Hesitation after installing 1.6L CAI
 

Hey, hows every one doing? My names Matt and im new to the site just registered actually. Got to say I love this website wish i new about it before i started fixing up my car. I have a white 2000 Protege LX 1.6L auto. Now the only reason its auto because I am a college student and ill take what i can get. I have tinted windows, clear corners, 16" ASA wheels with 205/45ZR/16 Yokohamas, Eibach springs, KYB GR2 shocks and struts, custom magnaflow exhaust, and the infamous Injen cold air intake. When i installed the intake I also put new plugs and wires in, and have been using 91(california) octane. I noticed some hesitation in the beginning, but wasnt a huge deal. Well the longer ive had the intake on the more the troubles. The CEL has never come on for me. I did the whole seal thing, clean the MAF sensor, everything is positioned right. My only problem is that I have major hesitation between 2000-3000 rpm only. After 3000 rpm it revs nicely and i love the sound. When the engine is still cold it doesnt hesitate, it starts after the engine is at its ideal temperature. The rpm start to fluctuate, but if i open the throttle more it works fine. When im in neutral and just revving it works fine, it only does this when im driving it. The other day I was doing about 40 and wanted to increase my speed a lil bit so i gave it some gas. It was at 2200 rpm, and the car felt like it was kicking or jerking, and i looked at the rpm and there werent fluctuating. So now im starting to think its the transmission. It could still be the intake giving me problems, i dont know. So thats why I asked other than that, i love my car, handles great. I would really appreciate any help.

Matt

P.S. This site is awesome

Welcome, glad you like our forum. We've got a lot of usefull info here and some nice people.


#1. do NOT use 91 octane oin your car unless you're running forced induction or advanced timing. I bet this is part of your problem.

#2. Make sure your service is up to date on ALL systems first. It's hard to properly diagnose a problem if you've not been taking care of it properly. Transmission service every 30K miles, fuel filter every 30K, spark plugs every 30K, etc...

where do you live? maybe one of our veteran members is nearby and could give you a hand. I know I've met up with several members to help fix their cars.

Fuel?
 

I live in Turlock, CA and i havent seen many fixed up protege's around here, which is one reason why i got one.

I used to use 89 octane fuel before, now should i just switch back to the 89, or go down further to the 87?

As it goes for maintenance, I try to do as much as possible myself, but I do keep up on everything else. I am having my transmission oil and filter changed tomorrow, and have them take a look at the tranny while their changing it.

Back to the fuel. I thought that by running more air i need to burn more efficiently thus the higher octane. Now i know not to use that, thank you. Could like any serious damage have happened while ive been using this gas, like vavles or seals, piston rings or anything?

Thanks for the help,
Matt

No damage done (rest easy).

Do you hear hissing coming from anywhere in the engine bay (vacuum leak)?

Is your fuel filter getting clogged?

Are your injectors clean?

I would clean the EGR valve - but i am not sure this is it...

?

Octane does not equal performance. The higher the octane the more resistant it is to pre-ignition. What this means is that your car's timing is controlled to ignite the air/fuel mixture at certain point. If you run high octance fuel that is more resistant to combustion you will be missing that optimal spark point. You will not be getting "clean combustion".

No damage done but you MAY have fouled up your spark plugs with unburnt fuel....I doubt it though.

p.s. there's no way to "look" at the auto transmission to see if it's damaged. Only driving it and tearing it apat wil tell that. I would just make sure to keep up on your fluid/filter changes from now on.

p.p.s. AFTER you change the fuel filter buy a bottle of "Berryman's B12 Chemtool" or "BG's 44K". Wait until you are less than 1/4 full of gas and add the whole bottle....drive it until its below E. fill up with 87 octane and enjoy.

Thank You
 

Thank you again for all your help, I truly appreciate. The problem is a day before i posted my problem i filled up with the wrong gas. I feel a lot better knowing that its the wrong gas. I will follow your advice, and when im using the right gas i will let you know what happened. As for the spark plugs there new with only 5000 miles on them, but i will check them too.

Thanks Again,
Matt

good deal, let us know how it turns out for you.

most every 1.6 lite i have seen with the inatke has this same hesitation, itsa bitch, whati would do if i was you, and this is what i did, lol put your stock air box back on, and drive it again, and see if it still hesitates, if it runs fine then you know its the intake, then we cfan go from there, if it still hesetates when you put the stock box back on clean your egr valve, these get fouled pretty easy, and will cause hesitation, when the egr is blocked its a vacumn leak, but yeah just put the stocker back on and test it.

Please in the future be more descriptive with your thread titles, or they will be deleted, thanks !

Use 87 octane...anything higher on your Pro is just throwing good money away

Alright im back. Sorry its been a while i have been busy. I was on vacation for 2 weeks during winter break and now got school and work again. I drove to san jose with my CAI still on and on my way back threw a CEL. I get back home and my car was acting up real bad. I took the CAI off and put the stock intake back on and was using 87 octane fuel. Everything worked fine for a couple of days. I again throw a CEL but everything was working fine. The next morning my car was acting up real bad worse than before. I took it to my dads friend whose a mechanic and diagnostic said that my #2 cylinder was misfiring. I ended up having to change my ignition coil. That was not fun especially for my wallet. Granted he still hooked me up charged me half for labor and i paid cost for the part. So all in all my car is running great now, some grief along the way but its all good now. Thanks for your help again.

lol,half he labor to install an ignition coil....thats like 2 bolts...how much did he charge

who makes your cai.. if it is still hisitating, it will be the maf/ cai problem... mine hesitating like hell on my CAI. i have a 2000 lx auto.. i had to remake the cai to sri and put a new MAF sensor in it, no problems in 3 weeks.

i am sure that most of the labor was in diagnostics.. the machine to read codes is only about 2000 dollars, got to make your money somewheres to pay for that kind of tool..

if it's throwing a code you can go get codes read for free at a parts store....if not a FSM is a great tool for future reference...lots of trouble shooting info