Has it been tuned? I hope you're not using all of those intake and turbo mods on the stock ECU calibration...

 

I have not done nothing mod wise since i bought it. when i was buying it and test drove it, there was none of the problems, no idle problems and no smoke. after i bought it i drive it home from NC to Virginia Beach with no problems. I have only had the car for 3 months. but getting it tuned has crossed my mind i just dont want to put money on a tune and the problems still happen.


I have Greddy type S bov and im looking into that because i heard that could be the problem. how can i tell if the bov is bad?


also there is a manual boost controller could that be it?

 

Does the bov recirculate to the intake hose?

 

yes

 

idk if this will help.

 

Neither of those things will affect idle or make anything smoke at idle, no.

Just for giggles, pull the O2 sensor that is downstream of the turbo and see if it is covered in oil or otherwise fouled. If you're running really rich or have a lot of oily smoke, the O2 sensor might not be working very well.

 

How did you check those? Please be specific.

Some additional info for people participating in this thread:

From the picture, the turbo is a td05. This is not a big turbo, 14b or 16g. He's likely on stock injectors, there's no AFPR in the picture. He doesn't need a tune and that's not what's causing his problem.

If you did a boost leak test, you already answered your own questions. Did you actually do a boost leak test? How did you do it? If you did it properly up to ~20psi then your BOV is fine. You should be able to answer your own question about the boost controller. Did you leave it hooked up when you did the boost leak test?

Think about it...you can just take the boost controller out of the line and run on wastegate spring...does the car still die? Then the boost controller isn't the problem.

Forgive me if this sounds condescending, I want to make sure you're doing these tests right. Going off some of your responses now I'm a little bit worried.

How did you test the TPS and IAC? Did you look for fuel leaks like I said? Think about it, you messed with the fuel system, and now your car exhibits signs that can be attributed to a loss in fuel pressure. THIS IS IMPORTANT! When you make changes to the car, and things start happening afterwards, it's a good indicator of where to look.

That will should throw a CEL if something is wrong with it.

You don't need a gst. You need a 98+ 4g63 with the H8 ECU. This can be a gst/gsx, even some of the EVOs.

P.S. Your stock ECU if flashable and you can tune your car yourself for FREE. Once you get to the point of needing to do this (fuel system upgrade) talk to me about it.

 

The tps sensor i unbolted then check to see if the resistance was moving smoothly, witch it was, then i bolted back up and set it so it went from .9 closed to 5 ohms open. The IAC i had help and we listen for the clicking when the car is switched from off to on (engine not started). then i took the IAC out and check the connector and the IAC with an ohms meter. everything seemed good so i cleaned it and put it back on. I got the steps to do these test at vfaq.com.

For the fuel rail, there is no visible fuel leak. I checked each injector when the car was running by putting one end of a hose to the injector, then the other to my ear. There was no hissing sound and i could hear them clicking like they suppose to. I cannot check the fuel pressure because i dont have the tool too. I did replace the fuel filter, but could a bad or clogged fuel pump be a problem?

I will do another boost leak test this weekend.. also there is no CEL for IAC, but i do have CEL for Oxygen sensors because there is no cat. Could that have anything to do with it?

I know i can get a ECU from gsx and i think maybe from evo 3 but i just dont have a friend with one. most of them drive civics or 240sx.

as for a tune i figured i didnt need one because the turbo is not much bigger and most stuff is still stock.

another thing im looking into is doing a BISS adjustment. My car idles at 900 rpms. just a thought still looking into it.

 

Ok, yeah vfaq is good stuff.

Cat CEL can be ignored.

BISS adjustment is a quirky thing. It's easy to do "quickly" but tedious to do correctly. Having said that, I've done the "quick" adjustment...screw it in all the way then back it out 4 turns or whatever a few times on my car.....but I just set the idle at the ECU anyway.

Fuel pump is probably fine. I was stressing fuel pressure because you said you replaced the fuel rail. A loss in fuel pressure can cause it (especially the difference in the car being warm/cold due to lines shrinking/expanding) but you'd likely be seeing other symptoms if there was a problem with the fuel pump.

Ok, seems like most of the basics are covered.

Can you describe more how the car dies if you're driving it (not at a stop)?

ex. You're driving around at 2500 rpms and you push the clutch in aaaannnndddd, what happens? Does the car stutter at all or just completely shuts off? Does it try to catch itself around 500ish rpms but fails? Can you give it gas while this is happening to prevent it?

Are you able to WOT the car to redline under boost without issues?

Another good idea would be to datalog the car when this happens. That should narrow it down a bit.

I'll throw this out there, although since you're in VB it's probably too far. I live in NN, if you're interested in bringing the car to my house on a weekend I can datalog it and we can swap IACs, etc. (mine has a crazy idle issue too, lol dsms)

http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/tuni...fect-idle.html

 

This screams boost leak to me.

Check your recirc hose for cracks/leaks as well? BOV gasket between the BOV and the IC piping?

When I had my 99 GSX the Greddy RS gasket between the BOV and IC piping wouldn't make a good seal to the IC piping without using a lil RTV. so that is a potential location for leaks.

I didn't think I had any boost leaks once, after testing I had 7. Fixed (or so I thought) and tested again, still had 3.

Fix up a spray bottle of water and dish soap, spray around couplers to help identify leaks. Really helps if you have a buddy help out.

You should make your own boost leak tester when owning one of these cars. Quick trip to Home Depot and about $20 and you will have your own.

Good luck, hope you find your issue. Damn I miss my GSX