One frustrated TTA owner in seek of emergency help

[T62TTA]

I have an 89TTA with bolt on T-62, 009, 3400stall, Translator plus with Extender, Car since I'm owned it has always ran ****ty. I have the boost set at 10-12 lb for now with a 93 Extender chip and FP is at 43psi. 80k miles all stock internals.

3"MAF on setting 5 for base keeps idle Blm at 128 +- 3 seems to work good for idle settings.

Car has a misfire it seems, idle fair but with the car in park you blimp the throttle, the car wants to shut off mometarily. New AC delco O2, PCV valve, Spray Carb cleaner no change, new billet Vacuum port, no change. The MAF is a used one and I haven't yet tested with a good known one. I did the tapping test on the sensor and it doesn't stall.

I check compression on all cylinders and there all between 152-160psi. I should get the Casper Coil pack tester tomorrow to check for a weak coil and or module. New spark plug wires, spark plugs seem alright, brownish and a little gray on them. This is driving me insane. I'm sure I have an exhaust leak by the passenger manifold as I could hear some ticking coming from that side but for it to cause BLM to go to 160 thats ridiculous.

Last night I read all the archives on high BLM and I have a Mighty Vac. So far I tested the EGR by applying vacuum directly and it holds. The Vacuum needle to manifold at idle reads a steady 18.5"PSI and slowly bounces at times withing .5 psi. The car is awfully rich. The misfire is at idle and on load. The idle seems to get better if I choose to idle in open loop with the Extender Chip but everywhere else, anykind of throttle the car stumbles, leans out, no power, especially the harder you get on the throttle. However when you ease into it, the car feels a little better.

The worst part is while driving it. From a dead stop if you floor the throttle the car just feels like someone turned it off and slowly let it turn back on. NO POWER Whatsoever. I can't even outrun a Jaguar, thats pathetic. The car needs some CPR, Mouth to Mouth resusition or a heart transplant. HELP!

One thing I forgot to mention is the Boost Solenoid by the PS Valve cover is just there. Theres two ports, nothing is hooked to them. How does this affect driveability and if theres vacuum hoses or check valve how do I hook it up?

 

[GMC-YA]

Well you definitely need to hook your vacuum lines to the solenoid. The hoses come off the turbo one from the wasgate and the other from the turbo inlet. They merge into one and it goes to the solenoid, the bottom port (The one near the exhaust) The other port (the one near the intake) sould have a little filter on it. Here is a pic of the vacuum hose.

http://secure.johnsperformance.com/images/large/large-wastehose.jpg

http://secure.johnsperformance.com/images/large/large-boostsol.jpg


If your hearing a tick then you do have an exhaust leak, which would case a rich condition. Hook the vacuum line up and see if it clears things up. Hopefully some of the other more experienced guys will chime in on this. HTH

Chris

 

[Lee_Burough]

I'm not sure I understand what you are describing about your BLM's.

If I was looking to troubleshoot high BLM's, I'd use This Article

If I was asking about the Translator settings, I'd go to the Computer Chip forum here on TB.com, or Here under Buick Translator Suport.

I suspect if you'd try a known good MAF and then a known good Ignition/coil module, I'd expect some improvement. Double check the Translator settings with one of the sources cited above too.

Sorry I can't pinpoint your malfunction, perhaps others can offer more pointed strategies for your success

leeb

 

[Razor]

Ok, first of all your all over the place with your question. One part says "3"MAF on setting 5 for base keeps idle Blm at 128 +- 3 seems to work good for idle settings."

So this statement says your idle BLM is at 128+-3, then you go and say its at 160


Then your tapping on an LT1 MAF or 87 GN GM MAF?

Whose chip is in the car?

What size injectors?

Be clear.

Better yet, warm the car up.. list all the readings on your scanmaster.

TPS, IAC, AF, BLM, INT, MAL, CLT, And report back.

Be very specific and dont dance around too much.. I hate herding cats

Before I forget.. No WOT until the base fueling issue is solved. You'll hurt the motor.. then have to fix two problems.

 

[T62TTA]

sorry for the confusion

Ok, first of all your all over the place with your question. One part says "3"MAF on setting 5 for base keeps idle Blm at 128 +- 3 seems to work good for idle settings."

Its an Impala LT-1 3" Delco Maf
Setting on T+ is setting 3 for base fuel with 3" Sensor

So this statement says your idle BLM is at 128+-3, then you go and say its at 160
Yes my idle BLM is between 124-130 HOWEVER, all other cells are maxed out at 160


Then your tapping on an LT1 MAF or 87 GN GM MAF?
Tapping on LT1 MAF

Whose chip is in the car?
Full Throttle and Speed Extender Chip

What size injectors?
42.5LB "009"

Be clear.

Better yet, warm the car up.. list all the readings on your scanmaster.

JUST NOW I DECIDED TO PLUG THE POD and RESET THE ECM by sealing it with a paper gasket and these are my current readings

TPS, IAC, AF, BLM, INT, MAL, CLT, And report back.
AF says 14.8:1 on closed loop
TPS=0.44 IAC=16-18 BLM=109 Change T+ setting to 10% leaner
BLM went up to 113
INT=126-132 on both cases

When I hold the throttle in park it takes me to this cell

Top Row last column BLM is 145

ALSO, ALOT OF SMOKE COMING OUT OF VALVE COVER BREATHER ON DRIVER SIDE, CONSTANTLY, EVEN WITH BREATHER ON, SMOKE SEEPS OUT.

Be very specific and dont dance around too much.. I hate herding cats

Before I forget.. No WOT until the base fueling issue is solved. You'll hurt the motor.. then have to fix two problems.

 

[Razor]

You say "My idle BLM is between 124-130"

Then I ask what your scanmaster says and you say BLM=109 setting to 10% leaner went to 113.

So is it 124-130 or 109-113.

When I ask idle, I mean car in park.. engine hot.. click the scanmaster till you see BL..thats the number I want.

Now some chips have an open loop idle..whereby they always idle at X number.. to which to see the number will require using a direct scan, or doing a decell from 30-40 MPH and watching the numbers



The BL's going to 160 on all the other positions would indicate inproper chip, wrong fuel pressure, bad MAF/translator.

Position 3 on the translator is suppossed to be set "off", set your base fuel and WOT fuel at 43 PSI line off, reset the computer... start car and let it learn. Set your fuel controls on zero and watch the numbers.. If they still go to 160 as you drive the car.. time for new MAF test.

Your getting into trouble with the translator and extender may give Bailey a call. Its his baby

A vacuum leak wont cuase all the other BL positions to be at 160

Smoke from VC's..that aint got anything to do with this.

 

[T62TTA]

Follow up

You say "My idle BLM is between 124-130"

Then I ask what your scanmaster says and you say BLM=109 setting to 10% leaner went to 113. I have DIRECTSCAN

SORRY FOR THE CONFUSION, MY IDLE BLM is 125 BUT when I plug all the lines on top of the throttle body POD it Drops to 109BLM

IS this normal or does this indicate a vacuum leak?

So is it 124-130 or 109-113.

ITS 125 with the base setting for the 3" LT-1 sensor( setting 3) for the base fuel on the first knob on the T+

IF I turn the base fuel knob to setting "5" which is 3"sensor 10% lean the Idle BLM goes up to 131

NOW AFTER CONDUCTING THE FOLLOWING TEST THIS HAPPENS: I block all the vacuum ports my idle BLM drops to 109 and 113 respectively. (Corresponding to T+ settings 3 and 5 respectively)

When I ask idle, I mean car in park.. engine hot.. click the scanmaster till you see BL..thats the number I want.

Thats exactly what I'm doing. Engine warm, closed loop, car in park.

ow some chips have an open loop idle..whereby they always idle at X number.. to which to see the number will require using a direct scan, or doing a decell from 30-40 MPH and watching the numbers

No, car is in closed loop



The BL's going to 160 on all the other positions would indicate inproper chip, wrong fuel pressure, bad MAF/translator.

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU
Now thats the kind of information I'm looking for. This further increases my suspicion that my E-bay used private seller MAF that was intially connected with the T+ wrong and cause a code 34 and later plug the connectors correctly might have been damaged.

I should be receiving my coil pack tester and Fuel Pressure Regulator tomorrow, I will double check my Fuel Pressure and test my coil packs and module.

Position 3 on the translator is suppossed to be set "off", set your base fuel and WOT fuel at 43 PSI line off, reset the computer... start car and let it learn. Set your fuel controls on zero and watch the numbers.. If they still go to 160 as you drive the car.. time for new MAF test.

Position 3 on the translator is OFF. My 4 on/off switches on my translator are set 1=on set 2=on set 3=off set 4=off


Your getting into trouble with the translator and extender may give Bailey a call. Its his baby

A vacuum leak wont cuase all the other BL positions to be at 160

Thank you, I didn't know that. I could start checking my Fuel Pressure, replace MAF and adjust my T+

Smoke from VC's..that aint got anything to do with this.

 

[Razor]

Coil pack ignition module wont affect BLM's.

See what happens is the maf sends the ecm a signal indicating how much air is going past it, based on that information... it then gets the reading from your O2 sensor..looks at other things like TPS, load, etc.. and makes a fueling adjustment.

Between point A(MAF) and point Z(O2) there are a lot of parts... A bad MAF or O2 will have you scratching your head trying to get the car sorted out.

Best tools you can have to work on these cars is known good spares.

Coil pack ign module, MAF, ECM, and a spare known good chip. Having these items narrows down your searches BIG time.. start collecting them at the rite price..they will always be worth their weight in gold.

 

[T62TTA]

Coil pack ignition module wont affect BLM's.

Just asking but wouldn't a weak or no spark on one cylinder cause a rich condition that the computer would try to lean out? Fuel would be dumping into it but wouldn't be igniting it, leaving unburned fuel behind which the 02 sensor can pick and adjust. Does my thread of taught make any sense?

Also, want can cause a lean misfire?

Excellent advice, I will start collecting the above mention parts to help narrow down problems.

 

[T62TTA]

Update

Problem was fixed with a BRAND NEW LS-1 MAF from Full Throttle and speed. What a difference a MAF sensor makes. Car instantly boost, no bogs, hauls ass. However since I think the Extender Chip was burned for 93Octane and for 16Psi of boost My BLM are currently now on the rich side around 109-113 with Pressure set at 45psi(per chip recommendation) at idle with vacuum line off. My current settings is at 11lbs of boost with California 91 octane. With Direct Scan it shows no knock and the o2 mv at 860's at WOT PE mode. Would Increasing my boost move the BLM's higher and even things out? Of course I would be carefully monitoring my KR.

One last thing thats driving me insane, I have a very pronunced misfire at idle. Its a lean misfire when I see the emissions through the tailpipe. Currently all my BLM cells are a little on the rich side at 109-113 BLMS EXCEPT THE IDLE CELL. The Idle cell is at 130-133 when I attempt to lean out the other cells with the Extender chip. I can lean them out anymore because then the Idle cell gets way to lean. It seems to be 10 points higher than every other cell no matter what I do to make my fuel cells even.

I have a Casper Coil tester and the Coilpack checked out fine and so does the plug wires when checked with the tester. I also attempted to disconnect one injector at a time with the car running and a noid light confirms all of them are receiving a pulsating signal from the ECM. Every injector I disconnected caused a similar reaction. No noticeable difference from any one injector. I don't know if an exhaust leak (that I could hear a ticking noise) at the pipe connecting to the Catalytic Converter can cause a missfire. Hence, the question below:

WHAT DO I NEED TO CHECK TO DIAGONE A LEAN MISSFIRE AT IDLE CONDITION? What can cause it?

P.S. Thanks alot to everyone on this board for offering great advice. Especially Razor. You directed me in the right direction and help me resolve the High BLM count. Once I get the lean missfire at idle solved, and the car tune optimally in its current state, I will be ordering your Alcohol Injection kit and a alchy Turbo Tweak chip.

 

[Razor]

Just speculating, if all the BL tables are low except idle, it may just be you have a vacuum or air leak in the system. And when you bring down the first cell to 129...the others come down as well.

I'd drop fuel pressure a bit and bring the other tables all up, then work on the single cell 0 table that is going to be high.

Maybe hit the control in the translator to lean out the car at idle and see if that brings the other tables up.

Could be a chip mismatched for your injectors?

Also you can send me a file of the car running in idle to look at to my email address.

Your getting there..