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Built Evo engine suddenly stalls going forward in gear. Please help.
I currently have a 2010 Evo X GSR with 36k on the body and 5k on the 2.2l Manley Stroker motor, tuned by English Racing on e85 for autocross/time attack. About a week and a half ago I noticed that I was having to pump the gas pedal more than usual at start up (5 to 10 seconds on average). Then 5 days ago I put around 3 gallons of e85 that I had in a gas can (3 days old at most) and about 10 minutes later the car stalled on me when I was starting in 1st gear. I've been driving manual cars all my life and this wasn't a clutch stall. The engine just cut throttle and died. I tried several times to move the car and while I could start it up (which took some pedal pumps and revving) if I tried to release the clutch into first the rpms would drop, sound like it was barely hanging on, and then cut out; i.e. stall.
My first thought was I had bad e85. So I grabbed my daily and grabbed some fresh e85. By the time I got back (1 hour later) I decided to give it another key turn. Sure enough it started up. I drove it back home which took about 10 minutes. As I pulled into my neighborhood the same thing started to happen. The engine started to dip severely in rpms. I used the clutch and gave it some good gas in order to get it into my driveway and as soon as I let off the gas a bit it choked and shut off.
Since all of this started I have done the following: checked the e85 content in the tank, checked coil packs (while car is running), checked injectors (without pulling them out just disconnected one at a time while car is running), took off fuel lines going into fuel rail and reattached, finally I recently pulled the in tank fuel pump and replaced a dirty fuel pump sock thinking it was choking the pumps ability to work.
Here's some of "strange" things happening:
If the cars cold it's difficult to get the engine to turn over. No grinds or clicks just starts up but then dies immediately. If given enough gas I can get it to start and then after 10-15 seconds it will idle and stay on. I can then rev the engine pretty much as hard as I want without any trouble (I went to like 4k, not like I redlined it), I can get the car into full reverse with the clutch fully let out with no stutters or rpm dips and can cruise in reverse, however if I tried to start in 1st gear I can only creep the car with the clutch still engaged and as soon as I try to let out the clutch at the catch point the rpms drop to under 1k/engine almost shuts off. If I push the clutch back in the rpms shoot back up to a normal idle and engines revives itself (if it didn't completely shut off). If I can get the car to gain a little speed I can get it into first gear the engine immediately struggles and rpms drop, I can then get it into second if I rev it hard and get the car engine to about 3k rpm the engine with stay running and sound normal. This allows me to cruise my neighborhood at about 25mph. If I'm light on the throttle i can keep the car going and it sounds fine. If I let the rpm/speed drop anywhere near 2.5k the engine will suddenly dip super low and the engine almost shuts off but if I push in the clutch it revives itself. On the other hand, if while I'm cruising in second and I push the throttle in to give it a little push of gas to see if it will pick up a little, the engine starts to struggle again and loses rpm but not bad enough to shut off.
Of course the best thing is to get it to a shop but I wanted to run some DIY home things before I throw my hands up and tow it to a garage. I've done some Google and forum searching but no one has this exact problem that I can find. Seems like a fuel issue of some sort but because it will run and move in reverse but fights me when I try to go forward in gear. I'll attach a list of what my mods are.
Just wondering what could be causing it and how to check some of the things I might have not thought of. Thanks for any input.
How much has the temperature varied since you had it tuned? E85 has a reputation for being tricky to set up the cold start tables up correctly, especially on really big injectors like you have. I'm guessing you just need your warm-up enrichment tables modified for the warmer weather.
The car is tuned to run and handle 30 minute autocross times in the Vegas heat (100 degrees). It's been on this tune for over a year and a half. Unfortunately, English racing hasn't been back down into my city for a tuning session but this is the first problem the cars had like this. I don't run it cold (let it idle for 5 minutes at last) and never push the throttle hard until I drive it for 15 to 20 minutes. Now the tune could be it but the temperatures have been pretty regular warmth over the last few weeks and this was such a sudden change with the car that it has me puzzled.
Had a little mind fart because the fact that the car would turn on and run had me skipping the idea of the fuel pump being bad. So I just took a second to mess with the fuel pump and if I put the car into the "on" position the in tank pump doesn't start up and I have zero fuel pressure on the radium fuel rail gauge. Perhaps that's why it's hard to start. But once the motor turns over and I pump the gas pedal then the fuel pump starts up and I get fuel pressure. Do fuel pumps go half bad or is it a fuse or something that keeps the pump from properly working?
I was going to say fuel pump, had a car do that before and hen you said it was when you started to move, I thought about it and said it has to be fuel pump or an ignition switch. Fuel pump because you said when you try to drive it and not sure why but I had an ignition switch problem that caused the same issues. Was chasing fuel issues down and it turned out to be the ignition switch, which if there's no "signal" from that your fuel shuts off. Go figure, haha. Hopefully it's an easy fix like the pump...
1. Clean your fuel injectors. E85 shouldn't sit for extended periods of time. Even if the injectors aren't the problem, still get them tested to make sure they're equal across the board.
2. What's your AFR? If it's lean at idle then chances are it's fuel related.
1) the car did sit for about a year so its possible the e85 messed with injectors but it also ran for a month and a half after being garages without problem.
2)the AFR is at 15 but jumps close to 16 every 20to 30 seconds-ish at idle
3)didn't mess with spark plugs cause none of running problems pointed that way but still worth a look.
May 3, 2018, 05:19 PM
