I drive a 91 elcipse gs with the 1.8 engine. Yes you can make fun of my engine and how slow it is but what i really need is some help. Very recently i started having a problem w/ a backfire problem almost. At first nothing was really wrong but it has progressed. I kind of think it could possibly be the mass but im not really sure. It usually happens right around 2 grand and gets worse the harder i step on the gas. If anyone could help me out at all in telling me what my problem might be please do. You can ask me any questions about the problem if you would like and i will tell you everything i can. SOMEONE PLEASE HELP ME

I have a 1.8 too man, its a reliable little car for when I don't feel like buying premium for the RS-T.

And explain this "backfire" problem a little better? Just like a backfire in the exhaust?

did it start doing it on its own or did you do a mod or something???

could be a rusted out exhaust system...mine backfires like hell, and my exhaust is rusted almost completely through.

It just started on its own very recently. I dont if its a back fire or not. It causes the car to jolt when it happens. I thought it was possibly the fuel filter was so old it had gone bad and so i just replaced that today and it almost seems like that has made my problem worse.

check your intake and exhaust for leaks

car jolts? ummm do the RPMs go crazy when this jumpinh happened?

I thought it might be an exahust leak so ive been checking but i havent found anything really. My old mass went bad this last winter and i bought a brand new and installed it and when it was first on my car i was having basically this same exact problem just to a bigger degree
I dont know if i should try a tune up and see if that does anything or what? I will keep checking for leaks in my exhaust and start checking the intake as well

I dont know if the rpms go crazy, ill go take a spin around the block and check it out

No the rpms dont go crazy. It also seems like it happens more 1st thru third and not enough for me to notice in 4th and 5th

try unplugging the mass and checking the connections on it, and if there was an exhaust leak i dont think it would do that unless it was in the manifold itself. i dont see a leaky muffler causing your little dilemma

check that and let us know

Will do...the bad part is that in the middle of all of this im in the process of a trade for a 91 last rs-turbo. My car has pretty low miles which is why i cant realize why some stuff has been going wrong recently.

well no success w/ that except for its back to only doing it minor instead of major which is an improvement. The conections look solid.

well since that helped a little as you say, i am guessing it is just a connection that got wet or is rubbing against metal. i am out of ideas

im having the same problem with my tsi the harder you hit the gas the more it does it i replaced the plugs and im getting new wires but i dont know if that will fix it or not

If the engine consistently misfires under load, but runs smooth under vacuum, check your plug wires. Had it happen on every dsm I've had.

Sounds like a misfire to me, but thats just my opinion. I've seen plug wires go by on two different DSM's before. They get close to something too hot, one of the wires bubbles up due to the heat and causes a bad connection, thus a misfire. Nothing about 25 bucks at Autozone for plugs and wires can't fix.

yea i dont know if that will work either. My plugs and wires are both pretty new, about 2 months old so i dont know. I think im going to replace those as well on my car....we will see if that does anything w/ my car too

ill still check thats what my problem was