yea i was gonna say coil pack too. dont think u touched anything for vacuum leak to get to the plugs.

sounds like u may have had one before, for idle to run as high as it did. or stuck TB plate. sputtering at high RPM, not sure a leak would cause this.

as for broken AF sensors, should throw a dash light if it's bad enough to affect idle/high rpm. go and smell the exhaust fumes, and check rear mirror for black smoke etc

what kind of plugs did you use and were they gapped correctly?

 

Ok $manager, check for Vacuum leaks will do, but how?
raineycd, thanks, your car looks great too! I did have the CEL flash a few times when I tried to throttle through 2100 RPM, could the coil packs be the problem?

Keep the ideas coming, and I'll try and address as much as a DIY'er can.

Thanks again!

 

Thanks Mad Ness,

I think I did have a vacuum leak around 30K miles ago! (it was fixed by my mechanic)


I don't know if I could check the TB plate, (wouldn't I need to remove the air filter box?) That may be above my pay grade.

I do smell some exhaust and there is periodically lots of smoke, not exactly black, more like a charcoal blue color.

I used the stock Porsche factory Beru's that were pre-gapped, two pronged.

Thanks!

 

how to check the TB is beyond my paygrade also. i think at this point, if you want to cont. going the DIY route, get the codes read, either by a source with a reader or get a durametric yourself. brockway can also read DTC's but not sure as many.

 

throttle body should be right behind the Y pipe, accessible through the engine compartment.

I had a similar issue and after going through a couple of MAF's, it turned out to the the throttle body.

good luck!

 

I see that, but how do you make enough room to move the Y-Pipe back enough? And how do you unscrew the ties from there? Looks impossible.

I went over to S-Car-Go in San Rafael today to see what some of the reads were on the computer, and what Pat (their master mechanic) said was, "seems like the MAF sensor. Replace it and see what happens". He unclipped it for a moment while the engine was running and it idled much better.

So, instead of replacing the MAF sensor, I went home and tried to spray the MAF sensor with electronic spray cleaner ( a suggestion on many forums) and re-installed, went on a drive and there wasn't much difference except that it idles a whole lot better, but not always at 900 RPM.

So, a new MAF sensor, new coil packs, a vacuum leak maybe? I am still not at the source.

Any other suggestions welcomed.

Will keep y'all updated!

 

it is right behind the Y pipe. but how to check whether a throttle plate opened the correct amount for idle? is there an idle control sensor/valve for this car? as diy enthusiasts, its really really easy to mess something up trying to fix something else... how do i know? since the problems point to different sources... code reading would help a great deal.

 

UPDATE: Hey everyone, so I finally received my MAF sensor in the mail! I installed it and KAPOW!!! I cannot believe this is the same car! It hits 1.2 bar in 2nd gear so easily. I really am at a loss for words. Incredible. If anyone has a turbo that seems to lag out at 3500-4000 RPMs please do yourself a favor and get a new MAF. Night and day difference.

 

congrats, glad to hear you nailed it.

 

Nice. Do you know why the original MAF went bad?

 

I'd have to guess high mileage? The car is at 83K. I took out the old MAF sensor and looked at it under a stereoscope and noticed that there is a mirror like surface under a plastic shield, and on that surface was a little bit of corrosion. It looked like it was oxidized with a sort of purplish color to the silver surface.