul. If you have colder plugs so it doesnt blow out or get pre-ignition at WOT thats great but you also have to see how often you ARENT romping around on the car. Situations where you arent doing as much spirited driving the plugs might not be getting hot enough to maintain temperature resulting in more demand from the ignition system (and plug gap) to have a full flame kernal to ignite the a/f mixture properly. This will result in sooting & excess carbon. You want the color change to take place 1/2 way down the ground strap and you will know you are in the proper heat range. The hard part is that you basically have to make a few runs (at whatever driving style you intend to have the plugs for) and pull them as soon as a "run" like such is done. If you drive home after a hot lap that is going to skew your results Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
850wagonT5 Posted January 8, 2012 Report Share Posted January 8, 2012 Your plug looks fine, OP. Insulator looks like you just took it out of a box. I'm on junkyard wires and Autolite copper plugs...if my ish isn't blowing out or causing issues, your OEM stuff shouldn't be either. I was thinking ignition power stage, or MAF. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ARD - Lucky Posted January 8, 2012 Report Share Posted January 8, 2012 Wouldnt I see a lean out on the AFR's? I need to add that every once in awhile I feel a miss at idle. I have looked at the AFR meter and I go rich for that moment. That would indicate it was a spark loss. An idle misfire that was from lack of spark would register lean on the AFR gauge (excess oxygen from lack of combustion). Short answer, data log and watch the Load and timing values. The bluetooth ebay scanners and torque pro app are a pretty decent way to grab data, if you adjust settings in the program you can get enough capture resolution for diagnosis. By discerning the captured data you can determine whether you're experiencing actual ignition misfire, detonation "misfire", and you can see if the ECU LOD value is dropping out from a missing crank/cam value. I can read the adaptations in the ECU but that won't tell me what hard parts on the car are failing, only what the ECU is doing to try and manage it. Hope that helps some! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fishey Posted January 9, 2012 Report Share Posted January 9, 2012 You got a boost leak... Ohhh yea... its a booost leak.... Time to find it... Go find your leak.... (Think about this in a really odd singing voice) Seriously though, I think you got a boost leak maybe near the IAC who knows but regardless your maf is saying OMG SO MUCH FLOW! your engine is only seeing about 1/2 that flow... You get on boost and BOOOM way to much fuel for your actual airflow resulting in said misfire. / End Thread Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KllewT5 Posted January 9, 2012 Report Share Posted January 9, 2012 Boxpin does the misfiring happen in all 5 gears? Can you floor all of first and be fine, then get in boost in 2nd and it sputters, then 3rd-5th full throttle you're fine? My car does fine in 1st(full boost @ 30-50mph tires smoking), sporadic sputter in 2nd, 3rd (80-117mph) fine, 4th(118-156mph) it's fine. I only have the issue in 2nd b/w 5,000-6,000rpm(60-75mph) from what I remember. When it does sputter, boost isn't affected (although I got the stock gauge) the needle doesn't flutter when the sputter occurs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boxpin Posted January 12, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 12, 2012 Fishey is the winner! Multiple boost leaks. I capped both ends of the boost path and pressurized it. It could not hold pressure. Found several locations. Tightened them all up and pressure now holds. Misfires are gone. A very good lesson learned. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snabb T5M Posted January 12, 2012 Report Share Posted January 12, 2012 :tup: :tup: :tup: Fishey is the winner! Multiple boost leaks. I capped both ends of the boost path and pressurized it. It could not hold pressure. Found several locations. Tightened them all up and pressure now holds. Misfires are gone. A very good lesson learned. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KllewT5 Posted January 13, 2012 Report Share Posted January 13, 2012 Fishey is the winner! Multiple boost leaks. I capped both ends of the boost path and pressurized it. It could not hold pressure. Found several locations. Tightened them all up and pressure now holds. Misfires are gone. A very good lesson learned. Okay, so what exactly did you do? Enlighten me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
volvos70turbo99 Posted January 13, 2012 Report Share Posted January 13, 2012 i am wondering as well, as my car does the same exact thing, only misfiring in high boost when i'm really getting on it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lookforjoe Posted January 13, 2012 Report Share Posted January 13, 2012 Fishey is the winner! Multiple boost leaks. I capped both ends of the boost path and pressurized it. It could not hold pressure. Found several locations. Tightened them all up and pressure now holds. Misfires are gone. A very good lesson learned. That's great news. You should share where you found your leaks - other's may have similar issues to look for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boxpin Posted January 13, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 13, 2012 I had polished the FMIC pipes. When installed they were all tight...really. But not tight enough. When I began to pressurized the line I could hear leaks. I got a squirt bottle and put soapy water in it and sprayed everywhere. One by one I tightened the clamps down till there were not more bleeding bubbles. When done I was able to pressurized the line to around 25psi and it held the pressure. Before I started it would pressure up to 20 then fade down, blow it up then fade down. Now it holds. I pinched the IAC hose to do this. After it was done and all connected again I pressurized it again from turbo side to see what else I could find. Turned out the vacuum tree was leaking, replaced the seal on that. The IAC short hose was bubbling, ordered a Snabb. I have one more line to replace, the brake booster vacuum hose then I think I have it. Its funny the things you think are fine really are not, they have to be checked. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lookforjoe Posted January 13, 2012 Report Share Posted January 13, 2012 ^ Excellent. Yes, appearances can be deceiving. Covering all the basics when trouble shooting often gets put aside as we get caught up in what we think must be the cause! Good bit of Internet diagnosis on Fishey's part! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KllewT5 Posted January 14, 2012 Report Share Posted January 14, 2012 thanks for the clarity, cured a little bit of my issue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GV70T5m Posted January 18, 2012 Report Share Posted January 18, 2012 Could you post pics of your testing set up? I need to get after what I suspect are more than one boost leak that is creeping back. I fixed several and did a ignition tune up to pass smog last summer, but it's (my missfire) started again. If you don't have pix, maybe I could stop by Sunday on my way to Nevada City. ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boxpin Posted January 18, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 18, 2012 Very simple. Parts: 1. Two ABS caps from HomeDepot (get the right size for your plumbing) 2. One Valve stem from Americas Tire Drilled a hole in one of the caps and inserted the valve stem Disconnected the line from the throttle body and inserted the cap with the valve stem Disconnected the line from the turbo and inserted the other cap Pinched off the IAC line with a pair of needle nose vise grips Used a tire filler with a pressure gauge. Here are the parts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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