I've now run through 1.5 tanks of gas with the change (additional grounding wire). The first tank I left the vfad off but had the grounding kit installed. For that tank I traveled 173 miles on 13.1 gallons of fuel (all city driving). That gives me 13.21 mpg, which is right in line with previous tanks. For the most recent tank I installed a replacement vfad solenoid (just to rule that out as impacting anything), and I've gotten around 80 mi through half a tank...so it doesn't look like additional grounding has helped gas mileage much.

The idle seems to be the same if not a little more rough. When the AC is turned on I get a big dip in RPMs, and just a standard idle with everything off feels like it's got a little more rumble than normal. That's with a 4 awg ground line running from the battery's negative terminal to the bolt on the AC compressor.

Any ideas? Is there a way for me to check for grounding issues under the hood with a multimeter? Or is there something besides grounding that could be causing issues?

Thanks for the help, everyone. I'm kinda stumped on this one.

 

I'm now 7/8 of the way through this tank, and I've got just under 160 mi on it. Definitely not an improvement, and possibly a step in the other direction. I have noticed a high-pitched whirring sound linked to RPMs right when I start the car up. It goes away after a minute or two, but there's consistently a noise similar to pump cavitation or bad bearings coming from behind the glove compartment. It sounds similar to the "marbles in a blender" issue that I had in the past, but this is more consistent (and I have the orifice installed in the heater hose, which previously had fixed that issue for me).

I'm not sure if that's related, but my idle is definitely as rough as ever. It's getting colder here, so that may start to have some effect too.

 

Hm,

So, to review the bidding...

New Engine, Cleaned MAF, Cleaned ESS, Good Grounds, Good Alternator, Good Battery, Good Fuel, Good Ignition,

If it were me, I would hit it with a can of fuel injector cleaner for giggles and grins, then start looking at fuel pump. I suggest a way to gather some data as well. I like the ultra gauge. You can watch fuel trims and see if they wander a great deal (fuel pump indicator). It will also give you an idea of instantaneous mileage, which you can use to see if something you are doing is causing an issue.

How old is the CAT? If plugged, or with media rattling around, it could be causing issues, and it is below the glove compartment. Is the floor warm, or the shifter warm?

 

I've got the TorquePro app and a bluetooth ODBII reader...is that enough, or is the ultra gauge a better option? I'm pretty sure I can see fuel trims with Torque.

The CAT is original, so has roughly 70,000 mi on it. The dealership said it was "good inside and out" when I asked them to open it up and look, and that was 2000 mi or so ago (assuming they were telling the truth and actually visually inspected it). I haven't noticed any more warmth in the center console (or shifter) than usual. It's always been a little warm inside the cupholders, but that's dated back to when I got the car.

I'll see if I can pinpoint the source of that noise a little more closely next time it's cold and I start it up. In the meantime I'll set up Torque to record fuel trims for me. Anything else I should be logging?

 

Okay the high pitch whirring noise is definitely the air pump. Still can't tell about the other bearing/cavitation noise.

Also, it looks like some squirrels decided to take up residence under my hood and chewed up a whole section of the cloth liner...bunch of jerks.

 

Here's a picture of rodent damage:

https://i.imgur.com/2pszDpj.jpg

They should be paying rent.

I also uploaded a video that I took under the hood. Check from the ~20-25s mark on to hear what I think might be the sound I'm hearing when accelerating. Almost sounds like something vibrating? I do not remember hearing this sound before (although it's possible it was there), so it could be something I did while installing the grounding kit.


And one more watching the idle. It's hard to get the extent that the car is shaking from the video, but a good set of headphones tells some of it through the bass. I flip the compressor on/off a few times and then the lights after that.


I'm close to the end of this tank (169 mi so far), so I'll throw some fuel injector cleaner in tomorrow morning right before I fill up.

 

Threw in a bottle of fuel injector cleaner yesterday and filled the tank up. I plugged my OBDII reader in and logged a handful of things with Torque for a trip to work and then back home at the end of the day. These are pretty typical drives for me and should be making up the bulk of my driving. I made a bunch of charts comparing each value to engine RPM:

Trip to Work

Trip Home

I'm not sure what the normal values are for a lot of these things, so I couldn't really pull much out of it.

 

This may not be an extreme enough variance, but I don't think I've seen anyone referring to alignment or tire pressure. Have you had an alignment done since the issues have risen, and is your tire pressure at or above 32psi all around?

What about air filter? Has that been checked and replaced? Simple stuff, but I find it's easy to look for more hidden problems even while the common ones stare us in the face.

 

I definitely hear you there; I'm looking at anything and everything at this point.

Tires are one thing I forgot to mention - they were replaced around 6 months ago. At that point they should have been aligned, and I keep them around 34 psi normally. I haven't noticed any abnormal wear or change in gas mileage from the old set to the new one.

Air filter was replaced at the end of last year, and I swapped it out for a K&N reusable filter just a month or two ago.

 

And thanks again to everyone for reading through and helping, it is much appreciated.

 

You know... I've never had it before, but that rattle kind of sounds like the whole "marbles in a can/miac" issue with the SSV.. Anyone wanna corrrect me?

I had a similar revving issue that ended up being ignition related... Have you tried with some working good OEM coils and healthy plugs by chance? Also what type of new wires did you get to pair with your BHR ignition?

 

So I had the marbles-in-a-can sound before, but after installing an orifice in the heater hose it seemed to go away. This sound is similar from inside the cabin, but seems to be coming from further behind the glove compartment (and maybe more centered) than that noise. When I hear the sound with my head under the hood it's a little closer to a baseball card in bike spokes. Very strange. I'm going to use a piece of tubing and see if I can narrow down the source of it.

I got my replacement wires from Charles at BHR, so they're the same ones that come with the kit originally. I haven't tried with stock ignition coils since before the engine was replaced, but my ignition performance was pretty consistent when I switched to BHR originally. Plus I was on my second set of OEM coils/wires at that point. It's possible I've screwed something up with the ignition system, but it's seemed to be pretty consistent across multiple installations (with the exception of one stock coil that was bad out of the box).

 

I hate to necro-post (no, really. I do), but I feel like posting here in order to provide some historical information to the group. Here goes:

I bought this guy's car. Of course he didn't mention the idle or noise issue (to be honest, any idle fluctuations are almost entirely unnoticeable to me so maybe he thought he fixed it), but I believe I've found the root of the ticking issue.

One of the spark plug wires (whichever is from the rear most coil) has been rubbing against the dip stick tube, and appears to be intermittently arcing to ground. I'll add pictures as soon as my replacement wires and retainers arrive and I can get in there with a camera.

The wire routing seems like it was designed deliberately to interfere with the dipstick.. it's weird. I'll update with pictures so you all can see what I mean.

 

OK, so I went under the hood today before my drive to work and adjusted the spark plug routing and used some tape to keep the wire from rubbing on that bastard dipstick tube. Ticking or "baseball cards in bicycle spokes" (also known as the sound a spark plug wire makes when arcing) sound is gone, and the idle is perfect. I mean, really perfect.

I took a short video after pulling into the parking lot at work:



Now on to BHR to get some new wires, since it appears that OEM fitment wires won't work with these fancy coils. Anyone have any information on where to get wires for BHR coils? Are they stock fitment for some other vehicle, or totally custom?

Speaking of coils, I noticed the coils have little heat sinks on them. Neat.