scoobdoo

I Have a Sti V5 Type R, Had it for a couple of years now, over the last 10,000 miles or so it has been developing flatspots in power delivery. When I felt this happen for the first time I decided to have it looked at by the guys at Power engineering. They hooked up the select monitor to it, said everything was fine, no knock correction, and then tested it on their RR, no flatspots and 271bhp. He said they had reset the ecu after checking it with the select monitor, and that had inadvertantly cured the flatspots. Ok, but it started doing it again about 5k miles later. It has gradually got worse, and now with the engine under load, a noise like a heat shield rattling, but harsher, slightly crackling has been added to the problems, this is accompanied by a lack of boost, you can hear the turbo boosting up and down. I had a select monitor put across it again and it still said 0 knock correction.
Is this bad Knock, and then the ecu dropping boost to protect the engine, if it is, why is the ecu reading 0 knock correction? Do I need a re-map? JB Help!

WREXY

Sounds like it's detting to me. Keep off boost and keep on light throttle till you receive info from one of the more experienced techies and you get it sorted.

I'd get it checked with Delta Dash or a select monitor, but without resetting the ECU.

I'd be also considering a Tek 3 remap cos the standard map on the STIs is already on the aggressive side.

Make sure you use Optimax and an octane booster for now.

A must is to buy yourself a Knocklink so you know what's going on.


Cheers,

Wrexy.

scoobdoo

The Knocklink is an immediate buy! At least I will know for definate whether the noise I hear is Knock, or if it is something else. I make the problem sound bad, but I am over cautious with this car, they have a reputation for meltdowns!
Where is the best place to buy a knocklink and how much? I seen a link somewhere for brdevelopments?
By getting the knocklink fitted I should know which direction to follow, if I were to go down the re-map route, which one?

WREXY

For your car the Ecutek Tek 3 would be ideal. There are no Tek 1s or Tek 2s for the STI.

I would say Bob Rawle (BR Developments) is your man for the Tek 3. He is a great tuner/mapper and has lots of experience.

John Banks another top tuner/mapper is too far from you as he is based in Scotland.

And Pat from Scoobysports who is another top tuner/mapper I think only does the New age cars (MY01 onwards) Tek 3 maps.

As for the Knocklink heres a link to the price from BR Developments. http://www.brdevelopments.com/link_price_list.html You will also need the seperate Bosch knock sensor/connector as well.

Here's the info link for the Knocklink http://www.brdevelopments.com/link.html

Cheers,

Wrexy.



[Edited by WREXY - 5/8/2003 11:22:21 PM]

scoobdoo

Cheers Wrexy, I will be calling BR next week and getting a knocklink sent down to me, will have a clearer idea of what is going on then.

jonny gav

iTrader: (1)

sounds like a MAF problem, get the MAF voltage checked!

this is a common fault and your description sounds exactly like what i have seen in the past.

the ECU didn't flag up the MAF fault at all.

hope this helps

jonny

scoobdoo

That was Power Engineering`s first thought, so they checked that first with the select monitor and it was fine, so I dont think its that.

jonny gav

iTrader: (1)

my money is still on MAF!!!

do you have anyone you know that you could borrow a MAF from as we checked this one and it came up fine too at first!

after spending lots of time and money on the car we were no further forward and the fault was getting worse.

bit the bullet and got a new MAF as it was the only thing left to change.

problem solved!

scoobdoo

Are the MAF sensors on all Impreza`s the same? I might be able to convince someone to let me swap around, while I give it a test, but it would be a normal UK car, I may be able to get my hands on sti4, but thats a long shot.

jonny gav

iTrader: (1)

unfortunatly they are not all the same.

best to try and find someone with the same model as yours.

WREXY

Having the STI V5, you need someone with either a UK MY99 or a MY00, or an STI V5 or STI V6 which includes the type R or type RA. These models only have the same MAF as your car.

Cheers,

Wrexy.

scoobdoo

Ordered the Knocklink today, and to stop the paranoid mind from worrying too much, ordered a MAF sensor from Subaru as well. I hope you are right Jonny Gav!!! Will keep you posted!

scoobdoo

Ok Knocklink installed! Just been out in it, the sensitivity is up to max on the knocklink, drove slow for about 10 miles to warm up car, just the one green light lit up. Got onto dual carrigeway and booted it, jesus, more lights than oxford street at Xmas. Instant drop off revs and I slowly limped home. It is on max sensitivity, is it too sensitive? MAF sensor should be here tomorrow, not driving it until then! My poor engine, if it is still in one piece now, will it be okay in the future? What are the implications of driving with det for a period of time.

WREXY

Most of us have it on max sensitivity. That's with the sensor mounted here,



It seems your car is detting since the Knocklink suggests this. Take it easy and use light throttle only. Fit the MAF and test again. Hopefully this was the problem.

I think you should be OK from the past detting. A sign would probably be oil usage. If your not using any oil you have probably got away with it I would think. Don't risk it any more though. I'm not 100% sure if there is gradual damage but I think I read on here that it's sudden damage. Don't quote me and hopefully someone will correct me if needed.

I still recommend a remap for safety as the Jap specced car's ignition map runs on the edge. You should get more power as well.

Let us know what happens.

Good luck!

Cheers,

Wrexy.

[Edited by WREXY - 5/14/2003 10:53:09 PM]

scoobdoo

Thats exactly where I have placed the sensor! I am at this very moment searching thru loads of threads on the tek3. John B is miles away from me, so it leaves me with either Bob R or Power Eng. I am not sure what are included in their prices so I am going to give them a ring tomorrow and have a chat, see what they say.

[Edited by scoobdoo - 5/14/2003 11:30:44 PM]

WREXY

Power Engineering don't do Tek 3 any more. They only do 1&2. Looks like it's Bob. Prices are similar, plus you can't go wrong with Bob. He is one of the best tuners in the UK and has tons and tons of experience and knows these scoobs like the back of his hand. He'll answer all your questions you've asked on here.

Cheers,

Wrexy.

[Edited by WREXY - 5/14/2003 11:44:54 PM]

scoobdoo

Well, I have replaced the MAF and still no difference! So I need more suggestions! I am in the process of cleaning the boost control solonoid, so I will see if that does anything, but I am not very sure it is that. Somebody help, I am starting to worry.

scoobdoo

PS The spark plugs have been changed recently, so it is not them, could it have anything to do with the coil-packs?
PPS Wrexy YHM

WREXY

What fuel are you using?

Maybe the noise is external, like maybe a vibration of some sort and the standard knock sensor is also picking this up and dropping the boost and timing.

Can you get a hold of someone with Delta dash and do a run in 3rd gear at WOT and post the logs on here so we can see what's going on?

The boost solenoids get contaminated from overfilling the sump with oil most of the time. If you found you have too much oil in there, it could well be the solenoids being contaminated.

Anyone else have any more suggestions?

Cheers,

Wrexy.

WREXY

Scoobdoo,

I have not received an e mail off you tonight as yet.

If you mean last night I received an e mail from you and replied. Did you receive my reply?

Cheers,

Wrexy.

scoobdoo

Yeah last nite, but I have no reply, email hasn`t changed!

scoobdoo

I do have the noise that comes with the drop off in boost, the sound is like I described earlier. A while back, a small part of the heat shield around the turbo cracked and fell off, as I have been rooting around by the turbo I have noticed that one of the bolts on the heat shield has no nut on it. Tomorrow, when I put the boost solonoid back on, I will also put a nut back on this thread and see what happens. This is the only problem with jap imports, they have all the extra kit over UK cars, but when something goes wrong you have to learn alot about your own car to fix it, cos no other ****** is going to help you!

scoobdoo

apart from you guys! ;-)

WREXY

Just forwarded the e mail. Hope it gets there this time. I must add, it did not bounce back to me last night though.

Cheers,

Wrexy.

WREXY

It could very well be that heat shield then.

Just thought of something. From reports I've read on here, usually if the car is detting that bad that you can hear it, it's very dangerous and on the brink of blowing. You've managed to hear the sound a number of times and the engine is still OK. This, to me, seems that it is an external noise and now that you say some pieces and a bolt are missing from the heat shield it seems that that's it. I hope so anyway.

Cheers,

Wrexy.

scoobdoo

I definately hope so!!
In answer to what fuel I use, always optimax, but I dont bother with octane booster, have dabled with Toluene in the past, which made a difference, but is a pain to use constantly, so I reserve it for special occasions!

WREXY

Did you receive the e mail I forwarded to you?

Cheers,

Wrexy.

WREXY

Scoobdoo,

Just got a warning from the Mail delivery Subsystem. After 12 hours the e mail I sent you has not been received and it will keep trying for 3 days. It says "too much load, please try again later."

Cheers,

Wrexy.

scoobdoo

Well, after a few days of worry, I have finally sorted it, checked solonoid boost valve, it was clean so didnt need doing, since it was off I thought I may as well clean it. That was when I seen the missing nut on the turbo heat shield, spent the afternoon trying to find a nut the right size to fit the thread(different thread spacing/size)to normal nuts. Found one that fits tight, (what size threads are the turbo heat shield bolts?)Done it up bloody tight, took the car out for a spin, noise gone, no knock, smooth power delivery! Thank **** for that, I was really starting to worry!
After all that time, thats all it was!!!
It was something as simple as one nut missing, causing the vibration of the heat shield that fooled the knock sensors into thinking there was Knock present.
Well its fixed now, and I have a brand new MAF sensor for sale, any offers!!!
Wrexy got your email today!
Thanks for all your help Wrexy and Jonny Gav.

[Edited by scoobdoo - 5/16/2003 11:19:20 PM]

WREXY

That's excellent stuff! Glad it's sorted. And a cheap fix too.

As for the MAF sensor if you plan to keep the car for a while yet, keep the new MAF, you never know when you'll need it. I too have a spare after having a problem with lean running and thought my MAF was stuffed. Turned out the induction kit was causing the MAF to under read. A remap fixed it. With all the MAF failures occuring, I decided to keep the spare.

Did the Knocklink stop lighting up as well then? It's great that the stock knock sensor and the knocklink were both picking the noise up. Now you know the Knocklink works too.h

Cheers,

Wrexy.