Update on Supercharged Trac

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scott r

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I have put the old pulley back on. At 0.2" difference in size, it should make VERY little difference on how the supercharger acts/works. It was made of aluminum and it matched the rest of the supercharger. I also went back to the stock xcharger tune.

Now I think I have a vacuum leak. At least I HOPE that's the problem. A vacuum leak is relatively easy to fix as long as you can find it, and I bet it's got something to do with my vacuum/boost gauge. The truck was idling really rough last night, then it lost all power on the way home, so I coasted the last 200 yards or so into the driveway (when I say it lost all power, the engine nearly died, it was bouncing from around 100-400 rpm).

I haven't gone outside to mess with it yet, because it's raining/storming. Hopefully I can find the vacuum leak quickly and get it back on the road. However, the way my luck has been with this truck, and considering the fact that we're under a tornado watch, the more likely story is that I get it fixed, take it out for a drive, then it'll get smashed by a flying escort or something.

Once the storm passes, I'll see what I can do though.
 
thanks. :)

I figured it was easier to go back to the stock pulley than replace the entire fuel system.
 
Hey Baron:



Looks like the rain is about over. However, snow is moving in up by St. Joe!!!



Good luck with the leak. Hope you find a hose off or something simple like that. Maybe the pressure blew one off a fitting.
 
We are getting snow flurries tonight/tomorrow, but I hope nothing major until I can these horrible Wrangler RT/S tires replaced on my ST. Rain yesterday had me sliding all over the place.
 
hehe, I never turn away snow. If it was up to me, we'd have snow on the ground most of the year. After all, if it's cold outside, you can always put on more clothes. ;)
 
I'm with you, baron_iv. When it's hot, once you're nekkid, nothing more that you can do!

(At least not in public without fear of arrest or ridicule!) :lol:
 
Keep us posted, A vacuum leak will throw your a/f numbers all over the charts...

Todd Z
 
I don't think it's a vacuum leak anymore. I looked over all the hoses, none appeared to be damaged and my vacuum/boost gauge wasn't fluctuating like a normal vacuum leak would. I was going from about 18-20 at 1000 rpm, but at idle (675 rpm), it was rock solid at 20. It almost sounds like little mini backfires coming out the tailpipe. The idle is VERY rough. It sounds like somebody is tapping on my air intake (on the plastic part) several times per second, but not in any rhythm or pattern. It's sounded like that for a long time, but before, it was maybe once per minute. Now it's very frequently. The little mini backfires increase as I rev the engine up to 1000, 1500, 2000, 2500, etc.

Got any ideas what it could be?

The engine isn't throwing any trouble codes, no check engine light and it feels to be getting decent power as long as the RPMs are over 2500 or so (which is where the boost takes over).

This goofy truck is getting more troublesome every single day.
 
Sounds like detonation...anyway to see if the ECU program is pulling the timing back, While under positive manifold pressure...



Maybe through all of the leaness one of the plugs went bad...melted the tip...
 
I also smell a LOT of gas, so I'd be more inclined to say it's running rich than lean. The reason I think it would be rich is because when I went to the smaller pulley, I re-tuned to the stock xcharger tune...which means I might still be running a bit rich.

I'll have to hook my laptop up to the truck later to see if it's pulling timing though. A fouled plug could be a problem, but would that cause the misfires?

I shoulda traded this thing off yesterday while it was still running right. hehe
 
A fouled plug can cause the missfire and the rich gas smell coming from the exhaust....



From some of the info you posted about the leanouts you had during dyno-runs...not imposible a few plugs went bad...It happened to a friend of mine that SC'ed his 5.0 mustang..he finally got the tune right and went to iridium plugs....
 
hmm, ok. I've got 65k on these plugs, it probably wouldn't hurt to change 'em anyway. I don't know if iridium plugs are cooler or hotter, but I have been told that I need to go with a COOLER plug since I supercharged it. One question though...wouldn't the sounds it makes be on a fixed schedule if it was a fouled plug? The mini backfires are very random. I might get two or three and then wait a half second, get two or three more, then wait three or four seconds and more backfiring, it's just ODD. They're not the loud backfires that people are used to, it's very light puffs of air (that's what it sounds like). Kinda like if you had a piece of pipe in your hand and you smacked the bottom of the pipe...that sound.

I was actually hoping it was a vacuum leak which could easily be fixed with a new piece of hose. I think if somebody came up and offered me what I owe on the truck, I'd sell it to 'em in a heartbeat. hehe
 
the problem is that a good O2 sensor runs about $400. Every time I have had it running lean, the truck runs GREAT! I make a ton of power. The second it goes rich, performance goes down the tubes...like WORSE than stock performance.

A spark plug foul I guess seems kinda like something that would cause the symptoms I'm having, far more than just being lean. It's possible that being lean has contributed to the plug problems, as Eddie said. I'm going to change the plugs tomorrow, hopefully that will fix the problem(s).

I shouldn't have been trying to make something that's not designed to go fast, go fast. I guess that was just dumb on my part. This will be the last vehicle I buy that is sub 300-horsepower though. I can deal with crappy gas mileage, higher insurance rates and any other V8-related issues as long as I can stomp on the pedal and get a smile on my face.
 
I think the iridiums he chose were a colder than stock range...



Missfires can be random they dont have to follow a pattern....

 
The odd part is that it's been making that thumping noise from the air intake for a LONG time (since I got the supercharger put on). That kinda makes me wonder if the plugs have been bad for all this time or if it's still something else.

 
Will it run naturaly aspirated, if you drop the SC belt...if it will could be a process of noise elimination....
 
I would imagine that the supercharger would block off the intake if it's not spinning, but I really don't know for sure. There's probably only one way to find out. ;)

Does anyone know what plugs the stock trac uses, or is it in the manual? Plugs are a relatively easy thing to change, and probably need it anyway, so I'll go ahead and do it. After that, I'm going to take it to a "professional" I guess, if it's still giving me problems (which I'm fairly sure it will be).

 

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