I am truely stumped on this one...still

[CBrownstead]

May sound very simplistic . . . but how about a bad oil seal in the turbo, would cause the fouling possibly and the load issues on the motor as the turbo would block the exhaust as it would not turn properly or maybe at all. . . but again, it would burn oil.

Edited January 19, 2008 by CBrownstead

[Drfatz]

It appears I most definitely have a vacuum problem. When I connect a vacuum gauge to the fuel pressure regulator vacuum line it reads only 35 cmHg (~14 inHg) according to the vacuum gauge a "normal" engine is supposed to read about 50 cmHg (~20 inHg). Anyone have an idea of what a normal vacuum is for the Esprit at idle?

[t70]

Going to have to re-check that... I don't think 14 inches of mercury at idle is that low actually, but... again, going to have to check on that. However, it will be dependant on idle rpm and engine temp. Was your engine warm when you tested this? The S4 uses two seperate vacuum systems... so there aren't a lot of hoses to check that are actually connected to engine vacuum. I'll go and check the manual and get back to you on what the inches of HG should be.

[Drfatz]

Thanks Mark. Good point about engine temp. The engine was cold, but the RPMs were up around 1350-1400 because she was warming up. I will try it again tonight with the engine warmed up. I spoke to the guys at Aeromotive and they saw no problem with using their regulator with my Walbro pump and AN-6 lines. Basically we came to the same conclusion that there must be a vacuum leak in the intake/engine or there is the small possibility that the FPR is itself leaking which I will also check later tonight.

[geoffsmith]

Graham,

One run I recommend to the Elan boys is to record from cold until the fans have cycled a couple of times. It provides a relatively consistent baseline which eases comparisons. I've diagnosed four or five stuck thermostats in less than a year from these types of run.

Geoff

[sanj]

It appears I most definitely have a vacuum problem. When I connect a vacuum gauge to the fuel pressure regulator vacuum line it reads only 35 cmHg (~14 inHg) according to the vacuum gauge a "normal" engine is supposed to read about 50 cmHg (~20 inHg). Anyone have an idea of what a normal vacuum is for the Esprit at idle?

Around 10 inHg @1000rpm is pretty normal.

[Artie]

Graham,

Car looks SWEET! I'm jealous! where's your V8 wing?????? Also, hook up your vacuum pump to the fpr and pull some vacuum against the fpr, it should hold the same vacuum on the gauge, if it doesn't then your diaphragm may be damaged. Also, have you tried to lower the static pressure by a few psi and see if it helps??

Artie

[Drfatz]

Graham,

Car looks SWEET! I'm jealous! where's your V8 wing?????? Also, hook up your vacuum pump to the fpr and pull some vacuum against the fpr, it should hold the same vacuum on the gauge, if it doesn't then your diaphragm may be damaged. Also, have you tried to lower the static pressure by a few psi and see if it helps??

Artie

Thanks Art! I'm personally not a fan of wings though I still have one sitting in my garage just in case one day I decide I need one B)

I have tried lowering the static pressure of the FPR by hand and it does decrease nicely, but its hard to tell if it makes a big difference. I think the poor running has fowled my plugs and O2 sensor which aren't helping my cause much. I will change them out and continue to play around. I would be surprised if the FPR had a problem seeing as its brand new, but you never know!

[Artie]

I was thinking that the fpr may be holding a very good pressure, but with the addition of larger fuel lines and good system you may be flowing too much fuel at the same duty cycle for the injectors and stock ecm you are running. Back the pressure down as low as you can get it to keep an idle then adjust slowly to see how that does. Worth a shot.

Artie

[t70]

Don't forget to reset the ecu after you adjust the fuel pressure... actually... i'd run without the O2 sensor for this trial.... but only with an LM-1 Wideband hooked up in it's place so you can make sure you don't get your mixture too lean.

[esp88]

I just read though and I wonder you never mension any Error code ?

When I got O2 sensor problems the freescan showed lot of differet error codes...

I will suggest check connection to ECU, I had bad connection once.

MAP sensor issue , I tried disconnect vaccume line and moth as vaccue see any change on freescan the vaule is same then some thing wrong with MAP sensor or cable connection between sensor to ECU !

Good luck

Y.Hotta

[Drfatz]

Thanks guys. I ran a check last night with the O2 sensor disconnected and I leaned out the FPR and it did get better, but not much better. I tried attaching a line to the FPR and just sucking on it and sure enough the fuel pressure dropped ~10-12 psi which from what I understand is about normal at idle when you go from ambient to vacuum on the FPR. I have noticed that my MAP is high all the time and in fact it reads higher then the baro when I key on with the engine off which is odd because I replaced the MAP with a correct new part. I thought at first it may be an injector issue, but the primary injectors are the same size as stock and I spoke with the Aeromotive guys (and John at WC) about my fuel pump and FPR setup and they didn't see any problem with it. Also, I reset the ECU after each failed run to ensure I am getting a fresh start and there are no CELs on, but I forgot to check the error log last night. Last time I did check the FreeScan error log it had reported nothing. I think I may be ready to throw in the towel on this one and take the car to John at WC and see if he can't sort it out

[fjmuurling]

Maybe it's worth to check what the signal voltage is of the MAP sensor is against a known pressure. In the service notes section EMH 3 page 5 it is described in detail.

Vacuum (kpa) Output Voltage (V)

0 kpa -------------- 2.4 to 2.5

20 kpa ------------- 1.6 to 1.8

40 kpa ------------- 1.0 to 1.2

60 kpa ------------- 0.5 to 0.7

Disconnect the MAP sensor and connect it to a vacuumpump with a gauge. The middle connection on the sensor is the signal wire and the voltage should be measured against earth, or use Freescan to see. Just an idea.

Freek

Edited January 24, 2008 by fjmuurling

[ragingfool35]

Graham

when u replaced the ECU, did you use the same memcal?

i bought a fake one off ebay and car barely ran. i've also put them

in backwards a couple of times to same results

though i believe the CEL activates at those times

however, when i first bought my car, the CEL was unplugged...

anyway, u r welcome to try my s4 code memcal if u havent tried this already

please hurry and get it running so we can find out how your turbo works!

Edited January 23, 2008 by ragingfool35

[CBrownstead]

hey would you be interested in selling your wing? . . . thanks

[Drfatz]

hey would you be interested in selling your wing?

The only wing I have is the SE wing, but if you want that I would be willing to part with it.