Really big problem

[Sisaro]

OK this is my situation currently my car isnt performing as advertised. IM not sure if its my Coil Pack or something else. Currently i have an 84 T-typ and when ever i get in the throttle too fast the car will start to sputter and die out ... it wil jerk and kick and miss really badly, not only that but the seat belt light turns on when this happenes then goes out when it stops. I can ease into the throttle slowly and it will be fine but as soon as boost starts to come up it will start acting up again.The funy thing is when the car is in park or neutral and you rev it up it sounds fine with maybe a slight hint of a miss or too. The wires had been testes with and osillascope and 2 of the wires where spiking way too high. I was told it was either the wires or the coil....so i changed the wires and here i am now... The TPS is good as far as i can tell it was set as close .42 as possible it jumps from .41 to .43 but no .42.... I want to know could the ECM cause this problem.That reminds me there are no Check Engine lights either so what does that narrow my problem down too??? Any info is good info if it can wake my monster

 

[GrndNatnl]

Had that same problem with my '87 at few times, twice at the track. (When it was running the stock chip) Only the Check Engine light is what flashed, since it has one. I'm still not totally sure what was going on. I'd like to believe its a leaning out problem, or severe detonation. Regardless, it scared me since I didnt have a scantool, so I just let out. Anyone know what this is caused by? Is it just a lean pop?

 

[John Larkin]

Since it happens when you jump on it quickly, it's common for a weak engine mount to allow the engine to "torque over" too far and ground the positive cable from the battery. Brake torque the car in drive and have a friend watch the engine to see if it rocks around more than you'd expect. If so, a new engine mount may cure this.

 

[Sisaro]

It has brand new engine mounts... but ill look into tightening them and see if that fixes it.

 

[Tom87GN]

This also could be water in the ECM or bad engine grounds. Do you know that both are O.K.?

 

[Sisaro]

all thr grounds are good as far as i can tell they were all thightened up properly and wouldnt a bad ecm set off the check engine light?

 

[Tom87GN]

I suppose a bad ECM would probably send a SES light.

I was chasing a problem similar to this years back and after I installed a ground stretcher kit from Casper's it mysteriously disappeared. I couldn't put my finger on any one particular ground, but one of two locations on the back of the passenger head/block were the culprit.

Does your car want to die on the downshifts (if you get that far)?

 

[GrndNatnl]

This has nothing to do with engine mounts or motor torquing!! It's a fuel leanout or detonation problem. He mentioned under light acceleration that it's fine, then once the boost builds up, it gives out. Mine did it with the stock chip, when it spooled up to about 15-16 psi, it puffed and sputtered, and the check engine light flashed when it would do this.

Since I installed the Thrasher, I have not had this problem at all. I even cranked up the boost a bit, and no knock. (Except when it overboosted before I adjusted it.)

 

[Sisaro]

i just pulled the plugs and # 2 and 3 had some damage on in them......and there was some chipping on both.

I was wondering would the fact that the tps volts are jumping between 41 to 43 affect the car that much as to cause it to act up. shouldnt it be at a steady 42 volts.

Another problem would the Low fuel light affect the car performance.... that light has been on for quite some time.

 

[GrndNatnl]

Sounds to me like you're not getting enough fuel pressure. That's my problem. (Currently working on that issue..)

What fuel regulator? Pump? Injectors? Chip? Clean fuel filter? How much boost before it starts to do this? Let me know. You may be having the same problem I'm working at fixing.

 

[Sisaro]

Stock chip 38 # injectors and it does it before i hit any boost at WOT and gets worse as the boost starts to climb.... im going to check the fuel pressure today ...i need to put in the adjustable FPR right now i have one off of a TTA.....THe fuel filter has only 1000 miles on it now... im thinking the culprit may be the pump if it is the fuel.... im running some kind of pump from a truck that puts out 42 gal/min but but i dont know if its still is giving that.
Its just very unfortunate that there weren't any walbros available here at the time of my rebuild so...

 

[Danster]

I don't think the stock chip can support 38# injectors. You need a chip burned for those injectors. I believe stock supported 28# injectors.

Dannyo

 

[Tom87GN]

Whenever you change a major component like injectors, turbo or intercooler, you will need to get another chip burned for the mods. I'd say that you aren't getting near the fuel curve needed to operate the injectors as they should be. This may be your biggest problem with the setup as it is.

 

[GrndNatnl]

Yup. That sounds like the problem. Need a chip, and fuel volume to go with it. Stock chip and not enough fuel will lean out like that. Get that FP reg, and a pump (hotwire it), and put in a nice street chip. You'll be good to go.

 

[Sisaro]

Well i just checked my FPand it is reading 40psi so it should be good.... but ill look into getting a chip...

 

[Sisaro]

how much would it cost to get a chipped burned??

 

[GrndNatnl]

Go with a $25 Thrasher 92. Great chip for the money. If you wanna have someone customize one for ya, just talk to Jim Testa. I'll probably get one from him in the future, when I require a race chip at the track.

 

[Sisaro]

well i learned a very valuable lesson.... this is how it went down....i managed to get a hold of an 84-85 ECM with a chip in it set for 36 # i put that in and ran it with no difference in performance... so bumed out i drive home and the car starts sputtering on me ,causing me to have to pull over at a gas station to figure out whats going on. Once i get there i start chasing wires because Earlier that day i was relocating the grounds on the car and rebolted them on the block.......I had the 4 main groind bolted to the aluminun mounting bracket for the acessories.(Big mistake #1) well after getting that fixed i noticed the exhaust not was a hell of a lot smoother right off the bat and iddled a little better but i still heard slight missing on occassion. So i drove the car home and I didnt have any problems going from stop to motion like i had at every light anymore and the power delivery was much smoother than before. Well back at the gas station i tried to restart the car and did not get any power what so every so i started playing with the wires ....well it all came down to being the bolt that holds the wires on the starter started to back out and was finger loose once i tightened that up and got in it once the car jumped forward once boost came on and stayed there with out hesitation or poping and sputtering......there still is some missing im going to try and fix that today.... i but thank all of you for your help. Im probably going to convert to 86-87 hardware very soon. Im just glad you guys helped me get my car running better than it has since i bought it..........damn that was long

P.S. now its time for some race gas and a little visit to the dyno.

 

[Tom87GN]

Good

What you now know is this:

1. You must use a correct chip with your modifications, changing the chip was a good start. I would verify who made the chip and what the modifications were before proceeding any further.

2. You must have good engine grounds for the motor to run correctly. Bad grounds can make cars do some seriously funny things.

If you have somebody in your local area that owns a Turbo Regal, you might want to have them take a look at the state of tune your car is in before taking it to the dyno. I'd say get a scan tool on it (TurboLink, Direct Scan, or ScanMaster) to get a look at the vital signs. If you still think it's missing somewhere, you risk damaging something by running it hard right now.

Good luck.

 

[Sisaro]

How serious of a problem could the EGR cause during acceleration??
And i think i have a serious case of Valve tap.....its driving me crazy....when i start my car all i her is a ticking noise...and its much louder when the car is under a load like going up a slight hill in 4th and pretty much in any gear around 1000-2000 rpm's.
Its sad when the it drowns out your engine completely and is louder than my exaust at times....i hooked it up to a scan tool and as far as i can tel there is no knock what so ever... im going to see if i can try it at 15 psi and see what happens...and yes i do need a chip specific to my set up...im looking into that right now.