to all colder climate msp owners..

P

peajay

Member
:
03.5 Silver MSP
I'm in Ohio and we are currently at about a 30-40 deg. average temp and im having serious issues with getting my msp into boost and keeping it 'happy'.
Last year at this time it was completly stock so i dont have any real good comparison. but im getting terrible fuel cut when I get heavily into boost. if i ease into it at a higher gear 3/4th i can get full boost no problem, but half/full throttle it will cut out at about 4psi. all i have on it now is my GHL, i used to have a SRI but that made it about 100x worse so i took it off for the time being.
I'm wondering if this is another thing only ems can fix as the car is not heavily modded and i cant really explain why a turboback would have that adverse effect, but its the only difference.
i've monitored all the parameters (a/f, o2, MAF and any codes) and everything looks good. I've reset the KAM (dropped the battery) twice since it's been cold and it only helped for a few drive cycles.
i'm kinda lost as to what to do, i just kinda stay out of boost, but that really sucks, and i dont have $$ for ems nor do i have any idea what i will get once i have the option.
so as of now im just taking suggestions...i dont like having a turbo i cant enjoy.
 
What your talking about is refered to as the hiccup. I was that same jerking that just started when the temp got cold here in Chicago. All I have installed is a SRI. This is the first winter I've had the car. I bought it in Sept. After a ton of searching on this board. The consensus seems to be that it's common and has to do with the wga. I figure I'll see how it acts in spring. I have a 3 year bumper to bumper on it so if something breaks I'll let my mazdaspeed dealer fix it!!
 
Mine jerks and tries to stall and is a general b**** for the first five minutes or so that I drive without letting things warm up. But once stuff is warm .. my MSP runs fine. Even with all the mods I've done.
 
I assume you have a boost gauge because you said it's cutting around 4 psi so I won't bother to tell you to get one of those. Everything looks good though? What vac are you pulling? Checked for leaks in the intake after the MAF? MAF still good (ie is the filament still there)? There are lots of things that can contribute to this and I still, despite what all people say, refuse to believe this is just normal. Sure, I drive a P5 but I have the MSP ECU (flashed or not I'm not sure) and even before I had the AFC I never hit fuel cut (not from it being cold that is) - even at 8 psi in temperatures as low as 10 degrees Fahrenheit. This would be my little list of things to check:

1) Check all vacuum lines for rotting, splitting, bad connections, etc.
2) Check all intake piping for cracks, splits, bad connections, etc.
3) Verify wastegate actuator holds pressure
4) Verify MAF is in working conidtion and nothing is broken

Go through all those and if everything is good then I honestly don't know what to tell you.
 
I'm sorry but I've never had that problem with my MSP (knocks on wood) and it gets pretty cold here in Rockford.
 
The only thing i havent been able to check is my wastegate.I dont have a vac. pump. I know this isnt a MAF problem because 1) i would have more than just this issue 2) after watching the pids on the scan tool and visibly checking the maf it looks like it's working great. My vacuum is a steady 21-22, no problems there. And I also refuse to believe this is 'normal' as it didn't do it last year in this same type of weather. It also wasn't doing it during the warmer months. The denser air is making it loose track of itself somehow. I could understand with the sri/cai on there with no tuning. but the stock box is now on again and I reflashed it...again. it makes this car feel like s*** to drive and its very frustrating to pay monthly on something you cant enjoy.



magnumP5 said:
I assume you have a boost gauge because you said it's cutting around 4 psi so I won't bother to tell you to get one of those. Everything looks good though? What vac are you pulling? Checked for leaks in the intake after the MAF? MAF still good (ie is the filament still there)? There are lots of things that can contribute to this and I still, despite what all people say, refuse to believe this is just normal. Sure, I drive a P5 but I have the MSP ECU (flashed or not I'm not sure) and even before I had the AFC I never hit fuel cut (not from it being cold that is) - even at 8 psi in temperatures as low as 10 degrees Fahrenheit. This would be my little list of things to check:

1) Check all vacuum lines for rotting, splitting, bad connections, etc.
2) Check all intake piping for cracks, splits, bad connections, etc.
3) Verify wastegate actuator holds pressure
4) Verify MAF is in working conidtion and nothing is broken

Go through all those and if everything is good then I honestly don't know what to tell you.
Click to expand...
 
Are you relocated? The only time I ever hit fuel cut was because I somehow got water in my IC pipes and it got on the MAF filament and caused it to max out. I can't imagine this is the case with you but when this happened to me my car would fall flat on its face at like 1/4 throttle - not even into boost. The funny part was it wouldn't throw a CEL until I really mashed on the gas and forced it to stumble multiple times. If you're holding good vacuum I wouldn't imagine your wastegate actuator is bad - especially since you say this is occuring at like 4 psi.
 
get a joe p fuel cut defender. it will take care of the problem. also a ems will. I had the fuel cut defender for a few years on my car with no problems
 
A FCD or EMS like the Splitsecond would be the easy way out. I've mentioned it many times on the forums that our cars experience fuel cut for a reason - the ECU is trying to protect the engine. If you eliminate fuel cut without any fuel control you could find yourself in a very bad situation. Either way, he's fuel cutting at 4 psi in 30 - 40 deg weather which should not be happening especially since he said he was not having this problem last year. I think it'd be better to try to find and fix the problem rather than just cover it up.

Anyone else have any suggestions? I've thought of all I can that would cause fuel cut. You haven't replaced/changed your intake manifold recently have you?
 
i don't want to just cover it up, i really want to know why this is happening. I know ems is 'the-all-powerful-fix-all' but i used to be a mechanic and i really have absolutly no good idea as to why this is happening. I automatically want to condemn the MAF but i have no other common MAF issues (bogging, bad a/f's all around weird s***). The only movement i have ever done with the MAF was when in installed the CAI and then when i took it back off, never dropped it or anything like that, still in it's correct location and orientation. And the thing is this never happened when it was warm (think above 60 deg.). Obviously the car can't compensate, I just need to know why.
when i removed the CAI and reset the KAM i went out and thrashed on it to make sure it learned it's entire band, never hesitated then but it always seems to just sneak back up like a bad habit.
-enter emo moment here- Kinda starting to regret getting this car (for more than just this reason)/endemomoment
p.s. no nothing with my intake mani. has even been removed or messed with.
 
Im running a stock MSP with the only mod being a cold air intake and ive never had random boost issues in the winter, and anyone whos been to Manitoba. Canada, knows its ****ing cold. I just go outside 10 mins before driving time, fire it up, watch it rev at 2k to warm up for 10 mins, and then when i come back out the cars growling nicely and the TACS back to 750, i get the mild shutter like everyone else every few mins but everything else runs nice
 
mine has nothing to do with weather or not the car itself if warmed up. it's ambient air temp. It's the only real issue i'm having, too.
 
peajay said:
mine has nothing to do with weather or not the car itself if warmed up. it's ambient air temp. It's the only real issue i'm having, too.
Click to expand...
Maybe your IAT sensor is bad? Could be a possibility although I didn't think those had any profound affect on how the car runs.
 
yeah the ghl is (as of now) the only thing that is currently installed. I just don't really see how that makes this happen, doesn't seem logical to me (though def. possible as these cars are not based on logic)..i was talking it over with my dad and though the MAF looks clean he made a point about the oiled air filters, and how super oiled they come from the factory, and i didnt clean/re-oil the one that came from the factory, so there may be a layer of oily film over the hot wire that in essence is insulating it causing it to show its faults only as the air is coming in more rapidly.
i dunno, gonna clean it with some MAF cleaner from work and see how that does (once we dont have ice all over the place that is)
thanks for the suggestions guys!
 
Mine starting doing about the same thing today! it runs fine when i dont boost, but when it hits boost spike (10psi) It jerks real bad and then boost drops to 5. I have a MBC and have it hitting 8psi. I didnt do this last year, but I have done a few things to my car since last year, SRI, Gutted Cats, MBC, Samco HotPipe, S.U. Coldpipe, CustomMSP SMIC and Turbosmart daul Port valve. I was thinking it was my WGA. From what i understand from u guys its not tho, its fuel cut. That baffles me.
Also, I dont think its a Vac leak, My gauge reads 24 at idle.
Someone please give me some hints, its killin me to have my car partially broken.

Hey Peajay, dont get frustrated with it, I remember in Columbus you Dyno'd like 166 whp stock. Lets just figure this Problem out and keep playing!
 
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i have the same problem and tonight was really the first time i experienced it, being that the temperature outside was 18 degrees...it made me kinda nervous :-(
 
yes an afc will fix it as well. i didnt have this issue when i had a unichip, but it has since been removed as i planned on getting an ss afc.
however i am stock as far as the motor is concerned and have had this issue for the past 2 winters.
 
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