No power, and hard to start

Lynch · Post by **Lynch** » December 6th, 2007, 6:26 pm

I'm not having much luck with this car.. fix one problem and another rises. Still love it though. Here's the newest problem.

Took the car to work and it drove perfect. After work i started it, and started cleaning the snow off of it while it was warming up. Drove out of the parking lot, but the second i got out of the parking lot and went to really give it some gas the car died. Started the car back up eventually but couldn't give it gas, i could lightly tap the gas and she would rev up properly.

So today i finally go to check on a few things, when i pulled the pcv valve out it broke in 2.. could that have been my problem.

This car already has a new ditsy, rotor, IAC, CAI, checked all plugs, wires are good

Just looking for suggestions or people that have had similar problems.
thx again

exile84 · Post by **exile84** » December 7th, 2007, 2:32 am

are you getting a spark? If not check into the HEI mod

murdamellz · Post by **murdamellz** » December 17th, 2007, 10:10 pm

compression?

umcamara · Post by **umcamara** » December 17th, 2007, 10:55 pm

Check your rubber intake hose to the throttle body. Very small cracks will cause this issue, because air will by-pass the VAF. The ecu will think that the engine is getting no air, and try to compensate in some kinda way that somehow causes stalling. Sometimes it's hard to see the cracks. This is usually the first suggestion you will get with these symptoms.

I had this issue, and as soon as I'd step on the gas, the engine would torque, opening the crack further, causing the engine to stall. Replaced the intake hose and it ran perfectly. The busted up PCV valve could also have been creating a vacuum leak, which would cause the same issue of air bypassing the VAF.

PurpleDinosaur · Post by **PurpleDinosaur** » December 18th, 2007, 12:47 pm

umcamara wrote:Check your rubber intake hose to the throttle body. Very small cracks will cause this issue, because air will by-pass the VAF. The ecu will think that the engine is getting no air, and try to compensate in some kinda way that somehow causes stalling. Sometimes it's hard to see the cracks. This is usually the first suggestion you will get with these symptoms.

I had this issue, and as soon as I'd step on the gas, the engine would torque, opening the crack further, causing the engine to stall. Replaced the intake hose and it ran perfectly. The busted up PCV valve could also have been creating a vacuum leak, which would cause the same issue of air bypassing the VAF.

What he^^^ said!!

The ECU sends the correct amount of fuel to the motor for the amount oa air the VAF tells it is entering the engine... the cracks let in "extra" air which the ECU does not "know" - result is that the car will run progressively leaner as the cracks get bigger. Evenually it will begin to buck like crazy at low rpm when taking off.

If this sounds like you - check the bubber air boot very carefully - it doesn't take much of a crack to cause a problem and they can be damn hard to spot on the bottom side.

If you can't find a replacement right away Tape the hell out of it with some Gorilla tape (duct tape on steroids). I also imagine that one could repair the boot with RTV Silicone (or similar) but I have not tired this.

umcamara · Post by **umcamara** » December 18th, 2007, 5:56 pm

PurpleDinosaur wrote:check the bubber air boot very carefully

I've never heard of bubber. Is that a new alien material?

When my intake hose was ripped, I spent about 3 hours sealing it up nicely with RTV silicone, electrical and duct tape. I let the sealant dry and put everything back together. About 5 minutes after leaving my shop, my car started to run like crap again. I went to check on the hose, and it had been twisted and torn into some ungodly shape, and the actual air passage was restricted to about a mm diameter.

I never realized the magnitude of the vacuum pressure that the engine created until that point. I tried resealing the hose until it was literally ripped in two by the vacuum.

I think the structural integrity of the hose was shot by the tear, and that was it. Don't know if anyone else has had better luck, but I am curious.

tehbrookzorz · Post by **tehbrookzorz** » December 18th, 2007, 10:52 pm

I don't think it's so much the magnitude of the vacuum force as the combination of said force and the flexing of the engine in its mounts.

Lynch, are you getting any codes? A broken PCV valve could cause issues but I wouldn't expect your results. Check for vacuum leaks as that's an easy start and the most likely trouble starter. Might be other stuff though. Advise on codes,

Lynch · Post by **Lynch** » December 19th, 2007, 7:03 pm

Thanks everyone for your replies. My car is now completely burried under snow, due to the amount of snow we've received over the last week. I've decided to postpone fixing it probably till spring.

I had changed the pcv valve but nothing had changed. I swapped out the original intake tube, for a CAI about a month ago due to idle issues, this solved that problem.

Now the car turns over easily, but doesn't fire up. I smell fuel after i attempt to start it, which tells me the fuel pump is working.

Again thx for the help all, but i give up till spring.