Engine problem. No power under boost *** FIXED ***

Syclone0565

CustomMulticades.com
Hello all, Hope someone out there can help me pin down my engine issue. Long story short, 700R4 trans went south, Installed new built 4L80E, TCI controller for it, and same engine back in truck.

When I start the truck it idles smooth. Wideband shows 14.5-14.8 and moves around a little. Fuel pressure rises with boost like its supposed to. TunerPro shows all sensors reporting in as far as I can tell. Now heres where it gets interesting. If I take it around the block EASY, the temp gauge stays around 160*-170*, everything looks good. No knock. I push the go peddle a little and it build boost like it used to. 15-18 PSi in about 1 second. but no go. it pulls like a cargo van loaded down with a V6 in it. :p Nothing there. I got back to the house and I see a little smoke comming out from under the hood. I pop the hood and see smoke comming out of the end of the spark plug protectors I have over the boots on all cylinders. WOW. Hot under the hood. It was lke 60* outside and should not have been that hot for 4-5 minutes of driving and only 1 boost attempt for 3-4 seconds. Anyway, fuel pressure rises like it used to. TunerPro shows no knock while in boost, WideBand shows 11-12 under boost also.

New Items changed while trying to figure this out:

140 amp Alt
1100 crank amp Battery
All new fuel system including lines, tank, filter and Pump (Walbro 255 )
Hotwire kit for fuel pump
Distributor
Coil
Cap & Rotor
Wires
Plugs (UR5's gapped right at 28-29)
ECM

I placed a new ground from frame-to-engine block (Ground off surfaces first)
Adj. fuel pressure set to 40 PSI with vac line off.
Timing set to (0) with Brown wire unplugged.

Compression on cylinders (Cold engine):
#1 - 148
#2 - 146
#3 - 155
#4 - 152
#5 - 150
#6 - 150

Did not change the program I was running before trans went out.

Reloaded bin to ECM to make sure.

:dunno: :dunno:

Any Ideas ? ? ?

I have even been giving parts away and doing good deeds lately to see if I could catch a break and figure this problem out. Still nothing. :p I guess I still need to do a little more good. Maybe I will finish up the honey-do list and see where that gets me.
 
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Syclone0565

CustomMulticades.com
Re: Engine problem. No power under boost

Re: Engine problem. No power under boost

Another thing I have noticed is the motor gets HOT real quick. The engine bay feels like you just came off a SCCA track in about 2 minutes of idling. I thought at first that the NEW water pump I installed while I had the motor out was possibly the wrong pump. Spinning the wrong way or something. I checked it out and even bought another one and opened the back cover to see the blades. Same thing. Correct reverse rotation serp. pump.

Then after starting the motor (Cold) and letting it idle for about 2-3 minutes I checked to see if the water level was topped off. When I rev the motor a little to see if I can see the water flowing through the radiator, the water level rises up over top and out all over the place. I thought when you reved it up to about 1500 RPMs or so it went down a little sucking the water out of the radiator. Well mine flows out all over the place. Anyway, Just a thought. I check the therm. and its a 160* and seems to be working fine. I will get another new one tomorrow and see if it helps. Thanks
 

atlantasy

Member
Re: Engine problem. No power under boost

Re: Engine problem. No power under boost

The thermostat is definately the place to start, it costs very little and never hurts to replace it. As for your transmission, the 4l80e requires a much greater effort on the part of the engine to produce the same effect as the 700r4, so I would recommend directing your questions to the transmission guys on this forum. They should be able to help you dial it in........ good luck!
 

JSM

Active member
Re: Engine problem. No power under boost

Re: Engine problem. No power under boost

atlantasy said:
The thermostat is definately the place to start, it costs very little and never hurts to replace it. As for your transmission, the 4l80e requires a much greater effort on the part of the engine to produce the same effect as the 700r4, so I would recommend directing your questions to the transmission guys on this forum. They should be able to help you dial it in........ good luck!

Never used a 4l80e have you? False statement.
 

Big Mike

New member
Re: Engine problem. No power under boost

Re: Engine problem. No power under boost

Are you running a cat? It may be broken / clogged.
 

Syclone0565

CustomMulticades.com
Re: Engine problem. No power under boost

Re: Engine problem. No power under boost

Big Mike said:
Are you running a cat? It may be broken / clogged.

3" downpipe into full 3" exhaust with a single 3" bullet muffler. No cat.
 

Don W.

Stab it and steer it
Re: Engine problem. No power under boost

Re: Engine problem. No power under boost

I'd check to see if the t-stat might be in upside-down. Revving while looking at the rad with cap off will pull water down (in my experience) but look out when you let up, it WILL come back at ya.

What your symptoms tell me is your timing is late. Check TDC on the harmonic balancer then check timing with brown wire disconnected.
 

QUICK STORM

B.A.M.F. BMW Tech
Re: Engine problem. No power under boost

Re: Engine problem. No power under boost

may or may not be related but what stall convertor are you running?
 

atlantasy

Member
Re: Engine problem. No power under boost

Re: Engine problem. No power under boost

JS Manufacturing said:
Never used a 4l80e have you? False statement.

What I am saying syclone0565 is that the 4l80e has a 1st gear ratio of 2.48 compared to the 700r4 at 3.05, combined with the additional weight of the 4l80e, you might be feeling this. I do not make any money by offering advice on this board, just what you are asking for... some ideas.

I guess a correct statement is " a 4l80e requires more effort from the engine than the 700r4 to produce similar results." Sorry for the technical, thats why I am not an author. Just trying to be helpful.
 

Syclone0565

CustomMulticades.com
Re: Engine problem. No power under boost

Re: Engine problem. No power under boost

Don W. said:
I'd check to see if the t-stat might be in upside-down. Revving while looking at the rad with cap off will pull water down (in my experience) but look out when you let up, it WILL come back at ya.

What your symptoms tell me is your timing is late. Check TDC on the harmonic balancer then check timing with brown wire disconnected.

Yes, Therm was stuck. I pulled it and checked again. Nice flow. So with that taken care of on to the timing. I am waiting on help right now. Hard to turn the truck over and watch the valves move up and down. Will know something in an hour or so.

Thanks
 

Six-is-Enough

Use to do a little Boost
Re: Engine problem. No power under boost

Re: Engine problem. No power under boost

atlantasy said:
What I am saying syclone0565 is that the 4l80e has a 1st gear ratio of 2.48 compared to the 700r4 at 3.05, combined with the additional weight of the 4l80e, you might be feeling this. I do not make any money by offering advice on this board, just what you are asking for... some ideas.

I guess a correct statement is " a 4l80e requires more effort from the engine than the 700r4 to produce similar results." Sorry for the technical, thats why I am not an author. Just trying to be helpful.

Maybe in theory, but when I did the swap in mine I noticed no diffrence in intial throttle input. Sy565 is expericencing no power at any throttle input. I betting on timing.:2cents:
 

Captain Morgan

Moderated User
Re: Engine problem. No power under boost

Re: Engine problem. No power under boost

just :2cents: but check your wires/firing order ;)
 

Syclone0565

CustomMulticades.com
Re: Engine problem. No power under boost

Re: Engine problem. No power under boost

Thanks all that helped. I came home today after work and did two things to the truck and its fixed... :tup:

The first thing I did was pul the thermostat and then watched the radiator flow. NICE. The therm-o must have been bada. The second thing I did was pull the drivers side vavle cover and check for TDC. I watched the valves and then looked at the dist rotor. Just right. So I went to set the timing and set it to (0) with the brown wire unplugged and once there locked the dist down. I went to plug in the brown wire and the plug felt loose. Like it just didn't have the connection it once did so I snipped both ends off and installed a new male and female plug. Plugged it in and checked the timing again. adjustible light had to be turned up to 35 to get it back at (0) with it idleing. I reved it up a little and the timing really never moved off (0) more than a degree or two. I went for a little spin and what do you know. It pulled like a freight train again. WOW. It must have been a bad connection at the brown wire or excessive heat due to no cooling flow to the heads. Anyway. Thanks to everyone that put in :2cents: for helping me finally track down the gremlin.

Have a great day ! ! !
 

Don W.

Stab it and steer it
Re: Engine problem. No power under boost *** FIXED ***

Good that you got it fixed and thanx for telling us it is fixed. Often times we're left wondering.
 

Six-is-Enough

Use to do a little Boost
Re: Engine problem. No power under boost *** FIXED ***

Now get that thing wrapped up and get it to the track!!! We need more Sy/Ty's with 80E's running fast.

It also will help you with getting on the team next year.
 

Syclone0565

CustomMulticades.com
Re: Engine problem. No power under boost *** FIXED ***

Six-is-Enough said:
Now get that thing wrapped up and get it to the track!!! We need more Sy/Ty's with 80E's running fast.

It also will help you with getting on the team next year.

Wrapping a few odds and ends up tomorrow and shooting for the track on Friday. :tup:

Later and thanks
 
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