To All The Gurus

[SexyPete]

Long story short (well not that short):

I had my car tuned 3 weeks ago and the coil packs were breaking down my tuner did what he could till I got new coils, got a set of splitfire coils and took it back the following week to check it again and a touch up tune made 200 rwkw. I was not happy with this so i took it to CRD and asked them about to check the tune for me on the dyno. $90 later he confirmed my suspisions and told me it was all over the place and he can make a stock turbo run better. Not being happy i took my car back to my tuner and he came for a run and street tuned it while i was driving and took the knock which i had from 95 to about 20 which was fine and i also told him i think it should be making much more power and it felt flat to drive so he played around untill he said that was all he could get from it. Still not satisfied i took it to JEM (being highly recommended) the following day and asked them to check it and see how the tune was another $80 later he told me to drive like a grandma because the tune was all over the place leaning out to 14 and climbing under load and making a maximum of 173.6 rwkw on his dyno. By this point i am fed up with my current tuner and i booked it in for a full tune with JEM i just wanted my car to run rigth, safe and make good power without mucking around. Anyways my car was tuned by JEM today and made 240rwkw, however both adam and i feel there is alot more in my car from both others results on here and he can tell while he is tuning it. This is my question to the gurus and anyone who has had a similar problem. My car starts to ping at about 235rwkw and keeps pinging the further you take it. Adam at JEM worked on it all day checking the following; cam timing, fuel pressure, air filter, cat convertor, blow off valve (when removed and blocked made 10rwkw more apparently a little bypass hole in stock BOV), drained my fuel and replaced with BP ultimate and new spark plugs. After all of this we still could not figure out why it is pinging. He knows the car has heaps more in it but cant take it further as it just pings. Any one have any ideas where i can start to try fix this and get it tuned to its potential.

Mods as follows:

R33 gtst series 2

garrett GT3076r

nismo 555cc injectors

FMIC

Turbo back exhaust

z32 afm

splitfire coils

apexi power fc

apexi power intake

greddy profec B spec II

tomei direct replacement fuel pump

many thanks in advance any help would be greatly appreciated and also a special thanks to Adam at JEM for going beyond the call of a tune to help me figure out the problem, nothing but praise for him what a champ. Plus the car feels a billion times better to drive after my new tune as well.

Edited May 19, 2008 by SexyPete

[NYTSKY]

I told you Adam would look after you.

Adams dyno reads lower that most.But still there is more to be had out of your setup.Just a process of elimination to find out the problem.

[Roy]

Clogged, stuffed injector. But where, how is it pinging. At certain revs, certain load? All the time.

[paulr33]

1. std fuel pump? if it is, replace it asap, dont even bother with anything else before replacing the pump

2. dyno run with fuel pressure plot, AFR plot and boost plot will help weed out any other gremlins with fuel delivery

3. have you had the base timing checked?

4. check the exhaust cam, if its retarded heaps the car will be sluggish and lack power

5. check the base VCT system, if its offline/not working the car will be sluggish

6. maybe a std compression / engine health check?

[Kinks]

keen to hear input on this, I have a stock car and even with just the "high boost solenoid mod" it pings.

[SexyPete]

knew i would forget something it has a tomei fuel pump in it. All items are brand new too.

yes adam is excellent cant praise him highly enough

It pings under load when trying to put more timing in.

Yes adam checked base timing sorry that is what i meant with cam timing.

[abu]

I had a similar problem on the dyno when trying to dial in 18psi

Tuner suggest maybe the intercooler and to check temps before and after the intercooler?

He mentioned it wasn't being as efficient on high boost causing it to ping so he had to take out a lot of timing around peak power to get it not to ping and hold around 17psi

[Roy]

Come on Paul , read the first post again

1. std fuel pump? if it is, replace it asap, dont even bother with anything else before replacing the pump

2. dyno run with fuel pressure plot, AFR plot and boost plot will help weed out any other gremlins with fuel delivery

3. have you had the base timing checked?

4. check the exhaust cam, if its retarded heaps the car will be sluggish and lack power

5. check the base VCT system, if its offline/not working the car will be sluggish

6. maybe a std compression / engine health check?

Has checked the fuel rail pressure, has checked timing. Doing a compression check could show something but i doubt it, if the thing is makign that sort of power all whilst having JEM looking at rail pressure, cats, timing etc then they will have got a feel for how the engines health is by just looking at how it responds to fuel and ignition.

A decription of how and when it is pinging woudl help diagnpose. But the only thing i cna think of is injector is clogged and its pinging in one cylinder. Remove and flow test injectors!?!?!?!?

[SexyPete]

I had a similar problem on the dyno when trying to dial in 18psi

Tuner suggest maybe the intercooler and to check temps before and after the intercooler?

He mentioned it wasn't being as efficient on high boost causing it to ping so he had to take out a lot of timing to get it not to ping and hold 17psi

I was actaully thinking the same thing as it is a just jap cheap intercooler prob not as efficient as most.

[dangerman4]

whats the base timing set at and whats the max load timing set at?

[SexyPete]

thanks guys for all your input. Adam did mention injectors and to get them flow tested. However the reason i dont want to do this is that they are brand new and i even broke the seal on the package. what is the chance they are blocked even though they are new. But i might have to do this.

[dangerman4]

how much boost are you running? and how much do you want to run?

[SexyPete]

I dont know what the values are that is why i pay someone to tune my car he said it was all fine. I can find out tommorrow though.

[SexyPete]

probably want to run about 18psi . which brings me to another problem my setup wont hold boost it creeps. I have a JJR split dump and the hole where the wastegate pipe joins back into the main pipe is quite small maybe restricting it and causing creep.

[dangerman4]

base timing at 15 btdc your ignition at max load / torque should be around the 17 - 19 degree mark, from my experience.

[SexyPete]

thanks dangerman will check tommorow.

[dangerman4]

grab all 3 dyno printouts showing afr, boost, and torque.

[SexyPete]

will do i will post up tommorow

[SexyPete]

At least i will have a few things to check over the weekend to get me started to nut this problem out.

[Dale FZ1]

My car starts to ping at about 235rwkw and keeps pinging the further you take it.

Mods as follows:

garrett GT3076r

Just as a matter of interest, could you post up a picture of the turbo (as installed is ok) and/or the numbers off the ID tag found on the centre cartridge section. There are some Garrett units referred to as a GT3076R that are fundamentally different to the genuine article, and which may employ a variety of turbine housings (eg. reprofiled or high flowed OP6 or RB25 OEM castings). These can be restrictive in the exhaust, leading to lower than expected outputs. I'd be interested to confirm the hardware spec first before delving further into the capability of your tuner(s).