Engine Running Rough

payaya · Post by **payaya** » Fri Oct 24, 2008 12:04 am

Have you tested your stepper?? Or even have cleaned it???

What is the condition on the inside of TB? Is it dirty?? Do you use an oiled POD filter?

Does your car rev to around 1500 when cold then slowly operating rpm when warm? Or does it rev and sort of hover near warm idle even when cold? When you turn on the AC are your rpms higher or lower? When warm and you place your car in either nutural or park, rev a lot higher than you believe it should?

Pull out a spark plug and analyse the colour of tip. If its white running lean/dark rich. It should be a nice brown.

Take CAT off and alalyse from internal damange.

pete_gpx · Post by **pete_gpx** » Fri Oct 24, 2008 12:16 am

From talking to a few people about the symptoms, mostly friends of mine, I believe the O2 sensor is the culprit. After doing 217 000KMs without replacement on a part that is recommended for change every 100 000, it's definitely not going to hurt.

Also, another note, my fuel economy is pretty terrible. I put a full tank of BP Ultimate in last week and only got 407KMs from it, which from what I've read, is pretty damn low.

payaya · Post by **payaya** » Fri Oct 24, 2008 12:21 am

407kms is not that bad. Depending on your driving style and type of driving you do, people on these forums get less.

How is the power of the car? Does it seem like its choaking?? Also I edited my above post.

pete_gpx · Post by **pete_gpx** » Fri Oct 24, 2008 12:23 am

payaya wrote:Have you tested your stepper?? Or even have cleaned it???

What is the condition on the inside of TB? Is it dirty?? Do you use an oiled POD filter?

Does your car rev to around 1500 when cold then slowly operating rpm when warm? Or does it rev and sort of hover near warm idle even when cold? When you turn on the AC are your rpms higher or lower? When warm and you place your car in either nutural or park, rev a lot higher than you believe it should?

Pull out a spark plug and analyse the colour of tip. If its white running lean/dark rich. It should be a nice brown.

Take CAT off and alalyse from internal damange.

Yes, I do use an oiled pod filter. When cold, the car, when turned on, revs to about 1500, but drops to about 1000 right after the initial spike. My revs seem to dip for a second when my AC is turned on, and may possibly sit fractionally lower, definitely not higher. When warm and put my car in park or neutral, it sits at about 700-900.

When I have the time and tools, I'll pull out a spark plug and see what there is to see.

payaya wrote:407kms is not that bad. Depending on your driving style and type of driving you do, people on these forums get less.

How is the power of the car? Does it seem like its choaking?? Also I edited my above post.

407 was from fairly slow driving, with only a handful of MIVEC hits in the entire tank, from some of the other threads I've read, tiptronic drivers have been getting a lot higher.

payaya · Post by **payaya** » Fri Oct 24, 2008 12:26 am

Mate I put my life on it its either a dirty stepper or faulty one.

pete_gpx · Post by **pete_gpx** » Fri Oct 24, 2008 12:30 am

I have a stepper from my old engine here at home, although that was has an unhealthy 217 000KMs on it. I don't have any tools here to have a play around with replacing it, but if you're so confident, it can't hurt. I'll swap it out with my allegedly defective one when I have some time and tools and see if there is any improvement.

I didn't believe it was the stepper due to the surging when driving and fuel smell, accompanied with what I believe is fairly poor fuel economy. Also, the car has no problem idling in neutral or park. From what I've read, a dodgey stepper would be giving me constant idling issues.

payaya · Post by **payaya** » Fri Oct 24, 2008 12:36 am

A simple test will be to unplug the stepper turn your car on and if the characteristics have not changed noticably your stepper is screwed.

There could be an issue of faulty wiring to your stepper also causing no steppers to work.

You do realise when you first switch car on when cold the rpms should hover at around 1500 - 2000 for 30 seconds plus when warming up which is all controlled by the stepper.

Your rpms should be also around 200rpms higher when ac is on.

Kace · Post by **Kace** » Wed Nov 05, 2008 9:25 am

Pete - did you get the issue sorted and was it the O2 sensor after all. I replaced mine with a cheap eBay job but I'm not convinced that the quality is the best.

I'm about to try another OEM sensor from another car to confirm this.

pete_gpx · Post by **pete_gpx** » Wed Nov 05, 2008 1:27 pm

I haven't got around to replacing my sensor yet. Under the advice of Payaya, I tried swapping out my stepper motor and giving it a clean, which has not helped in the slightest. My next plan of attack is to order an O2 sensor from the place Simon and Nikhan suggested and replacing that, followed by my fuel filter if the problem persists.

Kace · Post by **Kace** » Thu Nov 06, 2008 11:31 pm

I did the fuel filter - no difference. Already had a new Stepper

I'm swapping my eBay one back to a second-hand OEM sensor from another FTO in the coming weeks, as I think the car ran a little differently after I put in the eBay O2 sensor.

The final thing that I will then try is the Ignition Leads.

Let us know how you get on - I'll do likewise.