Hmm, not with you on that one Scott, i'm not saying that's the problem, but of course as more fuel and air are ingested into the engine and combusted as you depress the accelerator, cylinder pressure will increase and will therefore increase the likelihood that the spark will be extinguished. Do the math on what the effective compression is @ 5 pounds, it'll surprise you. I agree that everything should be simplified and the basics examined first, but if fluid entered the spark plug area in the VC, I would start by examining every peripheral related to that. Check the plug wires and the coil, etc, and every single connection. If not that, Scott has a very good point about open loop, and the AFC, i'd move on to that next. Good luck, but don't even dare say you didn't expect so many problems, you were warned bro...
- Jon

 

i meant undocumented problems

gotta remember my stock wires have 138k miles on them too

i don't have the MSD box, i sold it for emanage money; i was planning on hooking the Emanage up once i got the simple part done and just have it control the ignition... prolly still gonna need more emanage money

 

ngk plugs were kinda dirty when i pulled em off today they cleaned up ok....

i pulled all the wires and cleaned them thoroughly; they looked almost new after i was done; and i let them sit for several hours

i replaced the negative connector on my battery terminals and i cleaned the little galley where the plugs and plug wires plug into

and just like every other damn run i make when i swap out the plugs or something of that nature; i get ONE good pull and then it runs like **** again

i got one pull in 2nd gear from 2500rpms to redline; it pulled pretty damn hard; i liked it a lot
but then 3rd gear just sputtered and now so does EVERY gear

here's some things i found out:

my 5 and 6 wire both read around 14-15ohms of resistance
my 3 wire reads 10ohms and 4 wire reads at 12ohms
and my 1 and 2 wire read below 7

the wiring lengths between 2-3 and 4-5 MIGHT be an inch or two... i wanna know wtf is going on here... i was told resistance should be VERY low
i know that length adds to the resistance; but this seems a little out of whack to me
wire 5 and 6 both originally read 15-16ohms and i cleaned them thoroughly; and now they read ~14

something else weird:
when i hooked my SAFC to my car i used the blue wire mod to hook it to the O2 sensor wire so icould get a O2 voltage reading
NORMALLY it reads .15-.30 in closed loop; it just jumps back and forth; which this is normal from my experience
after i gun it or it sputters; or even just general crusing around; it will read all kinds of crazy voltages... i regularly see 1-4 volts... and i've tried swapping O2 sensors and it makes no difference...
does the O2 sensor play a part in open loop? if it does; this crazy voltage reading might be part of the problem

should i try pulling the O2 sensor and drive around at cruise speed until i get a check engine light? and see if the transition from close to open loop is causing a problem?

 

Bean, here's a few more thoughts...

In general, (I don't know about Lexus in particular), they don't replace plug wires unless the resistance is in the 30,000 ohm range, or coil wires unti the 15,000 ohm range. Could be different for Lex. Anybody know for sure?

Also, the fact that you get one good run after disconnecting your battery may mean that the ECU is getting reset to some default settings that work. Something in your setup may be changing them after you start running. Your SAFC?? O2 sensors??? ????

I agree those readings from your o2 sensors seem pretty strange. Were you measuing them disocnnected from the harness or while they were still connected?

Keep at it, I think you're on the right track. Just a matter of eliminating possibilities... I agree with SC300T that getting it back to the basics will make diagnostics easier.

 

1-4 volts is not a normal reading from a narrow band (stock) 02 sensor. That reading is similar to a wideband 02 output. Are you running a stock 02 sensor? Is it wired correctly? Does it run better with them disconnected? A narrow band 02 sensor will typically read .80-.90 volts under boost depending on a/f ratio. Did you bridge the 02 sensor inputs properly? They are a coaxial lead. Single 02 lead center + goes to the appropriate wire loom near the distributor. The 02 signal from the non-existant (removed) 02 sensor goes to this point as well. Both grounds also are bridged together at this point near the distributor. This is what I did to mine (what Lance perscribed) and it read fine. (not using this anymore with the w/b, but the narrow output still is funneled into this circuit to the ECU.

 

My friend and I was tuning my 22r turbo beater and couldnt get it right. After three days of head scratching I replaced the filter, no more problem! Also when you do your own turbo install you learn so much more.

great job you find the glitch soon

 

strong new evidence that my problem is a intercooler piping sealing issue... makes all the sense in the world

i pulled ngks today and put the bosch platinums back in and the car runs like a top but still backfires... i had to pull the intake pipes off to pull the intake mani today and one of them was VERY loose... i'm using rubber hose couplings for the ic piping.... i'm concerned it may not be sealing completely... because i KNOW i'm running rich as HELL when the sputter comes by... i think the sputter is due to being TOO rich when i'm boosting... this could be caused by an intake leak after the turbo... when messing with the AFC i could dial the fuel into the lean and make the car boost longer; so i know something was up...

and my air/fuel ratio is fine until i build about 4-5psi... i really think this could be the problem... car runs perfect otherwise; perfect idle; perfect normal driving, etc

going to get silicon couplings on tuesday when the shop opens up

 

You are running Bosche platinums ? maybe I should switch from my NGK 3330s... what is the part number of the Bosche plugs ? You probably posted it earlier and I wasn't paying attention ...

 

i threw the box away i think; i've got to go to work; but i'll look for it after i get back

i got them from autozone... looked at the Bosch stock replacements and then went one range colder... they were pregapped at .044

 

You know better than that.... Just do a search on the Supraforums... wait....ugh... can't search there. Anyways... The top recommended plugs in no particular order for boosted NA-Ts: 6097s, 3330s, or Denso Iridiums. The forum is littered with complaints on various other plug types, including Bosch.

 

ngk 3330s are not very impressive to me; they foul too easy since they are not platinum plugs
and i feel when you're trying to tune something; you need a plug that won't foul at the slightest hint of running rich

these plugs seem fine so far; i really think its my intake couplers... the one connecting to my throttle body ESPECIALLY; it comes off pretty easy and the clamp i have on it can't tighten down all the way

 

I have a suggestion to fix the stutter problem. . .check your cap and rotor. A while back I did the coolant bypass and EGR mod and ended up inadvertently filling the spark plug wells with coolant (I was not aware of this until later.) Whatever the case, my car kept running worse and worse. . .it would do fine to about 4000K rpm and then go to hell (felt like about half the cylinders were firing and couldn't manage to keep up with a stock honda civic on the highway *egads!*) I took the intake apart, found the coolant and dried it out, and checked the plugs only to find that they were horribly fouled. So I replaced the plugs with denzo irridiums (too expensive for the improvement imho) A little better but still stuttering. Next i tried the plugwires and got a set of Nology Hotwires. When installing the plugs I decided to pull the cap off the distributor. Apparently the fluid in the wells did some wacky stuff to the distributor and half of the rotor was fried (a substantial portion of the rotor contact surface was burnt off.) Essentially, when the car was idling, the spark was at a clean part of the rotor but when the timing advanced with RPMs, the burnt portion of the rotor moved in and power went to hell. Ended up picking up a new cap and rotor at autozone (about $25 total) and it solved all the problems. Might want to give it a look if you haven't already. . .


Oh, and nopi has the lowest prices around that I've been able to find for aftermarket plug wires.

Good Luck!

Beau Jepson

 

RC, i read your PM over at supraforums and i really appreciate your info

i just picked up a cap and rotor at autozone and will be installing it tomorrow... it makes a lot of sense and i hope this is what the problem is

i'mreally thinking its an ignition problem now because if it were running so rich from a boost leak; it wouldn't half fire like it does; it would completely cut out; which its not; its like the cylinders (all of them it seems) just half fire... which would be caused by a weak spark

 

WOOOOO long long wait... bills bills bills

but FINALLY FINALLY got the damn car running right

it was the cheapass home depot rubber couplings... let this be a lesson to me and anyone else who reads this... if you're spending $3k-$5k on a kit... dont be a cheapass and buy $3 couplings from home depot... order some nice silicone couplings (some nice ones on ebay that are 4 layer and they are like $12 for a foot)

i wish i had a cam at the time but the coupling that comes off the compressor outlet and goes into the intercooler piping, had a 1.5" gash in it right on line with the pipe... so whenever pressure was realized in the system... WOOSH... it blows out and makes a BOV sound...

i replaced all the couplers... and the car runs perfect... running like 4-5psi... feels like less pull than my Z did but it was a pretty fast car considering... feels like 98-100mph in the 1/4... like a mustang GT or so...

soon as i replace all the vacuum lines again with smaller and better fitting stuff.... i'll be making a MBC and running the boost to 7psi...

clutch is holding fine so far... and one REALLY nice thing is that since i moved... i now live within 1mile of work... i've put 1.5k miles on my car in 4 months and its my daily driver

i'll let you guys know how it goes when i run the boost up... car is already spinning occaissionally... and sounds like a ****in beast ran a civic for the hell of it (only car i could find) and i pulled 2 cars on him in 1st gear... and about 2 more in 2nd...
still gotta tune on a wideband; my friend has dyno access at his shop... we'll see how it goes (and i've got an extra clutch whenever i need it )

 

Awesome!
The next 3-4 psi of boost will be even better as the turbo gets closer to peak efficiency.

BTW... Is that you "Bean" on the Canon Digital Photography G3 Digicam forum?