# CA18DET ECU problem?



## HachiRoku_UK (Dec 5, 2002)

Hi everyone! Has anyone got any info or experience of the problem I'm suffering.. A short while ago the battery on my S13 CA18DET suddenly failed. After a jump start it all seemed fine for the short drive home, then the next day the car was struggling to idle. Stuttering around 300 RPM and emmiting black smoke. It would smoke, missfire and fuel cut as if overboosted but at low revs nowhere near boost limit. After another drive to examine the trouble the car began to work ok again. Even the battery seemed to be ok and holding charge. Then suddenly @2 weeks later the battery failed again with the same result. I immediatly replaced the battery with a good quality new one. At fist there was no change accept the car started better, but was still acting up. Then it began to improve and became drivable but still smoked slightly under initial boost. A burst of high boost caused a puff of black smoke. The fuel cut problem stopped too, but it still idles slightly un-even, or hunts. The turbo shouldnt be failing it was reconditioned less than 10,000 miles ago, however I dont discount it. I have a big turbo ready but want to sort out this other issue first. Even so that would really only explain the smoke and you would expect it to be blue in that case. It is worth noting the problem only occurs after the car warms up some.
I suspect the ECU, the workshop manual I have is missing most the pages around this section (D'oh) but what there is points toward the idle mixture suggesting the AFM. Does anyone have any input?
Cheers Phil.


----------



## BlueBOB (Jan 29, 2003)

this may seem like a really stupid question, but how does your air filter look. If that gets to dirty, you're gonna get less air and that can cause smoke cause you're running rich, but that's in an NA car, wouldn't know about a boosted car.


----------



## boost_boy (May 25, 2002)

There's a bunch of variables involved especially when jumping a car! Possibly you MAF meter got toasted during the jump or maybe your water temperature sensore took a crap. You need to do a diagnostic test on the ecu and determine what codes are flashing. Then and only then will you be able to determine where to start looking for your problem at.


----------



## HachiRoku_UK (Dec 5, 2002)

Thanks for the replies. The air filter is ok, I fitted a K&N 57i induction kit and cone filter a short while ago.
As I said in the first post I too suspect the air flow meter is involved, I guess now may be a good time to fit a VG30 AFM; when I can find one.
Cheers.


----------

