r32 rb20det problem

[flagger]

ok, as may know i just had the 100K service done on my r32 about 3 weeks ago. now last sunday i went for a morning drive, but on the way home going up a hill, i gave the car a bit more throttle and it pretty much "choked". its like it gets no power (like its pretty much off) for a 1/2 second then power comes back hard then no power at all again, etc. also when i stopped at the lights it stalled, but came back on straight away when cranked over. its now stalled a total of 3 times after it does this.

I checked all the hoses and such but it was all ok. so i gave the car back to the mechanic to get looked at. they thought it was the crank angle sensor as the plug was apparently corroded and not very well connected. The theory was that the sensor was cutting out and therefore the injectors were getting no fuel sporadically.

So i picked it up, and it seemed fine at first. I was taking it easy most of the way because of the peak hour traffic, but once on a clear stretch i turned right around a corner, gave a little more throttle and bang, its bucking on me again. i put the clutch in to coast a bit more and i could see the idle revs were fluctuating slightly and lower than normal.

so i got home, unscrewed the ecu from the footwell and chucked it in diag mode. actually i noticed the plastic over the screw to start/end diag mode wasnt even breached yet. appears im the first to use diag mode on this ecu at least. anyway, it came up error 12: MAF sensor circuit. hmmmmmm

so anyway, i exited diag mode, and made sure when i reentered diag mode it was showing code 55 for no error. exited again and went for a drive. sure enuff the same symptom. got back home, and reentered the diag mode, and still got code 55, all ok.

so i checked the crank angle sensor plug and it did seem a bit loose. i unplugged it (with engine off), but i heard something depressuring(?) near the top of the block, near the plenum. plug looked a bit worn but ok, so i plugged it back in and got the same noise from the block. however this time i made sure the plug was on securely.

took the car for a quick spin again, and straight away just past my driveway it missed really badly. i could smell a really rich exhaust, but i assume this is because i unplugged the cas. however on idle it hunted from 400-1100rpm twice then settled on 1100rpm. i then tapped the throttle and it settled on 500rpm.

so after all this, im a little depressed cause its still happening and i wont be able to make a weekend car cruise.

the error code 12 could have been from the bad coil packs that i had before the 100K service. i have only had the car a couple of months now, and only drive it 2-3 times a week, so the ecu will have kept the error codes from the previous owner as well.

so what should i do? I'm pretty newbie to skylines and fuel injected engines. only have very limited experience with carby engines like the ones in a 85 pulsar and 77 VW passat. i dont have much time atm as well. From what ive read and seen on searches on this forum, it could be a faulty 02 or a/f metre, split intercooler hoses, bad cas or even bad ecu (though the last seems unlikely now).

will ring my mechanic tomorrow and give him the bad news though

ps. sorry for the really long post, but more info is better than none

edit: oh yer, forgot to say, r32 is pretty much stock except for cat back exhaust...also just read MAF= mass air flow (metre)...so i might replace that

[stawka]

I had a similar problem with it feeling like $h1t and stalling. Check out your standard blow-off valve. The clown i bought my car off, had stuck a screw in 1 of the blow-off valve hoses, so the air goes back through the turbo (causing it to flutter). Check that yourself. May seem stupid, but thats what was up with mine

[flagger]

ah thanks for the reply. was wondering if anyone cared...lol. well since the it aint fluttering i dont think i have the same problem. Ive got it back at the mechanics atm. funny thing is this morning when i drove it there (a good 25 minute drive), it didnt cough/hiccup once. and the guys there apparently couldnt get it to to do anything silly today.

so they are waiting to get a float metre tomorrow and are gonna test against that. otherwise, i guess im just gonna have to beat my head against the wall and live with it for a while

[stawka]

hehehe man. That's always the case. Take it to the mechanic and the cars fine. Drive it for another week, and watch the problem get worse then it initially was. Well, good luck with it and let me know how you go man

[flagger]

yer no problem thanks for the support. i swear murphy is against me this week!

[flagger]

boody browser crashed before i could submit >_< so gonna make this short

got car back last nite. been at mechanics for 2 days. they couldnt find anything. drove it home, no probs

drove it this morning, 30 minutes no probs

drove it this arvo 80 mins. shitloads of probs:

- 20 minutes in, spluttering (as in on off power) in 2nd and 3rd. had to pull over. sat for a minute, took off again

- 35 mins in, going up a small mtn (mt cootha), did it twice. 1st time i pulled over, opened bonnet, heard weird grinding/resonating noise. also rpm hunted intially when i pulled over then settled on 700rpm. pushed on though

-60 mins in on the way home, it spluttered while moving in traffic. pulled up toi red light, it stalled. restarted rpm hunting and stalled again. restarted was ok for a while

-75 mins , nearly home, does it again. rpm hunting a lot, idling high

got home popped the bonnet, can still hear the grinding/resonating noise. its coming from near the starter motor/turbo pipe area. listen to the mp3, its a bad recording, but u can just hear the whirr whirr whirr noise above the static and shit. sorry for the bad quality.

http://www.users.on.net/~flagger/VOICE004.MP3

please help!

edit: some higher quality recordings though it aint as bad now since the engine cooled down a bit

http://www.users.on.net/~flagger/VOICE005.MP3

http://www.users.on.net/~flagger/VOICE006.MP3

[predator]

have you tried replacing the AFM.. or check the plug there. Sounds like possible symptoms..

[warriorbrawl]

checked your fuel delivery?

eg pump and fuel filter?

You have probably already checked this. sounds like it doesn't like high load conditions. also sounds like some sort of sensor the intermittant nature of the problem.

[flagger]

apparently the mechanics reckon nothing is wrong with the fuel pump or filter. will suss out the afm tomorrow i think...might even try the carby cleaner trick some guys have done here.

got another mate who reckons its the afm as well

cheers for replying guys

[col]

it could well be the afm. had my car in on the rollers and they had 3 r32 gts ts in there with that same prob. the most commen cause is steel gauze air filters. all 3 cars had blitz filters fitted and small bits of the gauze break away and hit the afm. hope this helps :uzi:

[OYEAHA]

what was done at the service? did it have these problems before the service?

[flagger]

col: im running the stock airbox atm, but im still thinking the AFM anyway

service: timing belt change, new spark plugs (NGK plats), coolant change, engine oil change, gearbox oil, diff oil, water pump, had to change coil packs (old ones rooted, using 2nd hands, but in good cond), brake fluid and a dyno tune. so the o2 and afm arent changed. not to sure on fuel filter though.

no it didnt have this problem before, it ran pretty well except for the 5000rpm backfires due to the coilpacks. it only started happening a week and a half after

[OYEAHA]

so they tested the coil packs? ok?did they put the right plugs in and did they gap them correctly? timing belt could be out a tooth or timing could be wrong has this been checked?

[flagger]

that i dont know. im pretty much a newbie to looking at engines. the car has been at their workshop for 3 days and they said they only found the cas plug to be a problem.

[flagger]

k, just took it around to a mates place who knows a lil it was super dooper bad this morning. on the way there it did it once. took my mate for a ride up a small hill, it just went spastic second time up. drove it back, 90% of the time it was "coughing". we also took the afm plug out and it went into 2500rpm max mode. the symptons are very similar except of course i can go all the way up the rev range.

anyway drove to dick smiths (90% of the way car was spluttering), got some contact cleaner and went home. pulled out the AFM. looked at the hot wire, seemed clean, and the plugs seemed clean. sprayed the wire and plugs liberally anyway. i noticed the o ring on the airbox side was ripped though, only 2/3 of it was there, but my mate reckoned that shouldnt matter. checked the pipe to the turbo that comes from the airbox, couldnt see or feel any cracks. put it all back togethor, and went for a short drive (5 mins) and it felt a little smoother but is prob placebo effect. however no coughing at all now, so fingers crossed. im not confident though

[MerlinTheHapyPig]

hi there, i am having the same problem, and am also trying to diagnose it.

Ok, from time to time, just driving normally, it'll "hesitate" and u litterally loose all power for a split second, then it comes back on. It does this from time to time

when it's bad. it'll do it alot. (like on-off-on-off bucking you describe). and eventually u usually have to pull over.

When i pull over. revs will idle funny - like 1k - 2k - 1k - 2k - 1k - 2k back and forth for a while, and will then either settle down, or the car will stall. Although idle is jumping between 1 and 2k, it's still smooth, when you're standing still, it's not eratic. (does it do this on your car?)

Because it's idling like this, i'm wondering if it might be a Idle-control valve problem, or coolant temp sensor. The other thing i'm getting is an unusually high cold-idle in the morning - this could be unrelated however. I haven't checked for ECU fault codes, but i'll do this tomorrow morning.

I've tried removing the bov and blocking intake off with a plate, and blocking vac-line off, but makes no difference.

-Tim

[turbohectics]

  MerlinTheHapyPig said:

hi there,  i am having the same problem, and am also trying to diagnose it.

Ok, from time to time, just driving normally,  it'll  "hesitate" and u litterally loose all power for a split second, then it comes back on.      It does this from time to time

when it's bad.  it'll do it alot.  (like  on-off-on-off  bucking you describe).  and eventually u usually have to pull over.

When i pull over.  revs will idle funny  -  like  1k - 2k - 1k - 2k - 1k - 2k  back and forth for a while, and will then either settle down, or the car will stall.    Although idle is jumping between 1 and 2k, it's still smooth, when you're standing still,  it's not eratic.  (does it do this on your car?)

Because it's idling like this, i'm wondering if it might be a Idle-control valve problem, or coolant temp sensor.    The other thing i'm getting is an unusually high cold-idle in the morning - this could be unrelated however.  I haven't checked for ECU fault codes, but i'll do this tomorrow morning.

I've tried removing the bov and blocking intake off with a plate, and blocking vac-line off,  but makes no difference.

-Tim

Air Flow Meter Mate i had exact problem apparently oil based HKS filters are no good to air flow meters .

Good luck

"I'm always right "

[flagger]

yer mate, i sometimes get that rpm hunt too when it bucks and i pull over and let it idle. usually between 700-1500rpm but sometimes up to 2000rpm. but will usually settle after 2-3 up n downs, or it will stimply stall.

i took the r32 for a 20 minute spin tonite with a couple of medium boost accelerations (withen speeds limits of course), and no problems at all tonite. But i heard 2 small backfires, I think the 2nd hand coils i bought during my 100K service arent too crash hot either. may have to order some splitfires.

try looking at the AFM first. i just pulled it off the airbox (underneath it theres a brace u can unscrew and pull half the airbox and the AFM with it), and liberally sprayed the element and the plugs and let it dry. while it dried out, i inspected the piping to the turbo, but couldnt find any cracks.

I hate small intermittent problems like this, cause its hard to prove to a mechanic and you never know when it will hit.

[flagger]

oh and i just remember, when i start in the morning, i start at 1100rpm and takes a good 10 minutes to get to 650 normal rpm if i can be bothered waiting

[MerlinTheHapyPig]

wish i had a powerfc, coz i'd be able to tell straight away which sensor isn't working

i'll swap afm with a friend, and see how that goes.

Yes, i am using a HKS foam-type/oiled filter, so i reckon that's the problem