Sputtering under WOT - Thread Revisited

[Hulty]

I agree, it's a lot less frequent and/or a lot less dramatic when I roll into the throttle, but I tell you what, I couldn't run a quarter mile to save my life because the sputter under WOT is so terrible it's embarrassing. That's why it's so frustrating, because essentially it negates the $400 tune. What I don't understand, why some people and not others? I'd love to see some real data from someone that had it, discovered the culprit, and has a documented fix.

I mean seriously, what fun is the tune if I can't beat some 17 year old jerkoff off the line once in a while?

 

[Swordsmith]

Any help I'd appreciate it as I'm running out of ideas....I'm even tempted to try the whole idea of putting the screen on the CAI, but REALLY don't want to.

Thanks, Hulty.

You are resisting the 80 cent fix to your $400 complaint, why?

 

[Hulty]

You are resisting the 80 cent fix to your $400 complaint, why?

It's simple really, if you go through the time and money to build a new house just the way you want it using the finest of materials....do you really want duct tape holding the address number on your front door?

That's why.

 

[Blue hedgehog]

oh you know me. it's hard being perfect all the time so sometimes I engineer a mistake to bring me down back a notch into the mortal coil.

You need one of these.

 

[Swordsmith]

Imagine you have a nice house, and you decide to install a fancy aboveground pool. Everyone else who has installed the pool likes it, but complains that it has a slight leak. Someone has figured out that you can remove one bolt, install a simple 80 cent hose washer, replace the bolt, and now the pool is leak free.

You decide you want the pool to be leak free but without adding that hose washer, because it isn't as expensive as the other pool parts. But thus far, none of the pool manufacturers have come up with a part that fixes the problem.

Will the screen fix your problem? Maybe, maybe not. But it is an inexpensive and elegant solution to many similar problems, and I don't think anyone who has installed one has had a complaint yet.

 

[ss2000slp]

If you flash back to stock is the problem still there? Which intake are you running? Vacuum leak? And if the 80 cent screen is too cheap, go with the $14 honeycomb

 

[Hulty]

Imagine you have a nice house, and you decide to install a fancy aboveground pool. Everyone else who has installed the pool likes it, but complains that it has a slight leak. Someone has figured out that you can remove one bolt, install a simple 80 cent hose washer, replace the bolt, and now the pool is leak free.

You decide you want the pool to be leak free but without adding that hose washer, because it isn't as expensive as the other pool parts. But thus far, none of the pool manufacturers have come up with a part that fixes the problem.

Will the screen fix your problem? Maybe, maybe not. But it is an inexpensive and elegant solution to many similar problems, and I don't think anyone who has installed one has had a complaint yet.

I understand what you're saying, but my point is stated in what you wrote, the guy bought the pool knowing it'd need a fix. I've purchased only items that were make/model specific for our vehicles, it's not like I'm trying to squeeze out a couple more HP by making my own experimental tweaks. I'm the kind of guy that would rather save for a little while longer and buy the pool that didn't leak. That way if something were to happen as a result, at least I wasn't the guy who paid any amount of money for a pool with a leak.

There are two types of people, those that would spend $200 on an intake that may or may not need a $1 fix, and those that would happily spend $250 on an intake that was trouble free, tried and true. I can't possibly be the only one here that fits into the latter...

 

[Preloader]

But nobody has to "know" that the screen is there but you.

It may not fix the problem. But if it does, you'll be too busy sputtering along with your high standards.

Easiest way to know if it's CAI related is to put the SAB back on and go for a spirited drive.

Also, may be a dumb question, but do you have a BOV installed?

 

[rdss]

His garage says DDM intake and Trifecta tune so I'm guessing not.

 

[Swordsmith]

All the aboveground pools designed for your yard have the same leak, fixable by the same hose washer.

I mean, all the aftermarket intakes currently available for the Sonic have the same turbulence issue, fixable by the same bit of window screen, or for ten times as much money, a piece of optical equipment which doesn't seem to be any better (I have one)

The SAB does -not- have this issue, but it seems to be the only intake that does not. Wait, maybe MFab? His intake is relatively recent and I don't know that I have heard about whether the screen "fix" does anything for it one way or the other.

You may not have known this when you bought the DDM, but it has been well known on the forum for many months. So essentially you bought a leaky aboveground pool but happened to miss the comments that it leaks but is easily fixed.

 

[Hulty]

Thank you for all your advice, and I'm going to do whatever is necessary to make it right. I was just hoping to learn a bit about why, technically, the issue was happening. Everyone here seems 100x more knowledgeable about this than me that I would've figured that someone had discovered the true answer to the riddle.

I was thinking last night, based upon the screen door theory, I wonder if a slight mandrel bend in the intake would slow the air down just enough while still maintaining the overall benefits of the CAI versus the SAB?

 

[cndctrdj]

So to all the people saying stock air box doesn't have the problem... I have the stock air box and have had the problem for a long time

 

[Hulty]

So to all the people saying stock air box doesn't have the problem... I have the stock air box and have had the problem for a long time

THANK YOU for speaking up, I knew I had read of plenty with the SAB that had!!

:banana:

 

[Preloader]

This thread has forked. The sputtering issue could be a number of things.

The CAI screen is specifically relative to hiccups caused by the MAF trying to report air mass it thinks is coming through the SAB which has factory tested engineering to prevent turbulence.

Just pointing that out, because the thread is starting to sound black & white as far as the screen being able to solve the sputtering.

If the sputtering is found to be a clear result of the CAI in this instance, then yes, the screen should help.

 

[cndctrdj]

I do have a Kn filter

 

[cndctrdj]

I'm thinking of getting an mpfab intake. Do you think it would hurt the problem or help it

 

[Eric Smit]

exacerbate.

 

[cndctrdj]

I'm wondering if the stock filter will help

 

[wickedsonic]

Same problem as o.p.
42k with trifecta tune, cut out moreso around 3200 rpm and not always followed by the p0299 code.
First- I have just purchased the laser iridium ngk's but since I work at a dealer 11 hours a day haven't had a chance to install yet but will let anyone here know if that helps.
Second there are other threads claiming of plug boots and turbo diaphragm problems doing the same thing but they've all been unresponsive for awhile so I don't know how many people actually fixed said problem in awhile.
Third- (100% duty cycle issue) the injectors should normally run about 2.5ms. People are saying some tuned cars are maxing out pulse width. If that's the case what ms are those at? Has anyone been scoping these? Are they maxing at 5ms, 6, 7, what, because people cant just throw the next injector size up in there as it may have to much fuel even on its lowest possible duty cycle. We need to know the ms that these are supposedly limited at.
Fourth- Does anyone think bad news is really making a 7psi boost tune (at least mine does 23) and they didn't check for duty cycle problems at 3k when the car can do like 6k? My thought would be that this is the simpliest of things for someone who programs software for a living is to make sure people aren't going to max out stock fuel capacity with one upgrade. I cant imagine that they'd sell a tune and not immediately say , "oh ya you cant drive the car now unless you buy injectors and another tune"

Just my thought. I'm just hoping its not the turbo diaphragm issue that comes up with the diagnostic chart for the p0299 and the issue the cruzes had

 

[Larrymer]

Have none of you sent a log to your tuner?

And to the guy above, no, don't get another intake to "fix" the problem. If your car runs like crap on a stock intake, there's something else in your tune that needs fixing. Fix one thing at a time rather than possibly induce another problem/variable.