I am now reminded why I loathe the push-down-with-a-screwdriver-and-twist-while-hitting-your-head-on-the-engine-lid distributor caps old 911s use. Made it half a mile down the road and just about managed to limp it back.
After putting the cap back on properly this time, I managed to run the 911 for probably 40-50 miles. Unfortunately it still runs like E36 M3 when it’s hot, showing the not untypical stutter and occasional backfire on overrun. Replacing the ignition components and the fuel filter makes it run marginally better but it still feels likes it's running lean on occasion.
If it’s not the intake gaskets (notorious problem area on the Carrera 3.2) then the diagnostic procedures call for swapping in known good parts because there doesn’t really seem to be a diagnostic computer that plugs into the ECU.
The rant? The car is running a MAF conversion that requires a replacement for ECU’s ROM chip. I have no manual for this conversion, no idea if I’ve got the right chip for all the other mods (headers, no cat, sports exhaust) and no way to berkeleying find out if I do. And if I don’t have the right chip I’m screwed because IIRC the manufacturer doesn’t exist anymore.
Right now, “megasquirt the berkeleyer so I can diagnose it” is beginning to look most appealing. Especially after finding additional electronic mystery boxes under the carpet.
Megasquirting it with ITBs can’t be that hard now, can it?
I'm trying to pick up a basic truck, f150 300i6, 5 spd manual preferred but I'll take an auto. A/c would be nice, 4x4 would be nice but neither are definite. It just has to be decent mechanically. I don't care what cab, trim, color, length bed or what it looks like. Surely this wouldn't be hard in truck country, right?
I've looked at several, tried to get ahold of a bunch and have chased down a few. A lot of flakey sellers and the last I looked at thought " 5 speed manual and it's in perfect condition" really means 4 spd manual, has a switch for the ignition which is barely working and has been "desmogged".
It's a 90. It's fuel injected. It needs all that " smog stuff". I'm not even sure how it was running without a MAF and o2 sensors, but it was running like crap
In reply to Antihero :
I'm pretty sure that Ford never had MAF sensors on the 4.9, so that answers one question.
In reply to BoxheadTim :
It could certainly be awesome...
Seriously, that's a lot of mystery hardware/firmware. If there are no resources to get info, I have to believe replacing the lot could be simpler. The main caveat I can think of is that you might be one stroke-of-luck connection from finding someone who has ze documents.
Also, I missed the thread where you bought a 911. Kudos and congratulations. I have envy.
Knurled. said:
In reply to Antihero :
I'm pretty sure that Ford never had MAF sensors on the 4.9, so that answers one question.
I did not confirm or deny it, I opened the hood to a bunch of plugged vaccum lines and he said he removed the MAF along with " all the other sensors, o2 and catalytic converter"
The truck wasn't what I was looking for so I didn't really delve any further. I really don't know why people just aren't honest about the truck before I get there, do they think that once I'm there I won't care that it lacks features I want?
In reply to BoxheadTim :
I presume that German pile has an oxygen sensor on it? Start by unplugging it,, disconnect/reconnecting the battery and going for a drive. If its worse, there is something somewhere else making it unhappy. If its better, buy a new German oxygen sensor.
If its worse, hook up a multimeter to the reconnected signal wire from the O2, and drive. That will tell you whether its rich or lean when it gets bad.
Bosch injectors from the 80's have a tendency to get a bit clogged and make for lean running in open loop. The generally shows up on cold starts, before the o2 sensor gets woken up and happy.
In reply to Streetwiseguy :
It does have one O2 sensor as per OEM. Unfortunately that means it’s only measuring one of the cylinder banks because it’s been converted to SSI headers. It does start reasonably well when cold and idles OK - the problems start to get worse when it warms up.
Right now I’m hoping it’s the intake gaskets and your point about the O2 sensor explains a few things - ie chances are that the computer isn’t able to detect brief lean conditions on the unmetered bank.
If i have to pull the intake I’m going to have the injectors cleaned and tested at the same time as i have easy access to them at that point.
In reply to Ransom :
Thank you. I bought it in January and made a thread back then but haven’t had much of a chance to do anything with it. I’m going to check over on the Pelican board if someone has move info about the specific system in the car. There were a few MAF conversions because the flappy paddle AFMs are wearing out and are very expensive to replace if you can find a good one.
Reverting everything to stock might be an option, albeit an expensive one. If I can find all the missing parts I suspect I won’t see much, if any, change from $3k+ because the parts are getting rare and expensive.
truely minor rants about my Abarth.. quibbles really.
The windshield, never have I had a car where the inner glass gets so filthy so quickly! It might have something to do with the alcantara cover on the instrument pod, as it seems to start there and spread. We are talking I have to wipe down the area above the pod daily.
I know this is a fiat thing, but I wish there were a way to just run the parking lights. They only work alone when the ignition is off.. otherwise the headlight switch is just that, a single position switch that turns everything on.. this makes the fog lights even more useless.
And my head scratcher.. the hatch always locks. Even with the doors unlocked, I need to hit the button on the fob to unlock the hatch and open it.. This is a one shot deal, if I close it, I need to hit the button again to open it. Also, I cannot do this with the engine running, so even if I need to get something out of the trunk area, I need to shut the car down, hit the button on the fob, and then open the hatch.
I can't bring myself to buy the car parts I need, because if I do, I'll have less money in my account to buy car parts I need.
Replaced the rear pads and rotors on the (170,000 mile!) E90 328xi yesterday and flushed a liter of ATE-200 through all four corners.
It's a job I've done before and didn't really have any issues on the car side of things, though I do have to admit that after 11 Iowa winters, the rear subframe is starting to look quite crusty.
However, have you ever had one of those days where as soon as you put a tool down, it disappears?
Multiple tools, multiple occasions, though my 6mm and 7mm impact hex drivers were the worst offenders.
Last Friday was my every-other-Friday-off day, so I had a 3-day weekend. I very seriously gave thought to either calling in sick today or burning a vacation day because I could really use another day to recover from the weekend. It was a mix of things that should be split between this thread and like 3 others including 'Minor Wins', 'TIL,' and my cabin threads.
On the ranty side of things- I patently suck at backing up with a trailer attached to the vehicle. The Dancer about had a conniption fit laughing so hard when I tried backing the truck with a 12' UHaul trailer behind it up to the loading dock at the tile place because I kept getting it so wrong and backed into a dumpster twice. I'd LIKE to be better at it- but I only have to do it like twice a year so spending the time/money to learn doesn't really make sense... but it's still really annoying to be so bad at it. In THEORY the Colorado's backup camera has a 'trailer mode' where it will show you where the trailer will be going in general when you're backing up... but it seems to be completely backwards and useless to the point I had to ignore the camera completely. On the plus side, the camera is positioned to make backing up to hook up the trailer REALLY easy.
Pretty much all of my rants are more cabin/builder related, so I'll put those there...
BoxheadTim said:
I am now reminded why I loathe the push-down-with-a-screwdriver-and-twist-while-hitting-your-head-on-the-engine-lid distributor caps old 911s use. Made it half a mile down the road and just about managed to limp it back.
After putting the cap back on properly this time, I managed to run the 911 for probably 40-50 miles. Unfortunately it still runs like E36 M3 when it’s hot, showing the not untypical stutter and occasional backfire on overrun. Replacing the ignition components and the fuel filter makes it run marginally better but it still feels likes it's running lean on occasion.
If it’s not the intake gaskets (notorious problem area on the Carrera 3.2) then the diagnostic procedures call for swapping in known good parts because there doesn’t really seem to be a diagnostic computer that plugs into the ECU.
The rant? The car is running a MAF conversion that requires a replacement for ECU’s ROM chip. I have no manual for this conversion, no idea if I’ve got the right chip for all the other mods (headers, no cat, sports exhaust) and no way to berkeleying find out if I do. And if I don’t have the right chip I’m screwed because IIRC the manufacturer doesn’t exist anymore.
Right now, “megasquirt the berkeleyer so I can diagnose it” is beginning to look most appealing. Especially after finding additional electronic mystery boxes under the carpet.
Megasquirting it with ITBs can’t be that hard now, can it?
MS with ITBs isn't too bad to do, but its quite a bit different to tune than a single TB solution. My buddy (Derek with the Jalpa project here) just helped a fellow 911 owner get MS up and running on their 911 and built a custom adapter board to interface the stock flywheel pickup and ignition solution with MS. Neat piece of kit.
The main thing I'd suggest if you're considering going to MS or another aftermarket EFI? Do fuel or ignition first. Not both.
You call me to fix a door and tell me it needs a power supply. I tell you several times it's not a power supply issue it's a wiring issue or a solenoid problem, and I need to double check it to verify the problem. If it's a wiring issue I can fix it immediately. You disagree and want the power supply over night early AM freight, you will shut the door down for the weekend.
As I am driving to your building this morning to install the power supply that will not fix the problem, you call and tell me it was a wiring issue and your maintenance personnel have already fixed it and to cancel the call.
Guess what buddy. You are still the proud new owner of a $800 power supply and $250 in freight.
The eldest is leaving for college in the morning. So today is supposed to be packing and getting ready, right? All of the sudden she remembers appointments she needs to take care of, oil change that needs doing, a computer she needs to buy, and a panicky immobility keeps settling over her that if I gently remind her to keep moving causes a complete meltdown.
Teenagers.
I just had a 15-minute conversation with an adult male about rectal bleeding. I don't get paid enough for this E36 M3.
Torkel said:
Stefan said:
eastsideTim said:
Stefan said:
So much for “date night”
she complains that we don’t do anything together, don’t make time, etc.
so I ask her out earlier in the week, make sure we’ve got a sitter, etc.
2-hours before we’re set to leave? Oh, since we’re going to brunch tomorrow for my friend’s birthday (that the wife setup without consulting me), can we skip going out tonight? I mean, did you want to go that movie?
Yes, I did want to go see Avengers: Endgame before it left theaters.
You’re posting this from the theater lobby alone, right? That’d be my recommendation.
Sigh, nope.
lets just say she was REALLY uncomfortable yesterday and will be for the next 5-7 days. So since I don’t have those problems, I’ll keep my mouth shut for now and we’ll discuss it a bit more once things calm down.
“I’m sorry, but I really don’t feel ok. You go on without me. Have fun and if it is good, don’t tell me any spoilers.”
Just as a reference, that is how it would have (and has) been delivered from my wife. Not trying to be a dick towards neither you nor your wife. Just making the point that when you are all grown up with kids, jobs and life, you sometimes need to turn down the romantic dream expectancy and turn up the “practicality enabling each other to do fun stuff” approach.
Yeah. There are issues in every relationship. My lack of self-esteem and her control freak nature are good parts of it. Her external people pleasing nature causes unnecessary stress for herself and eventually myself (planning our son's first birthday has been particularly fun). We generally work it out, but its frustrating to say the least.
NickD
PowerDork
8/12/19 1:34 p.m.
Over this year, the Miata has developed a bunch of niggling issues that are just making me not enjoy driving it and that I can't seem to solve. The cruise control mysteriously stopped working. It has a new OEM multifunction switch, a new OEM master power switch, tried swapping out a used actuator. Nothing seems to bring it back to life. If it's another bad module (had that happen before but different symptoms, someone here sent me a used module), those are NLA. I liked having cruise controls for long trips, not having it sucks.
It's developed a crazy lean spike on light throttle tip in that will stall the engine, making it not enjoyable to drive in traffic. A/FRs are just ducky once it's under power. I feel like its something in the tune, but the shop that tuned my MegaSquirt blew me off with a bunch of BS other possible causes that seem highly unlikely, and I can't figure out how to access the tune in the MS without my laptop wanting to overwrite it with my old break-in tune I used to get it running.
And the berkeleying buzzing noise from hell that I already made a thread about persists and I cannot locate where it is coming from or what is causing it. I seem to be reaching farther and farther with every attempt to fix it, chasing it down more and more unlikely rabbit holes to no avail. Wouldn't be so bad if it was at some crazy RPM, but it happens right at 3000-3500rpm, which is right about where these cars live. So around town I short shift it to keep it out of that sound (and the powerband) and on the highway I either have to drive slightly under the speed limit to avoid or waaaay over the speed limit.
I don't know what happened over the weekend but my office now has the exact same moldy smell to it that many places at the university I went to did.
wow Bank of America way to put your foot on the head of a drowning man.
So the cash in my account that's not good enough to continue a Hertz rental for Uber you've previously okay'd will be moving to my CU account where hopefully it will be.
They're worried that I will be like many other Hertz renters and not pay the bill at the end of the month.
Well if you won't allow a weekly 3 day hold of $243 yes I will not be able to pay them or anybody else their bills including your credit card next month.
Dusterbd13-michael said:
I just had a 15-minute conversation with an adult male about rectal bleeding. I don't get paid enough for this E36 M3.
welcome to adulthood. Here is your suggested reading list of diseases and ailments, there will be many quizzes
In reply to NickD :
I still believe the buzz is from the rear brake caliper. Sounds like it's coming from right behind your head?
In reply to Ashyukun (Robert) :
When you back up a car, left hand on top of the wheel, look out the back window. Move your hand in the direction you want the back of the car to go.
When you attach trailer, put your hand on the bottom of the wheel. Follow the exact same procedure.
My rant is that the mortgage company apparently paid property taxes to some other property out of my account. After repeated calls and escalations they do agree that it looks like the payment was made in error.
But they can't fix it because the tax paying department is a WHOLE SEPARATE COMPANY who does not take calls from the mortgage company or customers. So we can only make notes on the account and ask them to check.
And now my mortgage payment is going up due to the escrow shortage due to the false payment. And that is my money that disappeared and I can't seem to get back.
And they can't provide any documentation (bill or invoice, etc) that shows that I even owed money in the first place. How are they paying bills in my name if there isn't a bill to pay?!?
Guess I'm going to have to learn about small claims court.
