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eliminster · Postby **eliminster** » Tue Jul 17, 2012 9:14

I was wondering if it was cranking or not and if you could hear the fuel pump running while you were trying to crank it. Depending on what was going on it could be a lot of things but all are pretty easy to diagnose.

speedjunkie · Postby **speedjunkie** » Tue Jul 17, 2012 9:14

Yeah it was cranking and we were getting fuel and spark and everything. It was just something with the fuel/timing maps.

speedjunkie · Postby **speedjunkie** » Sun Jul 22, 2012 9:14

I figured out why my stock water temp gauge isn't reading anything. The wire came out of the electrical connector, so I guess that'll be the next thing I fix, although the stock gauge is pretty useless.

I think I might still have some 2-cycle seeping from the OMP lines, so maybe I'll order another set of crush washers and see if I can find an actual torque spec for it. I never torqued them before and I didn't have any problems, but this is being a real PITA.

Other than that the car is running pretty great. Not losing any engine oil, coolant or PS fluid, and the car isn't smoking, so I'm pretty happy. It still has a problem returning to and holding idle sometimes, and then sometimes it's fine. And most of the time it'll idle at around 1100-1200 and sometimes it'll idle around 1500-1600 and refuse to drop back down. I noticed the other day when I was messing with the map again that I had the PFC set to control idle but I didn't have the ISC plugged in and it was operating fine LOL.

It's still a little weird to start too but it does fire up every time.

speedjunkie · Postby **speedjunkie** » Wed Jul 25, 2012 9:14

Last night I fixed the wire going to the water temp sensor. I tried using the stock connector but I couldn't get the clamped part open enough and keep it in good enough shape to reuse it, so I just clamped on an aftermarket one for now at least. I also put the map cover lid back on, we'll see how long it holds though. I have some ideas on making it sturdier.

I'm going to look more into the 2-cycle seeping. I'm not 100% sure it's still doing it, but it might be just a tad seeping out during driving. I'm not leaving huge spots or anything, just a drop here and there after sitting a couple days.

speedjunkie · Postby **speedjunkie** » Sun Aug 05, 2012 9:14

Been driving the car a lot lately and I'm over 900 miles into the break-in, which means I have less than 100 miles until I can up the boost and tune for that. I spent more time tonight working on the idle because it was hunting again. I hit a few bumps because it seems like any little temperature change or whatever makes it act weird. I MIGHT have it nailed down now, but I'll see tomorrow morning.

Thursday night I used some cardboard and mocked up some ducting for the oil coolers. Friday after work I got some watercolor paint mats or whatever, basically better cardboard for mocking oil cooler ducting and I used that to make a second one. Saturday morning I used aluminum and made the ducting and installed it. It actually didn't take me too long. Saturday night I drove the car to the Golden Super Cruise and my oil temps seemed to be much lower while I was moving, but they got up to 200F when I finally got to the meet/show and was sitting still. Makes me think about getting little fans for the back of the coolers. I took a few pics tonight, but I'll take a couple next time I have the bumper off.

speedjunkie · Postby **speedjunkie** » Mon Aug 06, 2012 9:14

I drove the car to work today after THINKING I had the idle issue sorted out. Wrong again. Now when I first start it up when it's cold, it wants to die if I don't keep my foot on the gas until it warms up. Then even when it's warm, sometimes it still wants to die when I come to a stop. I'm getting really sick of this shit.

:mad:

:mad::mad::mad::mad:

ecam8000 · Postby **ecam8000** » Mon Aug 06, 2012 9:14

speedjunkie wrote: Saturday night I drove the car to the Golden Super Cruise and my oil temps seemed to be much lower while I was moving, but they got up to 200F when I finally got to the meet/show and was sitting still. Makes me think about getting little fans for the back of the coolers. I took a few pics tonight, but I'll take a couple next time I have the bumper off.

Did the temp cool back down once you were moving again? I'm not sure the fans are needed. I like oil temps around 220. But if you are looking to cool oil between runs (autoX, drift, drags) then the fans might be the ticket. If it is spirited street driving and road racing....I wouldn't worry about the fans if it does cool down while moving.

speedjunkie · Postby **speedjunkie** » Mon Aug 06, 2012 9:14

Yeah it definitely cools down while moving, but I don't like temps to get too high for oil because then the water temps will be higher as well. But my water temps are controlled pretty easily. I've had a problem for a while that my fans aren't turning on at the temp the computer is set at (which is around 180F) but they do come on around 209F. I usually turn on the AC (no AC anymore but it turns the fans on) at around 195-200F and a couple times in the last couple days the fans have stayed on even after the car is shut off and even after I turn the AC off. I tested it a couple times today and it only did it once. Either way, I need to figure out why they're not coming on at 180F.

I think I got the idle nailed down, even though it's around 1400-1500 and 11-11.5 AFRs LOL. Hey whatever, it's idling smooth at least. However, now it doesn't want to stay running when it's first started. I have to keep it running until I start driving. After I've been driving for a little bit it stays running and idles around 1400 like it's supposed to. Once today I started the car again while it was still warm and it wanted to die again at first but quickly started idling normally. So I tried Dave's hot start method by revving and shutting it off. That was even worse lol. So if I just warm it up a little when I first start it, it's good. I just hope that once it gets it's final tune, all this can be sorted out. Speaking of which, I'm pretty much at 1000 miles now. WOOHOO!!! Time to tune and start ripping!

ecam8000 · Postby **ecam8000** » Tue Aug 07, 2012 9:14

I gave the Miata a full 235 ish miles before footin it.

Website · Postby **Shadowden** » Tue Aug 07, 2012 9:14

speedjunkie wrote:Yeah it definitely cools down while moving, but I don't like temps to get too high for oil because then the water temps will be higher as well. But my water temps are controlled pretty easily. I've had a problem for a while that my fans aren't turning on at the temp the computer is set at (which is around 180F) but they do come on around 209F. I usually turn on the AC (no AC anymore but it turns the fans on) at around 195-200F and a couple times in the last couple days the fans have stayed on even after the car is shut off and even after I turn the AC off. I tested it a couple times today and it only did it once. Either way, I need to figure out why they're not coming on at 180F.

I think I got the idle nailed down, even though it's around 1400-1500 and 11-11.5 AFRs LOL. Hey whatever, it's idling smooth at least. However, now it doesn't want to stay running when it's first started. I have to keep it running until I start driving. After I've been driving for a little bit it stays running and idles around 1400 like it's supposed to. Once today I started the car again while it was still warm and it wanted to die again at first but quickly started idling normally. So I tried Dave's hot start method by revving and shutting it off. That was even worse lol. So if I just warm it up a little when I first start it, it's good. I just hope that once it gets it's final tune, all this can be sorted out. Speaking of which, I'm pretty much at 1000 miles now. WOOHOO!!! Time to tune and start ripping!

Glad things are tracking again. You have about 2 months to enjoy the heck out of your car (of course this year, maybe it will be longer).

Seeing as all of you have spent some time with "an" fittings and braided line, looks like that will be the next project I recruit your help on. I want to get the engine compartment of the S2K spiffed up (though independent throttle bodies would be amazing). I was looking at different fittings and came across these, which I though t looked nice: http://www.anplumbing.com/Hose+Ends/Startlite-66.html

I also like the all black fittings by earls and the Black/ti fittings by XRP.
Where did you get your fittings and which brand did you use?

speedjunkie · Postby **speedjunkie** » Tue Aug 07, 2012 9:14

ecam8000 wrote:I gave the Miata a full 235 ish miles before footin it.

LOL yeah the last time I built the engine, back in 2008, I fully intended on doing about 1000 miles of break-in but I lasted about 450 lol. That engine lasted 35-40k miles though, so hopefully this one will last twice as long lol.

Shadowden wrote:Glad things are tracking again. You have about 2 months to enjoy the heck out of your car (of course this year, maybe it will be longer).

Seeing as all of you have spent some time with "an" fittings and braided line, looks like that will be the next project I recruit your help on. I want to get the engine compartment of the S2K spiffed up (though independent throttle bodies would be amazing). I was looking at different fittings and came across these, which I though t looked nice: http://www.anplumbing.com/Hose+Ends/Startlite-66.html

I also like the all black fittings by earls and the Black/ti fittings by XRP.
Where did you get your fittings and which brand did you use?

Yeah it sucks that it's just now coming together well at the end of the summer, but it was too hot to drive it this summer anyway. I have to put AC back in. THIS is actually getting into the time of year I like to drive it anyway. This and Spring.

Those look pretty nice, never heard of the Startlite stuff before.

My fuel hoses were already made by CJ Motorsports so I don't know for sure what they used. My oil cooler hoses had been already been together too but I replaced some of those. I think the ones I used were Fragola, I got them from Whisler Bearing here in town. I don't remember if they're all Fragola though. The ones I used for the air lines on the waste gates are Summit brand, but I heard they're crap with fluids. Ask Dave (chickenwafer) about that, I think he's the one that told me that.

I passed 1000 miles tonight, WOOHOO!! I'm not gonna turn up the boost until I start tuning the upper ranges. I'm not sure it really matters though, I've hit 1+ bar a few times already during the last part of break-in lol.

chickenwafer · Postby **chickenwafer** » Wed Aug 08, 2012 9:14

There was some discussion in the PFC Tuning Group about erratic idle. An FD owner was having a similar issue as you with sticky idle, car wanting to die, and random idle rpm.

Looking at his logs it's apparently an electric issue. What exactly is hard to determine from an ECU log file but the general consensus is pointing to either a bad ground(s), shot alternator regulator, or bad the 0-5v internal voltage regulator in the pfc has gone bad.

I would start looking at these potential issues on your car as they could be playing a role in your random crazy idle situation. Just a thought.

speedjunkie · Postby **speedjunkie** » Wed Aug 08, 2012 9:14

Dammit Dave, you're just as bad as I am with bad news. LOL

Actually I could try a different PFC with the same map and see if that fixes it. The idle actually isn't too bad right now, as long as I have it idle around 1400. Now it's just the warm up. It actually starts pretty easily now too.

I have several grounding wires, so that shouldn't be a problem. The alternator regulator is a possibility...it's putting out solid voltage, but I'm not sure if that would help with this. The PFC thing is a possibility too.

chickenwafer · Postby **chickenwafer** » Thu Aug 09, 2012 9:14

So the guy in the tuning group disconnected his alternator and started the car and it idles perfectly and ran fine just off battery voltage. So he swapped for a brand new alt and problem solved. It could be something to look into.

It's easy enough to just disconnect the electrical leads from the alternator and run the engine and see if it makes any difference whatsoever in the idle.

And 1400rpm is way too high to idle at, you're not a bridgeport!

speedjunkie · Postby **speedjunkie** » Thu Aug 09, 2012 9:14

I guess I could turn the idle back down to try this, because right now the only time it has a problem is at start up and it doesn't hunt, it just dies.

I don't see a problem idling at 1400. Hell I'd let it idle at 2000 if I had to lol. It actually sounds really good idling at 1400 too, it has a lopiness to it again...but only because it's rich at that RPM lol. You can actually hear the exhaust popping when it idles that high. But idling around 1200 and at high 12/low 13 AFRs you can tell how smooth it is.

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