Hey guys,

I'm having a little bit of trouble with the T5. Yesterday, on a cold start, the car had very rough idling particularly on the 1st gear and shifting to 2nd. It would also do this on down shifts, almost to the point of stalling. As soon as I hit optimum temp, the car will be running just fine.

Today however, she idled rough even after reaching optimal temp. The common denominator is, this only happens shortly after I start the car and turn on the AC. After which the car would run great. No codes gathered. I'm in Manila so it's either raining or scorching like hell on earth.

Had the following replaced just recently:

MAF
Transmission Internals
Throttle Position Switch
Cam Shaft Sensor
Fuel filter
Fuel Pump
Fuel Pump Relay
Cleaned Rotors
Spark Plugs, filters, and oil
Thanks

 

Unplug your IAC and see if your car runs better...if it does you might need a new IAC
I have a few of those kickign around
also check to make sure the electric plug is plugged into your throttle body

 

So your saying it runs fine w/o the AC on?

Also +1 w/James' advice. Report back.

 

IAC is good. Rough idling happens when the car is running within the first 5mins, with or without AC, warm or cold starts.

She's running better now, pulled out a code 1-2-2 on A7 "Lean fuel". Apparently, we forgot to reset this after replacing the MAF. After the reset, she ran great. We also drained the tank just to make sure we don't have some residue in there to screw up the pump or the filter. She's under observation.

 

How many miles do you have on the car? Have you looked into cleaning or replacing the injectors?

 

I've got 65,000++ on the clock. Injectors have been replaced together with the regulator. She's running great now though. Keeping my fingers crossed.

 

Well we're back to square one. She started idling rough again on cold starts. She starts running fine after we hit optimum temp. RPM goes down to about 400, almost wanting to stall but recovers quickly. She would also idle rough when down shifting to the 2nd and 1st gear or when coming to a complete stop. Again, this only happens during cold starts.

The mechanic is out there pulling codes again. Oh well...........

 

Pull the codes again and report back.

Previously (post #4) you said you got DTC 1-2-2 which i could not find in '95 Turbo Manual and sites i found that did list that code didn't say lean fuel.

While your symptoms would point to low fuel pressure, looks like you've replaced all the usual suspects already.

I did not see cap + rotor and plug wires on your list though... If they're not too new, I would replace those next.

 

Thanks gdog

We haven't done that yet. All we did was clean the rotors and cap. We'll go ahead and replace the cap, rotors and wires as suggested. I'll post back on the progress. Here's keeping my fingers crossed.

 

start car...unplug maf...if it runs better it means your maf may no longer be any good...I understand it is new but it is possible to get bad parts brand new in box.
if you cleaned your cap and rotor and the contacts seemed fine then i doubt it is that..however +1 on the wires, they can make a world of difference...Im still going to say it could be your IAC..what makes you so sure that it is good? Run a bit of seafoam through your engine...

Tech...do you got anything on this?

 

Hi james,

We're checking and re checking everything under the bonnet, whether new or old.

I've been reading up on Seafoam. Looks like a helluva product. Unfortunately it's not available here in Manila just yet. Might have to call some relatives up in Sacramento to grab and send me one.

 

Ha! Looks like we got it!

Here's the story:

Followed gdog's suggestion and we went ahead and changed the rotors, cap, and HT wires. While we're at it we replaced the injectors, and once again replaced the MAF. After all's been said and done, wouldn't you know it. She still faltered. I was just about to take a sledgehammer on to her.

We did another reset, but still no dice. She was low on gas so we decided to take out the tank, drain and clean it. Here's the thing, I purchased fuel from a different pump station with 95 octane rating. After filling her up with new fuel, from a different pump station, and after just a few hours, THE SON OF A ***** RAN GREAT!!!!!

Thinking that it wasn't that simple, I called a friend who works in chemical testing and research company and sent him a sample of the old fuel. The result, the damn fuel is contaminated with a higher than usual amount of water and some other stuff, that my engine is having a hard time combusting it. Knowing this, I once again changed my fuel filter and fuel pump just to be on the safe side.

We've been at it for a couple of days now, and no problems so far. Now there is an obvious improvement on the engine sound, and idling. Gas consumption is up to about 11 kilometers per liter in Manila traffic.

Seafoam treatment to be done next as soon as the bottle arrive.

The downside of all this is that my pocket feels more like a deep empty well.

 

Is bad fuel common in your neck of the woods? (I was gonna say "bad gas" but caught myself..).

Too bad one of us didn't think to ck that but that's just not too common in the states...

 

Yeah pretty much. There a couple of pump stations that actually floods up with a bit of rain. So you could just imagine what kind junk is in the underground containment tanks.

 

Dear Sabine -

I'm driving a 95 Volvo Wagon in Moscow and am experiencing the same symptoms as described in your blog. I'm totally i-motor-ate (illiterate?) and am grateful to have followed your string of resollutions.

I drove into a station (they're few and far between in this megalopolis) and they only sold 95. I always buy the 92, but I assumed it was a higher quality b/c it costs more.

Will take it in to get fixed immediately.

Thanks! I've got dreams to take a road trip to Scandinavia and was worried to encounter this problem.

Will update after I clean it all up.

Cheers you know-it-wells. Relief!!!