arizonians...

[TheFordGuy]

Yes, thats the color. My old one was T-red and was indeed a beautiful color.

Morbid, have you checked over for leaks after the cars has been running/driven for a bit? Seems like few things will surface after just an idle session.

Greg

 

[morbid]

If I remember correctly, I let the engine cool down for about 2-3 hours. That is a very good point though! Tomorrow I'll check vacuum after it's hot (dropping off the kids).

I also drenched every possible vacuum line, as well as joints and fittings in the intake assembly, with starter fluid.

I became frusterated and changed my focus over to my performance issue. That primarily is my knock sensor pulling timing as soon as I get on the gas. It doesn't appear to be valid ping/knock... but I do have a loud chatter comming from my fuel rail (probably an injector). I'm not sure if that's loud enough to set off the sensor though.

Here are some details related to the performance issue, all of which had no affect on the knock reading:
* I don't have any CEL's... which I keep hoping to get one so I know what's going on.
* Replaced the knock sensor and put plastic washers on either side... attempting to desensitize it.
* Long Term Fuel Trim on bank 2 does tend to be lean (more than bank 1), averaging around 1.2 (20% lean). Bank 1 averages around 1.0 - 1.05.
* Short Term looks good... and WOT is at 0.865 per the tune.
* I bumped the WOT fuel up 10%
* I ran almost a full tank of 100 octane (11.3 gallons). This should eliminate valid ping/knock caused by timing and EGR.
* I put the OEM tune back on
* I cleaned my MAF & K&N... then cleaned my MAF again a week later in case the new K&N oil contaminated it.
* Ran Seafoam through intake and crankcase. I *think* the engine is running better now.
* Currently 1/2 tank through Seafom in the fuel.
* I hit all accessible areas of the "stuff" in the engine bay with a stethescope... and the sound was most loud on the fuel rail under the UIM... towards the throttlebody side. Beyond the TB, the sound lessens. The sound sounds similar to the 2 accessible injectors, but they aren't nearly as loud. This is what leads me to believe it's a faulty injector. Based off the lean bank2 LTFT, I'd guess it's on the firewall side.

So... my next step is to run another can of Seafoam on the next gas fill and see if anything has changed after that. Tomorrow I'm also planning on rearranging my injectors.. moving the suspect injectors to the front and seeing if that affects my LTFT.. or anything.

I also have a steering issue... which doesn't seem critical. So, after basic troubleshooting, I've lowered it's priority below my brake and performance issues.

I still enjoy driving my car... but it's really pissing me off.

 

[Rodewaryer]

The red is "[SIZE=-1]Toreador Red".

About my brake issues.... During normal driving, I have pedal resistance, and after a little bit, the pedal gives and the brakes feel more normal. I'm also not able to brake hard enough to engage the ABS (which should be easy with my new setup). This problem also existed prior to my brake upgrades.

I got really concerned at the last autocross, where I had absolutely no brakes at the high speed (~50mph) finish and had to drop out of the event. It really seems like it's vacuum related, but everything checks out. So far I've replaced the booster line (with check valve) and a new booster gromet, but that didn't do anything. I've also bled the entire system 4 times. Next, I'm going to try bleeding the master. If that doesn't do anything, then I'm wanting to run a vacuum gauge while I'm driving... since my prior tests were just in my garage. My guess would be that the booster somehow is leaking during driving, but works perfectly idling in my garage.
[/SIZE]

BTW, what's going on with this site? The login is good for like a couple minutes or what? I find little time to get to all the forums I visit and this one is pressing the irritating button........

OK, then.....
The booster was thinking along the right line, are you sure it's not the master cylinder? My son's has the same issue, he isn't happy with the way they feel. You guys went from 10.8's (I think) to 13's. I had 11.8's on my SVTF and went to 13 but they have excellent feel and even Nathan loves the feel when he drives my Focus. I must agree. However, he drives it pretty regulary on NFS runs and so far hasn't embarassed himself with many cars like Greggs turbo Contour (who was within close enough proximity to me to verify he wasn't taking it easy) the Mcoupe/Porsche 911/Lotus Elise of his regular run group. It sounds like you guys would benefit from a Master Cylinder upgrade.....

 

[morbid]

For your login... it sounds like your browser isn't keeping the cookie. I only have to (re-)login to this site if I don't visit for about 2 weeks.

My problem pre-existed my brake upgrades by about 6 months. It was barely noticable around the prior NFS and has gradually become worse. The problem actualy lessened a little with the bigger brakes. My rotors were in poor shape... and I was also hoping it was just one of the front calipers sticking. That was why I wanted to get a new kit... replacing as many potential problem areas as possible.

The recent autocrosses up until I replaced my brakes also had scary finishes (not much brakes) but the last course layout had many straights with minor brakes. Some of the other auto-x'ers thought the layout didn't leave much time to replenish the vacuum (almost always on the gas) and the small slowdown areas slowly used up my vacuum until it was completely depleted at the end of the course. When I pushed the brakes, the pedal didn't move at all. I had to engine brake for about 3-5 seconds before the pedal moved and I came to a stop.

Since I was having this problem before the upgrade... it seems like I'm not producing enough vacuum, or the booster (or check valve) is leaking vacuum. I'm not ruling out the master... but with the outcome of the last auto-x, I'm pretty sure it's a vacuum issue. The problem with that theory is that my idle vacuum looks good, the booster line+check valve was good (but replaced it anyways), and the booster holds vacuum with the vacuum pump attached directly to it.