Help Needed Cars Running Like Crap!

[pimpenr33]

hey all my car is running like crap and i dont know y it runs worse on a cold night than a hot day its running stock boost 6 or 7 psi flat. the other night i put my foot to the floor and it sounded like it was boosting but it wasnt going anywhere felt like it lost all its power it still revs up to the limiter but if i back off to about 1/4 throttle it just takes off and goes great and i have no idea y i have the usual mods FMIC (gktech) pod filter turbo back zorst and a gutted cat any help would be great thanks

[R31Nismoid]

Sounds like rich and retard mode

Please use the search function, this is a highly common problem.

If you search with:

+rich +retard

you'll come up with a million threads just like yours

cheers

[sinistaGTR]

you got a boost gauge check that, or spark plugs

[pimpenr33]

yeah iv got boost gauge thats y i know its always at 6 psi it never goes over it and i checked my plugs they look like there ngk iridium gapped to .8 there so i dont think its them i have no idea what it could be i dont see y it would go into r+r mode with stock boost

[R31Nismoid]

Its because R&R isnt dependant on boost, or the number your gauge reads (which shouldnt be 6psi, so something is wrong there to start with)

[pimpenr33]

its a greddy boost guage and its sits just under .5 bar so 6 or 7 psi y do u think there is something wrong there i thought that was about how many psi they mad standard and y do u think its going into r+r then what do u think would be causing it

[Wheezy]

ash is spot on mate,

car loses power bas it retards timing and fuel will just dump out the exhaust causing black smoke.

Pretty common occurance, it could be a dodgey knock sensor causing it too.

[bobba]

hey there,

This explains perfectly what my car does sometimes.

I've changed coil packs and afm to no avail.

Could it be o2 sensor?

I can't seem to find any more info on this - i tried searching but didnt get very far.

any help would be great, thanks

bobby.

[R31Nismoid]

  bobba said:

hey there,

This explains perfectly what my car does sometimes.

I've changed coil packs and afm to no avail.

Could it be o2 sensor?

I can't seem to find any more info on this - i tried searching but didnt get very far.

any help would be great, thanks

bobby.

  R31Nismoid said:

If you search with:

+rich +retard

you'll come up with a million threads

[BAMR33]

Wastegate actuator playing up possibly

  pimpenr33 said:

i dont see y it would go into r+r mode with stock boost

I agree

[bobba]

  R31Nismoid said:

back..... i did try that. got no relevant results.

[Murry33]

I had a very similar problem to yours, it was an air leak, check all your hoses!

i had a tiny crack in one of my rubber hoses (10cm hose and it was not hitting full boost at all even when i floored it, replaced it with a new hose and worked perfectly, boost was just as it had been before! try that...

[Zas)-(]

hey there

lol im not sure about o2 sensors or the wastegate actuator but what i've experienced and stuff i'd jus say...

go ebay ... or ask sau ppl

... n get a used ecu for your car..perhaps 50 bucks?

or ask your mates to lend you one,n if your car works better then it was the ecu, if not forward on to mechanical parts but dun waste ur time on rich n retard its a bitch to deal with it...

[bobba]

Hey all,

In my case this problem was solved by taking apart my ECU, and resoldering all the joints for the connectors to the loom. This isn't a job for the amateur, you are dealing with a very sensitive precision device here...

In my opinion, the manufacturer was fairly stingy on the amount of solder used for these important connectors and they are susceptible to cracking thus causing bad or intermittent connections, or altering the amount of resistance measured in the case of sensors.

Since doing this a few months ago, my car has not repeated this annoying 'rich+retard' mode.