Fuel Questions!, Car sputtering on the interstate. Options

[BudmannG]

I was on my way to SCDC and I made it past Springfield with no problems. And then all of a sudden my car starts jerking like I just hit fuel cut. So I feather the pedal to give it more gas and it's like I had an air pocket in the fuel line. It ran like this all the way to the Pekin / Bloomington exit on 155. I took the exit and as soon as I stop at the sign the car dies and won't restart.
So then I called Asiankid to my rescue. LOL, I was so pissed at my car I couldn't even tell him where I was. I sat there for about 15 minutes and I tried to start it a couple of times, then finally it started. It started like it was starving for fuel, a slow putter start I guess you could say. I call Asiankid back and let him know what's going on and where I will be. He and I met at a gas station in N. Pekin, I think that's where I was, LOL. The DAMN thing ran fine the rest of the way to SCDC, and at the track it ran fine no fuel problems.
And then on the way home I made it to Peoria. And it did the same DAMN thing, sputtering, kicking, and starving for fuel. So once again I called Asiankid to the rescue. I sat there for about the same amount of time as in the morning trip up. Tried to start it and nothing, So I sat a little longer made my check in phone calls with the family. And then I thought I would try to prime the fuel pump. And guess what, it started and ran fine all the way home.
At no time did Asiankid actually have to come and help. It was just nice to know that I have friends that are willing to help. No matter what happens in a DSMers life, LOL. Oh, And for some reason everytime I called him he was eating,

If anyone has an answer for this let me know. Asiankid and I were thinking ECU at first. But now I'm not so sure about that, being I had to prime the fuel pump to get it to start last night.

[natedogg]

Did you check your fuel pressure at all when it was causing problems? It should come up when you start the car and stay up after shut if off, slowly bleeding down.

Is the logger indicating any ECU codes? Any chance you were logging airflow or Inj. PW/DC when this occurred?

[BudmannG]

I didn't think about checking the fuel gauge. I wasn't logging at all, and it wasn't hooked up either.
It was almost like the ECU wanted to change it setting and couldn't.

[natedogg]

If the ECU threw any codes you should still be able to check them with the logger, unless you unhooked the battery for any reason.

EDIT: BTW, I had a problem similar to this on my old fwd, when the MAF signal was being interrupted due to a bad wire connection. Another thing to check is to make sure your injectors are all firing.

[BudmannG]

I will do that, I have to run to Jacksonville. So it may be about an hour or two before I reply back.

[turbohcar]

I'm thinking it's the FPR. It's a no-name Ebay $4.00 unit. NCGalant tried to adjust it and couldn't get the fuel pressure to go down.

This makes me think it's one of those "you get what you paid for" instances. Aeromotive is the best (in my opinion) AFPR out there. Don't get a B&M though, they do not go down in pressure, they only go up from where your fuel pressure is already. And make sure it comes with a fuel pressure gauge that readily mounts to one of the ports on the regulator itself.

[BudmannG]

I just went out and checked error codes. And it had error 41 stored no explaination to what it is though.

[ncgalant]

The fuel pressure was actually to low. With 550s and a 2g MAS the SAFC should be nearly 0'd out. When I checked the trims I found the ECU adding its max. After tuning the low to +40 or so the trims balanced out and +30 seemed to work well on the high. The car needs its base timing checked. After that the fuel pressure needs to be set back to stock(38psi) and retuned for the 550s.

[turbohcar]

Ahhh ok, I misunderstood. I guess I just have a firm belief in having to pay good money for top notch parts.

[natedogg]

Hmm, it must have shifted since it was at my place then, because we set it to 37 psi then. It was set at a base around 70! Sounds like the AFPR may be having a tough time sticking with a consistent base fuel pressure.

Otherwise we ran into the same exact tuning issues when we were tuning with the AFC. Had to richen it up seemingly too much accross the board.

[BudmannG]

This is what the logger is telling me now at idle in my drive.
81.9% 92.0% 81.1% 85.0%
FTRL FTRM FTRH FTO2
Now I'm running rich every where.

[natedogg]

I'm still a little skeptical of your AFPR. Like NC said a 2G MAF with 550's should be pretty close to the tune of 0's across the RPM range in the SAFC. But if your AFPR is giving you inconsistent base fuel pressure its going to change the effective flow rate of your injectors.

I also just looked up code 41 on this page:
http://www.vfaq.com/mods/wayback/BradBauer...rical/code.html

It labels code 41 as an injector malfunction. I'd check to make sure all your injectors have solid connections and are firing.

[BudmannG]

Natedogg, I did erase the error code earlier. Would that change everything?
And all of my injector plugins are broke, I can't get the little wire clips to stay on. Is there a fix for that? And could that be my problem with the injector error?

[ncgalant]

At this point I'd say to throw your stock fpr back on. Your fuel pressure must be running all over.

[BudmannG]

I did adjust the ftl, and got it to 106%. But I only adjusted the 1000 rpm down to 10% was at 19%.
Now if I put the stock fpr on won't that run me too rich also? And is it a way to find out if the other one is bad?

[ncgalant]

FPRs don't go bad to often in comparison to other fuel parts. If you put the stocker back on, your low throttle settings should all be +/- 10% and your high will probably need to be +higher and higher up to redline. The best thing for you to do is to go through the low cruising at each RPM point(up to 4000) and try and zero out your trims. After that just throw some high numbers in on the high side(I usually start 10% higher than the low) and work down from there until it starts to knock.

[natedogg]

Erasing the injector code just erases the code instance. The code probably reared its head from a loose connection to the injector(s). Sucks that your connectors are broke. I'd try to figure some way to hold the connectors down on the injectors. Maybe even fasten them with some electrical tape or wire...

[BudmannG]

I ran my car to town and I checked the fpr like you said. And as soon as i shut the car off it goes to zero it don't even hold the pressure.

[black92_tsi_awd]

Somethings not right. Either the FPR is bleeding off the pressure or it's leaking at the pump again. Didn't you have a busted hose at the fuel pump before??

Put the stock FPR back on and check the pressure bleed off. Other wise go back to the tank and check.

[BudmannG]

Thanks man I'll do that. I have to go pickup my new toy tonight, LOL.