Intake spacer instal nightmare..

[mistral cytz]

So I installed my JHM intake spacers yesterday and it was one hell of a long day! I watched the supplied video and it seemed easy enough, but just the number of connectors, hoses and lines that had to be removed and reconnected was challenging while not breaking anything. I have big hands which didn't help the overall process but a good 6-7 hours later I had everything put back together and triple checked every hose and clip.

I fired it up and it ran very rough and threw a flashing check engine light about 5-10 seconds after the start with a smokey exhaust. I expected a rough idle at first but the motor was misfiring so badly that the car was shaking side to side. I shut it off and called it a night feeling like shit after all that work.

This morning I double checked the hoses and clips and the injector clips/ fuel rail and that the manifold was properly torqued down then drove the car while it was still misfiring up the road to a nearby European auto shop that specializes in Volvo. The car was running horribly so I wasn't going to drive any further and had the car scanned and it showed P 305, 306, 302, 307 and P1602. I had disconnected the battery to reset the code and anything else before I had gone to the shop. Basically it came back showing multiple misfires as I had guessed so obviously it was a vacuum leak or a fuel delivery problem since their was no way that 5 of my cylinders suddenly had bad plugs and coils.

The shop did a vacuum line smoke test and no leaks were found anywhere. The codes were cleared and we started the car and took it for a test drive and it suddenly was running smoothly with no more CEL. I took it out for a good 40 min drive on the highway and stop and go and it was running very well and I noticed a little more torque from the intake spacers with consistency in pulls due to the lack of heat soak as advertised.

Anyways, any ideas as to what caused this or has anyone had similar headaches after installing the spacers? My guess is that one or more of the plastic clips on the tip of the injectors which broke while I removed the fuel rail came off and fell into the injector ports and were probably preventing the valves from sealing properly or they were somehow blocking the fuel spray pattern and then it melted away being brital and thin plastic returning the operation to normal.. Maybe I had dirt or oil on the injector tip that was clogging the fuel spray that eventually burned off? As I said the car now runs great and no issues at all but maybe the problem will come back when the car cools down and I go to start it tomorrow???

Looking forward to any comments or similar experiences.

Thanks.

[Davect06607]

Throttle body alignment ?

[emcaha]

Throttle body alignment ?

This would be my guess as well. Did my spacers a few months back and haven't had any issues (posted a thread this weekend about a possible IM leak but still not certain that's the cause).

[BCsniper]

it's happened to me before after pulling the IM. Misfires and flashing CEL went away pretty quickly though. I think I pulled the fuel rails and re-adjusted all of the IM bolts.....not that that necessarily fixed the issue

[mistral cytz]

Yes! the throttle body alignment may have well been the problem. I tried disconnecting the battery for 20 mins and then reconnecting it followed by turning the ignition on for 5 mins before starting the engine to see if the throttle body would reset since I don't have a Vagcom cable. This did not work, but when the tech used some generic car scanner and cleared the codes it may very well have reset the throttle body alignment since the car ran perfectly after that.
Would make me feel a lot less disappointed in my master mechanic skills if that ended up being the issue lol...

Thanks for the info.

[Mistro]

There's a way to reset it by holding down the gas pedal for some time or something without cranking, then turning it off.

Or something like that. I'll see if I can find the actual steps later today if someone else doesn't first.


Edit

Here you go:

Put the car in park or neutral
Pull the handbrake up.
Put the key and put it into the position just before the starter turns (DO NOT START THE CAR)
Push the gas peddle all the way wait 3 seconds and turn the key all the way back but do not take the key out
Release the gas peddle and wait 2 minutes, you'll hear clicking
Remove key than put it back in and start the car

[mistral cytz]

There's a way to reset it by holding down the gas pedal for some time or something without cranking, then turning it off.

Or something like that. I'll see if I can find the actual steps later today if someone else doesn't first.


Edit

Here you go:

Put the car in park or neutral
Pull the handbrake up.
Put the key and put it into the position just before the starter turns (DO NOT START THE CAR)
Push the gas peddle all the way wait 3 seconds and turn the key all the way back but do not take the key out
Release the gas peddle and wait 2 minutes, you'll hear clicking
Remove key than put it back in and start the car

Great info! I'm pretty sure my throttle body alignment was reset when I cleared all the misfire codes with a scanner but if it ever returns I'll definitely try this.

[DTMOOOO]

I would pull the fuel rail and check the Injector O rings & pintle caps

[mistral cytz]

I would pull the fuel rail and check the Injector O rings & pintle caps

I will do this if it ever starts running rough again but it really shouldn't be a coincidence that the car suddenly ran perfectly smooth right after the codes were reset with the computer. I'm thinking it had to be the throttle body alignment.

[Bruno_s4]

Glad it worked out for you in the end Paul. Enjoy!

[TexS4]

There's a way to reset it by holding down the gas pedal for some time or something without cranking, then turning it off.

Or something like that. I'll see if I can find the actual steps later today if someone else doesn't first.


Edit

Here you go:

Put the car in park or neutral
Pull the handbrake up.
Put the key and put it into the position just before the starter turns (DO NOT START THE CAR)
Push the gas peddle all the way wait 3 seconds and turn the key all the way back but do not take the key out
Release the gas peddle and wait 2 minutes, you'll hear clicking
Remove key than put it back in and start the car

Thanks for this. I have a vag-com cable but this seems much quicker if all you're doing is a TBA.

[mistral cytz]

Glad it worked out for you in the end Paul. Enjoy!

Thanks again for the spacers Bruno! I learned a lot about the S4 engine bay layout from this job but just wish it went a little bit smoother..

[QIKRNU]

Thanks again for the spacers Bruno! I learned a lot about the S4 engine bay layout from this job but just wish it went a little bit smoother..

When is it not ever thus?

[mistral cytz]

[/B]

When is it not ever thus?

When someone else besides me is doing the work..

[QIKRNU]

When someone else besides me is doing the work..

Yes, that's why, at my advanced age, I usually farm out the work. I have the ability and most of the tools; just not the inclination. Then there is the guarantee.

[mistral cytz]

Yes, that's why, at my advanced age, I usually farm out the work. I have the ability and most of the tools; just not the inclination. Then there is the guarantee.

Understood. I will most likely avoid working on parts of the engine for this car in the future and stick to tasks like brake jobs and perhaps a snub mount install in the near future. I hate working around a tight engine bay with poor visibility with lots of connectors and hoses with clamps etc..

[Jake@JHM]

Glad we were able to help figure out the issues

[mistral cytz]

Glad we were able to help figure out the issues

Haha Jake, thanks so much to you and Dru for answering my calls with random questions throughout the day. Best customer service!

[mistral cytz]

Throttle body alignment ?

Other than unplugging the throttle body is their anything else during the intake manifold instal that would result in misfires caused from the throttle body being out of alignment?

I'm going to pull the fuel rail tomorrow to replace some injector pintle caps and seals that were in rough shape when I installed the spacers last week and want to make sure I'm not going to have the same problem.
Thanks.