Chronic Defect, Simple Solution?!

[EDDYSW20]

Symptom:

1. Boost comes in very very early at around 2000rpm and peaks very quick by 2500rpm.
2. Once boost is in the car jerks pretty dramatic.
3. Idle is fine at around 850rpm.
4. Timing check is on the dot per service manual.

Defect:

Spark plug #2 was cracked, replaced all 4 plugs and defect gone instantly.

 

[EDDYSW20]

Symptom:

1. engine idles fine at low temperatures after start
2. Once engine heats up, idle drops and engine dies.
3. Engine can start again, but will die soon after.
4. If maintain revving, no problem, but will die once you release throttle.

Defect:

The Alternator belt was on too tight. Loosened the belt and instant idle issue resolved! And extra horses during rev!!

 

[EDDYSW20]

Symptom:

1. Engine fuel consumption high.
2. Lost of power evident even after turbo spools.
3. Lost all power on 4th and 5th gear. Feels like an N/A.
4. Engine idles fine and timing on the dot using a timing gun.
5. Also noted, engine crank weak, headlamps weak, cabin lighting weak.

Defect:

Replaced the battery. All horses revived instantly and lightings issue resolved!! Fuel consumption back to normal!!

 

[EDDYSW20]

Symptom:

1. Hear bubbles after engine shutdown, when insufficient idling before shutdown.
2. Coolant temperature indications are a little lower than half. (Normal around 2/3)
2. Temperature rises at low revs with high loads (frequent lauches).
3. Temperature lowers at higher revs with low loads (cruising at high rpms).

Defect:

The thermostat was partially closed. Higher water pressure forced coolant around the system which is why temperature came down when crusing at higher rpms, not high speeds!

 

[Green06]

Hi Eddy,
Is yr problem solved after replacing the battery?

 

[Joyride]

check the distributor cap. common problem for SW20.

 

[EDDYSW20]

Hi Eddy,
Is yr problem solved after replacing the battery?

Hi Green06,
The battery was depleted and was not recharging to its optimum potential, hence the alternator was working the extra mile powering the vehicle and constantly recharging the battery which was draining the electrical and mechanical power. The new battery fitted caused the alternator to do its designed task - powering up the car loads only. The engine then started quicker, ran smooth, idled better and accelerated much better on higher gears. Fuel consumption improved instantly.

check the distributor cap. common problem for SW20.

Hi Joyride,
You're right. Especially for this 3S-GTE engine, I recommend the cap cleaned (with a plain screwdriver - took it from the service manual of a Charade GTti) every 5000km. It oxidizes too fast. Anyway, for my case, the spark plug had cracked from side view, which was not visible from above. The symptoms shown were also intermittent, due to the nature of the defect. A spark cable test passed but had shown some discrepancy when pulled out completely, which is why the plugs were removed for inspection. Replaced them and found very very satisfactory.

 

[mrtwo]

okok let me contribute some

fan relay not working

located front bonnet, there should be 3 relay indicated as fan 1 fan 2 fan 3, pay some attention on the top of the relays,.. if there is dark spot, say goodbye to him and get a new one, which cost about less than 10 ringgit - and all ur headache gone

 

[Green06]

Hi guys,
Get yrself a battery charger........2's battery need to be in top condition to perform.

 

[EDDYSW20]

Symptom:

1. Tachometer falls to zero while driving normal.
2. Engine, response, turbo and all works fine.

Defect:

A small 7.5A ECU-IG fuse blew. Replaced fuse, tachometer revived, and defect did not recur since.

 

[1sahar]

ymptom:

1. Idle with black smoke.
2. Engine jerk when idling.
3. spark plug goes black and after replacement its ok for a while but later will be like running on 3 cyl.

Defect:
1. Changed plug , running good for a while but the prob comes back.
2. Adjusted air flow,still same probs.

Guys i need help for this, anyone know why ?appreciate it

 

[Joyride]

check o2 sensor, airflow for ex.temp sensor.

 

[EDDYSW20]

Symptom:

1. Idle with black smoke.
2. Engine jerk when idling.
3. spark plug goes black and after replacement its ok, but later will be like running on 3 cyl.
4. Changed plug , running good for a while but the prob comes back.
5. Adjusted air flow,still same probs.

Black smoke says you're running a rich mixture, but the black plug says you're not having enough spark (or its just too damn rich).

My question is, do you have extra horses, or less horses? If extra, check the oxy sensor input to ECU, and check if ECU wiring had any rewiring done to it (pomen typical shortcut to extra horses), if less power, check the tepets, check compression, check timing, and make sure you have a clean distributor arm..... back to the basic question.... what engine are you running?? You can adjust the air flow? something tells me you aint runnin an MR2 or not sure what you've adjusted.... hahaha....

 

[1sahar]

I have less horsy especially on low rpm, engine is 3sgte. what i adjusted on the air flow was, u know the little black box on the air flow, i opened the box and adjust the spring using allen key until the idle is good. also adjusted the nut on the air flow.

but the thing is, after a few days the engine is running quite smooth and everything went back to normal. i got all the horsy back and low rpm also good.

 

[Joyride]

Probably you pumped poor quality fuel at certain gas station. Power back after new fueling?

 

[EDDYSW20]

Sahar,
There could be a simple solution to this. It looks like your timing has been retarded beyond its capability to burn the compressed fuel mixture. Either way, this thread was actually meant to inform all of the defect and solution after solving it, not to address the issue or trying to solve it..... I hope you can open another thread for this, then more sifu can reach out to your concern, especially if you put it an exciting title! hahaha. For the time being I say you check and center the distributor back to dead center, and clean the arm again. Update us on a new thread..... Hope this works out for you....

 

[1sahar]

im not sure about that, recently i sent the car away for repainting for about a 6 weeks, the problem happened when they tried to start the engine. ops sorry , im in a wrong topic.

 

[EDDYSW20]

Yo 1Sahar, I've created the thread for you. Hahahahah, cheers. Once selesai, we can add it into this thread as another solved mystery..... with a simple solution!! Hahahaha

 

[zane_al]

What a good constructive thread eddy !

 

[EDDYSW20]

Symptom:

1. Brake lights did not work.
2. Power windows did not work.

Defect:

This defect was man-made!! Painter at the paint shop connected the antenna plug onto the rear light connector! They actually fit! Anyway, reconnected antenna-to-antenna and light-to-light and power window was back alive.