3tgte prolonged fuel problem?

[The GW]

drove it around (boosting occasionally) yesterday, went fine for the most part, very smooth and good power delivery, starting get down around 3/4s of a tank.

Noticed a little stutter on take off once, then around 5 mins later i cornered hard and it had a big stutter, then power kicked straight back in..It drove fine on the way home

[Grega]

sounds like a leaning out condition.
what size are your fuel lines out of interest?

um, the backfiring though may lend itself to an ignition fault. as you've an aftermarket ECU - how is the ignition triggering being done - via the dizzy or via crank wheel/pickup? i'd be interested to know if when you get to one of these stall conditions what/where your timing is at - the ECU might be pouring in fuel at a retarded ignition situation?

just my 2c. i hate finding gremlins...

[The GW]

yeah its a really old haltech system so its not the best. whilst its been stalled and i havent been able to start it, i just tried the old wacking a spark plug in a lead and cranking the engine over, and it was certainly arking fine...not sure if this is a enough to rule out an ignition fault though. the ignition is triggered off the dizzy

cheers grega, yeah this gremlin is particularly frustrating, ive come so far with the car to have this happen ill check the size of the fuel lines asap. im assuming theyll be ok because the car has had a 3tgte in it for a long time before i got it and was apparently running high boost...

[Grega]

grant, don't discount an ignition problem mate. just coz its got spark doesn't mean that your ignition firing events are happening correctly.

how is your pickup done for spark - CAS or crank wheel?

[The GW]

thanks heaps for the direction grega, it appears you could well be right on it not be a fuel problem.
i was dicking around with ryley the other night and was flashing my high beams at him, and noticed a change in the fuel pump sound whenever i did it. when onceNA was redoing doing my intake piping (thanks dude) he checked the alternator for me and found it was around 11 with the lights on.

so this would make sense considering it has most of its problems as night (when lights are on) and after about 20 mins of driving (when thermo fan kicks in and out).

only thing it doesnt explain is why it appears to 'surge' around corners..either way i will replace the alt and see how it goes

cheers dude

[Grega]

grant. check you have good clean earths both to the body and the motor. i was thinking about this yesterday.

(my ae92 levin used to have a problem where it would fly then all of a sudden cut out, run shit, hardly idle) - turned out i had a loose earth strap.

so make sure connections to the battery are clean (that your terminals are good ect) and that your earths are secure.

[The GW]

will do mate thanks. i was thinking of throwing another earth strap off the battery just to sure

[Grega]

whats the go?

[Chriph]

A while back I had a problem with fuelling in my 3T - can't remember if it had the same effect as yours but it might be something to consider. I seem to remember an irregular idle.

The mechanic said it was a bad idea to have a powerful pump as a pre-pump to the surge tank and then another efi pump as the main - he said it was over-pressurising the fuel and causing it to cavitate. I was just trying to ensure there was enough fuel getting to the surge tank and didn't realise it could have that effect (I now have a high flow/low pressure pre-pump)

Don't know if this is what's happening with yours but it could explain the richness - being due to the really high pressure. the time lag could be from the system slowly getting more and more pressurised.

Anyway, just a thought

[boy28racer]

Mmmmm sounds to me like that some one has done some work
on the tank maybe put in new fuel lines or reorganised the lines when
putting in new fuel pumps or surge tank. I am thinking they inadvertinly
reconnected the fuel lines into and out of the tank incorrectly. Sounds
likey you now have fuel pick-up and fuel return mixed up or crossed
over thats why you flame out at 3/4 of at tank, the fuel return pipe only
extends 1/4 of the way down into the tank and the fuel pickup extends
to near the bottom of the tank.

I could be wrong, my #@*%!&# RA28 is still in the shed.


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1 X RA28 CELICA - PROJECT (I have problems of my own)