So, in my quest to figure out what the hell is wrong with my puttering car, it has come down to my o2 sensor. I'm not positive this is what the problem is, but it very well could be because I've been reading some posts about stuttering with bad o2 sensors even without cel's. Considering i tried torching the o2 sensor in order to unscrew it from the stock manifold, this could have messed it up.

Now my question is: can i just buy a universal o2 sensor , or should i just stick with an OEM super expensive sensor?

 

You can buy aftermarket ones, like Bosch would be ok.

 

i think i read something about the knock sensor doing the same thing. where the knock sensor was faulty and put the car into limp mode but it didn't throw a code.....weird. can someone verify this for me and her?

David

 

Well, my question is this: from what I've read, a faulty O2 sensor will make ur car run rich, thus causing it to bog. Now wouldn't adjusting the air correction via vafc almost counteract this or no? for me, adjusting the afc makes no difference on bogging.

And now at idle, i hear light tapping... uh oh

 

try the o2 sensor, but at the same time it should throw a cel.

Does it bog when you have 100% throttle? because the ecu ignores the o2 sensor and runs off the map sensor when its over 80% throttle. So if it doesnt then I would change the o2 sensor

 

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

And now at idle, i hear light tapping... uh oh</TD></TR></TABLE>

Or the whole problem could be you need a valve adjustment if the valves are tapping. How many miles are on the motor?

 

56K on the motor;
that tapping sound I think may be due to the fact that I rotated my distributor and put it back on without using a timing light, is there anyway to put back the dizzy to stock timing without a timing light, if so how?

 

that tapping noise is prolly because your timing is too advanced which causes detonation (correct me if im wrong). once you have your timing set right take a marker and draw a line across where the distributor bolts to the head so that if you take it off again you dont have to reset timing. so my advice is to reset timing, check the o2 AND the knock sensor.....a valve adjustment wouldnt hurt either.

btw...can anybody confirm the thing about the knock sensor that i talked about in my earlier post??

David

 

OK, here are some updates:
I just drove her around and the puttering is still existant even under 100% throttle, so O2 sensor is ok right?

Interestingly enough, the very very slight ticking noise at idle goes away when I turn on my headlights, for some reason when I turn on my headlights, my idle goes up about 100RPM, which causes the ticking to cease.

Any ideas on this?

Also, compression test results: 210, 220, 222, 220


Modified by vet_girl at 7:27 PM 1/14/2004

 

the reason the idle goes up when your headlights are on is because the lights draw power from the battery which causes the altenator to have a larger load which causes the idle to go up. its normal....retard your timing a few degrees and see if the ticking goes away

David

 

ya, that idle increase is normal, the tick could be valves or even a bad fuel injector.

As for the o2, but a honda or a direct fit replacement. DO NOT get a universal where you have to cut wires, the 02 sensor works on minimal voltage resistance, 1/2 volt could be the difference between your car running good, and not running at all, so i would hate to see some rigged up sensor doing a very important job!!

 

Aight thanks ,

The puttering seems to be LOAD dependent, leading me to believe it has something to do with the distributor, but goddamn it looked fine to me. Anyways, I'm planning on bringing it to the stealership to at least have them diagnosing this problem for me, because I'm out of options. It's really disappointing that I couldn't get this figured out. I can see the stealership looking at my car and thinking "what the hell is this car" I wonder if they can even diagnose it now that it's turboed. Oh well let's see how much they're gonna rip me off

 

This is silly. You install a turbo, install large injectors and set up the vafc hack, DON'T BOTHER TO GET IT TUNED, and then it sputters on you and you start looking for problems. The problem most likely, as I have said before, is that YOU NEED TO GET YOUR SETUP TUNED.

Even if you get it tuned (I sincerely hope you do), you may not be able to tune out that sputter. I've read it reported many times by others that the hack has an inherent part throttle sputter.

 

What! you have an untuned turbo. Oh my god that would be your problem.

 

wow, seriously, not to be negative, but a bad o2 sensor is the least of your problems with a untuned car, nevermind that fact that its boosted. GET THAT LUDE TUNED

 

u know what, i know i have to get it tuned, and it doesn't help that it's repeated 3 times. Im not retarded, and I plan on getting it tuned as soon as it's ready im just not gonna blow 300 dollars for them to tell me my car isn't running right. I'm not driving it around beating on the car or anything, i've put a whopping 30 miles on it untuned. And I think I have figured it out, and im positive it isn't tuning related.