jsmits2689

Weird... like the title says I've been experiencing random 16-17 afr spikes at idle but cruising stays normal. Sometimes up to 16 but in general it's fine. Checked my relays and fpr hose and those are fine. Then tonight, I go to get food and when I start my car up to leave there's a drop in rpms to about 2-300 I'd say and a lot of rattling coming from the downpipe area I'm guessing. The car felt like it was going to stall so I tapped the gas slowly to reverse and it slowly started getting better as I was leaving, but didn't feel right. I finally get home and try to replicate the problem. Turn my car off, check hoses, then start it back up and of course it didn't happen. I haven't changed anything recently and just started noticing the afr spikes in the past week and a half. Only weird thing, I went to the dealership last Friday for the 30k but I already did all the fluids so they did all the visual inspections like normal and everything was good. When I started the car there was a rattle that wasn't there before coming from the dp area, kinda like if you look at the radio but through the car to the engine area. It's only random though, so I'm gonna mess with that this weekend because there's also some exhaust rattling but that's 99% the heat shield issue.

Sorry for the story, but this issue has been bothering me like crazy. Idling seems to be crappy lately and now this tonight has just got me confused. Car just doesn't feel 100% .. Any advice would be helpful!

NateDaJew

iTrader: (3)

Did you ever replace your relays? Sounds like a vacuum leak. Maybe the hose of the intake manifold.

jsmits2689

Yea, and I ordered the 'new' fpr made in Italy that's black again along with 3 other blue relays over the weekend because this issue to replace all of the other ones trying to troubleshoot and eliminate things. But the start up where it almost stalled tonight was odd. Almost like the car was losing power. I wish I was paying more attention because I just heard the car get quiet and the exhaust rattle super loud around the dp and driving manuals my whole life I was like '**** it's about to stall' so obviously I gave it gas and pushed the clutch in.. and slowly tapping the gas pedal seemed to 'wake' it back up.. hard to explain and I couldn't replicated it when I got home. I even let it sit for about 45 min then went back out there and it was fine, drove it around and I found that right when I stop is when I'm lean, ~16-17 for about 5 seconds and it evens itself out by going rich then averages back out to normal. Any suggestions on checking the intake mani for leaks?

NateDaJew

iTrader: (3)

Check the small hose on the intake manifold.

jsmits2689

Are you referring to the fpr hose by the dipstick? If so, it's zip tied and that and the relays are the first thing I checked. But I'm new to this so maybe it's a different hose you're referring to.

NateDaJew

iTrader: (3)

thats it bro sorry

jsmits2689

Hm I wonder what it could be. I guess I'll switch all the relays and see if it gets better. Car runs normal most the time minus the random spikes in afr so I don't know

jsmits2689

Drove the car after work today and did some pulls. Sits right at 11.5 and only seems finicky at idle. Guess I'll just keep an eye on it and wait for those new relays and see if that changes anything. Thanks for the reply Nate.

NateDaJew

iTrader: (3)

I bet its the relays. GL

ChrisVIII

iTrader: (2)

does the idle bounce around at idle? i had this issue and it turned out that i needed a new gasket on my break master cylinder i think. then the idle was fixed

jsmits2689

Yea I mean it bounces around like normal.. around 14.5-15.2 but will randomly creep down to 13 then jump to 16 then level back out. It's kinda all over the place lately though so who knows. That's odd the brake master cylinder would make the idle jumpy? The guy before me had to replace the exhaust mani gasket so I'm wondering if that's starting to leak again, but with the wot pulls it was spot on with the afr's so I don't know how it would just effect the idle afr... I'm gonna go to the shop on base this weekend though to fix the heat shield where it's rattling against my exhaust, it's always done that I just have an excuse to go to the shop now so I'm gonna look around while I'm there.

gsrdc2

iTrader: (1)

did you fix this? i had the same problem and it was a failing front o2 sensor. just a suggestion good luck

jsmits2689

Well it hasn't been acting up the past few days.. I'm starting to wonder if it was just some bad fuel because I had to get gas on base the other day because I didn't have time to go to a shell or BP.. Filled up at shell the other day and everything seems to be good. Which o2 sensor because I have a CEL light that won't go away because I have an aftermarket o2 sensor that the ecu won't pick up on and also a wideband installed on my downpipe..

tlsole

Did you try cleanin the MAF sensor with some MAF cleaner?

jsmits2689

^^No but I'll give that a shot. I don't have any MAF cleaner so I gotta pick some up. On a side note I usually have a CEL light on all the time and it's because I have a test pipe and it doesn't pick up on the sensor, but today I went out and started my car to go on some spirited driving and it wasn't on.. regardless the car ran great today, and days like this make me completely OK with dealing with any bumps along the road with these cars. Complete blast ripping around with the windows down and radio off just listening to the car!