New here, ae111 balcktop problems

[Brian_2011]

Hi guys, my name is Brian & im from Ireland, i have just bought a 1996 JDM Levin ae111 with the 20 valve blacktop motor. Ive been haveing a slight problem & was hoping someone can help me out.

Firstly the engine has the following mods:

-panel filter
-performance clutch (make unknown)
-TRD leads
-HKS header & exhaust
-aftermarket cams ( so im told !!)

Re, the cams i was told the car has aftermarket cams but im not sure if it does or not so last night i removed the rocker cover to look for any tell-tale markings. All that was stamped on the cams was AGK and the number 6 , both in different locations. Does anyone know if they are oem / aftermarket ? the cam gears appear to be oem.

My main problem is that the engine is hesitating / missing around 3k rpm. It does it while going up the revs & also when revving down, always around 3k rpm, it will miss for a second or two & then take off like a bat out of hell !! . It wont do it when in neutrel, only when the car is under load & the more load the worse it does it e.g. accelerating from 2k rpm in 4th gear. It doesnt happen at all really if i accelerate hard from a standing start through every gear. It does it worst when the car is warmed up so im guessing its a VVTI problem as the VVTI doesnt cut in on a cold engine. Also the exhaust is very black/sutty which suggests overfuelling. Lastly there is a big velcro patch on the steering column cowling and some empty plastic clips so im thinking maybe there was some kind of piggy back ecu on the car in Japan but was removed by thieving scum during shipping.


i plan on bringing it to a tuning shop as soon as i get some funds together (spent a little to much over x-mas ) but im hoping someone on here has heard of this before & there is a simple solution.

Any help will be greatly appreciated guys,

Cheers, Brian.

[Levin]

hiya fellow irish levin owner

if a car has cams and also header and exhaust etc, most benfits will be gotten from apiggyback ecu, i know a few with the apexi safc II unit in them, also i sell them and other apexi stuff.

another prob is that the car is designed for 100 fuel where as u are prob using 95 or so, so this will cause detting in the engine.

also ive never heard of that made of cams before, some of the better ones for the 4A-GE 20v are TODA racing ones

[Brian_2011]

Originally Posted by Levin

hiya fellow irish levin owner

if a car has cams and also header and exhaust etc, most benfits will be gotten from apiggyback ecu, i know a few with the apexi safc II unit in them, also i sell them and other apexi stuff.

another prob is that the car is designed for 100 fuel where as u are prob using 95 or so, so this will cause detting in the engine.

also ive never heard of that made of cams before, some of the better ones for the 4A-GE 20v are TODA racing ones

Hi there

i thought of the fuel issue already, but the problem is tempermental, sometimes it does it bad & then other times it is barely noticeable !!

Re: apexi safc II, i was under the impression these units dont work well with blacktops ecu, that the ecu is too advanced & will override the safc mods to fuel curve etc, something to do with throttle position in open loop modes.

Where would you think is good tuner to take the car to be looked at, i am in the south east area.

Cheers

[Levin]

extreme autos in waterford is the cloest to you, they have installed the safc II to a trueno bzr last year i think.

you can also go for the greddy emanage setup but very expensive

[Brian_2011]

come on guys,


anyone got any suggestions to my problem ?

anyone got an idea re the cams ?


Cheers

[CorollaCruiser]

did you find out the culpret in the end, i have a levin, bzg blacktop and have no mods as far as i know of, and my car is doin the same ! it starts arnd 2000 up to just above 3000, but mine is usually when it is cold, any advice very appriciated, cheers

[Michel H]

There are lotsa BT's around with these hesitating/bogging problems. My BT does it around 3200rpm , mostly when warmed up. It's only for like 0.5sec and not really a big powerdrop or something. Also when cold just after start up it makes this weird "tick-tick" sound and it always dissapears after about 1minute or just 1mile.. I've heard alot about faulty VVT poulys so who knows..

yada
and..
blah
and..
woot

[thespud]

Yeah, my first guess would be the VVT cam gears... Maybe they have gone bad...

[katopunk]

Hi, anyone around can share their experiences on tuning/setting the SAFC2 on blacktop 20v? my blacktop's with toda 272 high cam.

engine got prap, prap, prap sound. with aircond OFF, it idle nicely at about 1.1k. but with aircond ON, it idle at 700 to 800 rpm. i don't remember. which makes the car chocking. cannot breath properly. need to mantain throttle to 1.1k.

any solutions?