Engine Cuts out and stumbles under boost...HELP PLEASE! `

[achalmersman]

The only problem with that is if the ECM reboots and you loose PL connection it wont record when you hit the space bar. If your already recording and PL drops I believe you retain the log.

No trees were harmed in the sending of this message, however, a significant number of electrons were terribly inconvenienced.

 

[Ttype6]

If your already recording and PL drops I believe you retain the log.

This is what I experienced when recording and having an intermittent connection at the ECM. It recorded every thing including the power drop out. The Powerlogger didn't drop out,but the power to the computer was temporarily interrupted. The same thing happened when my positive wire contacted the down pipe while recording. The engine shut off and the Powerlogger recorded the event and the chip reverted to its default settings. These two recordings were triggered by the TPS. Now that I think about it,if the plugs stop a recording they also stop the monitoring. I think ,in the case of the spark plugs, there's nothing that you can do if they interfere with the Powerlogger.

 

[achalmersman]

This is what I experienced when recording and having an intermittent connection at the ECM. It recorded every thing including the power drop out. The Powerlogger didn't drop out,but the power to the computer was temporarily interrupted. The same thing happened when my positive wire contacted the down pipe while recording. The engine shut off and the Powerlogger recorded the event and the chip reverted to its default settings. These two recordings were triggered by the TPS. Now that I think about it,if the plugs stop a recording they also stop the monitoring. I think ,in the case of the spark plugs, there's nothing that you can do if they interfere with the Powerlogger.

Yea thats what I'm saying. I just started recording and drove around. And it caught the same stuff you're saying. I was just trying to say if a person is driving around not recording and expects to catch the issue in a log by relying on the 10 second buffer, it might not happen. If the glitch causes the PL to drop the connection to the laptop you will loose your buffer. Logging all the time or by TPS like you said would prevent this.

No trees were harmed in the sending of this message, however, a significant number of electrons were terribly inconvenienced.

 

[Nero328]

So what would cause a Cometic Head Gasket to blow around 17 PSI after being tuned and not showing any problems in the numbers at all? Sadly this happened on my test drive while I was in Phoenix to pick it up. I thought it was just something simple so I brought it back to Houston with me. I can replace the head gasket with no problems and luckily it is on the drivers side (#5) but I really want to try and figure out what may have happened so I can prevent it in the future. I could understand if it blew around 30 PSI which would be pushing the edge but for it to blow around 17 PSI on a brand new build I am concerned.

I know that detonation is the primary cause for a blown head gasket on any turbo car but is there anything else that these cars are prone to with regards to the head gaskets?

 

[Ttype6]

So what would cause a Cometic Head Gasket to blow around 17 PSI after being tuned and not showing any problems in the numbers at all? Sadly this happened on my test drive while I was in Phoenix to pick it up. I thought it was just something simple so I brought it back to Houston with me. I can replace the head gasket with no problems and luckily it is on the drivers side (#5) but I really want to try and figure out what may have happened so I can prevent it in the future. I could understand if it blew around 30 PSI which would be pushing the edge but for it to blow around 17 PSI on a brand new build I am concerned.

I know that detonation is the primary cause for a blown head gasket on any turbo car but is there anything else that these cars are prone to with regards to the head gaskets?

What kind of fuel do you use?

 

[Nero328]

What kind of fuel do you use?

Sunoco Sr18 (118 Octane)

 

[Ttype6]

Sunoco Sr18 (118 Octane)

I suppose we should assume that your sputtering caused this. It's just the epitome of ironic that you would blow a gasket while running 118 to prevent it.
The first time I blew a gasket was at 10 lbs of boost with alky and it blew the indestructible RJC gaskets to pieces. I had never blown one before that at 21 lbs and 100 octane. Go figure.

 

[TURBOELKY]

I'm having an issue similar to yours with a buddies car. I think he took it on a super joy ride and didn't tell me

 

[ttypewhite]

I agree with you 100% however I must not have made myself clear...Eric burned the chip that is in the car and I DID pay someone to take this responsibility from me (to the tune of $11K) after failing twice before. I kept thinking that my old builds were all caused by me and it turned out that I had some issues with the old block. Nick Micale had this motor built by his guy in Phoenix and it was tuned by him as well. Nick had already built up to 17 PSI and it was running fine. I am not sure what caused this problem but I do want to make it perfectly clear that I don't believe that Nick or his engine builder did anything wrong. This is a race car and I am pushing the envelope (even though we never got near the envelope this time) if it was easy everyone would do it. I have built many race motors over the years so its not like I am new to the game however I am fairly new to the GN world and these cars are definitely different enough to seek the advice of guys like you and others on the board. Nick has been excellent in helping me with this issue and is standing right beside me (figuratively at this point since I am back in Houston) and I know he will make it right. I wish I had stayed a few more days in Phoenix so we could solve this problem there however I am not concerned, I know Nick will support me and I am easily capable of changing head gaskets even though I would much rather be out there driving it right now instead of working on it.

My apologizes, I obviously don't read well.... I just re read your thread. You do have a Turbotweak chip in there. From what your saying it sounds like you took it home with this problem. My advice would be to bring it back. Nick is a stand up guy and I'm sure he would do everything possible to rectify it. If there is any positive behind this, it would be dealing with Nick. I learn a lot from that ol boy on this forum.

 

[No disintegrations]

perhaps 87 octane was mixed up for 118 octane but idk how?

 

[Nero328]

perhaps 87 octane was mixed up for 118 octane but idk how?

No chance it was mixed up, we filled it up directly out of the Sunoco can...

 

[Nero328]

My apologizes, I obviously don't read well.... I just re read your thread. You do have a Turbotweak chip in there. From what your saying it sounds like you took it home with this problem. My advice would be to bring it back. Nick is a stand up guy and I'm sure he would do everything possible to rectify it. If there is any positive behind this, it would be dealing with Nick. I learn a lot from that ol boy on this forum.

Unfortunately that is not an option right now, it would cost another $1600 to ship it back to him and bring it back home and I am tapped out now. I know Nick will make it right and I agree he is a stand up guy. We will figure this out together, when I left Phoenix we were all certain that it would just be a simple issue and could never have imagined it would have been a blown head gasket. It is extremely strange since I know the engine builder that he uses is also extremely knowledgeable and experienced, this is just one of those things that happens when you are pushing the envelope. With Nick's help and all of the amazing support from this board we will get this sorted out and she will be back on the road in no time at all.

 

[No disintegrations]

ok then if the timing was good, octane good, boost was good, then it must have leaned out by the fuel pump sucking air or something like that.

 

[Nero328]

ok then if the timing was good, octane good, boost was good, then it must have leaned out by the fuel pump sucking air or something like that.

yeah I agree...something must have leaned it out. I will have the heads off in a couple of hours and I will post some pictures.

 

[achalmersman]

You dont have logs showing fuel pressure and AF? I ASSumed those parameters were constantly being monitored.

No trees were harmed in the sending of this message, however, a significant number of electrons were terribly inconvenienced.

 

[Mr.Spool]

Unfortunately that is not an option right now, it would cost another $1600 to ship it back to him and bring it back home and I am tapped out now. I know Nick will make it right and I agree he is a stand up guy. We will figure this out together, when I left Phoenix we were all certain that it would just be a simple issue and could never have imagined it would have been a blown head gasket. It is extremely strange since I know the engine builder that he uses is also extremely knowledgeable and experienced, this is just one of those things that happens when you are pushing the envelope. With Nick's help and all of the amazing support from this board we will get this sorted out and she will be back on the road in no time at all.

the car should definitely go back,I'm not going to go into all the things that can go wrong with a build but cometic head gaskets are serious gaskets. One thing I always look at is my fuel pressure and AFR in real time.once those are good I'm in the throttle strong.if the car went lean the cylinder gets hot and the cometics get torched.to blow one with 118 octane and 17 psi doesn't sound good but your afr and fuel pressure is a mystery.so now you have to guess what is wrong.with a stong running buick you have to look a things alot more and get logging data and read the plugs.

 

[Nero328]

Well, we were right about the head gasket but I was wrong on the cylinder...it was #3 instead of #5. As you can see from the pictures it was perhaps running a little hot but nothing major in my opinion considering I am running 118 octane. Oh, and one more thing...obviously I realized once I got the head off that these are NOT Cometic gaskets but are Felpro 1026 gaskets...I still don't think the gasket is what caused the problem knowing that Nick runs these gaskets on all of his 4.1 builds. Thoughts?

 

[Nero328]

the car should definitely go back,I'm not going to go into all the things that can go wrong with a build but cometic head gaskets are serious gaskets. One thing I always look at is my fuel pressure and AFR in real time.once those are good I'm in the throttle strong.if the car went lean the cylinder gets hot and the cometics get torched.to blow one with 118 octane and 17 psi doesn't sound good but your afr and fuel pressure is a mystery.so now you have to guess what is wrong.with a stong running buick you have to look a things alot more and get logging data and read the plugs.

I will have to look into the AFR however the fuel pressure is not a mystery...I have a gauge in the car that is known good and it is set at 43 PSI with the vacuum line off and rises one for one with boost.I think my log was screwed up (operator error) I am still learning how to use the PowerLogger.

 

[Ttype6]

I know Nick will make it right and I agree he is a stand up guy. We will figure this out together

Nick has responded to several threads where this kind of problem was proven to be caused by non resistor plugs. The problem I'm refering to is ignition break up. His response has always been to tell us the number of times he's used these plugs without issue. At the same time,he will mention breaking up issues after switching to E85 being fixed by installing the TR6 ignition system. He never tries to fix the breaking up issue by installing resistor plugs. He never recommended that you install resistor plugs to see if it fixed your problem because he refuses to admit that they are even a possible cause.

could never have imagined it would have been a blown head gasket.

Your problem is not blown head gaskets. Your head gaskets are blown because of your problem.

this is just one of those things that happens when you are pushing the envelope.

You haven't even entered into the room where you keep the desk that contains the envelopes.

 

[Ttype6]

Well, we were right about the head gasket but I was wrong on the cylinder...it was #3 instead of #5. As you can see from the pictures it was perhaps running a little hot but nothing major in my opinion considering I am running 118 octane. Oh, and one more thing...obviously I realized once I got the head off that these are NOT Cometic gaskets but are Felpro 1026 gaskets...I still don't think the gasket is what caused the problem knowing that Nick runs these gaskets on all of his 4.1 builds. Thoughts?

I'm glad to find out that you don't have Cometic gaskets. As Mr.Spool stated,these are very strong gaskets. Not that a violent event couldn't destroy them. There also is nothing wrong with the Felpro gaskets. A violent event can destroy them and any other gasket as well.