Restore performance and smooth out rev-range?

BAC5.2 · Post by **BAC5.2** » Mon Feb 09, 2004 3:44 am

I picked my 94 Turbo up yesterday (saturday).

I got to wring it out today after a 400 mile road trip back home.

One thing I noticed was that the car didn't seem as smooth to rev as my 95 does. My 95 will smoothly sweep the needle then drop it, no bucking in the throttle at all, very smooth acceleration.

The 94, however, has a bit of choppiness under WOT 2nd gear pulls. Felt like the engine was surging a bit.

The car was fully warmed up prior to the runs.

What do you think? I speculate clogged fuel injectors or dying spark plugs?

What can I do to restore the performance and make the car pull like new?

Other than that, and the occasional suspension knock, the car is AWESOME. Definately faster than my 95, with a lot less body roll. I can't wait to get this thing into the turns at an auto-x to see what it, and I, can do!

THAWA · Post by **THAWA** » Mon Feb 09, 2004 3:54 am

Hesitation maybe? How are your filters, and hoses?

BAC5.2 · Post by **BAC5.2** » Mon Feb 09, 2004 4:32 am

I haven't had time to FULLY scope it out. I'll check that though. Just change everything.

Fuel Filter
Air Filter (I got a K&N Cone from my neighbor for free)
Oil was just changed

I'll also change all fluids (more for my own security to know it's been done)

I'll also check the hoses while I am under there.

Do the symptoms sound like anything you have heard of before?

Should I run a bottle of that "fuel system cleaner" stuff through it from Autozone? Should I just go to Jiffy Lube and have them do the $49.99, pressurized fuel system cleaning?

I HATE the J-Team with a passion, and would rather stay away from them at all costs.

Basically, what stuff should I check while I am there?

I think the motor mounts need to be replaced, the car rocks when you apply throttle in neutral. I'll probably replace them with STi (not Group-N, just standard Spec-C mounts) mounts and also replace the tranny mounts as well. I'll call up my buddy for a quote on those.

Not sure what else to do with the "new" car.

What would you guys check/replace on a car that's got 97k on the clock?

legacy92ej22t · Post by **legacy92ej22t** » Mon Feb 09, 2004 5:44 am

Plugs, Plug wires and a new fuel filter would be a good place to start.

Here's a couple of related threads:
http://bbs.legacycentral.org/viewtopic.php?t=634
http://bbs.legacycentral.org/viewtopic.php?t=583
http://bbs.legacycentral.org/viewtopic. ... hesitation
http://bbs.legacycentral.org/viewtopic. ... hesitation
http://bbs.legacycentral.org/viewtopic. ... hesitation

There's quite a lot on this subject. If you want even more do a search in the engine forum, keyword "hesitation" .

BAC5.2 · Post by **BAC5.2** » Mon Feb 09, 2004 6:45 am

Awesome! Thanks man!

I hope I can get this all taken care of.

I gotta say this car is much faster than my N/A 95L. As soon as it's as smooth, it'll be amazing.

georryan · Post by **georryan** » Mon Feb 09, 2004 6:47 pm

You know, I had noticed that my car actually was slower on WOT in second gear than it was if I let off hte throttle just a little bit. It always annoyed me. I went down to LA last weekend and spent a good amount of time on the freeway with my rpms pegged at 4 grand. It was over an hour of driving like that. I was in a pack that was doing the same so I felt safe. After I finished the trip my car seemed a lot peppier. It still seems peppier to this day.

I don't know if that helped to blow out oil or gunk that may have gotten lodged in the turbo or clean up the cylinders in the car...our cars run pretty clean as they are, but I know that DLC did some engine cleanup were they pretty much give your engine an enima sort of speak. I forgot what it was called. He said that it had some really good results.

I'd do all the routine mantanence first and if your still unhappy, look into doing something like that. I think he called it a motorvac.

Post by **Legacy777** » Tue Feb 10, 2004 3:08 pm

motorvac is what dave had done.

scottzg · Post by **scottzg** » Tue Feb 10, 2004 7:19 pm

running at high rpm for a long period of time allows your ecu to advance the timing a long way. The result is a spunkier car. It will fade after a while of driving at lower speeds.

georryan · Post by **georryan** » Tue Feb 10, 2004 8:06 pm

ahh shucks you had to burst my bubble of excitement.

So, the trick is before every drag race or autox drive your car to the track and keep it pegged at high rpms.

evolutionmovement · Post by **evolutionmovement** » Tue Feb 10, 2004 8:58 pm

The ECU actually adjusts very quickly. If I just cruise along on the highway it goes into slow conserve gas mode, but if I downshift and wait to pass at relatively high rpm for probably more than 10 seconds, it readjusts to fast mode (well, relaitively fast). Just found fuel injection cleaner can work wonders on an old engine, too. Very impressed!

Steve

BAC5.2 · Post by **BAC5.2** » Tue Feb 10, 2004 9:05 pm

The add-into-gastank Pep-boys style Fuel Injector cleaner?

I'll give that a shot.

I was thinking of the water ingestion trick, but that sounds WAY to sketchy. If the FI cleaner doesn't help, I'll take it to the J-Team and have them do an engine cleaning. If they mess it up, I get a new engine. Best of both situations.

evolutionmovement · Post by **evolutionmovement** » Tue Feb 10, 2004 9:32 pm

I used the Chevron Techron FI cleaner in a bottle. Did it twice in the past 600 miles and the car is very happy today. It had been running noticeably slower the last couple of months which I attributed to age, but I guess not! 236k and counting.

Steve

magnux · Post by **magnux** » Tue Feb 10, 2004 10:32 pm

Toss in a quart of MMO (Marvel Mystery Oil) into the oil (and/or fuel as well) to help out with the rattles. The stuff is amazing, I swear by it now (thanks Opie!).

BAC5.2 · Post by **BAC5.2** » Wed Feb 11, 2004 12:29 am

I am very weary of putting anything in my oil, and as well very weary of putting things in my gas tank..

evolutionmovement · Post by **evolutionmovement** » Wed Feb 11, 2004 12:37 am

MMO can be fun! I put some in the gas tank of my '84 wagon and it sent a white smoke screen up behind me on the highway. It was so thick that I couldn't see anything behind me and when I pulled out of the passing lane I had found that everyone behind me had changed lanes or fallen WAY back. Looked like the engine let go or like that game SpyHunter. Ran fine after a new tankful of gas.

Steve

entirelyturbo · Post by **entirelyturbo** » Wed Feb 11, 2004 2:34 am

Guys, I shoulda mentioned this earlier. My friend here locally with the 91 turbo told me that 3 tanks with a fuel injector called Lubro Moly Jectron completely rid him of hesitation...

I was having hesitation identical to that of the Legacy recently with my XT, and I think it has something to do with the one time right before it started, when I let the tank get nearly empty (fuel light on about 40 miles)

. The current tank I am running has a bottle in it, and I'll use it for the next two tanks... If the results are favorable, I'll give it a shot in the Legacy.

A couple sites that sell it:
Mercedes parts site
Olympus parts
German Parts and Restoration

magnux · Post by **magnux** » Thu Feb 12, 2004 9:09 pm

BAC5.2 wrote:I am very weary of putting anything in my oil, and as well very weary of putting things in my gas tank..

Erm, sometimes additives are needed. You shouldn't be weary of something for no reason. Do research on the product, it may just very well be the cure.

evolutionmovement wrote:MMO can be fun! I put some in the gas
tank of my '84 wagon and it sent a white smoke screen up behind me on the highway. It was so thick that I couldn't see anything behind me and when I pulled out of the passing lane I had found that everyone behind me had changed lanes or fallen WAY back. Looked like the engine let go or like that game SpyHunter. Ran fine after a new tankful of gas.

Steve

LOL, that's always fun! Did you measure out how much to put in, or just chug the whole bottle? I put a quart in during my last oil change, and I'll be damned if it didn't quiet up my noisy lifters. I haven't put it in my gas yet, though.

ciper · Post by **ciper** » Thu Feb 12, 2004 11:10 pm

There are two types of additives. Those that claim they increase power and stick to parts and those that only claim to clean.
The additives that have been suggested are CLEANERS, not snake oil (slick 50).

Pacman · Post by **Pacman** » Fri Feb 13, 2004 8:04 am

i have put several injector cleaner stuff in my car and it kinda helped but nothing noticable really. Then my brother told me to put dry gas and transmission fluid (dextron 3) and i put new spark plugs (ngk's) even though turns out my old ones were fine (ngk's also), sprayed some cleaner on my IAC and connected a power cord from the battery to the altenator. Finished it all today and car was wonderful in idle everytime i would put it in neutral, idle would drop nicely to 500 and stay and when my fans cut on it dropped to 400 and stayed steady. no big revs like i had been having. Of course this is just a few trips around town so the jury is still out on if it will work for over a nice period of time. But Injector cleaner and other additives i belive are good to add to gas when needed, as for Oil additiaves i have never added stuff to my oil so no idea on that.

ciper · Post by **ciper** » Fri Feb 13, 2004 8:07 am

That line you refer to as 500 is actually 750 BTW. The line 1/4 inch above 0 is 500.

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Restore performance and smooth out rev-range?

Restore performance and smooth out rev-range?

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