good deal, def. left me know. I'm interested to see what difference you notice.

I've recently started auto-x and I felt like I was on the verge of spinning out the whole time. I would love to attribute this to my open diff.

 

Rob I'm going to take one second here to tell you that the story behind your car is incredible. Seriously... It's worth a look to anyone who hasn't seen it.

I just checked it out... frick- I thought I had a sweet ride. I can't believe how much work you've put into yours. Can't say I like the Strafe sticker mind you but nobody is perfect.

Anyway- really nice work on everything.

/end thread deviation

I'll let you know how things work out- I'm not what to expect but I know when I went transgo and had the tune and was running similar numbers I was ready to blame the tires. Then again, I didn't know I was open dif (not a car guy).

I won't know for a couple weeks at least but that's the direction I'm heading.

 

thanks, I appreciate that.

I'm really against stickers on cars unless they are full race. This is probably the only sticker you will find on my car ever. But, being part of the Strafe team I decided it was worth me representing on my car to get the name out there. They are my friends and I support them.

I will probably get a new color sticker that doesn't stand out as much now that I have a new color.

 

On another note- here's the break in dyno sheet...

Nothing rockin' but figured you might want to see it out of interest.

 

Okay guys... I think I'm going to need some more help here for a bit. Hopefully, you'll weigh in.

I went in to Regency Infiniti in North Vancouver yesterday and picked up the O ring I needed- predictably marked up about 100% from what I could have picked it up for online. I get it, everyone's got to make some money. I picked up a few of those push in tabs as well for my fenders. 2x10 of them... total bill for O-ring and tabs= $32. A steal.

Back home to figure out if I can replace the O ring on my own. For those of you who haven't done it, or not messed around with your fuel pump before it IS a daunting concept but it turned out to be quite easy.

First I ran the car and applied some throttle for a couple of minutes to identify where it was leaking. It took a bit for the tank to pressure up and actually leak- but I found it... it really started coming out. Not gushing or anything- but very noticeable.

I did the process a bit backwards- but ultimately you need to depressurize the fuel tank by undoing the gas cap completely. You can quite easily pull your back seat up (coupe)- I think it's just a pull forward and up and the seat pops right out. It'll hold on a bit because the seatbelts are fed through- but they're no problem. Once the actual fuel pump on the passenger side access is exposed, there are four little quarter turn brackets you twist and that pops the cover to the actual pump. Unplug your electric connection, I had an AN return line fitting to unscrew which was a bit of a pain because it was efficiently EXACTLY the length it needed to be) and then the fuel line itself with a push pull connector that was a bit deceiving. Once that was disconnected, unscrew the 8 9/16ths screws that are in there- being very careful with them as they are quite soft... and remove the round bracket holding the fuel pump in place.

I exposed the O ring- seeing it was pretty badly stretched and had a bad notch / tear in it. Not coincidentally- the tear was exactly where the leak was. Popping the fuel pump out is a bit tricky because there's a ribbed hose on the inside of the tank that connects to it and it keeps catching on the side of the tank until you disconnect it. Of course there's quite a bit of fuel inside the pump frame itself- so having a few rags around to catch the inevitable spills is a must. There's also the tank fuel level sensor- basically a metal arm with a floating end on it that will require you to pull the pump up and lean it over to the side to get it out. If you do it you'll know what I mean. Sorry I don't have pics.

I popped the fuel pump out, replaced the O ring and made sure it was properly seated in the gap- then did everything back in reverse. Screwing things back in again was an affair similar to that of an 8 lug wheel... going across and not applying too much pressure. Generally hand tight- I don't recall the exact specs in the FSM but it is surprisingly little.

I ran the car again and the pump gurgled a bit at first to get rid of some of the air- but overall it was good. No more leaking!

So that was me thinking all my problems would disappear! I put everything away and went out for a drive... taking the same route I did when the problem first happened. I started out very gently at first- giving the car enough time to get up to operating temperatures before even slightly leaning on it. I accelerated a bit harder about 5 minutes down the road, but still not up to boost levels... and suddenly my VDC OFF / SLIP indicators both came on (which happened the last time that I had this problem) and the car started to sputter and cough again at anywhere over 2000rpm in any gear. Originally there was no throttle response at all for about 30 seconds... I switched over to tiptronic and tried shifting through the gears- which happened, but the throttle didn't work. When response finally came back- it was only to 2000rpm. I limped it to the side of the road again, turned the car off... turned it back on again and tried again. This time it seemed to have reset whatever the problem was, the VDC off and SLIP lights were out... and I was able to accelerate normally. I didn't push it... but it would float over 2000rpm occasionally up to 3000 and wouldn't cough and sputter. I could hear the fuel pump whirring away behind me because I hadn't put the seat back and left the cover off to check for leaking...

As I was driving- barely coasting- the SLIP light came on and there was a slight vibration in the pedal- similar to if the VDC was actuating. It lasted a second or 2, then turned off. A few minutes later- the VDC OFF / SLIP lights both came on but the coughing and sputtering didn't.

I looked under the hood- there were some brownish droplets on the bumper and on top of the crash bar- but I couldn't see at all where they came from and might have just been a red herring- I tried to feel it and smell it but there was nothing remarkable about it. As the car was off and cooling down there was some pretty distinctive fluid movement sounds... gurgling and settling... Not 100% sure what that was but I have recorded the sound just in case.

I talked to the shop and it was a head scratcher the way I described it... but they recommended I go through and reset the ECU (which I hadn't done since last time) and at least take that off the list. I'm going to do that once I'm done here and see where things end up.

Thanks in advance guys... It's really frustrating.

 

thats tough man... wish we knew what it was. can't wait to venture into FI and it's world of problems.

 

Your car is going into failsafe mode -- so pull the codes with a code reader of your choice. Update the thread with the codes you found and then someone might be able to help

 

I didn't realize that was fail safe mode and thought instead that it was some catastrophic mechanical / fuel problem. That's reassuring at least...


I'm in google looking up readers... sounds like there's a variety of them. Something I can plug into my little laptop would be best.


I'm seeing: Scangauge 2... it's pricey but looks like an all in one that might come in handy considering my COBB has disappeared- Not a laptop plug in... but looks okay. If I'm going to spend that much there's the Uprev Cipher which might be better considering.

Any reader preferred in here or do I walk into an auto store and say "I need a USB OBDII reader" and just take the one they give me?

 

I love my uprev tuning suite, which includes cipher.

I used cipher on my car and two others last night to look in to possible issues. really paid for itself with the info it can give you.

you can read every sensor your ECU can read in real time with cipher, not to mention clearing codes and adjusting timing +-2 degrees and setting the idle rpms among other things.

 

Pep boys and many other chains will read your codes for free.

 

Yeah, I was reading that- but I think if I'm going to depend on the community for a lot of this stuff you're right... I need a reader so I can give out the codes.

Anyway, I went through the ECU clearing process (having to turn the car on, 3 seconds... five stomps in five seconds etc) and though it took me a couple times to get it right... I ended up getting it.

Checked out a few other odds and ends but ultimately did the ECU and went back out on the road-

Also turned the VDC off under the advice of the shop-

Did a few modest accelerations (respecting the break in period) but everything was smooth. I did this a few times- being a bit more confident with it... and everything worked okay.

The SLIP light did come on about 10 minutes in after some acceleration- But I didn't experience any of the other things.

So... clearing the codes with an ECU reset- maybe that was all it needed?

Oh- another quick question... with the fuel pressure regulator... any comments on what it should be set at for normal running operation?

 

44-46 psi

 

I'm around 42-43 at idle.

 

Well- the problem returned. Turn the car off and on again and lay off it and it seems okay. When the problem happened the gf was behind me and it was quite smokey. that went away with turning the car off and on. I'm on my trip to get the code reader, getting a nail pulled and meanwhile recallibrating the af sensor. Got some guys to put it in the hoist and maybe look into that rattle / chatter happening at certain rpms / loads. Last time it was a leak... Maybe this time will be too?

 

Sorry for the mega multi posts guys but I just got back from acid testing the last solution and I think we've nailed it.

I bought a "CanOBD2" Car Reader from Lordco (a BC company) and plugged it in... no codes, funny enough... but it was detecting "something" I couldn't interpret from pulling it out of the box.

I talked to the shop, and they'd been hunting down some solutions and suggested I try pulling my fuse for the TDC completely... which I did. Funny enough, I originally pulled out the one big one... that was actually ABS ABS and Ignition Switch- not VDC ABS ABS. VDC is a 50 all on its own.

Anyway- I was doing my very best to remember I'm on a new engine... but went out and leaned on it a bit to see if the solution would hold- and did it ever hold.

So... lesson here is specific with Uprev- if you're running an AT... and have the same problems- pull out the VDC until they get a chance to crack that part of the ECU. Apparently they're making headway on it to accommodate the GT-R-

On another front- apparently the Quaife is harder to get a hold of now in the US because of the exchange rate with the Euro market. Ooops. Didn't see that coming.