When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
Good news! Found the (extremely likely) source of the buzzing noise, the downpipe has a (very hard to see) crack where the bracket to the transmission was attached. I figured this might be where it would be cracked but it was stuffed up behind the exhaust blanket so I couldn't see it before. Upon taking off the blanket I noted that it had ate all of the gasses from the cracked pipe which would have been blowing on the transmission otherwise. Bonus I suppose, definitely proves it does it's job. I'm going to call the exhaust shop tomorrow and see what he thinks about putting in the TSE downpipe and mating their exhaust to it. Probably have them fix the crack while they're at it, maybe I can sell the thing. Definitely needs a flex pipe if the securing bracket stays.
Bad news! We pulled Lacey's car apart to put in her radio, but while driving my Dad's Saturn to the apt to get her parts we smacked a deer full bore at 60-70mph in what I can only say was nature saying "FSCK YOU!" and took my happy moment and kicked me square in the *****. We've been having a lot of rain in MN lately and the grasses along the freeway are quite tall, the deer must of crossed the far side at a quick pace and maintained it as it came out of the median at a run, barely missed the car in the passing lane and we smacked it with my dad's Saturn on the driver's headlight/hood area and went right over the car. It might be repairable, there were no leaks or noises but I really haven't had the constitution to go look at it today.
Car was repaired, the noise is gone. Exhaust shop didn't quite do what I asked though, and they welded the lower section of the DP to the existing exhaust instead of cut the exhaust to length and weld a flange there like I asked so I don't have to fight the slip union and can swap exhausts anytime I want. Now the DP is heavily impacted for any potential for resale..... Le sigh~
While out and about I hit some big bumps while slideways and the (well secured and tied down..) battery slid and (barely) brushed the + terminal cable against the tie-down strap which shorted the power out. I have no idea how the terminal moved, but my guess is the shop had to pull it while working or something because I didn't have it like that before... Not sure what that that did yet, but the car has hesitation and misfiring, thinking maybe Cam/Crank sensor but I need to log it. Trying to stay positive but... Always something, eh? :(
Ran some logs today, definitely seeing a stumble under load (low load is fine). Random, but appears to go along with throttle or maybe I'm imagining it. It's DEFINITELY ignition related, it feels almost exactly like when my CAS/CrAS was having issues. Logs show the RPM shifts up/down some but otherwise I don't have anything in the log to indicate what might be causing it. Probably my steps to diagnose will be the following;
-Check plugs, maybe I have wear and I'm blowing out spark?
-Swap out coils if I can find the spares
-Check timing w/ light
-If I can find some to do so, swap TPS, CrAS, CAS in that order.
Note that the car ran fine after I left the shop all the way until the battery came loose which I've ensured will NOT happen again. Go figure the replacement from last year was smaller in form than my old one which precipitated this whole PITA.
Update on the Saturn, we stripped the body down to examine the radiator core and it looks like he deer buckled at the bottom of it's torso, the hood caved and rolled back creating a 'ramp' that shot the deer up and clear of the car. If I had braked, it would have buried the nose and probably bounced off the windshield or the roof. As it sits after pulling out the damage, we just need a hood/fender/bumper/some brackets and the headlights. Didn't get any pics before we pulled out the damage but I'm going to swing by tomorrow and snap a few for the memories.
Standard procedure to disconnect the battery when welding on a car. You can fry a bunch of electronics if you don't. So at least they got that part right...
After a long week of 'F-it' I returned to looking into this issue. Figuring maybe a bad plug or two I pulled and replaced spark plugs (1/4-1/2" browning at the base of the ceramic), didn't really do much and the car still ran like crap with breakup showing up at low-load mid-high rpm range. I gave up for a while and went about my evening and after hanging with Lacey to get my mind off the issue I figured hey let's try logging at 48samp/sec since I have my bag w/ the laptop with me. While I was in there I figured I would clear LTT (long term (fuel) trim) but checked it first because it's been a while (last fall).
WOW. Huge plateau of +50 cells all over, especially in boost. Thinking "Like, wtf?", after clearing LTT I logged some driving and found I could not reproduce the heavy misfire issue anymore and LTT was adding fuel again. This could be a coincidence as it doesn't ALWAYS do it but there was at least some hesitation before, but my theory is that it hit the upper threshold on the trim map and started having issues when it wanted to add more fuel to the +50 cells which AFAIK it can't. Grabbed some food and when I got to the apt I looked at the display and noted that my AFR value wasn't moving anymore. It appears my wideband is not working- Thing has less than 5k / 11 months on it, holy ****. I wasn't really looking at it as I have not had the laptop on hand, so I'm hoping the exhaust shop guy left it unplugged..? How does the Hydra display a dead Wideband? I'm guessing a static AFR value...
For now, I cleared the LTT data and disabled fuel LTT. I'll take the car out tomorrow and see how she drives after having a night to cool off and sit.
Anyone know the pinout for the hydra wideband? The exhaust guy pushed the pins out of the harness and the wires don't match the ecu side of the harness......
Man, talk about a long day of discovery. I attached some images to show what I encountered for the o2 sensor causing misfire. Pic #1 shows the harness and the wiring clips after I removed them from the harness - They were already pushed out of the securing tab part of the connector but still mostly inside of it so luckily they didn't contact one another and short or anything. Pic #2 shows what the shop did with my flexpipe lower section for the TSE pipe- welded it directly to the exhaust. I actually asked for a flange here so I didn't have to mess with the slip union... I will bring this up on Monday as I need a time to cool down (next post). Pic #3 shows the o2 sensor at an angle, which pulled the harness cable tight and during big bumps and turns, pulled the wires out of the connector.
Tonight we finished up the fuel pump hardwire and WOW, look at pic #4. I have no idea how this happened as I never dug this deep into the harness here, but the wiring sheathes were either rubbed through or chewed through or IDK, but both black leads were exposed as well as the Red/Blue +12 wire (!!!) - I am so extremely glad this did not end in a fiery disaster at some point. I crimped and soldered spade connectors on the factory wiring as well as the rewire in case I need to revert (knowing my luck I would fail to start after all this crap). Testing had her start on the first try, hooray! Burned the **** out of my right pinkie though, swole up like a ****. Hoping it doesn't rupture
Lastly, we have this (#5) delicious Pork Roast cooking in the slow cooker at home and will be digging in shortly.
Look at this disaster, this is the consequences of my o2 sensor not registering and the LTT of the Hydra continuing to adjust fueling. Not sure how much damage was done, but you can definitely see aluminum in the ceramic as well as the electrode. Not sure how I will approach this with the exhaust shop, if I even CAN hold them accountable...
Man, talk about a long day of discovery. I attached some images to show what I encountered for the o2 sensor causing misfire. Pic #1 shows the harness and the wiring clips after I removed them from the harness - They were already pushed out of the securing tab part of the connector but still mostly inside of it so luckily they didn't contact one another and short or anything. Pic #2 shows what the shop did with my flexpipe lower section for the TSE pipe- welded it directly to the exhaust. I actually asked for a flange here so I didn't have to mess with the slip union... I will bring this up on Monday as I need a time to cool down (next post). Pic #3 shows the o2 sensor at an angle, which pulled the harness cable tight and during big bumps and turns, pulled the wires out of the connector.
Tonight we finished up the fuel pump hardwire and WOW, look at pic #4. I have no idea how this happened as I never dug this deep into the harness here, but the wiring sheathes were either rubbed through or chewed through or IDK, but both black leads were exposed as well as the Red/Blue +12 wire (!!!) - I am so extremely glad this did not end in a fiery disaster at some point. I crimped and soldered spade connectors on the factory wiring as well as the rewire in case I need to revert (knowing my luck I would fail to start after all this crap). Testing had her start on the first try, hooray! Burned the **** out of my right pinkie though, swole up like a ****. Hoping it doesn't rupture
Lastly, we have this (#5) delicious Pork Roast cooking in the slow cooker at home and will be digging in shortly.
Pic #4 looks like what I found in a friends car caused by mice.
Why on earth is your ECU tuned to rely on a functioning oxygen sensor? That's not your shop's fault, that's your tuner's fault. O2 sensors fail all the time, you cannot rely on them for normal operation. The ECU should run the engine in perpetuity safely in the absence of a functioning oxygen sensor (and more to the point, it should do that in the presence of a malfunctioning oxygen sensor).
You know, it surprised me as well. You would think if it failed or in this case was DISCONNECTED it would stop the LTT function. Just a bad implementation...
Fun times. I bled the clutch fluid and refilled it twice to give it a good flush since the fluid was pretty grey and also adjusted the rod to move the engagement point down some. I noted there was a little preload on the rod (holding pressure on the master cyl) but only JUST. Maybe 3/32" or less still feel like it's engaging higher than usual in travel though. Clutch hasn't even been in a year but I -DO- daily drive on it including some traffic but I try to avoid that. Maybe it's just how these organic twins wear, plus all the POWAH I'm running though it..
One thing I have noted since last year is that I lose clutch fluid. Not always and it's inconsistent, but I have run almost dry once and have lost a 1/4" periodically between checking. Could the fluid in the lines be boiling? I haven't seen any leaks anywhere so it's a mystery right now. Maybe the MC?
Well that could answer things then, could be it's just wearing out.. that would kill my budget for racing for the year though. Blargh. We don't have many options for 350+ torque either, I will probably get the new organics and the upgrade since this I'm sure is definitely pre-2015 stuff as it's the old organic discs..
How was your wear on the flywheel by the way? I know the organics are supposed to be less hard on it than the ceramic so I'm wondering how frequently I need to replace that as well.
Why on earth is your ECU tuned to rely on a functioning oxygen sensor? That's not your shop's fault, that's your tuner's fault. O2 sensors fail all the time, you cannot rely on them for normal operation. The ECU should run the engine in perpetuity safely in the absence of a functioning oxygen sensor (and more to the point, it should do that in the presence of a malfunctioning oxygen sensor).
I've been looking at the 949 hybrid mount kit, my car is already pretty loud so any increase in NVH probably isn't going to be too bad. Even with the MR angled shifter, poly diff bushings and mazdacomp bushings I still think I have too much deflection during cornering/shifting. Hopefully these will help.
05-30-2017, 02:36 AM
0
