I have to figure out this problem!

Discuss topics related to the CA18DE and CA18DET series engines.
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float_6969
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Well at least you are getting the problem figured out. Keep us posted.


cadet18
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new injectors just arrived. Its super cold and snowy out today. I probably wont mess with it today but tomm i should install them in the car. just gotta wait a few days until all the salt gets off the roads before i go out for a drive. These came from AUS injectors who i guess distributes for advance. The reviews for them seem pretty good so ill let you know how everything works out.

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float_6969
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*fingers crossed*

cadet18
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new injectors work!!! gotta iron out a bit with the tune and i think well be ok! more to come!

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float_6969
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Great! So now you know for sure those other injectors were trash. Anyway news from them yet?

cadet18
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Car: 89 s13 coupe ca18det

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i just got around to sending them back out today. they should be there by friday. ill be sure to keep you guys updated. They were 110% bad im sure of that. the rx-7 injectors seem to be doing much better already. the car runs at idle thats better than the TLF injectors ever did. Im working with RS enthalpy on my tune now. Ive sent him a log (with a useable wideband, i love the innovate LC2 on nistune its effortless to set up) hoping to hear back from him tonight and see if it improves any.

Updates to come

cadet18
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Update finally!

I had to call him as he didnt call me back. He claims that one of the injectors had something stuck under one of the pintle caps and after cleaning and flow testing them again they are all normal. i asked why one had 1 ohm resistance more than the others and he claimed it was because it was stuck as a result of having something in the pintle cap. I also noticed that when i asked about my injectors which i had sent back he started to ask which ones and quickly corrected himself, telling me that he has this happen alot. needless to say i sent a note in the package explaining my issue with my return address and phone number which he also claimed not to have. He said that the return address had come off the packaging. so well see what they test as when i get them back and if they are even the same injectors. I told him that they were all four putting out different spray patterns and flow rates and he said that only one had a problem and it was the one with trash in it? ill update once again after receiving these back and flow testing them again. im expecting to get a whole different set of injectors back from him.

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Izento
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I'm glad you found out it was the injectors. Good work detectives!

cadet18
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Car: 89 s13 coupe ca18det

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I got the bad injectors back from TLF. he said there was "something" under the pintle caps of one of the injectors, also that it caused the high resistance on that one coil. I was told that he cleaned them again and they are all working fine. I will be going to take these back to get retested again to confirm they are working. I have already gotten working 460cc injectors which will be staying in the car. At the moment i am trying to work a tuning issue with the car. The tune i get from my tuner is fine until you go to give it throttle from a stop to accelerate. the car feels like it has 10HP and deosnt want to move until 2000ish rpm later when it quits being super lean and starts to pull somewhat normally. I have kinda ruled out timing and fuel maps but the TP maps are what i am looking into now. im not 100% on how that all works quite yet. doing some reading to try and learn now. i will post updates after i get the injectors retested.

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float_6969
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I assume there's an accelerator pump table in there, have you tried adjusting it?

cadet18
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yea were looking into it. i believe he called it tip in. its weird bc when i put the stock map accounting for injectors and maf it runs good with the exception of fueling being of which i expected. everything out of boost is great with that map. its the tuners map that is weird. We are importing everything from his map to the one i have running on the car now and are going to see how that goes.

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float_6969
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tip in, that's what they call it. Well anyway, it sounds like you have someone knowledgeable helping you.

cadet18
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Ill save you from reading all of this which i have for the video i put up on youtube and just say this, I wouldnt recommend TLF for anything. He wanted me to ship back a third time for a check and wouldnt do any refunds or product replacement.

Here's the full breakdown for those interested as posted on the youtube video

I got these injectors from TLF and they were sold to me as 440cc. In the video you can see that the spray pattern on all the injectors are way off. The static flow was anywhere from 280-390cc. No where near 440. I had these in my car at first assuming they were good out of the box. The car wouldnt even idle. I called TLF and was told there was nothing wrong with the injectors... fair enough since they were new and "tested". After a few months of troubleshooting i determined it had to be the injectors so i took the injectors to a local fuel performance shop which is where i took this video. The second injector from the left in this video also had a resistance of 5.2 where the other 3 had around 4.4 ohms. After this TLF said to send them back and theyd take a look, so i did. They found "something" under the pintle caps of one of the injectors and told me that was what was causing the high resistance on the one injector. They are the experts so i took their word and they recleaned and shipped back to me. Upon receiving them back the second time i took them straight to the local fuel shop and got better results but still not good. flow was 396,414,378,390. nothing was flowing 440. Also one of the injectors was flowing considerably less at around 2000rpms on the test bench. I called again to see what TLF would say and they wanted to ship back and retest. At this point i have spent as much in shipping and flow testing fees to have bought a whole different set from TLF. I declined to ship them back. I asked about returning them for a refund and was told no due to the 14 day clause for returns which i rightfully was not in and was told no. Although i was not in the window for returns i would have expected a little better customer service from TLF and would not recommend their products.

vid link https://youtu.be/Zt3Yq40gQtI

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float_6969
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The return window is null if the product you received was not as advertised. You have legal recourse if you desire to persue the situation. I would at least link them to this thread so they can see the trouble they caused. NICO is a HUGE forum, and I can't imagine a business wanting that kind of negative publicity. I could also share this on some of the FB pages if he really doesn't want to budge on this. You deserve a refund, regardless how how much time has elapsed.

cadet18
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I agree with you but i really dont think the time i would have to invest in convincing him of that would be worth it. ive already spent as much trying to see if the injectors he sent me are good each time as i would to buy another set from him. I'm considering this a loss in my book but i put up multiple reviews including his Facebook page, website, and a google review, as well as sharing this video and review to multiple groups on facebook. feel free to share the thread/video around wherever you would like. i put a post on ca18det motor enthusiasts on facebook if you want an easy way to link it all. i havent linked this thread to it. I initially didnt want to involve him directly and just told people i got injectors, didnt say where from or point fingers at him. Now that he didnt want to refund me for a faulty product and just wants me to keep sending them in to be rechecked over and over, im done. He just keeps claiming that his $41,000 machine is superior and is calibrated since he sells to the state of Illinios. I dont see how much calibration you would need to apply power to a coil, thus opening an oriface with a set pressure of fluid behind it into a graduated cylinder. IMO if it doesnt flow 440cc static at 43.5 psi into any means of measuring that is somewhat plausible then its not what i paid for. I dont really agree with how his theory on his "digital" machine is so much better. Oh well. i solely want to keep others from having to deal with this pain. I wouldnt have looked into him so much if they werent so bad the first time that my car wouldnt even idle. And even then he claimed there was no way it was his injectors and that they had been tested 3 times before shipping out.

Anyways... rant over. Yes i am perturbed by this but i think that by me reviewing him negatively will have more of a financial impact on him than my ~375 dollar loss. its hard to get away with screwing someone over with the impact that online reviews and social media can have on your business. feel free to tag me or link me to anything and ill chime in with my .02 wherever. like i said before i just dont want anyone else in the community to be affected by this. his $41,000 machine isnt my vehicle which i put my money,time, and effort into. im not chancing my prized possession with his shoddy products.

Im done now for real hah

cadet18
Posts: 226
Joined: Sun Feb 05, 2012 9:46 pm
Car: 89 s13 coupe ca18det

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So, final update on this. I had bad injectors from TLF (main source of my issues), i also had my wideband plugged into the fusebox for power (i guess dont do that, it doesnt like it... trust me) and my ignition timing was out when i was trying to sort out the tune. the car rips now. first time in the 8 years ive owned the car that its ran this well! Thanks again to everyone who has been a part of helping me diagnose this thing. theres no better place for CA advice than right here. gotta sort a small coolant leak tommorrow and shell be problem free!!

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Izento
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One of the few proper CA18s running on here, haha. The rest of ours are either torn down or neglected for now.

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float_6969
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Happy we could all help! NOW WHERE'S THE DAMN VIDEO'S OF YOU RIPPING ON IT?!?!?! :worthless: Vid's or :ban:

cadet18
Posts: 226
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Car: 89 s13 coupe ca18det

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hah ill try and get some soon. tbh ive never even done a burnout in the car. i didnt wanna beat on it until it was right. doing subframe bushings on a buddys s14 today and cleaning the s13 up for the first time in months haha. maybe some videos here soon ill def post em up as soon as i get them. also looking to get into the autox group here locally now that ive finally found it.


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