Mx3 Problems... HELP! :(

[fighttillyoudie0]

Well when I turn my car on I can always smell fuel.
Whenever I drive it, its slow and weak... I'm tired of holding up traffic after a green light and going uphill. I recently replaced the Wires, Plugs, Cap, Rotor, And just changed the O2 sensors yesterday.

I checked my "accordian" Intake hose thing and it was cracked but i sealed that up pretty well with some duck tape for now. The car still performs the same. It's pretty embarrasing when I have someone ride with me and i can tell the difference just from their body weight, which affects accleration too. Also it does get Poor gas milage maybe like 15Mpg. I can only get about 180 Miles off a full tank... It does backfire a little when i let off the clutch to shift gears sometimes.

I don't know what else could be causing this... Maybe a plugged cat? My brothers Probe SE Has more power and response than my GS...

Also I'm running straight pipe and when I let off the gas It doesn't make that "pop" Backfire sound, that it should. Anyone??

Can anyone help me out and give me some pointers or something? I'm tired of this...

BTW it's the Stock K8 motor with a 5 speed. 191k miles.

[RX8SE3P]

Might be shitty fuel injectors? Not sure, but that can cause bad fuel consumption and the smell of unburnt fuel. If they're stuffed, it would spray a poor amount of fuel and the O2 sensor would pick up on the lean mix and then make the injector shoot more fuel in. Since the injector might be screwed, it pumps out too much fuel and makes unburnt fuel smell I guess.

Get it compression tested too. Is it blowing smoke?

191,000 miles did you say? I thought you might have meant kms. But if it's done 191,000 miles then wow, that's a lot. That's like 300,000+ kms. Engine rebuild time but for cost effectiveness and speed, KLZE time for you

You seriously can't expect much out of a small engine with so many miles. Keep driving it until it's dead then swap a ZE in. Or just swap one in now.

[fighttillyoudie0]

Hmm.. Maybe if I seamfoamed it would that make the injectors perform betteR? or what about Fuel injector cleaner?

I haven't checked the compression, but it doesn't blow smoke. I really wish that I had the money for a KLZE... But yeah, I think i'm going to "gut" out my cat. I'm sure the bolts are going to be hard to take off. Do you got any advice on breakin those bolts? I know put some WD-40 on there but it doesn't seem to help much...

[RX8SE3P]

Sorry mate, had my exhaust done by a shop and they just piped straight thru the cat so my cat is just there for looks only lol.

Fuel injector cleaner is bulls--- imo. It can never recover a very bad injector properly and if it's not in that bad of a condition, then the injector cleaner won't make much difference anyways. Plus some people tell me it's not the best stuff to use in your car.

Sure it's not blowing smoke at all? You really need to load it up (rev hard) and have a friend follow behind you. Just revving in the carport with someone watching is useless since the engine has nothing to pull and is not stressed at all.

Not sure what seamfoaming is?

My advice is save money for KLZE and granny drive your car for now, also fix the accordian pipe stuff. Duct tape won't properly seal it. Better off buying another one instead. Could be the source of power loss since there will be a rich mix of fuel with not enough air. That would also explain why it smells like fuel and backfires (too much fuel in the mix).

[umcamara]

Do you got any advice on breakin those bolts? I know put some WD-40 on there but it doesn't seem to help much...

Use an impact wrench, or a long breaker bar on your ratchet. The bolts may break, but try not to strip them.

By the way, "gutting" your cat is a bad idea. It creates an expansion chamber, which slows down your exhaust velocity.

[fighttillyoudie0]

Yeah I wish I had enough money for a KLZE...
But hey wouldn't a "gutted" CAT be better than a clogged one?
Hmmm.. I wonder if my problem could have anything to do with the PRC silinoid??
And Oh I found out it does smoke sometimes... like when I push on the throttle hard.
I drove the car today and it just sucks how it doesn't pull very much. A Geo metro took me with ease up a hill... heh.

Is there anyway that I can find out if any of my Fuel injectors are bad without having to take it somewhere?

[Savin]

If you want, you can check to see if all the injectors work by using noid lights form autozone or any other automotive place that has them. That will at least tell you if all the injectors are getting power, instead of fuel just chillin there.

[umcamara]

If your cat is clogged, have an aftermarket hi-flow cat installed. They're not expensive, and the results will be much better.

[fighttillyoudie0]

Yeah I was just looking at some one ebay. They got some magnaflow highflow cats on there. But i'm afraid if I got that and put it on the Rich fuel mixture will just fowl this one... so I don't know.

Also the noid lights seem like a good idea to find out if my injectors are shot. Does anyone know where the injector plugs are? where I would plug in the noid light?