as of now my engine is running pretty rich. it doesn't smoke black at the tail pipe but it's running rich enough to sputter and stall out if i don't give it gas at idle. and when i press on the gas pedal it just sputters and hardly accelerates. i took to a shop for an engine diagnosis and they told me that the mass-air flow sensor was bad. so i replaced that and it's still doing the same thing. i even reset the computer. what do you guys think it is?

OH and im almost sure it's not a vacuum leak because my boost guage is reading pretty normal numbers and iv'e been getting REALLY bad gas mileage. though i could be wrong about the vacuum leak.

I NEED HELPPPP lol

Any SES light?

Mods?

How about a boost leak?

uhh no ses light! what does that mean? and no im pretty sure i don't have a boost leak because i can smell the rich mixture from inside the car. i have quite a lot done.

evo 3 16g turbo
38mm external wastegate
boost controller
greddy rs bov
3 inch cat back
high flow cat
mls head gasket
arp head studs
sbr exhaust manifold

any fuel mods?

Man i hope so, and hopefully a fuel controller at the least...

Check to make sure that the sensor is making a good connection.

To me it doesn't seem possible that you could run rich w/o fuel mods unless you are running like 10 psi on the evo III. In which case i would slap you silly.

no fuel mods. and im running 15psi now. don't slap me yet cuz i bought that turbo hoping to run MUCH more. everyone knows these cars are a working project. one mod at a time

If I had to venture a guess, a SES light would be Service Engine Soon

But then again you're running 15psi so I wouldn't expect you to be a brainiac...

man, im running 14.5 on a small 16g with a stock fuel setup, no problems here (anyone care to hazard a guess as to how much extra hp is generated@ 14.5 psi on a s16g? i was talkin to a guy last night about my car, and i felt like a moron when he asked me for some power numbers, and all i could come up with was "Uhhhhhh, i dunno. anywhere between 200 & 250.").

odd thing is though, now that i think about it, i seem to be running a little rich as well. not as bad as the OP, my car idles fine, but the exhaust smells pretty **** rich whenever i get a whiff of it...

wow!!! can you say oxymoron

are all the connections to the intake plugged in? did one vibrate loose? did you check the plug and wires for your MAS? one of these could be broken

okay for one: in response to the guy who just bashed me about being a brainiac, i just never heard of the CHECK ENGINE light being referred to as an SES light. so give me a break. sounds like you're the brainiac with cars since you've prolly never seen one cuz ur so good with cars. ANYWAYSSSS yes i checked all the intake pipes AND the mas wires and all that. im having a place do another check on it and see what they come up with

now i was introduced to a simple idea that for some reason i hadn't thought of yet. lol. would the MAS read off if the intake manifold gasket? cuz the shop did some vacuum tests and came up with some low manifold vacuum readings

did you checked the oxigen sensor? probably a stupid thing, but who knows B)

boost leak, a bad crack intercooler hose, 02 sensor, and open dump bov

attack just kinda nailed down what i was about to say

blow off valve is good. o2 sensor is good. i thought i checked all the intake piping but you can never be too sure. right now i don't have the car at home so i won't be able to look at those things again. but what about some kind of valve leak? like if the valve seals broke or something like that? could that make the engine surge and run rich and all that?

vacuum leak could cause your problems. because a vacuum leak becomes a boost leak during periods of boost. if it leaks one way it will leak the other way :thumbsup: