Will grounding the VTCs hurt performance?
02-27-2006, 08:55 PM
#1
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Will grounding the VTCs hurt performance?
I think this is the big question right here.
From what I've heard, the clacking of the VTCs isn't bad for the car, it's just an annoying sound. So grounding the VTCs gets rid of the noise, but DOES IT AFFECT THE PERFORMANCE? Will the car be slower? If the performance is affected? How? and by how much?
From what I've heard, the clacking of the VTCs isn't bad for the car, it's just an annoying sound. So grounding the VTCs gets rid of the noise, but DOES IT AFFECT THE PERFORMANCE? Will the car be slower? If the performance is affected? How? and by how much?
02-28-2006, 01:20 AM
#2
you heard wrong...the clacking is bad for the car. How long it takes for the clacking to become deadly to the VTCs is unknown but it can cause VTC failure which causes motor failure. Seen it first hand on two motors and have read about it from a few on here as well.
Grounding them does cause performance loss. I cant remember the exact numbers but Matt I believe ran on the dyno with it grounded and then ungrounded. The car will be a little slower but not by a huge amount.
it doesnt cost much to rebuild them (if you do it right...do it wrong and it can be quite costly) so I would just rebuild for now or if you can afford them buy new VTCs.
Grounding them does cause performance loss. I cant remember the exact numbers but Matt I believe ran on the dyno with it grounded and then ungrounded. The car will be a little slower but not by a huge amount.
it doesnt cost much to rebuild them (if you do it right...do it wrong and it can be quite costly) so I would just rebuild for now or if you can afford them buy new VTCs.
02-28-2006, 02:01 AM
#3
Originally Posted by Michael
Grounding them does cause performance loss. I cant remember the exact numbers but Matt I believe ran on the dyno with it grounded and then ungrounded. The car will be a little slower but not by a huge amount.
Originally Posted by Matt93SE
Just for grins, I had them run one with the VTCs grounded.. even though my car sounds like a deisel when they're unhooked, it's still obviously working!
The Blue run was run shortly after the green one- maybe 5 min. the engine was still cooling down obviously and we gained a bit more torque on the low end, but the high end just died altogether. As soon as the VTCs kicked in/shut off, there was an obvious 10hp loss and it got worse from there. at 6000rpm, there's about 15hp gone and at 6500rpm, there's 20hp gone.
The Blue run was run shortly after the green one- maybe 5 min. the engine was still cooling down obviously and we gained a bit more torque on the low end, but the high end just died altogether. As soon as the VTCs kicked in/shut off, there was an obvious 10hp loss and it got worse from there. at 6000rpm, there's about 15hp gone and at 6500rpm, there's 20hp gone.
02-28-2006, 11:20 AM
#4
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Hm, I've heard different things about the VTC problem hurting your engine. I heard that it was very rare for it to actually damage the engine, and that to repair the VTCs was $1500 or more (rebuild or replace i can't remember), so that the best idea is to leave them be and live with the sound, or just ground them. Am I wrong?
02-28-2006, 04:14 PM
#5
Originally Posted by hoyshnin
Hm, I've heard different things about the VTC problem hurting your engine. I heard that it was very rare for it to actually damage the engine, and that to repair the VTCs was $1500 or more (rebuild or replace i can't remember), so that the best idea is to leave them be and live with the sound, or just ground them. Am I wrong?
to be more in depth...I have seen two motors blown because of VTC failure personally. I have also seen about 3 or more people post on here with the same thing. We are a small group of members in the grand scheme of how many VEs are out there and we dont know how many others have had that problem. There have been more on here that have had them ticking for years though so
It is something that I wouldnt play with though IMO. Either ground them or rebuild them.
The rebuild kit and gaskets should run you about $60-$70 and will take you a good day to do. To me its worth it. There is a lot of info on here to tell you how to do them. If you are not comfortable doing it then yes it will cost you a lot of money to have the dealer do them for you.
Some have had failures after rebuilds but I think if it lasts 20K or 30K then you can rebuild them again. Its still worth it imo.
03-06-2006, 05:50 AM
#6
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Hm, well I don't have any technical expertise, so I definetly couldn't do it myself. I wonder how much of a problem VTCs are, maybe it'd be cool to start a poll or something...
03-09-2006, 04:28 PM
#7
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yeah my vtc's have been clacking for over a year now on my 94 se auto. The clacking would originially go away after I drove for awhile, but now its progressively getting worse. I am not comfortable spending a grand on this problem, but I don't trust my mechanical skills enough to do a rebuild. But I definitely agree that this is a serious problem.
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