hesitation continues, sick of this

[volks88]

car is a epl tuned stg3. i have replaced the plugs,icm's,coil packs, pressure tested,checked compression, swapped injectors. when i changed my coil packs with a used set i knew were good it fixed it for a little while, ran fine and then started to miss. i just replaced the coil packs with brand new ones last week thinking that was it cause it was good for a while. fuck no! so i replaced the plugs this morning and it ran great for about 10 to 20 minutes. then started to hesitate and got worse and worse. im totally fucking hating this car right now any suggestions at all??? oh and also.......the coil packs are 2 piece, is there anything that can go wrong with that tube that connects to it? im all out of ideas and i dont need to waste any more money

[Dr. Jekyll]

What plugs are you using? What have you gapped them to? Getting any codes?

[BlackS4TT(Josh)]

Primary O2 sensors? How many miles on them? EGT sensors?

[Jesse S.]

Run vag-com, check for codes. Post codes and then we can go from there.

[AudiSportB5S4]

you are the second person on here with like major issues of misfiring on EPLs tune. there was that other guy like last month from MA who was freaking out since it was just done up. that sucks!

[stapo69]

I would look at O2 sensors and EGT sensors, had them both fail over time on my car and did cause it run bad, loss of boost, limp mode, hesitation. I replaced all of them in the end and she runs sweet now. VAGCOM should pick up on these, or any decent diagnostics check of some kind. Also how about your MAF sensor? I'd get it plugged in and see what comes up.

[2001S4NY]

could be something as simple as a bad fuel pump or fuel filter,

[volks88]

the codes are random multiple misfires and then certain cylinder misfires. no other codes at all. plugs are ngk bkr7e's which are the recommended plugs from epl gapped at .026 like they specify. just installed a new fuel pump because my other one died. o2 sensors are brand new. egt sensors are brand new. maf readings as far as gps are good. as far as the tune goes.... wouldnt it run bad all the time?

[Boris]

Hey, Important q.. when is it hesitating? When under full throttle only? past 19psi?
I personally gap my plugs closer than .026.. When I gap them above .025 I get hesitation past 18 psi or so..

I gap them between .024-.025 and then the car runs fine under full throttle all the way to 23 psi..

Thats been my experience, on a diff tune, but still sounds the same..

Also the stalks coming off the cpacks could get bad if they were say covered in oil, or I suppose they could break, but that seems unlikely

[volks88]

it hesitates when i stomp it. if i roll the throttle on i can get it going without hesitation. if im rolling the throttle and feel a small hesitation i just back off the throttle a little. the minute i stomp on it its fucked. also wouldnt the gap effect it right from the get go? it does really feel the exact same as when i went and got a chip and needed to tighten up my gap.

[exorcet]

it hesitates when i stomp it. if i roll the throttle on i can get it going without hesitation. if im rolling the throttle and feel a small hesitation i just back off the throttle a little. the minute i stomp on it its fucked. also wouldnt the gap effect it right from the get go? it does really feel the exact same as when i went and got a chip and needed to tighten up my gap.

maybe it's dumping too much fuel initially on full throttle?

[Dr. Jekyll]

I highly doubt it's anything with the tune. I've never experienced anything like that, nor have I heard of anyone having hesitation problems with an epl tune before. More than likely it's some sort of hardware related issue. Idle misfires are common with the 60lb injectors. But again, a lot of the time that's hardware related too. I'm noticed, as Boris has pointed out, a tighter gap (.026 has worked well for me) idles MUCH better than a .028 gap. Also the NGK bkr7e's have worked much better than the bosch f5dpor's. Small boost leaks can also really throw off an idle.

I'd definitely try and find someone with ECUx (or just buy it from APR) and do some logs. See if you can capture the issue while logging. That would be the most beneficial and helpful, rather than this guess, replace and check stuff.

[andru1313]

I had a similar issue was 2 things for me. Now mind you this was on a GSX I built. I was getting way to much fuel aslo the throttle body needed to be rebuilt. just my thoughts.

[Reich]

Put a vacuum gauge on it and check the readings at idle. Fluctuating needle indicates a vacuum leak ( maybe intake gasket ). I Also found a quadfour misfiring b/c of that link that connects coil to the plug.

[volks88]

maybe it's dumping too much fuel initially on full throttle?

thats what it kinda feels like but what would explain why it would not do this when i change the plugs? it will run fine for a while then start to miss. same with changing coils and then running fine for a while then it starts to miss after a few days (that was with good used coils, new coils after those started to misfire missed right away). seems like it would be dumping to much fuel all the time no? according to vag the car is not running rich.

[Boris]

it hesitates when i stomp it. if i roll the throttle on i can get it going without hesitation. if im rolling the throttle and feel a small hesitation i just back off the throttle a little. the minute i stomp on it its fucked. also wouldnt the gap effect it right from the get go? it does really feel the exact same as when i went and got a chip and needed to tighten up my gap.

FWIW I would definately try a smaller gap on the NGK's you are using. I use the same ones and I do them just below .025..

I had the EXACT same issue you are describing, exactly..and it was remedied when I put new plugs gapped to a tight .025..

I know that awful hesitation! it runs perfect right? Until you go full throttle.. then past 3000 RPM it will shudder sort of and have trouble climbing to redline, although it will get there, and you have no real power... Thats what i experienced.


AND, i had the hesitation problem once when I replaced all the plugs in but they werent gapped down to .024-.025. they were about .026 - .027 once by accident when I did them too quickly...and it still had the hesitation once it passed 19 psi, so it was better but, it wasnt until I gapped them lower that the hesitation went away and I could run above 20 psi without hesitation

I would really try gapping it down a tad more to .024-.025 since this sounds exactly like what I experienced

Hope that helps, I know its frustrating when its not working, but dont worry you are close , very close to solving the problem, you


I think its the plug gapping

[volks88]

FWIW I would definately try a smaller gap on the NGK's you are using. I use the same ones and I do them just below .025..

I had the EXACT same issue you are describing, exactly..and it was remedied when I put new plugs .. AND, i had the hesitation once when I put the plugs in but they werent gapped down to .024-.025. they were about .026 or .027 once by accident when I did them too quickly...

I would really try gapping it down a tad more since this sounds exactly like what I experienced

yeah i might as well try it.

[volks88]

changed out the CTS and changed the plug gap to .024 this morning. took the car out and beat on it and couldnt get it to hesitate. now before i think its fixed it seems everytime i change something out (plugs,coils) its fine for a little bit and then starts to miss. i'll be taking it out periodically today to see if i can make it miss. also 3,4 & 5 are still misfiring with 5 being consistantly the worst. 1,2 & 6 have none.

[s2the4]

you are the second person on here with like major issues of misfiring on EPLs tune. there was that other guy like last month from MA who was freaking out since it was just done up. that sucks!

He is so annoyed with the misfires that he decided to get rid of the car against what we are all telling him to keep it. Just an update!

[smithm5]

im having misfires now....

car is EPL 2+

[AudiSportB5S4]

He is so annoyed with the misfires that he decided to get rid of the car against what we are all telling him to keep it. Just an update!

lol, that sucks. it can be frustrating ya know. that sucks to of had paiddd so much for all that power and PEACE haha oh well sucks to hear

[volks88]

back from round 2. still no misfires but traffics thick right now and didnt get to much of a chance to get on it. will take it out later and see if i can beat on it hard enough

[SoEvoL]

running a closer gap on the plug fix your problem?

possible spark blowout from extreme cyl pressures @ wot/high boost?

[volks88]

running a closer gap on the plug fix your problem?

possible spark blowout from extreme cyl pressures @ wot/high boost?

at this point it might be. no hesitations as of yet.

[exorcet]

this thread made me get off my ass and take out my stock PFR6Q's at .028 and put in BKR7E's at .025 today ... i was getting a very, very slight miss at idle which is much better now.

[NoLeafClover]

def smthing to do with plugs because it sounds like ur fouling them... what kind of FPR are u using?

[smithm5]

FWIW mine appears to have been a bad injector...

[galvan11]

So are you guys recommending the bk7re at .025 instead of stock pfr6q? I have had that hesitation around 3200 rpms with the giac x flash. I just bought the pfr6q plugs to see if that solved my hesitation problem and now reading this makes me think twice before installing the stockers

[volks88]

So are you guys recommending the bk7re at .025 instead of stock pfr6q? I have had that hesitation around 3200 rpms with the giac x flash. I just bought the pfr6q plugs to see if that solved my hesitation problem and now reading this makes me think twice before installing the stockers

when i first went giac-x (bone stock otherwise) i had the stock plugs and got the hesitation right after i switched to the chipped ecu. . i replaced my stockers with the bkr7e's and my hesitations were fixed. . as far as the original topic....so far so good with my stg3 on .024 gap. i'll give it a few more days before i make the call tho.

[DAP]

He is so annoyed with the misfires that he decided to get rid of the car against what we are all telling him to keep it. Just an update!

Its my understanding that the misfire issues on that car (Brett0712) were solved with new ignition amplifiers (i.e., they were not at all tuning related).