I filled the car up in FSJ a few hours before I left at the usual place...shell (we have no Chevron ) 91 oct.....I left town around 11:00pm (about a 12-14hr trip to vancouver legally).
About an hour into the drive I noticed that when I gave it some throttle the car would "buck". I didnt really think much about it at first until a few hours later getting into Prince George (roughly 3:30am) i had to stop at a light and the car idled terribly and I had to kinda pump the gas just to get going again. I pulled into a gas station and let the car cool down for a few and thought about the situation, and figured it was probably some crappy fuel.
Well it got worse, to the point when I put the clutch in cruising the highway the car stalled. So I popped the hood and remembered about the crappy connection at the airbox+air bridge connection(refer to pic)
So I tried to fit it on better, and the car ran better for an hour or so then started up again.....stopped for breakfast ( I had a co-pilot) and we discussed the problem...The car has never done this before, until just this night, always ran like a dream. So we figured it was either 1) fuel filter, 2)Most likely the mass air flow and/or crappy fuel. So we wrestled the connection got it on there best we could and its ran fine ever since (This was thursday night and friday morning btw), and the fuel gauge went to zero too for the first time ever .

So, It was obviously the air flow, but Does anyone have a picture of stock, becuase the PO or someone put in this K&N filter but its not done right, it just sits there and flops around and the angle is too much for hte air bridge to connect...heres the pic

Sorry for the story.

 

What is happening is that the MAF sensor is completely out of whack. The air is made to be drawn only thru and past the MAF sensor to calibrate fuel & timing with the air. Looks like some air is being sucked thru that gap in the pic where the coupler is not mating. This is putting more air in the motor and the MAF is not detecting it causing the sputtering/stalling. The angle of the airbox/tunnel is wrong which is why it keeps slipping off. You will need to re-angle the box or buy an aftermarket tunnel to keep the connections aligned and tight.

As for the gauge hitting zero, throw a bottle of Techron fuel additive for two consecutive fill-ups and run the top tier gas in it. Sorry I don't have a pic for the airbridge, but I'm sure someone will chime in here.

V.

 

If you need to seal that connection until parts are at hand, I would try some duct tape to at least temporarily stop the extra air/dirt flow. Worst case scenario, I would order a stock air box and filter and forget that "aftermarket" install. Just my two cents.

 

Yup, theres chevron all over the place down here, so I use them of course.
I was thinking of going with a vararam or honker or something of hte like anyways, so this is all the more reason.
Thanks

 

THANK GOD YOU DIDNT BLAME BAD GAS!!!!

You don't know how many times a day I hear about everyones Engine Problems because of "bad gas"

You'd think the whole dang supply in the US in tainted!!

Thank you Very much for diagnosing the problem before assuming bad gas.

Thanks for the heads up also incase that happens to me.

 

with the duct tape part.

 

Fix the air bridge fit and I'd bet the rough idle goes away.

 

While your at it check and clean the mass airflow sensor. (the little wires that span the inside of the maf)
If that's a new or freshly oiled filter you might have sucked some debris from the filter and it stuck in the thin maf wires.
There is a spray maf cleaner available. Checker, AutoZone, ect. should have some.

 

Duct tape is a good temporary fix. When I bought my car it had a K&N. Took it off sold it on eBay and fitted a Blackwing. Good fit w/ no problems. $.02 depostied.

 

Hey, Ya good thinking on the maf wires, I should check them out. I had all the connections apart at an a&w parking lot and the screen was clean and wire connections were pretty clean as well.
Does the black wing come with a new air bridge or is it just a filter?

I guess I could blame the gas for the gauge going wonky though right?

 

The Blackwing comes with a generous section of air ducting that you trim to fit.