08baltSS

Hey guys,
As the title states I have a really bad misfire in every cylinder, here is the lead up story. So since I bought my car in May I have had a problem where the car goes into limp mode a few times a day and everyone was saying to do a boost leak test. Last week I did a test and heard some leaks in the bumper area. Yesterday I replace my bumper cover so while I had it off I tightened up all of the clamps on the couplers because they were all VERY loose. After this I drove the car for a bit and it seemed to run a bit better, but the A/F was still changing a lot ( goes between 13.5 and 16.5 ) and the fuel trims were still way off ( stft between -5 and 5, ltft usually around 18.7 and 29), but I was just happy that it was running better. This morning I get up to check for boost leaks again and run the test and all was good, no leaks. I then re check my oil because it has been leaking and when I checked it last week it was 2 quarts low and today it was a little over a quart low so I put oil in and took it for a drive to get gas. I could tell it wasn't running the best and was pretty bummed, but after i filled up ( 93 octane ) I went to start the car and it acted like it did when my evap went bad, but when it finally started it ran really rough and the A/F was at about 8:1 and I was like wtf ? So I drove home and the A/F kinda straightened out, but the car went into limp mode before I got a few blocks away so I wasn't happy. At this point I decided to check my MAF to see if that was tightened in and so I took it out and the rubber seal was on backwards so I switched it around and put it back in nice and snug Then I go to work ( work at Papa John's ) and I take a few deliveries and the car is running ok, but not great pretty much like usual, but then I go to turn my car on to take another delivery and I start my car and my car starts to shake really bad just idling so I look at the misfire section of my aeroforce gauge and I have tons of misfires on every cylinder so I turn the car off and try it again, but get the same results. I didn't use the car the rest of the night, but when I left I drove it about 1 mile down the road to the shop I go to and had someone pick me up. Once it was going there were still misfires, but it wasn't as bad and as soon as you let off the gas it would start to misfire real bad again. Just looking for a helping hand here, this car has been trouble ever since I bought it, but for some reason I still seem to love it.

MODS: Hahn CAI, HAHN turbo back exhaust w/catless dp, HAHN charge pipes, TREADSTONE IC, and ~21psi tune : all mods came on car already so I do not know how the car was tuned.

Any help will be extremely appreciated, here is a link to another thread I have going ( ), just figured I'd post my new problems in this thread.

Thanks guys,
Dustin

Soofisahab

iTrader: (2)

Clean map sensor and check wiring on hot side. o2 senor may be the culprit as well.

09CobaltSS1

Aside for some of the more specific issues you're having, I'm really curious as to who "tuned" the car? For your trims to be THAT rediculously off is just unacceptable. That alone will cause some of the perifery issues that you're having. Plus for the car to not throw a lean or trim code tells me that he disabled a ton of dtc's to probably hide issues that the car was already having or issues with the **** tune itself.

08baltSS

Thanks for the replies guys,
So just to get this straight, I have a friend that I believe has hp tuners for his cobra. Does this mean I can try to have him read my tune and if it doesn't work then it is a trifecta tune? Or do I have to purchase credits to have it read my tune?
Thanks guys,
Dustin

08baltSS

bump for more ideas, just trying to get as many as possible before tomorrow so that I can work on the car tomorrow!
Thanks guys your help is much appreciated,
Dustin

reefone

my car was just misfiring like hell on all cylinders and wouldnt drive for ****. afr was all over the place. it ended up being my 02 sensor.

08baltSS

Thanks man,
Which O2 sensor was it?
Keep them coming guys, I can always rely on you for help!,
Dustin

08baltSS

Another update:
Went down to the shop tonight and started up my car. It was still misfiring, but no quite as bad until i reved it a little then it went nuts. Anyways I checked for codes and there were none, also then stft was sitting at 29 and the A/F was at 15.8 ish. So the car should be running lean according to those numbers (right?), but it smelt like it was running very rich.
Just trying to keep you all informed.
Thanks,
Dustin

09CobaltSS1

Assuming the car is hptuned and not tuned by trifecta or one of the hand held tuners, then yes he can pull the tune from the ecm via hptuners however you can not edit the tune unless your vin is credited in his interface or he has the entire model year for your car unlocked. He can however rune a datalog regardless of how the car is tuned.

The whole concept behind fuel trims are to offset maf miscalibrations by adding or subtracting fuel per what the o2 sensor is reporting back to the ecm. So the fact that your trims are through the roof enrichening, yet the o2 sensor is registering a leaner than normal condition tells me a couple things. Either the ecm can not trim anymore fuel to satisfy the it's fuel demands (the ecm can only trim +/-30%) thus truly creating a lean condition which the o2 sensor is registering, or your wideband o2 sensor (upstream b1s1) is shot. Either way something is clrearly off. Pull a couple spark plugs and give a look to see what they look like. It's the simplest ways to get a basic idea of what's going on in the combustion chamber. They should have a nice chocolate milk brown color to them if all is well in there. Post pics of the plugs if you want some feedback on how they look.

08baltSS

Thank you for the help!,

As for the HP Tuner thing I will try to get a hold of my friend, may be a while since he generally works out of state for a few weeks at a time, but regardless I will see what he can do to help me out. Having him data log for me will help shine some light on how my car is running correct?

Also, as for the spark plugs, I will be sure to take them out in the morning and post up some pictures on here for you guys to look at!

Anything you guys want for information that will help you to help me diagnose my car I can definitely get for you. I obviously am not the most mechanically inclined person, but I have many people that are. I am trying to learn as much as I can, but it takes time.

In the mean time I truly appreciate any comments that you guys leave for me and none of your comments will be disregarded!

Thanks very much,
Dustin

08baltSS

Well unfortunately my friend does not have HP Tuners he has a SCT tuner so the data log is a no go for now unless there is another way or someone who is in the central PA area that would be willing to help out.

08baltSS

bed time bump for the last few ideas before morning.

thanks again guys,
Dustin

08baltSS

Well just like normal with this car, as soon as they started it up and took it for a test drive today the car ran perfectly normal... Anyone know of any reputable people or shops that can help me out in PA?
Thanks, Dustin

prevsrt4owner

I hate when that happens, lol! Man, I feel for ya. Have you tried the regional forum for the northeast? That might give you what you need.

prevsrt4owner

09CobaltSS1 knows his $hit, too. Listen to him.

reefone

i was told the one before the cats.

08baltSS

Thanks for the replies guys,
I will definitely listen to what EVERYONE has to say, to turn down a chance to obtain knowledge would be counter productive. To make the story short and sweet, I am in college studying Game design and development so automotive skills are not on my side, but with a little guidance and perseverance I believe I can fix my issues. The problem I am having right now is that the knowledgeable person that has been helping me fix my car believes I should just let the issues go and not worry about it and at the same time my step-dad is very knowledgeable about cars as well, but believes I should get re-tuned to stock and then get superchips. I have tried to explain to both of them that 1) I can't simply "let the problems go" because I do not think it is good for my car and it is EXTREMELY annoying to have to clear my codes 10 times a day just so I'm not in limp mode..... and 2) That simply getting superchips is not going to be a "cure all" because of my other mods that are not going to work with that tune.
So in short, I have lost both knowledgeable people because neither can see my point of view or reasoning in the matter. This leaves me, a novice mechanic, to work on my car alone because they both refuse to help unless I do it their way which I already know (even with the little knowledge that I have) is wrong.
This leaves me heavily relying on you guys that understand where I am coming from and have been there/done that.

So to start, I can remove the spark plugs by simply taking out the 1(?) bolt that holds the coil pack on and then remove the coil pack by lifting it out of the hole (for lack of a better word). Then using a spark plug socket to loosen the spark plug and take it out and check the gap (should be .32 correct?). Then take a picture of the spark plugs once I have repeated this process for all 4 cylinders. Oh and of course do this while the motor is not warm. Is this the correct approach? I have looked it up and I think this is right, but just want to be sure before I tried it.

As you can see I am in need of help and will not be ignorant towards any of your responses.

As always your help is much appreciated and I am glad I still have some people that have my back when I need help !

Thanks so much,
Dustin

kzak104

iTrader: (1)

check the maf

08baltSS

Will do, checked it on the tech II a few months ago and it was running a tad under the proper frequency(?, not sure exactly how it was rated i forget), but didn't think much about it.

Thanks, Dustin

09CobaltSS1

Just curious how you came to that conclusion? All vehicle makes and models have different maf scaling/calibration from each other and depending on your mods (and how the car was tuned) the maf scaling can be very different for a car that is even the same make, model and year. Maf scaling has basically everything to do with your trims so it could POSSIBLY be the issue, but from the sound of what you have been descibing it sounds more o2 sensor related. The maf and o2 are the 2 major factors in the cars fueling system so ultimately if 1 goes then everything gets thrown to ****, but if the maf does fail the car has ve tables to fall back on (speed density) and the car will throw a code to let you know that maf is having issues.... that is unless the person that tuned your car was a complete ass hat and disabled all of your maf codes and god knows what else to mask any potential issues.

08baltSS

Yeah, I really wasn't sure about what I wanted to say there. I tried to word it the best that I could, but it came out wrong. What I meant to say was more of, i think, a test on the amount/quality of signal the maf was putting out. That probably still doesn't sound right, but it's because I didn't run the test myself nor was it my idea. The person that helped me up until the other day was the one that did it not me. All I know is he was trying to scan to see if the maf was working or not.

Sorry I don't know more about the test or else I would be more detailed about it. Either way though I do not mind spending the money buying a new O2 and MAF sensor and replace both, but which ones do you guys suggest to go with / stay away from. I know they all perform the same functions, but some places have better quality such as Napa>Advanced auto and what not.

Thanks guys!,
Dustin