I have barely even driven my car this year, due to working on it and working in general so much. Anyways. So yesterday I get the Spohn Torque Arm on and take it for a spin. Car barely wants to start for 1, and 2:the idle is about 650rpm and sounds rough. It has no cam and shouldn't sound like that IMO.

So I get back from my ride(wow was it shakey at first--must have needed the suspension all seddled out after up and down so much and removing the subframes) but anways the vibration all goes away so I shrug that off as just normal. I go WOT and man this is a terriblly loud POP POP POP POP POP, comming from the left bank of cylinders. I play with it a while and verify that it only does it at or near WOT. I can bring the rpms up that high at half throttle with no POP POP noise, so it only happens at WOT. Of course when this is happening I have absolutely no power. I get home with this already upseting me and my oil pressure is like 6-10psi.

I have adjusted the 1.6 rockers 2-3 times, thinking that maybe it was because of them. I watched them and adjusted them while running. All seemed good. So I think the valvetrain should be fine. That was my main concern because that is what I had just finished up installing over the winter.

I noticed also my delteq coil packs in the middle were loose. The bolts looked like they striped out of the aluminum plate. Maybe that is part of the problem. So I am fixing that today.

What do you guys think?

 

sound like a machine gun going off?
having the same problem here. i think mine was due to a bad plug and bad connection at the opti.
if you decide to mess with the plug wires, make sure when you put them back on that they click and not just slide on.

 

Yup machine gun fire. Have you figured yours out yet? My wire connections are good, but I can't rule out a bad wire.

All I can figure would be the coils bouncing because those bolts not holding them down all the way.

 

read my stumble, choppy idle thread mainly the last post.
i know it is not dark out, but maybe you will be able to see some arcing ( as that is what my machine gun sound was at WOT)
make sure at your coils the wire has clicked and not just slid on. also pull your plugs to see if any are broke, cracked etc.

 

I had this same type of thing happen last spring. Ease into the throttle and it would rev fine, but stab it to WOT and it would pop and sputter and generally just sounded terrible. After assuming it was the opti and going thru that whole fun job I get it started (very slow to start) it was doing almost the same thing but had gotten to the point where even easing into it would cause popping. Finally, at the suggestion of someone else I check the fuel pressure and at idle I had 9 psi (not a typo). My fuel pump had called it quits. So my first suggestion to anyone having these symptoms is to check the fuel pressure.

Sorry for the rant.

Buddy

 

Similar problem here. I have a Delteq kit too. Mine is fine until WOT then it starts back firing real bad. I noticed all of my plugs are white and powdery, which means Im running lean. My fuel pressure is fine though. Im thinking about putting on a new fuel pressure regulator and seeing if that does anything.

 

I am having that problem as well....can't go WOT without very bad popping comming from under the hood on the drivers side, im going to try replacing the optispark....i really hope that fixes it...i hate not being able to go WOT

 

Fix it so it runs and get rid of it so nothing else goes wrong that you have to fix. Maybe not what you wanted to hear, or what others think, but my opinion, which doesnt mean anything to anyone but me

 

Is that at idle/WOT/cruising? That should be your first order of business. Finding out why your oil pressure is that low.

 

That oil pressure was at a hot idle. Which kindof scared me. The only think I could think of that would have changed it, is that I set my 1.6 rr's with 1/4 past zero lash. A little loose for stock specs. That is the only think I have changed internally.

 

I made some progress last night. It seems my really bad popping noise might be gone or at least almost gone. I got different bolts for my coils and tightened them down real good. The machine gun fire went away. May still have a slight misfire though.

I still have the low hot idle oil pressure though. And I have a stumble problem on medium throttle. I think I am going to check the fuel pressure like you said. I also have a vibration problem on medium acceleration, I think I'm going to pull the driveshaft again and replace the U-joints and make sure it's aligned up right. Hopefully it fixes it.

 

O yea and my idle is crap. It surges like I have a cam in it. Could fuel problem cause this?

 

When my pump went it just basically didn't like to run at all towards the end. But I never really had the idle surge. I would look elsewhere but it wouldn't hurt to check the pressure just in case.

Buddy

 

Fouled plugs.

 

They are cold plugs...hmm. Looks like i'll be pulling the plugs again.