Rough idle

[Number Two]

Ok guys, so I'm having trouble with my car, and I am totally broke. Here goes the tale.

I drive a Civic EX with stock motor and Greddy Turbo with 5.5lbs, and a greddy exhaust.

I get in my car the other day, it starts fine, then it idles roughly after a few seconds, kind of jarring. I give it a little gas while in neutral, and the car is still doing the same thing. It kind of vibrates the car. I take my feet off the pedals, and I feel the car vibrating, back and forth, back and forth. This has happened on all 3 occasions that I've starte up my car since...

I was driving on the highway and racing a BMW going around 90mph approx, redlining 3rd gear. I think I held it near the redline for a little too long.

How f*cked am I?

[STIBungy]

Start by checking for any lines that may have gotten disconnected or broken. Then check the oil to make sure there's no antifreeze in it. If that's all good, do a comression test.

[Weston]

Make sure all cylinders are firing, and do a compression test.

[myshtern]

I would check your spark plugs first.
When the engine isnt firing in all cylinders it does the back forth bobble/vibration

How many miles are on the car?

[TheJackal]

vac leak, i dunno how hondas control idle but a common dsm problem is the idle air controller going bad. Check the plugs like alex said and put in a range colder while your at it.

[PowerSportsInc]

Start with the suggestions already listed, weed those out before additional brainstorming is thrown out. Our shop is pretty close to you it looks if all else fails, but lets hope it's something simple

[Number Two]

Thanks a lot guys. I will start with the spark plugs as that is something I can do. Can I come to you powersports about a compression test? Also, how much is it ?

[PowerSportsInc]

Give us a call tomorrow or saturday and we'll scheudle some time

[Number Two]

So I actually had free time from school for thanksgiving, and I came home, and I took the spark plugs out. On one of them, the middle white plastic piece was completely cracked and missing, and an another plug, the end was completely melted away. So i was running on 2 cylinders! That explains the rough idle. And the other two had gaps that were both over .055 in.

I was going to get a compression tester at Autozone, but it's $35-$40. I'd like to spend a little money on the car over break, get it tuned and compression tested. I'll contact you (powersport) in a few weeks to get it sorted. Other things I need to do, is get a stupid aluminum flange made for my dsm bov. If any1 knows of a shop that can do this, that HAS the aluminum. That would be awesome.

Later,

Number Two

[rmcdaniels]

In my experience, cracked/missing tips on your spark plugs means you're getting some detonation, and that middle white piece is ceramic, it doesn't melt. Honda pistons don't deal well with detonation, it tends to crack off the ring lands, requiring an engine rebuild.

You will want to make sure you are not running lean under boost. Do you have an A/F guage? A wideband would be better, but the A/F is relatively cheap and will give you an indication of if you are running lean under boost. What does a Greddy kit use for fuel and timing management?

I'd stay off the boost, get a compression and leakdown test to assess the damage, and get it on a dyno with a wideband to see what your fuel situation is.

[Number Two]

The greddy uses the Greddy Emanage blue box that attaches to the ECU, it doesn't replace the ecu. It came with preset settings for 'optimal' performance. It IS running rich, with crappy gas mileage. I can't calculate it because my speedometer cuts out all the damn time. When I floor it in neutral, around 5.5k rpms, black smoke begins to come out of the tail pipe. Not a good sign. Also, it is running hot, last night I overheated big time. Today, it was running 3/4 hot on the temp. gauge, on just a 10 min. run to walmart. I'm going to replace the coolant over xmas break and see if that helps. So much shit is happening so fast, I'm worried about the damn thing. I may have to take out more money on my line of credit and just get the thing fixed once and for all.

[STIBungy]

Replacing just the coolant wont help. Alot of the turbo'd Hondas on this board have larger dual core radiators because the stock one just wont cut it.

I'd recommend ditching the blue box and going with a VAFC. The bue box's "optimal" setting is for what boost level and what altitude?

[rmcdaniels]

Isn't the Emanage tunable?

[myshtern]

Isn't the Emanage tunable?
I know it is

[Number Two]

Ok, that is good news that the emanage is tunable. I'm not sure what the settings are at. All I know is that if I alter it the warranty will be void, but all I want is for it to run better.

Also, would a bigger radiator, or intercooler be a better bet for a NEXT possible mod?

Thanks guys

[myshtern]

I am pretty sure the turbo already voided your warranty
:rofl:

[rmcdaniels]

The stock radiator should be fine for what you are running, just get it tuned so you know it is running right, then think about an intercooler, although at 5.5PSI you may not need it. It's not that hard to measure your charge air temp if you are curious, and for a few bucks you can get an OBDII interface that plugs into a PC that will let you keep an eye on all your engine parameters with a laptop.

[Number Two]

I am pretty sure the turbo already voided your warranty
:rofl:

My car is about 10 years old....

It would void Greddy's warranty. But I don't think they'd really take it back after I've had it for almost 6 months.