Soarer Central: Archive through August 23, 2005

Soarer Central Mechanical - TT General Mechanical I think I killed it my Soarer... Archive through August 23, 2005

Previous Next

Author

Message

Troy Tappenden
TryHard
JZZ30 (TT)

Posts: 52
Reg: 07-2005

Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!)

Monday, August 22, 2005 - 08:41 pm, by: Troy Tappenden

Edit Post

Well, after months of planning for this trip, I was running out of time to get the car ready. I picked up the Soarer in May, and was pretty much broke and I had a major drag meeting on the 20th of August about 600kms from here that I really wanted to go to because it is the only legal drags we have around here for the whole year.

I drove my new purchase from Perth to Karratha (About 1700kms) after I picked it up. The car was a rocket in Perth, but when I got it home, it seemed to be a little slower than in Perth. I just put it down to the colder weather in Perth, and thought nothing of it.

First mod was a K&N filter whilst in Perth, about 1 week after I picked up the Soarer. Next mods were an Apexi AVC-R boost controller, HKS Front mount intercooler and Marlew Performance exhaust system. All of this gear I wanted on before the drag meet in August.

First part to arrive was the AVC-R boost controller. After installation, the Soarer was not able to build any boost above 0.72, then it would drop slowly off back down to 0.58. I have another thread in this section about this problem somewhere with a graph from the AVC-R which I made in paint!

:-)

After doing all that I could with the AVC-R, I was told that stock Soarers with a boost controller should be able to make 1 bar boost all day every day. My car just couldn't. 0.72 was the limit and it couldn't hold the boost at all.

Thinking that maybe it was a boost leak that was preventing me from making boost, I installed the HKS front mount intercooler once it arrived. Unfortunately this did not help my lack of boost.

So, I installed a set of Lews Dumps from Marlew Manufacturing, as well as a nice twin 3" exhaust system. With only 4 days before the big drag event, we finished installing the exhaust system only to find that after installing the dumps and exhaust, the car suddenly has a MASSIVE miss! On the other hand though, the car was now able to make 1 bar of boost, but we didn't get to do much testing because of the miss.

We pulled out spark plugs 1 & 3 to have a look at what was going on. The plugs were a nice colour (sort of golden) but with grey tips and it looked like the tips of the electrodes were melted a tiny bit.

So, leaving the next morning to travel to a drag meeting was going to be off the cards unless I was able to get new spark plugs. As luck would have it, my local bunky Repco had some of the right plugs so I got them and drove the 600km trip to the drag event. Upon getting to the drag event, the night before the event we changed out all the spark plugs for the new ones at our hotel room. Interestingly, spark plugs 2 & 4 were completely covered in oil (Including the electrodes!) and there was oil on the tops of the pistons when you looked down were the plugs were. I thought that this may have been because the spark plugs were not very tight, and I had dropped oil in to the valley where the spark plugs are whilst doing an oil change. Maybe the oil had seeped through in to the combustion chamber and ruined the sparks.

So I changed out the plugs and fired up the car and immediately the car started to burn off the oil as a bit of smoke came out of the back of the car for about 5 seconds. After that I took the car for a cane to see if it was better, and it was a lot better. The only time it missed was during gear changes (Auto gearbox). It sounded like it was not igniting at all during changes, but once it was in a gear, it seemed fine. So thinking that it just had to burn off the last of the oil, I tuned the AVC-R to 1 bar and went to the drags the next morning. The car went fine (Even beat a Jaguar!), and continued to run fine for the rest of the weekend.

Upon driving home today (600kms home) about 200kms from home, the car started having a really bad miss while accelerating on the highway. While cruising it seemed fine though. We stopped about 10kms from home to say goodbye to each other, then when I got back in the car, it hardly even ran! Missing big time, taking ages to accelerate to 60kmph. I dropped off one of the poeple that was with me and then started the 10km trip home. Now the car was even worse! The car wouldn't hardly fire at all, with the throttle on 3% on the AVC-R it was still missing. I managed to get it to 60kph (On a 110kph highway) and hit cruise control and let it cough and splatter all the way home.

Tomorrow I am going to run a diagnostics on it if I can (What the hell is an SST 09843-18020?! I read the diagnostics page and it says to test with an SST but fails to say what an SST actually is!). I will also have a look at the new plugs and see what they look like. The only other thing I can think off if the plugs are alright is the coils as Lew suggested to me, but can I test them? Or do I have to buy new ones to find out if the old ones are shot?

Also, is there a special procedure to time these cars with a timing light? Does anything in the ECU need to be shorted to time it or anything? I haven't seen anyone mention timing their JZZ30's so far?

When I installed the dump pipes I took of the housing above the water pump that feeds the turbo's and the block. This made water pour all over the alternator and down the side of the block. Is there anything down there that might fail from being covered in water? Say maybe a distributor or crank angle sensor?

The only other thing I can thing of is the fuel ECU.

Sorry about the massive post people, but I figured the more info I gave, the more chances there would be of people being able to help me out.

Can anyone out there help me with my questions above, and if anyone was bored enough to actually read this WHOLE post, can you think of anything else that could be a problem that I should look at?

Thanks for any help you can give me!

Don Bagnall
Moderator
GT4.0 V8

Posts: 471
Reg: 05-2005

Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!)

Monday, August 22, 2005 - 08:55 pm, by: Don Bagnall

Edit Post

Troy, I HAVE read your whole post, and DAMN good reading it was, but I am unable to shed any light on your problem.

WE await the GURU's

Troy Tappenden
TryHard
JZZ30 (TT)

Posts: 53
Reg: 07-2005

Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!)

Monday, August 22, 2005 - 08:56 pm, by: Troy Tappenden

Edit Post

MANNY!! HELP!!!!

ha ha ha

:-)

Emanuel Spinola
Moderator
JZZ30

Posts: 229
Reg: 07-2005

Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!)

Monday, August 22, 2005 - 09:04 pm, by: Emanuel Spinola

Edit Post

Get compression test results then come back to us

:-)

Troy Tappenden
TryHard
JZZ30 (TT)

Posts: 54
Reg: 07-2005

Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!)

Monday, August 22, 2005 - 09:23 pm, by: Troy Tappenden

Edit Post

Hmm, I think I might know someone with a compression tester. Hard to get any decent work done around here. There are no performance shops and all the workshops around here are run by hill billies!

I will try to get one done tomorrow and let you know

Cheers

:-)

Adam Foster
Tinkerer
SC400 Limited GT

Posts: 8
Reg: 07-2005

Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!)

Monday, August 22, 2005 - 09:36 pm, by: Adam Foster

Edit Post

i've got a feeling that you've done in an exhaust valve, so do as manny saids and get that compression test done. because it sounds like you've dropped a cylinder. im not sure if the valve stem seals cause this as well, manny will be able to tell you that.

Jeff Harper
Trader
UZZ32 Active V8

Posts: 241
Reg: 07-2005

Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!)

Monday, August 22, 2005 - 09:38 pm, by: Jeff Harper

Edit Post

Try a motor bike shop, they are used to high performance motors... but don't go to the Harley Specialist, OK!

Jeff Hogan
Tinkerer
Soarer TT

Posts: 39
Reg: 07-2005

Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!)

Monday, August 22, 2005 - 10:00 pm, by: Jeff Hogan

Edit Post

yeah that is a bit of a pickle.
I have the same prob with oil on spark plugs 2 and 3 i think it was, but have not had any probs with it missing at all. I did a compression test and it showed pretty much exactly 175 on all cylinders. I thought a compression test didnt show if your vavles are gone, that a leak down test is needed for that?

Good luck with it all mate, and remember if you are doing a compression test to take out the ECU fuse!! otherwise you will be pumping fuell all over the place.

Adam Foster
Tinkerer
SC400 Limited GT

Posts: 9
Reg: 07-2005

Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!)

Monday, August 22, 2005 - 10:55 pm, by: Adam Foster

Edit Post

a compression test will tell you if one of the exhaust valves is gone, as one of the cylinders will be way down on compression, instead of with in i think it is 10 give or take of each other.

Mustafa Akgul
TryHard
JZZ30-GTTL V8 killer

Posts: 215
Reg: 07-2005

Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!)

Monday, August 22, 2005 - 11:20 pm, by: Mustafa Akgul

Edit Post

Troy Tappenden wrote on Monday, August 22, 2005 - 08:41 pm:
First part to arrive was the AVC-R boost controller. After installation, the Soarer was not able to build any boost above 0.72, then it would drop slowly off back down to 0.58. I have another thread in this section about this problem somewhere with a graph from the AVC-R which I made in paint!

i got a funny feeling something went horribly wrong here....any cahnce you can post up your settings on the avcr.. was it wired correctky etc..
but compression test would be first port of call,,

Peter Nitschke
Moderator
GT4.0 V8

Posts: 1185
Reg: 11-2004

Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!)

Tuesday, August 23, 2005 - 02:45 am, by: Peter Nitschke

Edit Post

Troy, an excellent well written post. Your style is informative, detailed and easy to read, can I ask that you to continue documenting the issue to whatever the end result is please?

Fingers crossed that it isn't expensive.

:-)

Brett Cashmore
Tinkerer
Celsior C-Spec

Posts: 48
Reg: 07-2005

Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!)

Tuesday, August 23, 2005 - 06:42 am, by: Brett Cashmore

Edit Post

Troy, sorry to hear about your issues.
Did you pull the plugs again when you got home?
Are the same plugs oiled up?
As the rest of the guys have said, go a compression and leakdown and see where you stand, it sounds like you are dropping one or two cylinders due to oiling up of the plugs.

Troy Tappenden
TryHard
JZZ30 (TT)

Posts: 55
Reg: 07-2005

Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!)

Tuesday, August 23, 2005 - 10:03 am, by: Troy Tappenden

Edit Post

Hi everyone, well, I just woke up and checked all the posts

:-)

(remember I am 2 hours behind, so it is only 8:00 here

:-)

).

Brett, didn't get a chance to pull out the spark plugs when I got home last night, my budget tool kit didn't have a spark plug socket, so I am borrowing a set off a mate today, I will let you all know how they look and if they are oiled or not.

Mustafa, I will double check the AVC-R connections to the ECU, but I can tell you now how the tubing was run. Both compressor lines were joined with a single tube, then cut in half and a T piece was added in the middle. The T piece then ran to the AVC-R solenoid. The same was done for the wastegate actuators. Boost pressure to the AVC-R has been installed via T Piece on to the line that runs from the Fuel Pressure Regulator to the plenum Chamber. Manny told me not to do this and to change it. I will be changing it today as I didn't get a chance to do it before I left. None of the hoses blew off though as I was still getting a pressure reading after all of this went wrong, so I am pretty sure/hoping the problem is not what Manny told me might happen.

Mustafa, Settings on the AVC-R are really high, just to try to get it to make 1 bar of boost. I have a feeling that something is wrong here as well.
Setting A (Low boost)
0.80 bar boost
Solenoid Duty Cycle: 70%
NE points start at 2500RPM and run up in 500RPM increments to 5000 RPM then go to 600 and 7000 RPM.
Feed Back Speed is set at 2 for all gears
Start Duty Cycle is set to +10 for all gears.
I haven't really done a lot of setting up for low boost yet as I was just trying to get high boost sorted before the races.
Setting B (High Boost)
1.00 Bar boost
Solenoid Duty Cycle:90% (The AVC-R cannot go any higher than 90%!)
NE points are the same as setting A
Feed back speeds are also set to 2 in all gears, this gave me the least spike and held the closest to 1 bar, but it did dip after it made 1 bar. It dipped to 0.9 bar then built back up slowly to 0.95 bar. I was unable to get it to hold 1 bar.
Start Duty Cycle is set to +10% for all gears, but I don't think this matters at all because the wastegate duty cycle is already at its maximum (90%) so adding an extra 10% will do nothing.

Hope this helps Mustafa, but I will get wiring for you a bit later today.

Peter, Cheers mate, I will continue till I find it! To be honest, I think I made a boo boo with the fuel cut defender and got a bad connection on the MAP sensor wire. WAIT! I forgot to add that in to my original post! I alsop put in one of Lew's fuel cut defenders! Whoops, missed that bit he he...

Thanks Jeff, I will take out the ECU fuse. Thanks for letting me know, I would have left it in otherwise

:-)

Well, I am off to start pulling this car apart, check back with this post later tonight and most of you will have answers to your questions, and I sure hope I have some answers to mine...

Thanks so much everyone for your help!

Stephen Hille
TryHard
V8 LTD

Posts: 53
Reg: 07-2005

Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!)

Tuesday, August 23, 2005 - 10:08 am, by: Stephen Hille

Edit Post

Troy, sorry to hear about the car dude and I have no idea how you could fix it, but what is this drag event?? I am in Karratha at the moment with work and havent heard anyhing, damn shame could have had a drink had I known you were up here, always good to meet other soarer members

Richard Tan
Tinkerer
Turbo

Posts: 37
Reg: 07-2005

Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!)

Tuesday, August 23, 2005 - 12:20 pm, by: Richard Tan

Edit Post

My 2 cents....
Have you tried to set the solenoid duty cycle at say 30% first then adjust it up from there? or did you just put it at 70% right up?
I remembered when when i first put my AVC-R in, it was accidently set at about 60% and it didnt boost any more than stock...

Now with mine i have it set at 38% and hitting 1.05Bar and 46% for 1.40bar (from memory)

Troy Tappenden
TryHard
JZZ30 (TT)

Posts: 56
Reg: 07-2005

Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!)

Tuesday, August 23, 2005 - 01:47 pm, by: Troy Tappenden

Edit Post

Hi Stephen, The drag event was the Newman drags, about 600kms inland towards West Angelas.

How long you in Karratha for?

You aren't the guy in Wickham with the maroon/red V8 are you?

Administration

Log Out

Previous Next