i was running 9-10psi in my stock gsr, until one day i was in 4th gear and i was close to red line, but not quite there, and i heard this explosion sound. I thought i had blown my engine, but everything was fine. A few days later i did the same thing and again this explosion sound! (no smoke or anything).

I lowered my boost to about 7-8psi and it doesn't do it anymore!

what could it be?

 

- Is it tuned?
- What spark plugs do you have?
- What is their gap?

 

yes its tuned!

i had ngk-6's, i dont remember the gap.

but i just put some ngk laser platinum. i guess i can try redlining on 4th again and ump the boost a little. I left the gap as i bought them, i believe it was .45

But can it be that?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by jorge59la &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">yes its tuned!

i had ngk-6's, i dont remember the gap.

but i just put some ngk laser platinum. i guess i can try redlining on 4th again and ump the boost a little. I left the gap as i bought them, i believe it was .45

But can it be that? </TD></TR></TABLE>

6 heat range is too hot, thats stock heat range. you need a 7, and no platinum plugs. theyre garbage. get some NGK BKR7E plugs. and .045 is way too big for boost. you should be running about a .030 gap.

 

how can i close the gap on the new ngk's? is this laser platinum plug good?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by jorge59la &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">how can i close the gap on the new ngk's? is this laser platinum plug good?</TD></TR></TABLE>

you just push down on the ground strap to close up the gap then use a feeler gauge to check the clearence. do it little by little til its the correct gap. if youre unsure ask the guy at the parts store to show you.

like i said, platinum plugs are garbage. you want a set of copper plugs.

 

thanks. i guess i will be going back to the shop tomorrow to swap the platinum's for some 7's!

the 7's were like $5 each, and the platinums were $13 each. i guess the most expensive isn't always best!

(so the explosion might of been my spark?)

 

It's called a "backfire". Sounds like your car is missing at high RPM and dumping fuel into the exhaust.

BTW HOW is it tuned?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by jorge59la &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">thanks. i guess i will be going back to the shop tomorrow to swap the platinum's for some 7's!

the 7's were like $5 each, and the platinums were $13 each. i guess the most expensive isn't always best!

(so the explosion might of been my spark?)</TD></TR></TABLE>

BKR7E's should only be like $2 each.

yes it could be, only way to find out is to try it.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by beepy &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">It's called a "backfire". Sounds like your car is missing at high RPM and dumping fuel into the exhaust.

BTW HOW is it tuned?</TD></TR></TABLE>

p28, crome

 

+1 on BKR7E, they are a great plug and yeah they should be around 2 bux a plug.

The shop might have a plug with the number BKR7E-S All the "S" part means is that it is pre-gaped differently than the other ones, otherwise identical, gap them to your own preference anyways. You can buy a tool to gap them, but i always just tap them on the counter and check, not the best method.

Do you know what your AF Ratio is? What color are the plugs when you remove them? anything abnormal? pitting, missing ground, really black or white, etc.

What exhaust system do you have? Probably not running a cat right?

 

the plugs were black when i took them out(all of them)

i will try taking picture tonight.

I am running a full 3'' exhaust, from downpipe to muffler! (resonator & cat)

No. I dont know my a/f ratio

 

black plugs sounds like too rich or burning lots of oil.

 

by lowering the fuel psi, will it lean out the car a little?

 

Well now you know your AF ratio, well most likely. Have someone drive behind you and tell you what color smoke your blowing. Blue is bad, Black is good(from a fixing standpoint).

Hopefully your running really rich((black smoke)which you have the symptoms of) which means your throwing excess fuel into your exhaust and when it hits the air(or if your unlucky in your downpipe) the exhaust(full of unburnt hydrocarbons) instantly ignites. Depending on where this happens it could either make a flame out your exhaust or a very loud POP further up your exhaust, which can cause some problems.

Who tuned it? Did they use a wideband o2 sensor? if so ASK them what AFR they set you up for, then get them to test it again. If it was a backyard tune, find someone on here that has a wideband in your area and borrow it to tune it RIGHT, or pay someone(someone new) to tune on a dyno. Still get the new plugs, they are a good thing regardless.

 

so can this issue come from 1 day to another?
i tuned it @ church automotive(very good reputable shop).

i dont think i smoke, even at bull boost. i've had friends and relatives follow me and they have never told me anything about smoke!

 

Redlining 4th is pretty heavy load on your motor. Even running perfectly, I'd be watching EGTs and AFs verrrrrrrrrrrrry closely.

 

Well it might be a conservative tune, especially that high rpm. so you might not be that rich, but probably a little(safer). And in 4th gear near redline your turbo and dp is going to be GLOWING red(or almost) which would easily ignite any unburnt fuel. so don't worry about it if you don't want to, or better yet go talk to those guys, shawn is the guy to talk to there from what i have heard, he is the best(there). Explain your problem to them, they might adjust things a little and the problem could be gone!

 

Agreed, get NGK BKR7E plugs, but do not get the BKR7E-11 plugs. Like said above, just use a spark plug gapping tool (like $1.00 by the cash register at autozones) and tap the grounding strap on a smooth flat surface to close the gap down to about .026-.030

You said your car is tuned correct? Well if it's tuned then <U>do not</U> arbitrarily adjust the fuel pressure because of the color on your plugs. Just make sure you have a tuner who is competent with boosted honda's and have it dyno tuned. Adjusting things without the right monitoring devices is creating a time bomb of a motor.

As for the above post, you may want to check over your ignition timing because your manifold shouldn't really be glowing red. If it is glowing then you're likely running pretty far retard in timing.

 

Sounds like Corey and Dunc have this under control. Listen to those guys and you should have this under control...personally, i'd get it retuned

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Schister66 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">personally, i'd get it retuned</TD></TR></TABLE>
x2, or at least get the tune checked on the dyno just to minimize potential damage.

 

and it might suck to get a retune, but you can justify the cost of a retune (about $100-400 depending on what needs to be done) vs the cost of another engine. I've always played it on the safe side because not only is an engine OBVIOUSLY more expensive, but its a huge headache too

 

You can go back to church, they have a good rep tunung cars, but make sure you go to shawn and make sure he doesn't just look at it but he actually plugs the wideband in and checks things out. For my turbo engines i like to keep it at 12:1 and around 11.5:1 at the top end.

And in forth gear top end under heavy load i would imagine your manifold and downpipe are glowing, this is not a symptom though, just a guess by me. Heavy load and long duration creates a LOT of heat, doesn't matter about tuning, just a guess though.

 

these were the old spark plugs!

when i took out the new platinum's that i bought after driving them around for two days they were black already, is that normal?

 

Those plugs in the picture look good, thats a pretty good burn, so overall your running ok AFR. But thats not saying you might have al little extra fuel at redline thats making you backfire, that won't show up on the plugs.

Has it happened anymore?