My VR4 Doesn't Like Being Pushed....

[Galactica]

So I was with my brother yesterday on some twisties and I decided to push the car maybe 7/10th's or so. She was running fantastic until we got to this hill that was maybe a 2 mile climb at 7% or so. When we got near the top all of a sudden the car lost power and started stuttering like crazy! I immediately took the load off of it and started creeping. The car still held an idle, but if you put any load on the motor the stuttering came back. Thankfully we were only an 1/8th mile from the house. I parked it and popped the hood. That thing had mad heat coming out, but was not overheating at all. I let it sit for maybe half an hour and started it back up. It idled smooth, so I took it for a nice long coast down that big hill to try to cool it off some more and since then I haven't had an issue. It made a 30 mile drive back to my house last night with no problems and a 25 mile drive this morning to work with no problems. She was boosting fine and not a stutter even once! Am I right to assume that maybe my "new" 8.5mm wires got too hot and started arcing to the block? Any other thoughts?? Thanks everyone!

D

 

[gtluke]

boost leak

 

[EgonOlsen]

its deffo smurfs in the intake. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[Okayplayer]

Sounds like you popped a hole in you intercooler piping, do you have the stock set up on there?

 

[Galactica]

Yes, stock intercooler and piping. Sounds like I need to run down and do a smoke test. So you guys aren't thinking it's an electrical miss?

 

[thedsmguy]

I would lean towards that since it ran fine when you tried it again, seems like a boost leak would be a constant.

 

[Barnes]

As long as it isn't the t-belt. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/hsugh.gif

 

[Galactica]

No, I checked that...Just in case it had slipped a tooth. T-belt was gut-n-tite with nary a groove in it... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif

 

[Brunoboy]

Quoting Galactica:
Yes, stock intercooler and piping. Sounds like I need to run down and do a smoke test. So you guys aren't thinking it's an electrical miss?


smoke test dont work for boost leak checks. It has to be compressed air metered by a boost gauge or psi gauge.
-Shane

 

[Okayplayer]

^+1, I think you have a small tear, or brittle piping, being 20 years old et al. That would make sense why it happens when it gets warm. Boost leak test my friend. There is a decent one on vfaq.com, but I would put an air quick disconnect the end or an air nozzle with a tube connecting the tester, instead of the valve stem.

 

[Galactica]

That could also explain the hesitation I had in 5th one day that I posted about. I'm sure I have leaks of some sort. It takes a while to bring a car back to life after 5 years of sitting....

 

[Diego]

^ many of us know that feeling..... 6 years and counting...... I do get to drive it about 100 miles a year though. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/uhh.gif

 

I would ditto the boost look, when the rubber gets warm it moves around more. So a good through heat soaking from the long up hill pull sounds about right. I'm assuming remotely warm ambient temps as well? (no less than 30 degrees?)

I would take note of this even when doing the boost check, if everything is nice a cool it may seal perfectly fine then still have this issue after another good heat soak.

 

[desant78]

Do our cars have any safety built in if you hit too high of a coolant temp? Dumb idea, but I had a friend with a similar problem, it was due to the fact they had a small coolant leak, so the car would run too high and go into a safe run mode...and misfire unless idling.

Probably nothing like that in the vr4's but I thought I would ask anyway. good luck with the test!

 

[Brunoboy]

No safety

 

[Galactica]

I doubt there is a safety built in...if it overheats, bad news for you...Unless my coolant temp sensor is bad, my car didn't appear to be overheating. It was rolling off the heat waves though, that's for sure.

 

[GSX_TC]

It's prob that hose that runs over the exhaust manifold. Prob got too hot and melted it a little. Are you running any heat shields?

 

[Galactica]

Yes, it has the stock upper heat shield on the exhaust manifold. I'll have to inspect some parts and see about replacing some.

 

[Launch]

Loose alt power wire, or fuel sending unit not happy at that grade?