Newbie: Lack of power - help

A

Anonymous

Guest
Hi There,
I recently bought myself a gtir and noticed that its power is disappointing. It certainly dosent feel like a 0 to 100 in 5 sec car and the dyno print out of 251hp (at the wheels?!) seems way off the mark. Looking on the forum I have picked up possibilties of a det sensor not working, blocked fuel filter etc but nothing really common. I have replaced the fuel filter, checked the sensors (i get a flashing 'check' 5-5). I have noticed that the exhaust has alot of black deposit on its tip any prob running rich. The sparkies look fine though (i just checked no 1 cyl). I can hear the tappets like they need new shims, nothing drastic but still not 100 %. Also the oil isnt black after 1000 or so miles ive done with it. The car is standard other than cat back exhaust and hks air filter fillement.

What you you think i should check? I have made a list, what do you think is first to last to check for lack of power?

1. catalytic conv blocked from rich fuelling
2. timing out.
3. no compression in one of the cylinders or all.
3. HT leads (standard), dizzy cap and or rotor.
4. turbo worn.
5. fuel pump.
6. map sensor (too rich fuelling)
7. air leak (would this make a big difference?)

any help appreciated.

Carl.
 
S

skar

Guest
how much boost is it hitting?

I was dissapointed when i first bought my R aswell... until i grew some balls and tried a front tyre frying, 5 grand launch :D

good luck with it and congrats

-kon
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
hi kon,
right now its possibly 10 psi, (just under the 7 on the standard gauge, i think) but cant be sure, the intercooler has abit of dryish oil deposit in the inlet side, i havent checked the turbo yet, fingers crossed its ok. the cars done about 45,000 miles, there is a syncro prob between 2 and 3rd (hard to do a quick gear change) and downt know if thats a big problem. When I was in australia i drove a standard pulsar which flew compared to mine, it had a unichip, but i dont see it making that much difference. Im not really going to drive it hard until i know everything is ok.
 
R

ram5ay

Member
when i first got my R it was pretty slow compared to others i'd driven, made poor power, stuttered/hesitated slightly sometimes when coming on to boost, worse with low octane fuel.
i changed fuel filter first - slight improvement.
fitted grade cooler plugs and new dizzy cap/rotor - slight improvement.
checked ign timing found it was set at about 13 deg instead of 20deg, so adjusted - amazing difference, car felt completely different with alot quicker pick up off boost.

check the simple stuff first, especially if you dont have any other probs such as misfiring, cutting out etc.

if you drove a fairly std R with a unichip fitted it was probably running higher than the standard boost - 14.7psi feels alot different to 10psi

try changing the oil in your box, could sort your synchro prob for a bit :wink:
 
K

KRS

Guest
there is a syncro prob between 2 and 3rd (hard to do a quick gear change)
Click to expand...
Mine does this to, try not to push it straight from 2nd to 3rd, imagine it has a metal gator like a ferrari and make the movment more precise. I asked another owner, he told me that it was normal, but ill bet we find out in a few more posts ;)

Ive also found my Gears shift better when i hold the gear shift half way down, do you have a faily tall gear stick?
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
I still think the car is running how its supposed to. I will try the ignition leads and simple things first, anyone know on the top of there head about checking the timing?, is it with a gun connected to ignition lead 1 and checking the pully as usual?. I will get rid of the cat soon, easiest thing for me to do.The gearstick is normal, i have a razo gearknob that could make it taller.
 
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skar

Guest
Hey again Carl.
From the sounds of it you're boosting properly. and the oil in the cooler is fairly common, i just used some petrol and rinsed it out.

Apart from the car feeling slow, does it still drive smooth?

ram5ay is pretty spot on in his post, 1 bar feels alot faster than standard boost. I was happy with my R only after i changed fuel filter, fuel pump, removed the cat and boosted it to about 14.

you might be able to safely run 1 bar on the stock fuel pump but i changed it just to be safe.

The next thing to do on my list is the rotor arm and dizzy cap and check my timing. If you find out how to do the timing plz let me kno. :D

KRS said:
there is a syncro prob between 2 and 3rd (hard to do a quick gear change)
Click to expand...
Mine does this to, try not to push it straight from 2nd to 3rd, imagine it has a metal gator like a ferrari and make the movment more precise. I asked another owner, he told me that it was normal, but ill bet we find out in a few more posts ;)

Ive also found my Gears shift better when i hold the gear shift half way down, do you have a faily tall gear stick?
Click to expand...
I thought i had synchro probs there too until a friend of mine suggested i push straight up instead of aim for 3rd... i haven't crunched it since but dam it was scary the first few times i tried. try aiming in between 1st and 3rd and i bet you won't crunch. 8)

btw i have a razo gearknob too :D
 
K

KRS

Guest
I thought i had synchro probs there too until a friend of mine suggested i push straight up instead of aim for 3rd...
Click to expand...
:lol: Mines the complete opposite, If i dont aim for third... crunch time!
 
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Olly

Guest
loosing the cat will make a big differance chap, mine years ago used to run out vaaa voom at about 5,500rpm with cat more power all the way to 7,000rpm :lol: whether its your problem or not still do it.
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
Thanks for all the replies. When I have abit of time I will check the car out and take out the cat. I'll post a reply with my results, it should help others with similar probs in the future.
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
I took a look over the car last night and changed the oil, I checked out the turbo and is OK, there was abit of oil deposit on the bottom of the air intake pipe where it joins to the steel pipe. The HT leads look like they are ok (like new) but I havent tested to see if they are showing the right resistance, the dizzy cap and rotor look like they need a change, I'll get them changed.

What suprised me (i think) is that the timing setting has never changed since new, there is a piece of tape (some sort of seal from nissan) that goes over the nut that you loosen to change the angle pos of the dizzy, this isnt broke! :shock:
I cant believe a car from 92 hasnt had its timing changed, the fuel filter hadnt been changed either, guess there was no service history!. but it did have a rolling road session done at power station where they state changed HT lead 3 because of weak spark :?

I done a compression test and all come up with about 90 psi, this must be wrong, I think its the cheap s**t compression tester, I should have checked to see if the compression would increase when you add abit of oil, the sparkys were abit black on the base, on the tip they were fine, I dont know yet if its oil deposit or rich fuelling....I have to check the cat also...

the injector's are noisy, I dont know if this is new because of the injector treatment i put in. also I can hear some tapping prob from the clearances being out.

I am going to check timing soon and other stuff..I will post what I find.
 
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Jonny H

Guest
was dissapointed when i first bought my R aswell... until i grew some balls and tried a front tyre frying, 5 grand launch
Click to expand...
:lol: :twisted: :twisted: :roll: :wink:
 
Fast Guy

Fast Guy

Moderators
Staff member
Do your compression test again or get a garage to do it, 90psi is definately not right or not good :? Did you open the throttle while you turned it over?
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
:lol: oops no i didnt, now that you mentioned it...me thinks i have to do that....hehe, I have to check the timing too...Im going soon to check it out. I have a old timer light with bare bridge connectors, I hope dosent short on me or the engine. I cant trust anyone here, 99% of mechanics here havent even heard of the sr-20, let alone know how to service and tune one.
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
Hi Guys, just to let you know I have fixed the prob. I had decatted the exhaust and last night I took it out for a spin and she goes grreat:). It does make a big difference, even though the cat sort of looked ok-ish. I was black on the engine side but i could still just see light through it still. I will still check other bits out, but now the car is no more holding back, now im holding back from crashing:)

Carl.
 
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