Engine bay updates.
Finally decided to install my Mazdaspeed plug wires over the weekend. What usually is a 5 minute job turned out to be a 2 hr job because of all the aftermarket crap I had blocking access to the plug wires.
Had to remove in order......
1. Cowl cover
2. Engine damper
3. 3pt strut bar
4. JetStream Sparkplug Cover
Couldn't fully take out the strut bar thanks to the longer studs on the Tein Basis coilovers.
Too bad these will be covered ...they look so good.
A few weeks back I bought these stealth black C clamps from Sure Motorsports for my AutoExe intake. Sometimes I think I spend to much money on dress up items.
Installed.
And....a month ago I decided to reroute the Map/Boost vacuum lines on the passenger side of the engine bay. I moved all of these solenoids and sensors to the back of the fuse box were they are kinda hidden.
Bracket that got removed.
The next day after doing this vacuum reroute I drove the car to the airport to drop off my roommate and the car lost all power as I was leaving the terminal..... no acceleration whatsoever. I was coming down a ramp so with the momentum i managed to roll the car down and pullover. I didn't turn off the car and the idle seemed fine...I popped the hood and went straight to my rerouted vacuum lines....I figured a line must of kinked or collapsed since I did a very sloppy job and kinda just jammed all of those lines in that corner of the engine bay. I jiggled and moved them around ....and went back inside the car and turned it off. I turned the car back on and rev'd the engine and I had power again. Ever since this incident the car has been running like crap thou.
Car idles perfect with no CEL but I have no top end power under hard acceleration. Exhaust sounds louder than usual. Most power seems to be lost at 3,500 rpm's and higher. I can't really get it to rev above 4,000 rpm's unless the car is in park or neutral..even then it only goes up to 5k ish.
I figured I might have a clogged cat so I purchased a IR gun to check the temperatures of the inlet and outlet spots of the cat but the inlet was cooler than the outlet. 315 F inlet 375 F outlet. So I kinda ruled that out...Unless those temperatures are too hot?
I also did other maintenance stuff to see it would help...clean air filer, replace old pvc valve, change plug wires, test camshaft sensor with a new one....none of it helped. One thing I did noticed a bit strange was that the vacuum cap that is located on top of the intake manifold near the throttle body was almost 3/4 of the way out. It must of moved when the car lost power.
What else could it be? Fuel pump? Clogged fuel filter? Timing belt skipped a tooth? Did my MAP/boost sensor mess up? or the vacuum solenoids connected to it?
Any help/suggestions would be great.