car running bad

[mr.oogieboogie]

hello everyone. well i was driving to work today and noticed that the car was not pulling like it should and struggled to rev, took it steady on the way home as it was even worse. checked the vac lines when i got home and three elbows looked a little perished, taped them up, but car still drives like its missing or being starved of petrol, will sometimes pull like it should but intermittent, had 95 ron put in it instead of usual 97 or 99 but can see it being a problem. no codes from the aldl any suggestions would be great

[sanj]

Possibly a clogged catalytic converter, or a bad fuel pressure regulator...

Edited March 4, 2009 by sanj

[Mick Bull]

Hi pete, sorry to hear about your problem,

mick

[rocket63]

Are you still getting boost Pete?

[mr.oogieboogie]

it struggles to get boost, but sometimes it does car is a bit like a kangaroo, keeping it under 3000 rpm is better, no cat on car, will clean the tps tomorrow, if no joy then i suppose its back into the fuel route possibly fuel filter , but when i had the fuel fileter and pump off the pump looked like new, will check fuel pressure on rail 1st as a couple of weeks back it was poor

[mangel]

Poor fuel can cause this especially running 95 Ron.

Take it theres no CEL fault that might throw up codes to help?

[Bibs]

Check your MAP sensor pipe is connected, very thin pipe routed under the chargecooler on the RHS.

[mr.oogieboogie]

i checked all the vac pipes and they seem ok taped up all the rubber elbows just in case as they look a little rough , although the cars heater was warm, not hot before i taped them up, still running bad, so im thinking fuel pump, will check the rail pressure tomorrow. also after speaking to steve at sj's today they sell twice as many pumps as they sell fuel filters and fuel pressure regulators together.

hello mangel, no got no codes only the 12 code to let me know that its in diagnostic mode. will put some 97 in tomorrow, but cant see it being the fuel although the symptoms did occur around the same time. wonder if vac pump may also be playing a part.

a bit peeved as the car was flying the other day.

[rocket63]

Maybe a long shot Pete, but the fuel isnt contaminated? Just a thought as it happened around the time of the refill. If you havent done anything except fill the tank up!

[mr.oogieboogie]

hello paul, well you never know, i've been suspicious of the petrol station at the end of the road for a while pretty sure they are shorting on the volume that you buy. i tend to use one a couple of miles up the road but the wife used this one and put in the 95 ron. will also need to fit a new set of rear pads as they appear to have dissolved.

[mr.oogieboogie]

hello everyone.

well put some ron97 in and the car is driving better, to start with it still felt very poor, but once the 97 was in it seemed better, at times driving as it should will pull well 1st 2nd 3rd but dtruggles in 4th and 5th at around the 4000 rpm mark, took it into three figures, but was not flying, still unsure as to crap in the tank as when it had the 95 ron in it apparently took a long time to put the fuel in so wondering if its got a load of crap in the tank. took it for a 60 mile run so car is drivable but annoying also replaced the rear pads

[mr.oogieboogie]

hello everyone, car is still running poor, if i feed in the power slowley it seems fine, im wondering if there is a hole in the wastegate diafram as if i floor it in 4th it still stutters

[tinywillyuk]

Couple of quick questions - does anyone near you/do you have Freescan to capture a log?

Secondly, can you add a quick summary to the thread of works completed/tests completed just so everything already done can be consolidated in one place?

[ozontour]

Hey mate

if your car is stuttering it will not be the wastegate diaphragm. it will overboost and cut out if it is blown... see if you can get hold of freescan and check it out...

have you replaced the plugs? I would do a lead and plug check. also the distributor pickup can have a broen wire sometimes giving this symptom, go the freescan if you can get a hold of it mate

HTH

Justin

[matk]

Hi Peter, I've put this back into the original thread as its going to be far more useful for people to see the complete history rather than having to surf over fragmented threads.

I'll second Simons suggestion, would be useful to put up a summary of all the things you've done, e.g. did you check fuel pressure and try a new fuel filter? Also did you end up fitting the original OEM O2 sensors in the end?

[mr.oogieboogie]

sorry about it being abit fragmented, accessing this on my mobile, will put a complete summary on later,but has origional 02 sensor fitted, thanks for merging thread, replaced the wastegate hoses

all the best

[mr.oogieboogie]

ok heres a summary

car uses a lot of fuel (

[Simon350S]

Your fuel should be shooting out at the rail! Trickling or just a little more would make me say FUEL ISSUE!

Being able to nurse it through the revs but not be able to put your foot down would, to me, confirm this issue!

Fuel filter stinking dirty and now removed may mean dirt has made it to your injectors? non?

[mr.oogieboogie]

the over fueling was down to the aftermarket o2 sensor, no fuel leak seen. frustrating,,, i will be victorious,,,,eventually ,,,car has died twice today. restarted straight away.

left off that i had replaced the fuel filter when i removed the old one.

Edited March 9, 2009 by mr.oogieboogie

[Tony94S4]

did u check if all the plugs r firing?

[tinywillyuk]

Agreed on plugs, add to that list if you can, new plug leads (when mine failed, if you ran the car to high revs in neutral in the dark, you could see spark leakage all over the place) and maybe also check the coil pack multiplugs for corrosion - after all if the juices and control signals aren't flowing into the coil pack well you might be in trouble.

Ive suffered the same symptoms over the years thanks to the above.

[mr.oogieboogie]

thanks for tthe continued support, hoping to get a freescan log this evening, although last time i logged only got a few of the items, like revs battery and temp

[htiek]

Remember to click 'interact' in freescan. If not you only get a few readings and all others read 0 (if I remember correctly.)

I hope you get to the bottom of this frustrating problem.

Cheers,

Keith

[AJay]

I would check the voltage at the fuel pump under load And possibly try another pump.

If the pump is falling short on pressure then engine will run lean..... the ECU will compensate and increase the duty cycle of the injectors, but because you dont have much pressure the fuel runs out rather than being sprayed out, this will then not combust and you will get very bad fuel economy and poor performance.

Not sure if this will show up on the freescan log, but i had a similar on an old Merc that i used to own and it took a while to find, Of course i may be talking a load of Bollocks but i would give it a go.....

[mr.oogieboogie]

thanks for that, well got freescan, got cable, got laptop from work. but battery is dead trying to charge it now. would have had log earlier today but now maybe tomorrow