took my car to the track.. and now.. boom - Honda Prelude Forum

jtcdudeman · 11-09-2003, 10:33 PM

Well, I dont wanna sound stupid or make you guys think I blew my engine because of my nitrous, but I may have messed something up.. I took it to the track friday and ran, but my power came undone when i spun in first.. I found my ghettorigged power wire to be funny.. Needless to say i neevr sprayed while running it... Then, I got everythign straight and shot on my way out... It was maybe 1 sec most in 3rd gear going 60mph just to see if it would work.. Now, its a Zex 65 shot kit with timing retarded 2 degrees and zex plugs.. Simple as that.. Yea, i got a few more goodies, but they are irrelevant..

Heres my problem.. It ran fine friday nigth going home.. Nothing unusual.. I got new gas Saturday night and boom.. My problems started.. So, I think the problem is unrelated to spraying, but I am not going to rule anything out...

The problem is my car started bogging bad like it woudl just jump and then keep going.. A serious sputter.. Then like 2 minutes later after that once and me pulling over to check and nothing, it died on me... It cranks back up, sometimes it takes like 30 seconds.. Now, I have no acceleration ability and when I get a sputter it spits red coals and flames out the exhaust... Now, it cut off on me so many times I cant count.. Several times it would die and go click click click and rpms would return to 800 or so.. It was weird.. Now, I'm not sure exactly whats wrong.. Tomorrow I am going to pull the plugs, run a compression test, and maybe pull the valve cover too.. Anyone got any ideas ahead of time? Im thinking it could be bad gas to clogged fuel filter to fuel pump to damn almost anything...! Or, it could be a burned valve or sumtin.. It smoked a lil gettin on it... The only time I tried cause i got mad..

laughin2.2 · 11-09-2003, 10:38 PM

Does it sound like it is running rich and sputtering out or is it an abrupt cut off(like it just quits firing)?

jtcdudeman · 11-09-2003, 11:27 PM

im not exactly sure.. Its either running so rich it wont acclerate well or its just and abrupt chop.. I cna say acceleration sucks and it rides fine below 2800 rpms and 25% throttle.. Im not too entirely sure.. It runs smooth and fine, but then it does abruptly jolt n die... It will idle for about 5 minutes and then just go splat....

So, consensus is that its just a splat.. I can accelerate on up hard, but it sputters some and dies b4 vtec most of the time.. But i avoided this because I didnt wanna tear it up worse... whatever it is...

laughin2.2 · 11-09-2003, 11:35 PM

Alright. Check the plugs. That'll give us a clue.

jtcdudeman · 11-10-2003, 09:05 AM

my lastest check point has arrived.. pulled the Zex plugs I installed thursday night.. They all were completely black.. Nasty black! Im assuming thats really rich ina matter of less than 150 miles I put on them.. Next, I did a compression test.. (Im jumping up and down right now..) Results were perfect...! So, I am glad to say nitrous didnt hurt me.. I didnt think it was, but I am reluctant to say much as I'm new to this game.. Now, I am at square one.. I might have a couple of clues, read below..

Side note: every plug was loose in the hole.. Is this normal from spraying that it causes a faster burn and more compression? I am still guessing its bad gas... Replace fuel filter and drain fuel right? clean injectors maybe? Lol, why am I asking, I know engines and hwo to work on them and what to do... Just diagnostics is a lil behind so far.. I need to experience more and a bigger variety of problems.. Wait, no I DONT!

laughin2.2 · 11-10-2003, 09:35 AM

The plugs should not be loose in the holes. Yes you are running rich. Before you do anything else put in new plugs(copper NGKs) and see if that fixes it. Screw them in as hard as you can by hand and then give them another half turn with a ratchet.

jtcdudeman · 11-10-2003, 12:47 PM

swapped in new plugs.. Just the same old thing.. Car cranks up fine, idles fine... then just dies.. It revs ok.. but just dies...

laughin2.2 · 11-10-2003, 12:58 PM

Are the plugs black again? Is your fpr getting vaccuum? What have you done to the car recently?

sdboyd79 · 11-10-2003, 05:53 PM

This is just a suggestion and I don't know everything about engines but I did have a similar problem with an older car I had. One day it just started acting weird like that and after replacing the fuel filter, blah, blah, blah, it turned out to be my cat. A chunk had broken off and clogged my exhaust and caused very similar problems. I don't know if running nitrous would do that or whatever but I just thought I'd offer a suggestion.

jtcdudeman · 11-10-2003, 07:17 PM

im kinda afraid you may be right.. I found chunks of white hard material at the end of my exhaust.. Im not too sure, the cat is practically brand new and a flowmaster at that. lol, i know, but it sounds good! Im proly gonna end up at the shop if stuff continues this way...

laughin2.2 · 11-10-2003, 09:44 PM

O2 sensor?

wreckdiver · 11-11-2003, 04:02 AM

No engine code? Does your kit tie in to the TPS? Check those connections.