Austarion

Well,

I've narrowed my problem down.

It is running extremely extremely RICH, so much so that it sounds like a harley from the bad idle.

I got told it could be a VAC leak somewhere, but how on earth do I find it ?

Also, I'm loosing coolant, and some is/was being pressured into the overflow bottle :x

I replaced the gasket at the bottom inbetween the t/b and inlet manifold about 4-6 weeks before I got this really bad idle.

It would usually idle bad just in the first min of warmup/ or before a quick rev to clear it up and go away, but now its constant and got worse.

Could this gasket which I custom made and used the expensive Loctite copper sealant to seal, be destroyed already ?

I've got the DASH ECI system by the way.

Thanks in advance

Maybe deeks should make a 'Brain teaser' section especially for my questions :D

Maybe there is a leak around the tb somewhere? Have you tried tightening the thing down and seeing if there's any change? Also u may have have knocked something when you were replacing it and it's worked its way off perhaps?

I'm sure u've already thought of these... but hope it helps.

Steve.

Yep, I tightened the t/b down to see any difference, but nothing changed.

I have to pull the whole thing out to check :x

Is there any certain way for checking VAC leaks ?

get a vac gauge, check all your hoses. sometimes the AFM get a bad air temp sensor, I had that problem too.

Check your Map sensor.
the seals tend to leak resulting in false readings of the MAP.

Easy way to check.
take of the hose and blow/suck on it.. it should be airtight.
Your original boost guage will also show bad vacuum.

If you have a bad air leak, your car will likley run lean at idle, as it will suck in extra un-metered air. When your turbo starts making positive pressure, air will be forced out the hole, losing meterd air, causing you to run rich, but only 'on boost'.

Loosing coolant sounds like a possiblility to me.... Run a compression test and see what you get, could be a blown headgasket.

an old trick that i use to find a vac leak is to spray around the vac hoses with some WD40, this will cause the engine to stall when it's sprayed near a vac leak. Starves the engine of air i think. worked on my ol XU1. I think it was WD40 :? used without that lil squirter so it sprays a mist.

WD40 might work but theres other stuff that works beter, I just cant think of what its called, It will come to me, its used on old tractors, on cold mornings when they dont want to start, dam I cant belive I dont remeber I use to use it every day, its in a yellow can with black writing can someone help me please.

It work realy well on petrol motor, I think its ment to be used on deisle engines only but Ive used it on petrol motor before an works well. Just dont use to much.

"AERO START" there yar go finaly rememberd lol
________
South park advice

So if there was a VAC leak, it would be running lean at idle instead of rich ?

So what could it be then ?

I put a new head gasket when I pulled of the head to get it pressure tested which came up perfect, but the same symptoms still occur.

I sprayed around the t/b and lines some crc, but I'm confused now on what to expect if it gets sucked in or blown out ?

You will probably be better off using Aero Start or Start YA Bastard, though wd40 has worked for me in the past. I think in a vacuum situation it starves the air (no longer can hold vacuum) and stalls the engine.
This should help you find the culprit hose/connection. I never had any probs after doing this as you don't have to "soak" the area to find the problem.
If you are worried then just wipe down the area after spraying.
From memory a vac leak at idle will cause the car to run rich as there is more metered air and the computer compensates this by dumping in more fuel. :? i think. though i'm not a mechanic. Get rid of the vacuum leak and the system has the right amount of air, that should stop the rich running.
Do you think it could have something to do with re fitting the head??
Hope you sort it soon.
:D

Well the before and after sympton stayed the same while only checking the head.......

Then again also the fact that my MAP sensor is just lying inside the engine bay connected to the old loom/unsure if hooked up to the dash loom or anything and WAS getting me about 250km for 45litres before this happened.

Also this rough idle used to happen not as bad during start-up, i would give it a quick rev and it'll go away till the next day ?