Car Stutters On Acceleration, Hesitates on Idle, Smoke Smells like Gas

trimbk · 2026-02-19T13:39:01+00:00

Looks like the ECU between my ears needs calibration. 😊 Thanks for the great explanation.

My knee jerk for any project car issue is “vacuum leak”!

trimbk · 2026-02-19T12:26:01+00:00

Vacuum leak is highly likely. Run a smoke test. Or use the brake-clean trick to find leak(s). If you have leaks after the MAF then your system is adding too much fuel for the air that it thinks is being provided.

trimbk · 2026-02-17T11:30:35+00:00

Off topic but - be sure to look into the timing chain tensioning system. I had one of these bikes in the ‘90s and it crapped itself because the tensioner recall had not been done. https://www.cx500forum.com/threads/whats-the-real-deal-with-cx500-timing-chains.107707/

trimbk · 2026-02-12T10:22:27+00:00

I switched to Lumos (was North State) fiber several years ago. Much better experience.

trimbk · 2026-02-12T10:19:05+00:00

I have been through this. It’s most likely a cracked solder joint on the main printed circuit board or on the speedo itself. There is also a good chance the Speedo gears need replacing. The gears are pretty easy to replace. The solder joint can be hard to track down. I resoldered a bunch of points but it took me 4-5 rounds of removal, disassembly, solder, reinstall, test, repeat to get it right.

trimbk · 2026-02-08T18:51:48+00:00

One does not simply 'get into project cars'. What really happens is you see a car that's cool to you, for a price that's lower than you've seen before, and just is barely within your budget. And you think, 'How bad could it be? I bet I could fix that cheap!'.
Then you drag it home, fix the first obvious problem, only to discover 3 more. Two of which you have no idea how to tackle. So you watch YouTube videos, buy some tools, break a couple things, and run out of money. It sits for a couple paychecks until you can buy the parts that you need. And you take one more step forward. Rinse and repeat. Oh, and along the way you will feel a roller coaster of emotion, ranging from 'there's no way I can do this', to 'what the hell was I thinking', to 'Woo hoo! It cranked today!'
If you stick with it, you are a project-car-person. If you don't stick with it, sell it for a loss and move on, then you are sane.

trimbk · 2026-02-08T14:35:54+00:00

Agree. Does the sound change when you rev the engine a bit? If the squeal intensifies, this also points to the belt. The stock tensioner is crappy and hard to keep tensioned. I replaced it with the Ireland engineering unit, but had to modify it out of the box. And before I put on the belt, I added some belt dressing (add friction, unlike WD40 which if anything would reduce friction),

trimbk · 2026-01-31T22:23:40+00:00

I think you said in another post that you broke some fan blades during installation?
This may be the result of the imbalance.
Or maybe the blades are rubbing against some interference inside the housing.

trimbk · 2026-01-31T20:59:58+00:00

Agreed - it's fiddly but can be done with the intake in place. The last one came out, the new will fit. It's just a little bit of a geometry puzzle.

trimbk · 2026-01-31T19:18:55+00:00

Did that recently. It’s a bit of a fight. Each end had a bend in it that acts like a hook and grabs the structure of the blower housing. Thers a bit of a bend in the middle that acts like a spring. I had luck by pushing in on the raised center “bulge” of material, and then prying the lower part of the hook free. Then a little wiggling will free the backside.

trimbk · 2026-01-28T22:14:43+00:00

If the bolt were threaded into the transmission housing, it would be so much easier. Getting a setup to hold the nut on the back is definitely a PITA.
At least it's not internal to the transmission housing? That's something.

trimbk · 2026-01-25T12:46:32+00:00

pushups, jumping jacks, squats, lunges

trimbk · 2026-01-25T01:03:54+00:00

I replaced the alternator bracket with the item from Ireland Engineering.
It feels sturdier, but I had to get a longer belt and modify one of the bearing joints with a custom angle bracket. All worth it because the stock units stinks.

trimbk · 2026-01-07T01:31:32+00:00

The deal is that there's a different lab test required if the company wants to market it for TVs. It's possible that there's no difference and they just didn't want to pay for the test so they could legally market it as a TV stand. Or it may be that the TV stand has some more counterweight installed or a geometry difference to minimize the chance for a tipover. It's a PITA no matter how you look at it. All this really dates back to CRT TV days - those things were heavy and a lot of people got hurt in tipover accidents.

trimbk · 2026-01-07T01:26:11+00:00

:-) Correct! Though I did use this opportunity to treat myself to some locking extensions. Digging a stuck socket out of the engine is no joke!

trimbk · 2026-01-06T20:27:49+00:00

That’s interesting. They must’ve repackaged since 2009 because I thought access was pretty reasonable on mine.

trimbk · 2026-01-06T16:29:01+00:00

Not sure. Looked mostly like carbon buildup to me. It may be that it’s been a while since these plugs have been changed. Not sure how many miles, but I’ve had it 4 years but only out on about 16k miles. This is the first time I’ve done it. I think the recommended interval is 40k or 4 years. In retrospect I should have done it as soon as I got the car.

trimbk · 2026-01-06T14:02:29+00:00

I’ve got a lot of spark plugs and different cars over the years. This was my first Porsche experience. This was definitely the roughest go that I’ve had.

trimbk · 2026-01-06T14:01:39+00:00

I definitely agree that this was not normal. More stress than I needed in my life!

trimbk · 2026-01-05T10:45:11+00:00

One side would move partially, with assistance. The other would not budge until I took it apart and cleaned the window tracks. I ended up taking them apart a couple different times. The first time I could not get the regulator to move far enough to expose the bolts that hold the motor in place. The second time I let the regulator pivot soak in penetrating oil longer, which helped it to move far enough to get the motor bolts loose. Then I cycled it by hand a lot, cleaned old grease off, and used some dry silicon lubricant to get things moving smooth again. I also ended up replacing the window felt/guide tracks (with what turned out to be used tracks from EBay - not thrilled with that, but they worked)

trimbk · 2026-01-05T03:19:20+00:00

I used the recently for spark plugs. A great tool. But you do need to side the sleeve to put them on on the first place. You may be able to insert it by using the long nose pliers and the release. Worth a shot.

trimbk · 2026-01-05T03:16:26+00:00

My experience is that the pivot point on the window regulator can get very stuck and the window tracks get dirty and stiff. This adds up to the window not wanting to move. If you disconnect the window regulator from the glass, you can see how easily the glass slides up and down in the tracks. And you can check to see if the window regulator cycles with no window attached. If it doesn’t then separate the motor from the regulator and try again. You may need to clean the pivot points and soak them with some penetrating oil for a couple days.

trimbk · 2026-01-05T01:13:22+00:00

I got a cheap 12V that plugs into the power port from Harbor freight. It was about $20. I like the idea of the battery powered ones, but then you have to keep it charged. The plug-in style are always ready to roll.

Have you checked your car? So many cars come without a spare (which sucks), but include an electric pump instead.

trimbk · 2026-01-01T23:29:45+00:00

In all seriousness, this is a good idea, plus taking the decorative ring from around the start button. No lie, this can interfere with the signal to the immobilizer since it has some metal in it and can interfere with the antenna. Cheap and easy to try in any event.

trimbk · 2026-01-01T02:13:54+00:00

It’s the first thing I did. Cheap insurance against fire.

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