Car acting strange

[mgerst1]

I just replaced my stock wga with the atp stock replacement wga on tuesday. Car has been running fine since. Today running fine until i get gas at a gas station, not sure but starting to thing i put 1.56 gallons of 91 octane into my tank instead of 93 octane. I didnt check because I thought only one gas station around me used 91 instead of 93. now when driving my vac reading is 21 instead of 22, when im in 2nd 3rd or fourth gear and the rpms go up to about 3000 the car bogs down, like i lose alot of power, it doesnt buck or stall but the check engine light flashes on the power is decreased dramatically i cant get past 2-3 psi on my boost gauge. can this be from bad gas? all of my mods are listed in my signature. i have checked and cant find any vac leaks. please help!

[mgerst1]

anyone?

[Wagonbacker9]

It could be the gas, could be something else too, I'd top off your tank with 93 at every opportunity and see if the problem starts going away.

[mgerst1]

It is intermittent now, i did put 93 on top of it, i sure hope that is is, funny how it just started out of nowhere. what else could it be? if it was the wga releasing too early that would have started right away right?

[orng1]

I doubt that it was the gas, I've used 87 by accident. I pumped about 3-4 galons before catching it. I was just affraid to boost and my exhaust smelled funny but nothing to drastic.

[mgerst1]

Its not the gas, i went back to the gas station and it was 93, still happening, any ideas?

[lil_red_wagon]

does it idle any different? odd idle could indicate some kind of bad sensor or fouled spark plug.

it could be the new wga failing also. don't rule that out completely.

[mgerst1]

It idles fine, i did the ol wga test, air will not flow through so that means that the wga is fine, problem is getting worse now it feels as if someone who is learning stick for the first time is driving my car, it is going then slowing going then slowing going then slowing, in 2nd thorugh fifth, it is being jerky but this is while i am in low rpm, low psi, my food is steady on the gas pedal and the rpm stay steady while all of this is going on. im at a loss, im gonna take it to my mechanic tomorrow, hopefully he can pull a diagnostic on it and fix whatever is wrong

[mgerst1]

forgot to mention that the past few days i have noticed a burning smell coming from the engine bay but figured it was the smell of the new wga

[orng1]

Check to be sure your not popping off the charge pipe under boost. I had one that melted the charge pipe almost. It leaked at the turbo outlet and melted the pipe. That one was running a lot of boost for some odd reason.

[mgerst1]

nah, i have turbohoses hotpipes so i doubt it is melting, im thinking it could be 02 sensor

[orng1]

O2 sensors don't go out over night or from one day to the next. It's progressive so you rarely notice it at first. Same with the plugs but I'd check those things both to be sure, it's free just take a few tools and check them. Though the O2 sensor you'd need a volt meter to be sure it's giving off the correct readings. I'd still pull it off and clean it, that's just me though.

[magnumP5]

Flashing CEL is a misfire code. Check sparkplugs, coils and wires for anything suspicious. This typically isn't something caused by a vacuum leak or a bad O2 sensor.

[orng1]

I didn't catch that the CEL was flashing, don't even bother driving it if it's flashing. Get it fixed right away. That's a for sure way to kill the engine if your trying to drive it around with a flashing CEL.

[mgerst1]

wasnt flashing all the time just when it would act like it wanted to stall, took it to mechanic and he told me what was wrong A FUCKING COUPLER POPPED OFF!!!! are you serious! i cant believe it was that easy

[orng1]

That sucks, if you had a code reader you'd been able to figure it out easier. They are getting cheap for the better ones now. I got one for $180 a few yrs ago and it's 120 now. Probably a good time to check them out.

So I was right.... (lol2)

[mgerst1]

yup! thats cool, he didnt charge me anything

[magnumP5]

Interesting. You must have been leaning out so much it started to detonate and that triggered the knock sensor. A wideband air/fuel gauge would have given you the answer right away.

[mgerst1]

I need one of those asap

[mgerst1]

thanks to everyone for their help, i really appreciate it