OK. I'm all out of ideas. I can't figure out what's wrong with my car.

The car starts, but stalls immediately afterwards.

If I give it more gas (partial throttle at start), it will rev up at the start, but die immediately again.

While the engine is running during that short period of time, it does not respond to throttle input. I can hear the intake trying to suck in air, but, the motor itself does not respond and stalls.

I changed the ignitor, the plug wires, I checked all the spark plugs. There were a few iffy looking vaccum hoses, but I plugged them one at a time to check, and everything was the same.

When I pulled out the spark plugs, they all smelled like fuel, so it seems to be getting fuel.


These are the last few weeks I have with my car and I want to be able to savour them before winter storage. I can't do that if my car won't run.


So. What do you guys suspect might be the problem?

PLEASE HELP.

Thanks.

 

That sounds like a huge vacuum leak. Or maybe the airflow meter isn't connected. Basically, it's not metering air correctly.

 

But I tried taking the filter off and looking at the AFM. The flap opens when I press the throttle, and I can hear it knock closed when the car stalls. If it is a vaccum leak, I can't find it, but I'll look again, thanks.

 

For it to be that bad ... as you describe, it would have to be a major leak. Like a big crack in the intake. Have you done any work on it lately, or did it just start doing it one day?

 

I had'nt thought of that....

I guess I'll take a look. I'll do a vaccum test to see if that's the real problem. Something I should have tried already I guess.....

Someone else mentionned a bad seal between the T/B and the intake manifold, but it looked perfect to me. The test should confirm it.



Any other ideas?

 

Right, that could do it to ... this may sounds stupid, but it works. Also helps that I chain smoke cigars But if you blow smoke into the air filter with the car running, on a calm non-windy day, you should be able to see the smoke come out somewhere if you have a leak.

 

I was going to try the smoke thing, but I don't smoke and it's been raining all week, and I'm sure the rain would make it more difficult for that test...

It's wierd, the MAF was opening and closing just fine, so this makes no sense to me, but it was the MAF.

I took off the U code MAf and put the S code one from the SOHC on it and it works.
Is there a performance difference between the U and the S MAF?

Last time I had put a cone filter on my first (of 3) S coded MAFs, the mechanic told me the cone filter messed up the MAF.

Then When I did my head swap, I left the stock airbox on the U coded MAF for a while. A few weeks after I first installed my cone filter on the U coded MAF, I started getting weird throttle responses sometimes. And now the MAF went bad completely, just like the first S coded one had.

Is there any chance these aftermarket cone filters really are messing up my MAFs? I use a filter adapter and everything, so I don't see why it would do so much harm....

Thanks for all your help, I really appreciate it.

 

I can't imagine a cone filter messing it up ... it's almost impossible. And I don't know if there is any performance difference between the two.

Glad you got it going again!

 

if you are using an oil based filter like K&N it will cause damage to your MAF. Over oiling of the filter causes the excess oil to coat your hotwire on the MAF giving inaccurate readings.

Also, you need to make sure you're talkin about the correct parts here. The MAF does not open and close like you'e mentioned. That should be the throttle body. If you have a large box on your air box that would normally be the MAF, I believe it's called a VAM. Not sure without looking at it but I would switch back to the stock box and filter right away. K&N filters on N/A cars have neer shown a power gain worthy of their cost.

 

True ... didn't think about the oil. But there shouldn't be enough oil on the filter to come out and coat things downstream. All it takes is a tiny bit.

 

He has a vane airflow meter (vaf) it's a first gen. How are you bizob it's been a long time since we talk. It's fred from fmr with the protege turbo

 

Hey Fred, I figured it was you, I don't know many other Atilas....

And it's a regular paper cone filter, so it's not about oil.....

I think it might be something in the electrical circuit... The wiring and sensors are pretty much the only original parts left on my car, so I'm considering getting a new wiring harness to complete the deal.... Then I can be sure about everything and the next time something like this happens, it'll be easier to tell if it's the wiring....

Thanks guys.

 

thats not true i got a k&n filter and apapter off ebay for 4.99 and its well worth that

 

That's great, thanks for the info.