Hey I'm new to the forums here,just recently bought an 88 fc.The forum regulars might be familiar with the setup, used to be owned by Starscream2k1 or w/e his username is.Anyways to get straight to the point I was driving her on a backroad up in the middle of nowhere near my friends cottage and seeing as how I hadn't seen a car in half an hour I decided it wouldn't be a bad idea to really give the car a little pull..So I'm pushing the car to about 6.5-7 on first,shift,about 7.5,shift 7,shift into neutral.Quick rev to throw some backfire and then another shift into forth.I carry on absolutely glued to my seat and then slow her down and pull to a stopsign.This is where the trouble began.My exhaust pipes starting clanking because the motor was sputtering and idling at about 6-7hundred.I actually stalled out and died when I tried to reverse the car and I put her into first and drove home.Her acceleration was a little weak but the turbo pulled hard as ever.It seems to me as If it's working at half capacity.MY car normally sits at about 1,500 rpms and it was idling away in the 500-750 range.I opened the hood and checked the little hose connected right next to my throttle and it was connected.On the highway on the way up I threw a few hard shifts and the hose disconnected itselft.I don't know if it's maybe something that I might have tossed with the power of the motor.It's dark and can't really get under the hood without burning the skin right off of me.So I was just looking for maybe a few ideas as to what to look out for and what connections I should check on.I really hope I didnt damage the motor itself internally.It sounds to me like either a timing problem.Or an Air/Fuel problem.any insight would be awesome.thanks

 

sorry, without alot more information or some pics, we can't help yet

the one question i have is why would you continue to get on it and "throw a few hardshifts" whatever that means when you've already realized something is wrong? very possible you caused more damage doing that.

wouldn't be a timing problem unless the cas was loose somehow, or maybe a sparkplug or plug wire died

if it was an air/fuel problem you might have gone lean and blew the motor

clanking exhaust pipes? that means the motor was shaking ALOT. or that was the sound of a seal shooting through your exhaust bouncing around

 

How could I post pictures of the problem when it isn't anything visible?I didn't know the car was running rough untill I was done pulling that little stretch.I drove home today and she got me home fine without difficulty but she was a little rough on some takeoffs.I would purposely push it to something around 2-3 grand to get her rolling to avoid a bog.My air/fuel is running rich and the turbo is doing it's work just fine but I can feel a noticeable power loss.I parked her at home and she was running at 1.5 grand like usual but she had a different sound to her.Almost like a constant idle as if she was reving a slight bit.She usually sits there and just growls.This wasn't the case.It's as if her idle was sped up a slight bit. toyed with her a bit more and if I held my fuel kill for a few seconds to get her to start to bog and die then released it.She usually rights herself within a few seconds but she wasn't doing that.She just sat at about 5-7 hundred like yesterday.I gave a slight tap to the accell and she went back to sitting at 1.5.any insight?

 

bump

 

I'd check the vacuum lines. If all looks good do a compression check.

 

I checked all of my connections and my injectors.Everything was ok.I took it to the mech and he found out pretty quick that my frontal rotor was pushing low compression.Just like that I found out my new car had a blown seal someplace.The mechanic assured me however that it was not caused by me and told me that the r-tech 1.7 Ecu I'm running does not compensate or adequately provide for the power my turbo generates.My setup is just way too powerfull for that peice of ****.The old owner spent a ******* fortune on the motor and at the end cheaped out and didnt bother throwing in a standalone.Or atleast an upgraded Ecu.He just didnt bother mentioning to me that the Ecu I have would not provide past 10 PSI.and her I am throwing shifts with my gauge bouncing off of 15 wanting to go higher.My mechanic Recommended I only go with A Full Stand Alone system from here on out.I got quoted at 1200 for the pull and drop in including the teardown and rebuild with parts included.The ECU depending on what I decide can be upgraded to a Rtek 2.0 for 300 + 250 for tuning.Or a full standalone from Haltech.The 2.0 will hold my setup.but I might go big and grab the standalone..What are your opinions on the matter?I'm really low on cash at the moment and I just need to get her on the road.What are the pros/Cons of getting either system..thanks!

 

Megasquirt is more difficult to tune, but can be had starting around $200. It's a full standalone and there's plenty of rotary support for it.

I've known a lot of people with the Haltech that loved it though. It's just way pricey for me.

Check out the engine management sections on the forums read a couple of the stickies and you should be able to find what you're looking for, although the megasquirt stuff gets technical quick. :P

 

im going with the rtek 2.0 until i can afford to do the haltek standalone. like richter said, check the standalone section and search around to find some of your answers.

each one of your choices has its own pros and cons. the rtek is cheap easy to install but you dont have the same tunning capabilities that you have with the haltek. with the haltek(or any standalone) its harder to install not very cheap but you can completely control every aspect of the engine.

for now just to get it on the road, i would suggest the rtek until you can afford to park the car for a few days and install the standalone.

 

I'm going with the 2.0 and hoping that everything should be alright from here on out..My turbo is absolutely retarded in terms of capabilities but im going to set her at a safe level..in my opinion it's a shame that i can't set her higher then 14 but you have to make some sacrifices right?I'm too low on money to be dreaming huge at the moment..I'm really pissed off at the jerk that sold me the car.Just wanted it off his hands.Didn't bother mentioning half the little quirks the car has that I'm slowly but surely discovering one by one.It's a shame I had to learn this stuff out of my own pocket.And how he was bumping the car as a wicked build?BS.The work is sloppy at best.SLOPPY.I have already spent a few hours cleaning up the engine bay a bit.Wires hanging and flopping about on their own.Everytime I throw a nice rev hoses get tossed around like silly string..I still have much to do in terms of actually cleaning up the build.And to think,a guy who was supposed to have spent all this time "researching" and doing everything "properly" ended up just being a tool..He hustled the sale pretty good..I'll credit him that though..anyhow,thanks for the help dudes!