Stagea Miss

[sturb25]

Just wondering if anyone can help. I bought a 1998 S2 RS4 S Stagea about 8 months ago.

I recently did my first mod and it was a k and n pod filter, other than that my stagea is stock as a rock. Since doing this mod ive noticed that my car is spiking a couple of pound according to the boost gauge but only sometimes. occasionally when it spikes i get a big miss, it sounds as like tiney little pops coming out the exhaust, several of them. And i lose power. If i keep my foot down it clears and i get power again and if i take my foot off and try again it doesnt do it. can anyone help?

It doesnt sound real healthy and i dont want 2 do any damage

Thanks

[chook]

Sounds like it is hitting 'rich and retard', plenty of info about this throughout this forum, but basically you probably need to start thinking about, depending on your budget and plans, a minimum AFC (apexi Air fuel controller). This is because since your pod filter was installed the ECU is detecting a larger amount of air entering the engine than normal, via the air flow meter, and is keeping things 'safe' by increasing the fuel and retarding the ignition. Not a great problem, something we all hit once the mods start.

[SHIZNT]

Im having the same problem aswell... My 1997 Stagea has a FMIC and Pod filter and was running stock boost no problems.. as soon as i put the boost controller on and raised it to 11-12psi its popping and missing under heavy load..

[jippa]

hey guys i had the same problem. its your spark.. what gap are your plugs and how old are they.. also could be your coilpacks

[Terminal]

I found when i boosted my stag over 10psi it started to hit Rich & Retard and the turbo would spool really quickly and then ping its guts out. i was told the stageas have a fuel cut over 10psi, thought how it detects that is beyond me. basically i turned the boost down to 10psi and haven't had any dramas since

[chook]

it detects it by reading the voltage of the AFM, once the ECU detects a certain voltage it will go into rich and retard, hence why AFC's stop this when they are tuned correctly, ie most of the time leaned out to give better Air fuel ratios by reducing the AFM voltage at the ECU.

Mods like pod filter, exhaust, more boost will bring it on.

[Mr_RS4]

Will either be Rich and Retard or a missfire caused by old or incorrectly gapped plugs or one or more ignition coils are on thier way out. If your still running stock boost and as you say everything else on the car is dead stock I doubt it'll be R&R. I'd try a new set of plugs gapped at 0.8 and see if this fixes it and go from there. Can you say at what RPM this happens, I was having serious spark break down from about 3000rpm through to about 4500rpm if it even got that far. My coils were stuffed, fitted splitfires and its running better than it ever has. But I'd start with the cheap options first.

[jippa]

had mine gapped at .8 mm before my exhaust and fmic. after they were fitted i found that the spark seemed to break down at 5000 rpm + only when driving hard . sold the car before i gaped the plugs smaller but 99 percent shure that was the problem.. started to wander down the rich and retard path but ended up being the garden path

[sturb25]

Will either be Rich and Retard or a missfire caused by old or incorrectly gapped plugs or one or more ignition coils are on thier way out. If your still running stock boost and as you say everything else on the car is dead stock I doubt it'll be R&R. I'd try a new set of plugs gapped at 0.8 and see if this fixes it and go from there. Can you say at what RPM this happens, I was having serious spark break down from about 3000rpm through to about 4500rpm if it even got that far. My coils were stuffed, fitted splitfires and its running better than it ever has. But I'd start with the cheap options first.

yeah it seems to be round 3000 rpm to about 5000 rpm then after that it seems to go away. thanks for the suggestions. Will try plugs and then coilpacks. If that doesnt fix it then ill go further. Process of illumination always works. used to have a vl commodore with rb25 conversion pumping out 250rwkw, never had any problems like this with that, hense being abit worried.

Thanks

[sturb25]

I found when i boosted my stag over 10psi it started to hit Rich & Retard and the turbo would spool really quickly and then ping its guts out. i was told the stageas have a fuel cut over 10psi, thought how it detects that is beyond me. basically i turned the boost down to 10psi and haven't had any dramas since

Nice looking stagea, i want 2 buy a tow bar or get 1 custom made 4 mine, where about did u get or who made it 4 u?

[Duncan]

mine is exactly the same terminal

[kidafa]

yeah it seems to be round 3000 rpm to about 5000 rpm then after that it seems to go away. thanks for the suggestions. Will try plugs and then coilpacks. If that doesnt fix it then ill go further. Process of illumination always works. used to have a vl commodore with rb25 conversion pumping out 250rwkw, never had any problems like this with that, hense being abit worried.

Hi mate,

Straight up Im no mechaninc but Id like to voice my opinion.... By the sounds of it one of your coil packs is stuffed or the plugs need changing/gapping. Does it feel like the car is sort of jolting for a bit when you put the foot down then in goes back to normal after about 5kish rpm? My mates stag was doing this and it had 2 of the coil packs replaced and all the plugs and its fine now. Hunt around for some splitfire coilpacks and get them on their as for plugs their are many threads just do a search.

Also if you still have the stock air box drive it with the pod and make sure its making the problem, go home chuck on airbox and go again just to rule that out of the picture. Id be highly supprised if the pod is whats giving you trouble.

Good luck mate.

[sturb25]

Hi mate,

Straight up Im no mechaninc but Id like to voice my opinion.... By the sounds of it one of your coil packs is stuffed or the plugs need changing/gapping. Does it feel like the car is sort of jolting for a bit when you put the foot down then in goes back to normal after about 5kish rpm? My mates stag was doing this and it had 2 of the coil packs replaced and all the plugs and its fine now. Hunt around for some splitfire coilpacks and get them on their as for plugs their are many threads just do a search.

Also if you still have the stock air box drive it with the pod and make sure its making the problem, go home chuck on airbox and go again just to rule that out of the picture. Id be highly supprised if the pod is whats giving you trouble.

Good luck mate.

I put a new set of plugs in and had them gapped by my mechanic. im not sure if it was doing this before i put the pod on as i didnt have the car long b4 i modded it. The problem with this problem is that it only happens sometimes, very rarely actually and u would think if it was a coil pack braking down it would be getting worse or happening all the time. Ill start off with coil packs and new plugs then go from there

Thanks

[kidafa]

forgot to say that those little pops comign out of the exhuast were also coming from my mates when the coils and plugs were shot...

[Mr_RS4]

When my coils started to go it was very intermittant (spelling ) at first. This was about a year or so ago now, then got a little bit worse as the months went on, wait till the warmer weather comes back then you'll notice it Then just got to the stage where the car was chewing a lot of fuel (more than usual for a stagea) and even 1/2 throttle would cause break down in spark. Once the splitfires were in its been a dream to drive I've still got my factory coils, don't know which ones are stuffed though?

[sturb25]

When my coils started to go it was very intermittant (spelling ) at first. This was about a year or so ago now, then got a little bit worse as the months went on, wait till the warmer weather comes back then you'll notice it Then just got to the stage where the car was chewing a lot of fuel (more than usual for a stagea) and even 1/2 throttle would cause break down in spark. Once the splitfires were in its been a dream to drive I've still got my factory coils, don't know which ones are stuffed though?

Priced a set of splitfires $520, anyone see any cheaper anywhere

[rb26stagea]

I think one of the tradeers has/had them for $485... I bought mine from Japan, and they were $503, so you're on the money...

[floody]

I'm currently experiencing something that sounds very similar to the original poster's issue.

Misfire on boost and above half throttle, from about 3-5000rpm. Initially we thought it was as the car had run low on fuel, as chucking $30 worth of fuel in seemed to fix it, although it still missed up near 6k rpm...for about 15 minutes then the misfire came back just as before.

Changed plugs, fuel filter etc, still not sorted.

Coilpacks look 100% fine (in my experience the classic internet mechanic fix of changing them just masks the real issue anyway).

Its an auto late '97 S1 with a pod filter and full Nismo exhaust, test gauge says 10psi maximum with no spiking any higher.

I couldn't discern a big fuel cloud in the mirrors though..... All that strikes me is fuel pump perhaps?

Any ideas?

Edited July 20, 2008 by floody

[gebba54]

Coilpacks look 100% fine (in my experience the classic internet mechanic fix of changing them just masks the real issue anyway).

Yeah my coilpacks looked good too (I think you really need to check them with a multimeter.)

I had this problem for the last few weeks, and was a bit wary of jumping in and following forum suggestions but decided to risk it and get some new plugs and splitfires.

Figured changing the plugs might fix it but figured I didn't want the same problem again in three weeks time so the splitfires were probably a good invesment.

The guys are 100% right. Not only did it fix the misfire, but seems to be better through the entire rev range. (very smooth )

I decided to go with the platinum plugs with 1.1 mm gap as my car is 100% standard (S2 25t x four).

A lot of guys are running a .08 gap but I think most of them have modified cars.

Anyway, I was cheering. Very grateful for the advice handed out on this forum.

[floody]

I'm wary of spending money on coilpacks as usually you end up replacing perfectly functional items, only to find further down the track that it was the loom, CAS or similar that was the real problem.

If it is coilpacks...WTF is up with their quality in late model skylines? I have 20 year old ones in my HR31 which are still in A1 condition, but seems R32/33/Stag items crap out inside a decade.