I stumbled upon something!

driver311

Member
:
08 speed 3
So I set a mission for myself today when I got off work. Figure out why the hell my car is sputtering at wot. So i started by taking the boost down to where it barely does it. 16psi. Then I took the ets tmic off and put the stock one on. Still there. Then I took my custom fujita intake off and put stock modded box back on, still there. The I boost leak checked it and sealed everything up. Still there. Then I cleaned the maf. Still there. Then I tried new plugs gapped at .35. Still there. Then I regapped at .28. Still there. so I regapped to stock .32. Still there. Then I decided to go back to the original plugs. Still there. I even tried putting the stock pump back in and guess what, still there just worse.

At this point Im way frustrated.. Hours into this and still accomplished nothing. I decided to try a few things that addressed the cold issue. So I taped over the hole I drilled in the hood over the filter. Still there. Then I decided for s**** to just stuff the whole ram air with towels to see if keeping most of the cold air outa the engine bay would do anything. STILL THERE. DAMN IT.

I was hopeless at this point. Then i started thinking about my previous cars and what if any problems were similar to this and what it took to fix it. I remembered that once i hit about 28psi in my evo it would do something very similar. It was spark blowing out. Well the fix for that was new plugs and taking apart the stock coils and stretching the spring inside each individual coil so that you could get a better contact. So on a wim I decided to give it a try. I pulled apart each coil and stretched the spring just a little. Enough to where it took a little bit of effort to get it back together. Put it all back together and went for a drive. TO MY SUPRISE IT DIDNT SPUTTER!!!!! So i turned the boost up to 18psi and still no sputter. Oh s*** did i stumble upon something or what? I was so stoked. Then for s**** I turned the boost up to 20psi and to my suprise still no sputter. So i headed home and put the ets tmic back on, and the sri. Went for some pulls and man the car is straight up MOBBING at 18-20psi. Air fuels were around 10.4 which means there is room for more. I cant wait to get my full turbo back on this hog and hit the dyno. The best part is it pulls all the way to redline and boost holds strong.

Here is my mods list:
custom fujita sri
ets 3.5 tmic
test pipe, muffler delete
pg cdfp
map clamp
bc 18-20psi
aem uego mid 10s afr

Im not saying this is gonna be a fix for everyone but it worked for me. Do me a favor if you are sputtering at wot, give this a try and tell me if it helps it.
 
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Seems to be doing very well. Im very happy. Pump is helping alot. Mid low 10s afr. Begging for more mods. Now wheres my exhaust? LOL
 
Wow Driver when you put your mind to something you go full out! Thats awesome that you were able to fix your issue and was nice to look back at your past experiences to help you out.
 
thats something good to know...thanks, now i just gota find out where all those coils and stuff are on the car so i can do it if i ever need to
 
Im sorry Illl make it easier. The coils are under the intercooler. They are all individual in each cylinder. they are where the spark plug wires would be on most car. They are held in with a 8mm bolt. Unbolt them and pull out. There is a top piece and then the rubber boot that goes down into the head. Just pull these pieces apart. Seems like its gonna break but it wont. Then there is a spring inside. Just stretch the spring out a little bit and put back together. Very very easy. Like i said if you are getting sputter please try this and get back with me. I wanna know if Im the only one with this problem.
 
the thing that covers the spark plug? the rubber elbow? i know where its at now if im right, the spring inside the cover
 
ok cool.. when do u plan on getting the tbe? dont u have the cpe ems? does ur boost spike?

- o yea and who are those guys in ur sig
 
spikes about 2psi more than im running. I turned down to 18psi and it spikes 20psi. I like it like that. Big torque spike and then holds good boost.
 
its not hard to find, pull the cover off the plug and look inside the cover, there is a coil that connects to the spark plugs.

you could prolly even stretch it with needle nose pliers
 
you drilled a hole in your hood? pic?

edit: never mind, it dawned on me you were talking about the filter box hood.
 
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