Koi, they look gorgeous. If they were fouled by a rich fuel mixture they would appear blackened and smudgy..... Oil fouling (believe it or not) is a crusty white build up...... A plug that is too hot will have blistering on the insulator (the white part that the tip protrudes from)...... Ideally a plug should have a light straw colored insulator. The plugs in the picture look as if they have only been in the car for an around the block trip... Are these the cold plugs that was installed at Kraftwerks?

 

Yes, they were installed while I was at KW. Oh well, if they are in good shape I'll keep them on hand for the future if needed. They are a bit blackened so I was wondering if that was normal or not - do you mean the tip of the electrode being blackened?. In any case, I got the .32 gap version of the plugs in - so far I don't think there's any difference, maybe a little smoother while accelerating. Unfortunately my mpg has been worse than the last tank so far it seems - almost hitting the 1/2 tank mark (maybe 1/8" left) and have 90 miles on there so far. If I'm lucky I'll hit 110 miles by the 1/2 mark. The last fillup I got 120 miles by 1/2 tank.

My plan right now is to run a tank with the BG44K cleaner and see what it does if anything in regards to my mpg - if that doesn't work, it's off to the mechanic to make sure my fuel system and lines are working correctly.

 

Koi your plugs in the picture look great and you said it pulled well to 65.....I am bumfuzzled. By the way that your plugs look you are not running at all on the rich side and if anything maybe a tad bit lean. Does it seem that you are having to use more throttle to maintain speed or accelerate? .... I forgot that you said that your car has never gotten good mileage.... It is possible that you have carbon built up in the combustion chamber from the slow break in and the taller gearing of the automatic transmission...... Using something like Marvel Mystery Oil along with Berryman's B-12 or other injector cleaner at double the recomended strength before a fill up while the tank is low add a gallon or so of gas to mix it a bit and drive the hell out of it. When you park it overnight, put in gear, hold down the brake pedal, give it as much throttle as you are comfortable with and then putting the pedal to the floor turn off the ignition .... This isn't an insane ritual but a way to soften up the carbon deposits with he oil and cleaner.. What I think is happening is that our timing isn't advancing properly due to heat retention and possibly even pre ignition (pinging) from the carbon..... I remember that you changed from using regular to premium fuel prior to getting the super charger and regular fuel is generally low in detergent content and allows build up. Try driving in a lower than normal gear and see if that aids in cleaning things up.

 

Thanks for the advice Texas Coyote. I'll be running a can of BG44K (Fuel Tech Experts :: We try BG44K and BG244! :: http://www.fueltechexperts.com) as soon as I get it in the mail - I'll post any noticeable results afterwards.

 

A wood rat ate the silicone rubber vacuum hose to my Super Card and it is a 100 mile round trip to get one. The worse of it is I can't take my car and have to drive an ancient pick up truck and I don't want to drive it. WHAAAAAA!!!!!!!

 

^ Sounds like you need to install a cat in your garage.

 

it's interesting that supercharging is the most popular FI method on the Honda Fit

 

Fuel Additives that you add into your system can greatly harm the performance of your engine. Please do NOT use pour-in fuel additives, cleaners, or snake oils. A good "top tier" gasoline is recommended and is the only thing required to keep your fuel system correct.

These additives can get attached to your spark plugs and affect performance. You may need to purchase new spark plugs if you have used the fuel additives a lot.

-Oscar Jr.

 

There were too many cars and other assorted projects in the way and my wife came home with a new Subaru Forester and took my spot..... We need some cats but for some reason my wife hates them..... can you imagine having a 40"X 60' foot shop and having to move stuff around to fit two Japanese cars in.

 

What about good electrician's tape or even duct tape??

 

or going out and buying some tubing...or pulling the washer nozzle tubing off and using that....come on think

 

The rat literally ate the hose. The inside diameter is something like 5/64" inch diameter. The closest sized hose I could get here and had on hand, was 3/32" and would have worked if it wasn't stiff and had almost twice the outside diameter..... This vacuum switch is actually not automotive, but a device that is sourced from the medical industry and very delicate, using a larger tube could possibly damage it. Maybe you need to think about that. ........ It wouldn't have been a problem at all if I lived in a large city, but then I wouldn't have wonderful hilly, curving roads to drive on and beautiful scenery to enjoy..... I actually enjoyed the drive, choosing to drive with the windows down on farm to market roads, loafing along at 1200 RPM.

 

Using a larger tube isn't going to hurt anything. As long as it seals, it will work fine. I don't care who made your sensor.

 

I'll tell you what Tater. Go take a look under the hood of a Fit that has a 5 PSI KWSC kit in it and then tell me how you could possibly use a hose that is commercially marketed for automotive use to work on the Super Card sensor.... Yes you are right about a larger diameter working, "as long as it seals"..... It is a very fragile part with a very tiny outside diameter connection and is located inside of the case that contains the electronics and could be easily broken and would be far more difficult to locate and replace the hose was. The hose I found at a hobby shop was a model airplane fuel line..... I still had to silicone seal it at the base of the fitting and the entrance opening in the case, just as the manufacturer did..... Some how this critical analysis of how I fixed my car reminds me of people that will tell a combat veteran how they would have fought a battle, when they had never been in one.

 

Yea that hose is pretty tiny. I'm afraid it's going to just snap off by itself haha.

My my, what a surprise today. My car's been running pretty badly lately (very rough idles, engine dying at stop lights), so I went and checked what could be the problem. Seems my breather tube (not sure what the exact term for it, but the one that goes from the intake tubing to the manifold connection) wasn't properly connected. It wasn't pushed in all the way and the zip tie just kind of fell off when I took that tube off. Every time I so much as nudged the tubing the engine died. Needless to say I put it back on all the way and put on a new zip tie, and now the car is idling just fine and hasn't died since; I just reset the ECU just in case. What would a leaking breather tube cause (in terms of engine performance), other than the symptoms I just described? Was the ECU reset necessary?

tl;dr the mechanic didn't install the breather tube properly - and I overlooked it till now like an idiot

 

Koi , The only one that I can remember using a Zip tie on was the vacuum line. with out vacuum the Super Card will cause you to be in open mode and putting the same amount of fuel through the injectors that you would with the throttle down and the boost kicked in.... Then again I'm not sure which one it is for sure either but judging by the effect it had, that is what it sounds like.... Don't kick yourself for missing it, after all you did find it yourself and you are learning about your car.... Besides that a zip tie isn't the best method of securing a hose, and you can testify to that.... Maybe it was pulled to tight and just finally petered out. I'll look over my car tomorrow and try to figure out which hose it is that you are talking about.

 

I think the correct term for the hose I'm talking about is the crankcase breather hose - it connects right under the BPV hose on the intake tube. It was loose right near the throttle opening where it is connected to the coolant piping. I'm going to take a closer look tomorrow and make sure it doesn't get loose again. I had no idea it being loose would kill the engine, or cause very rough idle (idle at ~600-1000rpm, with constant stuttering and dips in low rpm) - for a while I thought it was the battery connection or spark plugs.

 

Woah there, down boy!

It sounds like you replaced the hose all the way in to the supercard case. The point I was making was that if there was enough hose left over you could use a standard size male - male hose connector, some zip ties, and any extra hose you have lying around to extend it.

Adding a larger hose somewhere in the line between the supercard and the intake manifold can in NO WAY damage the supercard. Remember, the intake manifold is basically like a 4" diameter (or whatever the ID is, I'm too lazy to go measure it) tube. Does that damage the supercard?

There is no flow into or out of a pressure sensor.. It can therefore not be damaged except with excessive PRESSURE. Adding a different sized vacuum line won't change the line pressure.

That's the end of my argument. If you still think I'm full of it then we can continue this discussion via PM without cluttering up an otherwise helpful thread. There is no need for a lengthy explanation of how someone is a bad person here.

 

explosivpotato is a helper not a hater... that being said... i think he is suggesting that you use the larger hose to "splice" the damaged section of hose with some male-male... fittings... makes sence... ----==----
my suggestion is better tho... just pray and light candles.... helpfull suggestions are well intentioned... no need to flame somone with a good natured disposition....
flame the jerks that hate for no reason....

 

explosivepotato is a stand up guy that has posted a wealth of information on this forum. Everything is peachy keen as far as I am concerned...... Flaming people, is detrimental to the flow of communication and exchange of ideas.... Definitely not a good thing to do.....