MP3 causing trouble.. Input please. VICS relay

[Minus]

Okay, well I recently I had to choose to replace my MP3 engine with one from a P5. Dropped the motor right in, no real troubles except for fuel pump not working like it should, so replaced that as well and it was right back on the road. Few weeks later put the MP3 manifold back on.

Now that I have covered what has been done here comes my problem. The car will at random start flashing the "check engine" dummy light and almost immediatly after it the car completely looses any kind of power it might have had on its 2.0L engine. Its like it were running on two cylinders. The car keeps running, but sounds to be in very poor health. With a quick pop of the hood, and unpluging the VICS relay (located on the top of the intake manifold) I can watch the accuator move and then plug the relay back up and the car runs just as good as it did the day it was bought...

What are your thoughts on this? I have an OBII scanner and when I check the trouble codes it always comes up with random misfires and mentioning 02 sensors every now and then.

Car may have a slight exhaust leak after installing the new engine, but would that cause this to happen? It really has me stumped I just thought I would ask for any input before I swap back to my original MP3 exhaust manifold and take it to an exhaust shop.

Would an O2 sensor cause a VICS relay to malfunction to the point of loosing power and having to be reset manually?

Let me know what you guys think, sorry for the lengthy post I just want to present you with as much information as possible. I will go plug up the trouble code scanner and right the exact information down if that will help.

THANKS!

//**cliffs** MP3 + P5 engine = VICS relay trouble. need input

 

[Minus]

I meant to post this in the MP3 section, can I get a mod to move this?
Come on people help an 02' OG out here..

 

[Captain KRM P5]

as long as the mp3 manifold is on the car the butterflies and actuators should not be the problem. there is no fundamental difference between the p5, msp or mp3 engines which would cause this problem. a faulty primary o2 sensor could cause your air/fuel ratios to be off and would cause in turn a misfire.

i am betting however on a vacuum leak at one of three places - intake manifold/head, intake manifold/throttle body or intake manifold plenum gasket. seems very similar to a problem we had here.

 

[Minus]

as long as the mp3 manifold is on the car the butterflies and actuators should not be the problem. there is no fundamental difference between the p5, msp or mp3 engines which would cause this problem. a faulty primary o2 sensor could cause your air/fuel ratios to be off and would cause in turn a misfire.

i am betting however on a vacuum leak at one of three places - intake manifold/head, intake manifold/throttle body or intake manifold plenum gasket. seems very similar to a problem we had here.

My first guess was the intake mani. So I swapped it making sure there were no places for vacuum leak. Even after the manifold swap it stayed the same. It doesn't happen all the time. It may miss two or three days before it happens. (I just drive the car locally). Also, it has been known to do it two or three times on the same road. (the one I'm destinctly remembering is about 5 or 6 miles longs. Its really becoming a pain to pop the hood, get out and walk around the car, unplug the relay, close the hood back, and get back in the car.

 

[Minus]

uh.. where did the other posts in this thread go?

 

[Minus]

gauges and clear taillights and figure out whats wrong with this thing....

 

[Installshield 2]

so...do you have the MP3 intake manifold on the P5 engine?...if you have the P5 manifold you have some VTCS butterflies in there, and a relay sticking out of it...but your MP3 harness will not have a connector for that...

either way I am rambling...that probably wouldn't cause what you are talking about anyway, unless the VTCS butterflies would get stuck halfway closed occasionally or something...even then...not sure what it would do...

Anyway did you check for those vacuum leaks? and what about the egr? That egr tube and nut can give a lot of people wierd occurances, as well as the rest of the system...any updates? has it happened in the last month?

 

[Minus]

Dropped the motor right in, no real troubles except for fuel pump not working like it should, so replaced that as well and it was right back on the road. Few weeks later put the MP3 manifold back on.

 

[Minus]

so...do you have the MP3 intake manifold on the P5 engine?...if you have the P5 manifold you have some VTCS butterflies in there, and a relay sticking out of it...but your MP3 harness will not have a connector for that...

either way I am rambling...that probably wouldn't cause what you are talking about anyway, unless the VTCS butterflies would get stuck halfway closed occasionally or something...even then...not sure what it would do...

Anyway did you check for those vacuum leaks? and what about the egr? That egr tube and nut can give a lot of people wierd occurances, as well as the rest of the system...any updates? has it happened in the last month?

yea dude it happend 5 times today in about a 5 hour period of driving it, parking, getting out at someones house and getting back in the car and repeat... The car does have somewhat of an exhaust leak which has just become apparent to me in the colder months here. I want to think that it having a leak around the exhaust manifold may be flipping my O2 sensors out and causing this relay to close the flaps to compensate for the pressure loss around the manifold... maybe that is what is wrong..

(attn)


I am using the P5 exhaust manifold on there right now, I'm about to order a new manifold gasket and switch back to my mp3 manifold even though there is no difference, but still... I figure if you are going to pull it all the way off to put the gasket on, might as well hit a couple of bolts and swap to the parts that worked before.