96 tracker, no low end power, hesitates

[mrfoochie]

howdy folks, new to the forum and glad you are here... i have a 96 tracker
16v 5spd that idles beautifully, but has serious power issues in the lower rmps and hesitates badly out of idle... erg system seems fine, cap, plugs and wires are new, doesn't seem to miss, there are no vacuum or manifold leaks, the cat is good... but from 800 to 3000rpms it takes forever to wind out... post 3500 it revs like a champ, unfortunately i dont need a race car i need to get to work... thanks, christian

[tracka96]

What's your timing set at? Try advancing it to about 18 degrees instead of 5 to 8 degrees. 18 is not enough to hurt anything, but if it makes a big improvement in performance, your crank snout keyway and timing gear pulley, and key, are bad. Seems to happen to quite a few 96's. Tracka96 (Mark where your distributor is before you rotate it so you can put it back easily)

[brucebolivar]

I had the same problem here. I just got a 1997 Geo Tracker 4x4 1.6.16v.
I changed the plugs, wires, button and cap today. This fixed my problem.
I would say I had bad plugs. The plugs were worn to a gap of .065". They should have a gap of .028"

It made it work like a totally different truck.
.

[jtgh]

he said it had tune up?
you are in classic lean state. or
if ign timing is perfect then the car has an air leak or
the egr (mostlikely stuck open or clogged)
dirty maf sensor.

above 3500 , WOT is detected and throws in extra fuel curing his lean state.

but check big bolt 17mm on front end of crank can hear.
and that timing check on dizzy.
if both are good, then air leak, maf dirty or bad, EGR bad.

CEL lamp glowing.?

[bobby-gg]

jtgh can you give advice on how to clean the maf.

mine is the cone style one and I can't see anything to clean

Rob.

[jtgh]

advancing timing , willy nilly, would invite detonation, why risk that? ( no knock sensor either) it also invites valves against pistons if you have a loose crank nut, right?

looking at the crank end would be far safer , no?
In fact looking at the ignition timing first on any 16v engine is ,always a first good step.
if it is way off, stop and think, why is this happening. CRANK Cog , CAM belt ? slippage !
stop and look.,
Making more power on a sick engine ,makes no sense at all. IMHO (sorry)

MAF cleaning ( it gets coked up from road oil fumes)

ok , spray CRC maf cleaner from the side, where you can see the hot wire element.
do not use the straw , stay back 10 to 12 inches from the element.

I do not have calibration specs on this maf,
just 1 to 4 volts idle to WOT.
try to barrow or rent a full scan tool.

Here is my OBD1 hacking page (new). see first link for OBD2 examples.

full-scan-OBD2

not MAF is shows as % . percent of full throttle.

you can see all the parameters and you could save them and post them.

do it engine fully hot, coolant temp at full 200 deg. point or close and
rpm at 2000 , the do full log.
every thing can be looked at , MAF, and all sensors.

as you can see from my photos one can even measure O2 cross counts on the better
scanners , this will tell you how lazy the o2 sensor is. ( fancy, huh?)

on our car I would look for leaks from the MAF all the way to the intake valves
look at those 4 IAC/ISC hoses that love to crack due to lots of heat there.


is your car 1.6L or or 1.8Liter Sport , you did not say and these are 2 diff EFI engines.
1.8L has no DIZZY.


Do not reset the ECU codes, leave them be so we can:
look at the short term and long term Fuel trim.

STFT and LTFT.
if the car is running lean the readings will be all wrong,
instead of being to the left of center, they will be all too the right of center.
center is 14.7:1 AFR.
each scan tool presents this data different.
on OBD2 it is common for the numbers to be Plus and Minus.
but some scan tools invert that , just to keep me on edge.

a engine that is working correctly will be slightly rich. (on purpose)
so the EFI subtracts fuel and shows it as minus 5%.



here is my bog page , it has ever warning and ever step that can cause it.
why-power-loss

i hope.

[jtgh]

first hit on google.

Clean Your MAF


do not ever remove any screws from anywhere near the Maf sensor plugs.
just unplug it, and remove it.
and spray.

if you have a screen , you can try to remove the screen or spray thru it.
just be careful not to break the screen.

a flash lite examination will help you understand what is there.
just look.

the hot wire is like a human hair.
it runs red hot.
as air hits it ,it cools , this cooling is measured and is directly proportional to air flow.

the sensor is expensive, even $100 used.
so, use TLC.

there are 100s of web sites written on this subject.

[bobby-gg]

jtgh, you obviously misread my post about how to clean my maf.

I do know how to clean normal style maf's and I do know how to use google, funnily enough that's how I found this site.

But what I asked was how do you clean the CONE type of mass air flow sensor as fitted to the OBD1 Vitara's in the UK.








This is the cone type maf, as you can see there are no visible screws or clips holding it together, so that’s why I was asking how you cleaned them.

[jtgh]

I am sorry for that, ;-)

most posts, just ask where is my maf.. please forgive me.
that is one weird maf, double cone , wonder how it flows past the element.
it must have a serpentine path or some ports that capture the air somehow.?
cant just be shrouded the whole path, no way.

your are correct, it is glued together , it sure looks like it, as you know FSM just say replace it and never mention cleaning. $$$


most look like this. (nice xray view of a maf)


so we just measure it.

ill find color code , and send you print.

[bobby-gg]

On the first picture, the cone towards the camera is a moving cone, and looking at it the variable resistor must be located in the rear cone, but you can't pull the front cone out as this is too big to remove from the housing

I think I might pull one from a scrapyard to dissect and I'll let you know.

Rob.