Diagnosing Problemz

[STAGE-A]

Hey everyone, ive had a few issues with different thingz and figured that a quick assesment of what happens when these thingz go wrong might help others to diagnose these things a lot quikker ... pls add ya own issues and see if we can make a quick help guide, this is not to replace the search button or a mechanic checking it out but to assist in searching for the right info. ... SK, Brad and anyone else with good mechanical knowledge it would be great to get some input Pls note these are only my experiences i am not a mechanic and have very limited mechanical knowledge, but this is how i would describe what happened. Pls post up your experiences and the diagnosis

Coil packs :

Problem: appears fine at low revs and low boost, higher revs and higher boost = backfiring/popping sounds from the exhaust, loss of power and runs very rough untill lower revs boost again. This increasingly gets worse over a short periuod of time.

Fix: first check spark plugs, possibly gap them down 0.8 if running higher boost (quikest cheapest option). Coilpacks can be siliconed (do a search) or invest in Splitfires.

Air Flow Meter:

Problem: complete loss of power, may run fine on idle but any throttle will produce it to almost stall.

Fix: remove the AFM and clean it with carby cleaner, replace it and try again. If this doesn fix it try borrowing someone elses to see if the car is running smooth again, if so its time for a new AFM. I have also heard that a popped off intercooler pipe can give the same effect so before coughing up the cash jus double check them too

Edited November 10, 2006 by STAGE-A

[munchstagea]

Can confirm that the cooler pipe off has a similar effect to AFM faults.

AFM see bigger air flow when the turbo starts to spool so the ECU says "here comes air, add more fuel!" and the air never gets there, not in the expected volume anyway so it goes super rich and bogs if not stalling.

Cheers

Luke