10 replies to this topic

[scottrobertson1990]

Afternoon, 

 

I bought a VX220 turbo the weekend just gone, I bought it for a bargain price, however its got a slight misfire. 

 

The misfire only occurs when the engine is under full load at about 4000RPM onwards, it splutters through it right up to the redline. 

 

The previous owner had a garage try to fix the issue, and they were looking at everything electrical, crank sensors, cam sensors, spark plugs, coil packs etc they have now all been changed. 

 

I have a friend who works at recardo, someone who works there has had 2 turbo models before and said on one of them he has exactly the same thing, and it ended up being a blocked cat, which one im not sure. 

 

Has anyone else had this similar problem, and does a potential blocked cat sound realistic, its booked into my garage on friday 

 

Thanks in advance!

 

[vocky]

been a few failed cats on here recently, but mostly on the SC cars

[siztenboots]

another one in rustington

 

its possible the rubber intake pipe to the turbo is collapsing under vacuum , especially if the paper filter is blocked

[Ian59]

Welcome to the club.

[Dan r]

Hi and welcome. That would most likely be my vx as I used to work there and have had three of these now, but as vocky said mine has a sc. Sounds like a very similar problem and gone through similar things to try and solve with no clue from a scan tool. I'm not familiar with the turbo model but if you whip the o2 sensor out you might be able to see if the cat is OK? You bought the black turbo off eBay right? A bargain by the looks of it, also hear you're off to brands in December?

[Dan r]

If you don't have any luck diagnosing this and haven't tried opcom yet, you can pop over to me in brighton and we could have a look with that if you like? It pointed me to the cat failure (despite vocky suggesting this earlier) while monitoring the map trace as it would suddenly spike a moment before misfire, its a great piece of kit.

[Nev]

If you suspect the cats, then take the floor panel off and give them a light tap with a hammer. If they rattle (with the sound of lose substrate in them) then you should take them off and inspect.

 

Having said that the VTX's rarely suffer cat failure as they are mapped better than the bulk of the SC'ed ones.

 

 

[Nev]

Here is a basic check list of things (cut and pasted from my Z20LET bible doc) that can be pertinent to generic power loss:

 

• [font="'arial unicode ms';"]Be aware of ambient temps, if it’s a hot day your car might easily make 30 HP less than a cold day.[/font]
• [font="'arial unicode ms';"]Is your air filter clean, inspect + replace?[/font]
• [font="'arial unicode ms';"]Check your OEM rubber inlet pipe (between the MAF sensor and turbo) is not collapsing.[/font]
• [font="'arial unicode ms';"]Inspect/clean/swap out your MAF with a known working one (do not buy cheap copy parts off eBay etc, make sure you get a proper Bosch item).[/font]
• [font="'arial unicode ms';"]Inspect spark plugs colour + electrode gap, install new ones if they are/look tired.[/font]
• [font="'arial unicode ms';"]Inspect the coil pack electrodes, sandpaper them and/or swap/install new coil pack. Coil packs age quickly and can slowly decrease engine response.[/font]
• [font="'arial unicode ms';"]Inspect and clean all loom plugs contacts.[/font]
• [font="'arial unicode ms';"]Check penny valve is not sticking on the inside of the turbo (try wiggling the actuator and see if it suddenly snaps shut), this is rare.[/font]
• [font="'arial unicode ms';"]Check the 3 rubber pipes on the boost control solenoid for tears/leaks.[/font]
• [font="'arial unicode ms';"]Swap out the solenoid valve that is mounted on the turbo compressor chassis. [/font]
• [font="'arial unicode ms';"]Inspect and test the bypass valve. If the spring is weakened or diaphragm is broken it may be opening prematurely.[/font]
• [font="'arial unicode ms';"]Check that the small rubber pipe that leads to the fuel pressure valve is connected and not split. If it is this means your fuel pressure will be low and your car will be under fuelling.[/font]
• [font="'arial unicode ms';"]Swap out the solenoid valve on the inlet manifold (that feeds the bypass valve) for a new one.[/font]
• [font="'arial unicode ms';"]Check all vac pipes are securely connected.[/font]
• [font="'arial unicode ms';"]Check that the exhaust manifold studs are all good and tight without leaks.[/font]
• [font="'arial unicode ms';"]Check you do not have a boost leak in your pipe work, intercooler, inlet manifold, injector seat holes, top hat, throttle body. Perform a boost pipe pressure test (see elsewhere in this doc how to do this).[/font]
• [font="'arial unicode ms';"]Swap both lambda sensors.[/font]
• [font="'arial unicode ms';"]Inspect for broken injector o-ring rubbers, check injector plugs electrodes are good.[/font]
• [font="'arial unicode ms';"]Fuel pump might be getting tired and not delivering enough, becoming a more common problem on 12+ year old VX220s.[/font]
• [font="'arial unicode ms';"]Check that the inlet manifold and throttle body are not leaking (very rare)[/font]
• [font="'arial unicode ms';"]Check your catalyser has not collapsed and is blocking the exhaust (very rare). A basic test is to hit it with a hammer, you should not hear any rattles (from broken substrate).[/font]

Edited by Nev, 25 October 2016 - 10:27 AM.

[scottrobertson1990]

Hi and welcome. That would most likely be my vx as I used to work there and have had three of these now, but as vocky said mine has a sc. Sounds like a very similar problem and gone through similar things to try and solve with no clue from a scan tool. I'm not familiar with the turbo model but if you whip the o2 sensor out you might be able to see if the cat is OK? You bought the black turbo off eBay right? A bargain by the looks of it, also hear you're off to brands in December?

Ah! Good too talk! Yeah I think that's the first plan, process of elimination! Yeah it was a great price, just need to sort the misfire out and then have a look into the exterior as it's a bit shabby in areas!

[scottrobertson1990]

If you don't have any luck diagnosing this and haven't tried opcom yet, you can pop over to me in brighton and we could have a look with that if you like? It pointed me to the cat failure (despite vocky suggesting this earlier) while monitoring the map trace as it would suddenly spike a moment before misfire, its a great piece of kit.

Ah spot on! That sounds good, I'll see how Friday goes and let me know if we get stuck!

[scottrobertson1990]

<p>Here is a basic check list of things (cut and pasted from my Z20LET bible doc) that can be pertinent to generic power loss: 

[*]Be aware of ambient temps, if its a hot day your car might easily make 30 HP less than a cold day.
[*]Is your air filter clean, inspect + replace?
[*]Check your OEM rubber inlet pipe (between the MAF sensor and turbo) is not collapsing.
[*]Inspect/clean/swap out your MAF with a known working one (do not buy cheap copy parts off eBay etc, make sure you get a proper Bosch item).
[*]Inspect spark plugs colour + electrode gap, install new ones if they are/look tired.
[*]Inspect the coil pack electrodes, sandpaper them and/or swap/install new coil pack. Coil packs age quickly and can slowly decrease engine response.
[*]Inspect and clean all loom plugs contacts.
[*]Check penny valve is not sticking on the inside of the turbo (try wiggling the actuator and see if it suddenly snaps shut), this is rare.
[*]Check the 3 rubber pipes on the boost control solenoid for tears/leaks.
[*]Swap out the solenoid valve that is mounted on the turbo compressor chassis.
[*]Inspect and test the bypass valve. If the spring is weakened or diaphragm is broken it may be opening prematurely.
[*]Check that the small rubber pipe that leads to the fuel pressure valve is connected and not split. If it is this means your fuel pressure will be low and your car will be under fuelling.
[*]Swap out the solenoid valve on the inlet manifold (that feeds the bypass valve) for a new one.
[*]Check all vac pipes are securely connected.
[*]Check that the exhaust manifold studs are all good and tight without leaks.
[*]Check you do not have a boost leak in your pipe work, intercooler, inlet manifold, injector seat holes, top hat, throttle body. Perform a boost pipe pressure test (see elsewhere in this doc how to do this).
[*]Swap both lambda sensors.
[*]Inspect for broken injector o-ring rubbers, check injector plugs electrodes are good.
[*]Fuel pump might be getting tired and not delivering enough, becoming a more common problem on 12+ year old VX220s.
[*]Check that the inlet manifold and throttle body are not leaking (very rare)
[*]Check your catalyser has not collapsed and is blocking the exhaust (very rare). A basic test is to hit it with a hammer, you should not hear any rattles (from broken substrate).
[/list]

That's amazing! Much appreciated!