Bit of a pickle...need help

Hello all,

I am back yet again. Long story short:

I got my car reflashed a couple weeks back and decided to get a burble tune (messed with the fuel map) as well. The car was running fine until it was not. It starts up just fine during cold start but it would struggle to start when the car is warm. I would have to give it a little bit of gas while starting it to not let it die. However today I wanted some fresh air so I decided to take a drive by myself just a couple blocks. Upon driving back home the car started hesitating to move and sounded a LOT quieter than it normal does. I was giving it about 50% throttle to go up the hill and it was barely moving. I parked the car shut it off and turned it on and now it will just die instantly when the car is warm. I am going to take a wild guess and say the new fuel map is throwing everything off and thus causing the car to act up?

Mods:

Intake

Exhuast

JDM bottom end (EJ20X)

EBC

Cat-less up-pipe (bought the car like that)

Mileage ~190,000

Everything else is stock. I did email the tuner telling him about the issue. This only started happening after it was reflashed.

Prior to this I had the infamous P0171, got it fixed, the light came back on for couple days then went off. Before the tuner did his magic, the mechanic they have working at the shop did a full inspection to ensure it was safe to reflash. He did not find anything and they proceeded with the reflash. The car does not have any CEL on and I have scanned it a few times via BlueDriver and it did not even find a stored code.

Thank you all in advance. And please no rude comments, I am just trying to figure it out and want to avoid going anywhere right now.

Flash back to your old tune.

Should I keep my current boost of ~15psi and just go back to the old fuel map or should I tell him to go back to the first tune of ~9psi as well?

And thank you for your help.

Either one should be fine.

Have you made sure no vacuum lines have be come disconnected ?

Sounds like a blocked / melted cat to me.

That would make things quiet and put you down on power.

If you flash the stock tune and it's still quiet and slow, I'd suggest finding a test pipe of some sort.

Also, WTF is a burble tune?

NVM I googled it. :/

I’m now expert on this stuff but going by amateur’s instinct it’s sounds to me like whatever tune you have now jacked up your air to fuel ratio. Just a guess. I would assume going back to your old tune would fix it unless it’s a mechanical issue which then you would still have the same problem and you could narrow it down to look at air and fuel delivery systems

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Also, WTF is a burble tune?

 

NVM I googled it. :/

llolol, burble tune. I hate these tunes. It is very big over sea's, it's kinda the same as pops and bangs tune. There is a guy in a GTI in my tow that when he is doing 30 mph it pops and bangs so dang loud it stupid IMO.

Those are the cars that end up being forsale for a crazy price but are really broken lol.

Yeah sounds like you clogged a cat. I messed around with that for a month or two. When I dropped the downpipe there was some sand like fragments from the cat that fell out. I would not reccomend.

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Either one should be fine.

 

Have you made sure no vacuum lines have be come disconnected ?

Thank you for the help.

I have not, but when the car is cold it runs completely fine. It idles really good...then the issue starts when the car is warm.

Sounds like a blocked / melted cat to me.

That would make things quiet and put you down on power.

 

If you flash the stock tune and it's still quiet and slow, I'd suggest finding a test pipe of some sort.

Thank you for the advice.

I contacted my tuner to send me the previous tune and guide me on how to do it because I would rather not risk driving the car all the way down there and then get stranded somewhere.

Also, WTF is a burble tune?

 

NVM I googled it. :/

Lol thanks for the comment; I liked it...until now that is.

I’m now expert on this stuff but going by amateur’s instinct it’s sounds to me like whatever tune you have now jacked up your air to fuel ratio. Just a guess. I would assume going back to your old tune would fix it unless it’s a mechanical issue which then you would still have the same problem and you could narrow it down to look at air and fuel delivery systems

 

 

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Thanks for your comment. I have the same suspicion that the tune has really messed up the fuel/air ratio and thus causing this issue.

I would datalog and look at the fuel trims to see how the ECM is adjusting before doing anything. The tune probably needs some adjustment. To get it to running properly you may need to reflash to a known good tune.

Thanks for the comment. I am going to try to get him to send me an e-tune with instructions that has my previous fuel map. That way if that does not work, then it could be the cat mentioned by others.

Yeah sounds like you clogged a cat. I messed around with that for a month or two. When I dropped the downpipe there was some sand like fragments from the cat that fell out. I would not reccomend.

 

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Thank you for the comment. I am going to try and get my tuner to send me an e-tune of the previous fuel map that way I can determine if it is indeed fuel/air ratio or possibly the cat.

Either way I was planning to get a catless downpipe later this year (not now) as I have to save up for it. Luckily I found the Invidia one for the 5EAT for $300 on eBay.

Catless Dp and you live in CA... Don't you have emissions laws ?

A catted DP may save you some hassle later on.

I'm sorry to hear your having these issues, I can say that your tuner will be the most helpful with this as he's looked at the data before and after the event and he knows what changes were made.

I can say that burble tunes in general are not just fuel based and changed timing and such, I have opinions on burble tunes and do not provide them to customers for a bunch of reasons but I can say I dont feel thats your current problem. Hope that helps a little.

Dave

Cryo,

How do these work? Do you just dump a little fuel/spark into the cylinder while the exhaust valves are open or something like that?

its a little more complicated than that but basically its retarding the timing on decel to the point of causing "pops and bangs" that can result from light burble to full blown gunshots, blowing out muffler packing and flames....Some people think its awesome, I am not a huge fan due to the long term effects and the fact that most people that have it use it for a week and then realize its not a great option.

I tuned cars for years trying to make them not back fire, now I get asked once a week if not more to promote it lol. I do NOT offer it on the subaru platform, even if people are willing to pay extra.

Dave

OP ^ that is one of the best Tuners for these cars. after you find your issue, I would recommend you contact Dave and have him tune your car.

IMO there are only two people I would have tune these cars, Dave is the one for west coaster's.

Catless Dp and you live in CA... Don't you have emissions laws ?

 

A catted DP may save you some hassle later on.

Thank you for the response. I will be registering it in Nevada later this year in Pahrump where they don’t have smog (my friends dad lives there).

I'm sorry to hear your having these issues, I can say that your tuner will be the most helpful with this as he's looked at the data before and after the event and he knows what changes were made.

 

I can say that burble tunes in general are not just fuel based and changed timing and such, I have opinions on burble tunes and do not provide them to customers for a bunch of reasons but I can say I dont feel thats your current problem. Hope that helps a little.

 

Dave

Thank you for the comment. Only issue is I’m quite far (32 miles) from the shop and with everything that’s happening to the car I’m not sure if I will make it. So dumb question— I know you said my tuner would know better, but what else do you think it could be? Only reason I ask is because I’m not sure how old this cat is or if it’s even been replaced. Judging by the way the previous owner took care of it I assume it’s original. If you would like to reach out to you via email or anything else please let me know.

OP ^ that is one of the best Tuners for these cars. after you find your issue, I would recommend you contact Dave and have him tune your car.

 

IMO there are only two people I would have tune these cars, Dave is the one for west coaster's.

Thanks for your comment and recommended. I only went with this tuner because others told me about him and his work. I guess it just didn’t work out in my favor. I could be wrong and the map could be fine but maybe like others said the cat could just be failing.

Started the car today, started up fine. Sounded A LOT quieter so I decided to pop the hood as the car was running and upon further inspection (unrelated) saw the CV boot on the passenger side ripped and spat grease all over the cat. However, I checked my intake and it was tight, visually checked the throttle body area and it seemed to be fine. I think everyone and anyone who said my cat is bad is probably correct. Can't hear the turbo or intake as much as I used to. I did not drive it just let it start and idle for a couple minutes. I logged whatever I could and uploaded it here. I am uploading a short video to youtube and will attach a link once it has processed.

Thank you all again for your help. I just wish I still had my office job to keep my mind off of things but that did not go as planned and now all I can think about is the car.

DataLog-Apr_01_2020_1-01-19-PM.csv

We actually do not tune catless at all so please do not put a catless pipe on regardless of local emissions laws as it breaks federal law and you dont want to be stuck in that position.

Its almost impossible to diagnose something like that when we dont know the settings its currently running on but honestly I it takes a lot to make the car not want to run and want to stall etc. I would check the simple things as well and make sure the IC to Throttle body hose is connected and not sliding off etc.

It appears your long term fuel trim is at 11 but that log is not very useful due to whats being logged.

You can shoot me an email and we can lightly discuss but I really would make sure you get ahold of the tuner and find out his thoughts as well.

Thanks!

Dave

We actually do not tune catless at all so please do not put a catless pipe on regardless of local emissions laws as it breaks federal law and you dont want to be stuck in that position.

 

Its almost impossible to diagnose something like that when we dont know the settings its currently running on but honestly I it takes a lot to make the car not want to run and want to stall etc. I would check the simple things as well and make sure the IC to Throttle body hose is connected and not sliding off etc.

 

It appears your long term fuel trim is at 11 but that log is not very useful due to whats being logged.

 

You can shoot me an email and we can lightly discuss but I really would make sure you get ahold of the tuner and find out his thoughts as well.

 

Thanks!

 

Dave

I went ahead and emailed you. Thank you!

Hi all,

Please see links for a couple videos I did of what the car sounds like. (Usually I can hear turbo and intake just fine, however I can not hear it as much). Called my tuner awaiting to get a call back. Also, it may be hard to see but the in the second video there is white smoke coming out. IMO it does not smell like oil but I never really smelled burning oil before so I may be wrong or it might just be condensation. It has been chilly here the past few nights.

I also can not figure out what that noise is in the first video. Anyone have an idea?

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1FCxHSE4CSXwY2UykM6W2RU42BdEOtkVW

https://drive.google.com/open?id=13FFxfs4vQbCDRd9b6YdMErXsEEH_aAdU

Thank you all.

@cryo, did you get my email? I have been having internet issues and not sure if went through or not. Thanks.

Stay safe out there!

—BUMP—

Dumb question, could a faulty fuel pump cause this? Or could my turbo be dead?

Oil and coolant levels are good.

--Bump again--

White smoke seems to be caused by ripped CV boot on the passenger side; it splashed grease all over the catalytic converter and some got splashed on the turbo. However, still no closer to finding out the issue. It sounds like it is knocking from the bottom end, but I read that bad air/fuel ratio could cause this? Not sure if that is accurate.

I'm all for DIY but at some point you gotta stop trying to fix this problem yourself and take it to someone who can diagnose the spendy stuff. If your turbo sucked up some pieces of catalyst then you're in for an expensive day.

Go for an OEM boot/axle when replacing the old one. Aftermarket ones tend to vibrate and not last very long. The boot fails because the hot downpipe is right next to the boot. You can wrap the exhaust with some heat wrap to help prolong the life of it.