I have an 03 w/ an XEDE (v3 beta + XEDE flash) a TBE w/ the stock cat.

A little over a year ago Shiv dyno tuned by car and got it to 295 WHP. No it doesnt feel as strong. I'm looking for suggestions as to what to look for.

I've had a three CEL incidents. Each time I reset the ECU by disconnecting the battery. The car didn't appear to be having any problems. I took the car in and they said the code translated to "Random misfire" we are waiting for it to happen again.

Accelerating in a straightline in 4th gear I lose power at high RPMs (6000+). It is like the engine can't get enough air or something. I left off and then cruise and everything is fine. The lower gears don't appear to have this problem and retesting 4th isn't that smart (street, cop, jail).

During a test and tune session I blew off the IC hose that goes from the IC to the throttle inlet. I put it back on.

I hit 23PSI and taper down to 21PSI. I get about 18MPG in city driving. My boost gauge indicates 18" - 20" Hg at idle.

Is it possible my catalytic converter has gotten fouled up? A few months after tuning I would occasionally get that rotten egg smell. Its been gone for the past six months though.

If I'm able to hit 23PSI and hold 19+ PSI can I still have a boost leak?

I plan to put the car on a dyno as soon as I get some spare time. In the mean time though I want to do my home work.

 

did you try new spark plugs?

 

Yeah, I swapped plugs back in June. I cna do that again.

On the other hand it can also just be me. I won't know for sure until we throw it on a dyno. Just need to find the time.

In the mean time I'm still interested in feed back though.

 

Did you gap the spark plugs? The best way to find out is to get ur car back on the dyno. The butt dyno can lie sometimes.

 

Yeah, I did gap them before installing them. I can always pullem and do it again. Actually, that might not be a bad idea. I can look and see if I'm running too rich.

And yes, without a fresh dyno chart it is difficult to speculate. Problem is that it is saturday and I'm bored. So I'm bugging you guys with my fears and concerns about my car.

 

Would smelling coolant after some spirited driving indicate anything?

 

compression check...should be even across the cylinders, un even by about 15 psi or more is bad

pull plugs look at them...ceramic should be light-med brown, black is bad, melted is worse

while plugs are out look in cylinders... pistons should be dry, little black coloring is normal. Wet is bad.

Pressure test turbo/ic pipes for leaks... slow release of air above 15 psi is normal, hissing is a leak, stock 03 BOV will leak at 16 psi and up (imho)

 

I had 3 boost leaks, and 2 dynos in 3 weeks, Dyno4mance and AMS I still got to 23 psi of boost. do a boost leak check. that should tell you.

 

I'm going to do a compression test this weekend.

Thanks for the other tips.

 

A leakdown may be more telling....I have seen a few evos push coolant on the dyno, this has not however made any changes in the engines output.....
An ECU reset (every month dis-connect the battery) is not a bad idea..It will re-set any LT fuel trims that have built up...
It may simply be that you need to get re tuned...

 

Tomorrow we will be doing the diagnostics on the car. We have software for both the XEDE and the ECU so we should be able to see everything that is going on.

Biggest thing I will likely do is drop my boost to 22 or 23 psi. Texas heat is just too hot and fuel too unreliable to run higher in my opinion. We'll make up the power elsewhere or I'll just learn to drive faster.

Anyway, I'll post back what I find. Hopefully somebody else will find this useful.

 

We did a compression test and everything looked good 163 across the board. The plugs looked good too (the 4th one was just barely on the lean side). So we hooked up the laptop and took a drive around.

Turns out that the ECU was detecting a lot of knocking going on and was pulling out time accordingly. So.......

We dropped my boost down (spikes to 22 and drops to 16) and no knock. In fact the car feels a lot stronger.

We didn't do check for boost leaks. We might get to that later, but right now the main issue has been addressed.

Oh, and I need to send my XEDE in and get the final V3 software installed. I'm still running the last V3 Beta from 2 years ago!

 

i think im having the same prob, but i think that its my alt belt thats lose,its slides off and doesnt creating a good spark for my spark plugs