My car is kicking my ass...
03-03-2005, 05:53 PM
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My car is kicking my ***... Ok this is kinda long....but I need some help here....I installed LT's on my 01 TA around December 15, 2004. Everything ran fine, the car performed great, everything was peachy.
I had to remove the headers recently do to some coating peeling off, and had to get them recoated. The car sat for 2 weeks on jackstands before I got them back. The battery was unhooked the entire 2 weeks.
I bought some MSD wires to put on this second time around. I got everything finished and drove the car a few days before really getting on the throttle. After getting on it, I noticed that it misses at WOT and/or under heavy load. It never did this the first time I had the LT's installed.
The only things I did different the second install are:
1.) I left the rear O2's out, and plugged the bung's with the threaded plugs.
2.) I installed the MSD Wires.
It's not throwing any codes, with the exception of the rear O2's. And it only misses at WOT in any gear. I checked all the plug wires and they are all snapped on tight both the plugs and coils. Today I put the rear O2's back in. I also pulled out all of the driver side plugs and checked them for any fouling and/or cracks or breakage. They all looked good. Neither of these fixed the missing....it's still there!
Any ideas? Please help...I've been hoping it will just disappear...evidently not.
TIA
I had to remove the headers recently do to some coating peeling off, and had to get them recoated. The car sat for 2 weeks on jackstands before I got them back. The battery was unhooked the entire 2 weeks.
I bought some MSD wires to put on this second time around. I got everything finished and drove the car a few days before really getting on the throttle. After getting on it, I noticed that it misses at WOT and/or under heavy load. It never did this the first time I had the LT's installed.
The only things I did different the second install are:
1.) I left the rear O2's out, and plugged the bung's with the threaded plugs.
2.) I installed the MSD Wires.
It's not throwing any codes, with the exception of the rear O2's. And it only misses at WOT in any gear. I checked all the plug wires and they are all snapped on tight both the plugs and coils. Today I put the rear O2's back in. I also pulled out all of the driver side plugs and checked them for any fouling and/or cracks or breakage. They all looked good. Neither of these fixed the missing....it's still there!
Any ideas? Please help...I've been hoping it will just disappear...evidently not.
TIA
03-03-2005, 06:51 PM
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Mine did that and it turned out to be the top of the spark plug was loose (the end you spark plug wire connects too), so I re tightened(sp) them and it ran fine then.
Dan
Dan
03-03-2005, 06:58 PM
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I can almost guarantee you it is the spark plugs, Obviosly it is not the headers. I had a similar problem in the past, and it ended up being the spark plug wires.
03-03-2005, 06:59 PM
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You might try putting a little dialectric grease on the injector terminals, they sometimes will "fret" and build up just a little corrosion.....just enough to create a bit of a poor connection at times. This is most common with a "cold start" or rough idle complaint but it can sometimes create a high rpm miss too. Just my two cents worth. 
03-03-2005, 07:07 PM
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it brought up a code, and it went away on the way to autozone to have them scan it. but it still drove like ***. then like 3 days later it came back and it brought up a code for the O2. i changed that,and it drove fine.
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03-03-2005, 07:12 PM
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did you make sure all the wires "clicked" when you pushed them on? Its either a loose wire, or you cracked one of your sparkplugs during the install. Just my 2 cents
03-03-2005, 08:50 PM
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I was going to say, check the plug wires. Put the stockers back on and see if it goes away. If its not there, check the plugs. Did you drop any when installing them?
03-03-2005, 09:14 PM
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OK well i headed to a buddies house tonight. He has a low mileage 02 TA...we played "swap parts"...I swapped both his front O2's for both of my front O2's....NO CHANGE...still misses.
Then we thought well maybe it's a fuel filter...so we swapped that...still no change.
Sadly enough...I think it's the plug wires. I'll have to pull them off the passenger side and see what they look like. I saw what that little end of the plug looked like...it has like a little screw thing on it, and I did tighten those up on the driver side.
The plugs have prolly 10K on em max...they are TR55's...and yes...all of the wires clicked twice on the coil, and once on the plug...any other suggestions?
I'll check the pass. side plugs and wires, also put some dielectric grease on there too. I'll also try the old wires and see what happens. I may grab a tech 2 from school and see if any misfires pop up at WOT.
Thanks for all the help. Any other suggestions?
Then we thought well maybe it's a fuel filter...so we swapped that...still no change.
Sadly enough...I think it's the plug wires. I'll have to pull them off the passenger side and see what they look like. I saw what that little end of the plug looked like...it has like a little screw thing on it, and I did tighten those up on the driver side.
The plugs have prolly 10K on em max...they are TR55's...and yes...all of the wires clicked twice on the coil, and once on the plug...any other suggestions?
I'll check the pass. side plugs and wires, also put some dielectric grease on there too. I'll also try the old wires and see what happens. I may grab a tech 2 from school and see if any misfires pop up at WOT.
Thanks for all the help. Any other suggestions?
Last edited by joshp14; 03-03-2005 at 09:22 PM.
03-05-2005, 09:29 PM
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I replaced the MSD's with the old ones, and it was still there. Then I hooked a Tech II scan tool and took the car for a drive. I watched the cylinder misfire screen and the #4 cylinder misfired 992 times within a 5 min drive. I got home and pulled out the #4 plug and guess what?...the porcelin was cracked in 3 places. Went to O'Reillys and bought me a new NGK and that fixed it.
6 Hours of trying to figure this out over a course of a week, and $1.50 later, it's fixed.
6 Hours of trying to figure this out over a course of a week, and $1.50 later, it's fixed.
03-05-2005, 09:40 PM
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Originally Posted by joshp14
I replaced the MSD's with the old ones, and it was still there. Then I hooked a Tech II scan tool and took the car for a drive. I watched the cylinder misfire screen and the #4 cylinder misfired 992 times within a 5 min drive. I got home and pulled out the #4 plug and guess what?...the porcelin was cracked in 3 places. Went to O'Reillys and bought me a new NGK and that fixed it.
6 Hours of trying to figure this out over a course of a week, and $1.50 later, it's fixed.
6 Hours of trying to figure this out over a course of a week, and $1.50 later, it's fixed.
