jwalton

New guy alert!!! This is long, sorry...



I have had my 94 for about five years and have done a lot of the reliability mods during that time. vacumm hoses, high-pressure side intake hoses/clamps, cold-air intake that doesn't share the same scoop as the smic, fluidyne radiator. I also have a catback installed.



The engine has 72k miles on it and seems to be in great working order. I dealt with most of the above due to problems I ran into while running the car during track days. I do not have a boost gauge or a real temp gauge yet (Insert your generic idiot comments here, I deserve them) but they are in the works.



Anyway, I always thought that the power was a bit off but being a third owner and never having driven a properly working stock fd, I had nothing to compare to until I had to get it smoged last weekend. It failed NO. I had the EGR stuff cleaned out and it passed. I live in CA and we do 15mph and 25 mph dyno style tests. My numbers were (15mph/25mph): HCppm (11/10), CO% (0.14/0.00) and NOppm (486/700) during the passing run.



While he was excavating down to the EGR stuff he found that one of the two hoses containing the high pressure relief valves was no longer sealing with the turbo manifold and I was venting out whenever the secondary spooled up. It was getting worse during the last year but, not being a primary car, it was always back-burnered. Replacing those hoses with ones that weren't capable of cutting glass really woke me up with what this car is capable of. (More idiot comments here) However, my mechanic thinks that I might be running a little lean.



Now that I'm a little smarter (and you all are a little bored of reading all of this), with the minor mods that I have and the smog results that I got (if applicable), do I have anything to worry about as far as running lean?



Thanks in advance.



PS. I've been reading these forums for the past couple of weeks and they are a tremendous resource. Thanks for the info you've supplied me already!

FikseRxSeven

i dont think you would be running lean...... if you are not getting boost with your secondary cuz of that leak, it will cause richer conditions.



someone correct me if im wrong

Srce

I highly doubt you're running anywhere close to lean since your mods aren't extensive at all. In fact, there are people running a lot more mods and not leaning out.

94touring

Just an intake and catback? That isn't even close to running lean. Typically the rule of thumb is 3 mods then ecu upgrade of some sort. Defentily get that boost gauge so you know when the car is sick.

revsteve

Wow - 72k w/o any type of diagnostic equipment and you are still on your original engines/turboes? Whoa - that doesnt happen often.



However, you do NEED to get a temp and boost gauge in your car ASAP. W/ summer coming and hotter temps/air, plus your mechanic telling you that you are running lean - you should be closely monitoring the engine temp.



I have a brand new (in the box) water temp gauge from autometer (about 65 bux new) and installs in a little less than 20 minutes. It matches the stock gauges (black face, red needle, silver bezel). I have one in my car already so I dont need this one.



Im asking 50 for it.



email: smmoskowitz@yahoo.com



Good luck - Steve

Sinful7

An alternative is to linearize your stock water temp gauge. I have done mine, and anyone with a steady soldering hand and a bit of electronics understanding can do it.



http://www.iluvmyrx7.com/3rdgen/how-to/Tem...gauge%20mod.pdf

turbovr6

yeah you are not running lean. Not with your mods.

Back in my "I don't give a **** days"

I ran stock turbos, stock fuel system, with a power FC, and FMIC, and I would push 16psi, and spike 18. I could'nt blow that sucker up, damn coolant seal finally did her in though

jwalton

Thanks for the feedback! I feel a lot better now. Except that the car's screwed up again.



Well, a day and a half of full boost was better than nothing...



As far as I can tell, the stupid factory hose clamps (the solid steel spring types used between the airbox and the turbo inlets) have pooped out and are not holding the secondary pressure relief hoses on the y-pipe. I was experiencing similar loss of boost symptoms on a run up Bouquet Canyon Rd. in SoCal. I bought a boat-load of real hose-clamps and will replace all of those factory spring-types this weekend.



I was getting a new sound though. Sometimes I would get this growling sound, accompanied by NO boost and what I though sounded like one of the turbos spinning waaaay up (really high frequency whine/whistle). As soon as I took my foot out of it, it stopped and the whistling settled back down.



Weird.



Could this be one of the stock intake hoses coming from the cold-air box collapsing under suction?



Are there aftermarket intake hoses available that are a direct OEM replacement? I don't want to grab the hot air from the engine bay and my cold-air box is a direct OEM replacement as far as where all the hoses hook up.

j9fd3s

a friend of mine ran m2ecu, m2 ic, m2 intake, and a full open exhuat at 18psi, it ran for a year like that no problems

jwalton

Final update. First of all, a huge thanks goes out to everyone who responded.



Last weekend I tore apart all the air hoses and replaced all the factory hose clamps with the screw type ones. I found two things that were wrong during the process. The first one was all mine. I stuffed foam around the radiator about a year ago in order to maximize the amount of air going through it and inadvertantly blocked up most of my cold-air intake. Idiot.



The second thing involved a screwed up vacumm hose of all things. Imagine that!!! The vacumm hose at the back of the Y-pipe immediately behind the high pressure relief hose had melted through because it was resting up against the Y-pipe.



After taking care of these issues, everything, and I mean everything, is running just as it should. The car is waaaaaaay too much fun in the canyons. I can't wait for my next track day...



Thanks again everyone,



Jim