MISFIRING BS - Redtop SR20DET in an S14

[bhavedikian]

I have narrowed down the issue to Cylinder #2. The car misfires and sounds like a WRX and then gets worse until it won't run and will barely start. When I pull the coil packs the only one that doesn't effect the engine is in the #2 Cylinder. I have replaced all the plugs in the motor, #2 Injector and the #2 Coil Pack which seemed to fix the issue but after driving it 1/4 mile it started stumbling again so I just put in the garage before it dies again. It smells like a gas station so I know fuel isn't the problem. When I pull the #2 Coil Pack it arcs onto the valve cover so I know it's getting to the plug. Also, when I pulled the old HKS plug out it was drenched in gas as you would imagine. I have an SARD fuel pressure regulator with gauge but I don't think that's the issue since the other plugs that were pulled were dry so I know spark isn't occuring in the #2 Cylinder. Oh, and another great item started after I swapped the plugs and let her warm up, there was a little smoke coming from the exhaust header and turbo which I thought might be a saturated exhaust gasket because of the insane amount of unburnt gas in the motor. This was worse after driving the car not better as I had hoped. I hope this is just a normal exhaust leak from all the extra shaking the motor has done when misfiring. I don't see how the MAF cound be doing this since it's just one cylinder so any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

I've been working on so many problems with the car I'm getting to the point where I'm going to blow it up because I can't stand it. I had it for three weeks without an issue and now I've had a month of it being screwed up and not working and fighting one issue after another. Any help would be greatly appreciated as I'm getting to the end of the rope with this car.

[IanS]

if its shaking and smoking you may be supplying to much fuel to the No 2 cylinder, check the injector O ring to make sure it is not broken. Also, what fuel pressure are you running.

[bhavedikian]

Thanks for the response...I'll have to check the fuel pressure tonight after work and get back to you on that one. I swapped out the injector and it's still doing it, granted it's not a new injector so who knows. I'm alos going to pull the plug and make sure it's firing and that it isn't getting too little of a supply of power. I'm alos going to do a compression test asd well as a friend had suggested. I'll get back to you on these things and hope the plugs are just gapped wrong, but even if they were wouldn't all the cylinders be having issues?

[IanS]

even if the plug gap is way off, it shouldnt really effect idle, the compression test is a good idea, make sure to test all cylinders, if any 2 have a differance of more than 20 or one is below 120 you have somthing wrong.

[bhavedikian]

Thanks for the help, I checked the fuel pressure and it's at 48psi and goes to 58psi when revving the motor with the throttlebody pulley. The car started and idled fine this morning and revved fine but it's not under load of course. The smoke coming up from the turbo area stopped as did the little bit of white smoke coming from the exhaust. The smell of gas is almost gone so maybe I just need to drive it more and get some built up gas out or something. I'm still going to get a compression tester if they aren't a fortune because I'd liek to know what they are anyways. I was thinking of backing off the fuel pressure to 44psi and see what happens but I also don't want to run it too low since it has a FP Big 28 turbo in it which I don't think should require too much more pressure then normal. I', also tempted to put in my AEM EMS to see if it can correct the issue along with the Z32 MAF I have so that I can check the ranges on everything to see what's going on in cylinder #2 from the ECU stand point. I think I'll let the car idle for 10 minutes and then take it for a drive and see what happens, plus I need to get it warm to do the test anyway. If it has issues then I guess I throw in the new door skins while I think of something else to do since I've worked on this car too much already.

[bhavedikian]

I changed the fuel pressure down to 44psi and it still is getting way too fuel in cylinder #2. I checked the CAS it doesn't have any oil on it or anything although I'm sure how to test to see if if power is an issue. I found out that the smoking from the engine bay is gas since it's now coming though the gasket and has dripped a little on the floor which sucks. I tested compression and it has 150psi in all cylinders exactly. One person on this forum said he had an old ECU that never told injector #2 to fire...can it be the opposite too where the ECU is telling injector #2 to fire all the time or stay open too long? I'm running out of ideas as to why #2 is getting so much gas. I don't have an extra MAF to swap except for the Z32. I guess maybe this week I'll do the EMS thing. Must rest now...

[bhavedikian]

Oh yeah, I checked and gapped the plugs to 0.028" as well.

[IanS]

get yourself a noid light and check the injector pulse for No 2, if it is pulsing more than the rest its an ECU problem. Then you could use a multimeter to ohm out the injector and make sure its not faulty. Did you replace the O ring when you put in the injectors, if not you may have put in another bad O ring. If none of these fix the problem, youve got me stumped. I dont think anyone else wants to help either, cause no one wants to read your novel dam lazy intarwebers

[bhavedikian]

The reason I type so much is that I've been on forums since 1998 and if you don't post enough some idiot will complain so I just go to the other end and explain a bunch.

I'm not familiar with a noid light...is this a little test light or something else? Also, I really am not familiar with a multimeter but I do have one since I've been trying to fix other issues. It's a 10A so do I need a 30A unit?

I just put the other injector in that already had an O ring on it. How do I tell if the O ring is bad? Also, It was a PITA to the old or newer injector in unlike the other injector I removed since I was stumpted as to why either wouldn't go back in. Thank you for responding and you help, it's greatly appreciated!

[IanS]

hahaha, its ok, Im a novel writer too, a noid light is a little l.e.d. with 2 pins and it fits right into the plug on the wiring harness for the injector, then you crank the engine and you can see it pulse when the ECU is telling to injector to fire. As far as multimeters go, the 10 amp should be fine, just set it to measure resistance and touch the leads to the injectors pins, resistance should be between 10 and 14 ohms. If you dont have a noid light, you can, with the engine running, take a screw driver and press the tip to the injector itself, then press your ear against the handle, you should be able to hear a clicking, check all the injectors, if one sounds differant then the others you found yourself a problem.

[bhavedikian]

Cool, thanks for the info. I reset the ECU with the reset screw and then solidered a black wire back to the ECU plug since it looked like it had come off and it sounds like the wire that the previous owner had to solider back on too from the original owner. She started fine a few times and now it's popping the IGN fuse on the hood again...back to the original problem and then the flooding too. "F" this POS, I'm going to have a speed shop look at it since I can't figure it out and I have no idea why the IGN fuse is now popping again...I guess it wasn't a bad main ground for the motor.

[IanS]

UH OH, spagetti Os now youve got me stumped wiring gremlins suck

[bhavedikian]

I appreciate the help especially since no one else tried. I think I'm going to take it to AMS Performance and have them fix it since it's getting past my knowledge. I might just have them put in a new wiring harness since the original owner was putz and did things so bad, of course I find this out after I buy the car...yes I did ask a few times but you know how it goes sometimes...

[bhavedikian]

I called AMS Performance and they directed me to Touge Factory. They looked over and fixed the engine harness which had shorted out on the back side of the engine. I installed it and put the car back together because it's a PITA to pull the engine harness. The car starts and idles just fine but it still smokes from the turbine area and the exhaust but the exhaust isn't all the time just here and there and I haven't boosted it or driven besides even throttle just for testing. The exhaust header, turbine and elbow pipe look a little wet still and this is where the smoke is coming from so I have no idea if it is burn-off from all the fuel or what. The car lost a 1/4 of a tank of gas from testing which wasn't that much so a ridiculous amount of fuel was run through the car. I guess I should just let it idle for a half hour and see if that fixes it since it keeps stahling at lights. Touge Factory told me it's humid out which it was the least humid day in a while yesterday and that there might be a little boost leak that might make it smoke. I was also told to plug all ports on the throttlebody which I will do tonight. I guess I have to make a charge tube pressure tester and hope that it doesn't need a compressor since I don't have one. I think I might pull the elbow pipe and see what is going on since I'm now pissed since I thought everything would be cool. I guess I need to wait and see what's up after letting it idle and plugging the two open pipes on the throttlebody. They look like the same tubes that circulated coolant to the throttlebody for warming it up in the winter. I'll do that and hope it fixes it since this car has been nothing but a POS so far...damn I'm tired of this.

[gaehrings13]

You need to change your oil if your car was dumping so much fuel into the cylinders. You can ruin your bearings like that.

[bhavedikian]

I was afraid someone was going to tell me that since I got it changed 300 miles ago...crap. Oh well, I guess that has to be done period. Thank you for the information.

[bhavedikian]

I plugged the two open ports on the throttlebody which leads me to believe it's a KA throttlebody. I checked the turbo and there's no oil in the lines on the compressor side of things. I tightened all the clamps down and made a make shift gasket for the BOV since it was just bolted to the pipe...no flanges for some reason. I'll check the turbine side of things tomorrow after the oil change since I want to make sure it's not gas that's in with the oil that's burning off since it's only coming from the turbine area. The car runs fine I'm just worried something is going wrong with the turbo since the shaft had some play in it but there isn't any oil, it's clean as a whistle so I have no idea...I hope the oil change helps...

[bhavedikian]

It turned out to be gas in the oil, I changed the oil and the smoke went away. I found the car was over-heating so I checked things out and the fan wasn't running so I changed the fuse and all is good finally. Time to install the EMS this weekend...thanks for the help!