I recently got a 91 stealth, Its my realistic dream car. I got it pretty good shape body wise. Interior needs a little TLC. Having a running problem where the car seems to be week then suddenly BAM kicks in hard like the Injectors are not spraying right. The car also back fires on deceleration, mostly little pops but sometimes there is a bang. Also after driving for a while then shutting the car off, it wants to die without a lot of gas. Research says its the ECU which i have not pulled and looked at yet, and as far as I know the ECU has never been replaced. The other thing I have seen people saying is the MAF could be bad to. Would the MAF or the ECU throw code if it were bad? MY car is not throwing code atm. I also read somewhere that if you unplug MAF and the driving improves that it is likely the MAF. Any help on this would be fantastic.

 

the MAF's don't usually go bad on these cars. Unplug the MAF. if it runs the same, then it could be a bad MAF.

If it was the ECU, it would be throwing a code.

Backfire on decel could just be a bad exhaust leak. When was the last time the spark plugs and wires were changed?

 

no idea to be honest, I checked the front set and they looked near new, the back set i havent dug into yet due to the pain in the but it is to get to them. I have unplugged the MAF and it seems to run better as well as back fire alot less. Its amazing how much of a pain these cars are to diagnose.

 

then you have an intake leak somewhere. Check the y-pipe that connects to the throttle body, that's the most common culprit. There's a rubber gasket that usually gets all boogered up, and if it's not snug in there, and tightened good, they have a tendency to pop off, and that'll cause the problems you have.

If it's fine, check the rest of your intercooler piping. Something blew off somewhere, and that's what's causing your problems.

 

Thank you for your help, I very much appreciate it. One other question if you dont mind. What might it mean if the running of the car improves with the MAF unplugged? I did some driving with it unplugged and it deffinitly drove better without it but ofcourse the turbos dont activate. I did minimum driving with it unplugged but i did not hear any backfiring.

Thanks again.

 

That means that you have an intake or intercooler leak. It means that unmetered air is getting into the system.

 

im with the girl on this one... There are also a bunch of vacuum lines on top of the intake plenum that might be cracked.