new member haven problems. can't drive car

[ssmokeyy]

I got my hands on a stylus with a impluse awd turbo setup and i know this forum is for the elan witch i have never seen but looks cool. But the one thing both cars do have in them is the same motor. I have been waiting 2 months on the impulse forums for them to let me post and can't wait any more. I need help trying to find the problem.

I have the turbo setup factory on factory waste gate and getting det at 4k and can't go past 4k in any gear. This morning when i was playing with things i got to the car to boost until 6k first run than second run win't right back to 4k every gear. 3rd run the car was jerking past 4k. I need this car for my work driver and winter car. The only real upgrade on this motor is 2.75 exhaust no cat and pre cat gone. open exhaust all the way back. I have installed new ngk spark plugs 1 stage colder, new msd wires, new timing belt water pump, new fan's. The guy who swapped this motor did a bad job and i have no boost gauge on the dash so i installed a profec b boost control and have it set to off just to see the pressure right now. I get coolant temp on the dash. no check engine light. Any idea's? thank you for your time.

[racerstev]

Does the check engine light work? I had the same problem on my Elan when I 1st bought it. Turns out I had
2 problems, no bulb in the check engine light and no O2 sensor. The car would run great until the car warmed up,
as the car warmed the computer looks for a signal from the O2 sensor. If it dosn't get a signal it goes into
limp mode, 4000 rpm and limited boost...

Steve

[ssmokeyy]

Yes the check eninge light works but no codes found. I will installed my o2 guage.
thanks for the idea. Any more info is welcome.

[Tannerman]

Hi mate when i got my Elan it did the same,
It would run fine until i put the car under load then it sort of juddered.
I had the head gasket done and new injectors plugs and leads etc.
It turned out to be the coils, one bank of the coil broke down under load but was fine on start up and also fine up until it was warm and under load.
Once warm and under load it is easier for the spark to jump or become weak.
I changed the coils and it had been perfect since (over 3 years now)
If you know someone with another car like yours or an Elan you could try swapping them.
There are some on Ebay at the moment for the elan i assume they are the same.
Where abouts are you fella.
Good luck
John

[rip]

I have seen an Elan run fine below 4000rpm then throw a wobbly when it gets there. In this case it was the Cam Angle Sensor.
It does not consistently throw a CEL error & even if it does, it seems to indicate that the fault is elsewhere.
Does your car have a socket like this?

If so, you should be able to run Elanscan. It will tell you what all the sensors are feeding back to the ECU.

[GeoffSmith]

If so, you should be able to run Elanscan. It will tell you what all the sensors are feeding back to the ECU.

Unfortunately ElanScan won't work with the Isuzu ECU as it uses a different command word to initiate comms.

[HJ2]

I would start with wastegate wiggle (do a search . Perhaps it's stuck and when the engine starts to boost, balance of all sensors go crazy. his gives symptoms like yours.

Also worth checking with your history: Check if the sparkplugs are gapped to 0.8 mm! My guess is that yours are 1.1 mm and that is causing the problems!

Also since you have a big bore exhaust... i suspect boostcreep could be an option as well. When you get the car to 4000 rpm... can you see the boost going up to 0.9 and higher?

[ssmokeyy]

Thanks for all the help. when i get off work at hyundai i will check it out again and have the wife hold the pressure gauge for boost and see what happens to me it feels like it has no boost or low boost. If it is the gate how would i fix it since there is no screw like dsm stock turbo gate's and i can make them tighter to hold closed longer?

[Brit-Car-Nut]

search "wastegate wiggle" and the answer will be out there. The only way to alter the wastegate performance is to cut the rod which is not advised. If you had an Elan, you could get a Mountain Chip from ESM which modifies the internal tables to allow more boost.

[ssmokeyy]

What about buying a elan ecu and installing it on my motor?

[Brit-Car-Nut]

I assume the connectors are different. Where are you? US has other options (mega-squirt). I don't know about rest of the world.

[ssmokeyy]

U S and i have a fuel system i want to use but first i need to get this thing running right. I have a profec b and apexi safc 2 for fuel timing but like i said i jsut want to the car ot drive normal before putting any more parts on it to make it harder to find the problem.

[Brit-Car-Nut]

I would suggest you get the factory manuals for the actual car(s). I don't see where that was the correct engine in the Stylus? How was the wiring harness modified to make everything work? Could be a lot of things not quite right. You need to test everything already suggested. Spark plug gap is critical, so is the CAS timing and pickup which fails often.

[ssmokeyy]

Some one swap the motor from impulse rs over to the stylus with the awd setup. trying to find a lower timing cover so i can test the timing and i might just replace some parts but im starting to think it might be the 3" exhuast with the factory turbo.

[ssmokeyy]

Good news its not the exhuast. Had the wife hold the boost gauge and let the car warm up for 4 mins. first pass car still showed cold but got to 6k hit 7.5 pounds in first and hit 8 pounds in second geat ran out of road short road. second pass hit 4k wall psi 7.5 never win't past 4k again with out haven problems. Could a bad map sensor do this? The tip broke on the one in the car and had to fix it cheap with jb weld. If not i found a lower timing cover going to order it on friday when i get money. At this point im thinking about buyin new coil packs, map sensor, coolant sensor, fuel filter, o2 sensor.

tonight when it cools down a little 93f here right now. Im going to re gap the plugs when i put the new plugs in i think i set them to 1.0mm since all i could find said that. Hope im on the right track.

[ssmokeyy]

Last post of the day. checked plugs and they were set to stylus gap since at the time it was the only thing i could find reset them to .8mm and car run's smoother but still not right. first pass 6k 7.5 pounds good second gear 8 pounds normal 2. second pull 4k again but this time it was like not as bad i was able to go in to second smoother and in second just jerking from 4k to 5k. Is haven 1 stage colder ngk's going to be a problem or should i still be looking for something else? Also i was thinking should i buy stock coils or would it be wise to get msd coil upgrades? Im not sure how much hp the stock coils are good for.

[rip]

If you are considering replacing the coil packs, you may find MSDs are cheaper than the originals.
The base which these fit on to has been known to cause issues although this is very uncommon.

[norman lovie]

can you tease the car through this rpm range on partial throttle load ?
basically the coil - or potentia over boost typer failures should not occur under partial load acceleration
if it occurs under partial load aswell this helps to identify to cause

[steve matthews]

can you tease the car through this rpm range on partial throttle load ?
basically the coil - or potentia over boost typer failures should not occur under partial load acceleration
if it occurs under partial load aswell this helps to identify to cause

A wet or damp coil I have found to act the same way.
Steve

[ssmokeyy]

good news f good news great news i got past 4k a lot more now. ok so if i don't go full throttle it doesn't hit a wall all the time maybe liek 1 out of 10 times i got it to hold boost until 6k than changed gears got in to 3rd was doing 60 and slow'd down did it again no problem. the sec i put full throttle wall at 4k . every time. what should i be looking at for this? thank u for the help. Im just so happy to be looking up thinking i might get to keep the car and use it for daily work car. I have always wanted this motor awd setup. I have had tons of eclipse gsx and hated them because of the awd trans.