1999-2009 [Subscribe to Daily Digest] |
Cleaned the air mass meter, was very clean. White swabs were clean, no trace of oil. Sprayed over a white glass bowl, no particles. My K&N type filter is working well. The rubber hoses were clean too, as well as the aluminum turbo intake pipe. The hoses were hard to get off of the AMM. I put a light film of silicone grease on the joints to make future service easier. [These are non pressurized parts. Never allow any oil on joints of the intake system down stream of the turbo, friction is requires to stop the hoses from blowing off.]
Pulled the plugs. That was the problem, short winter trips fouled the plugs. Then when on boost, the increased pressure increases the breakdown voltage of the spark gaps and the sparks were tracking on the carbon. The plugs have very few miles, so I burned them clean with a torch and put them back. [Not driving as much as I used to since my near death from a surgical error last summer.]
I cleaned the TB, it was in great shape. No trace of oil, which was a surprise. So oil in blow by gases or turbo seal leaks see to be undetectable. There was some soot below the TB, but nothing that was a threat to free movement of the motorized throttle plate. Recommend that you clean with solvent on a paper towel and not spray into the TB. Some here have had a very difficult time getting the engine running after flooding cleaner into the TB.
Idled until hot and took a highway run. Before the engine would not want to shift down and go [see original report]. Now it is like it is in sport mode all of the time.
So we do not understand why this problem did not throw a CEL. My suggestion is that if one has been doing short runs and gets the symptoms that I reported [see the original post], check one plug. If black, put it back and get on the highway and burn the plugs clean. Do not get on boost as that will cause carbon tracking and make things worse.
posted by 68.91.152...
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