Please help : BH body with ZL-VE Engine

dReam09 · Postby **dReam09** » March 23rd, 2011, 1:17 am

Good day to all!

Recently replaced my B6 with ZL-VE engine and notice the following;
1. First gear limits the speed up to 40km/hr. - Is this the normal?
2. Heard a sound in the manifold like its sucking air, same as the sound of air flowing inside the filter.
3. There's a backfire while rolling on 40km/hr and up, normal idle.
4. Upon testing and putting my engine on its limit my average fuel consumption is 8km/L. My first week consumption after i had my ZL-VE engine.

Actually, the reason with i choose ZL-VE engine is that it produces 128HP close to BP engine with an average fuel consumption of 12km/L. Appreciate your thoughts as i want to improve the performance of my engine. Thank you in advance.

mazdamig · Postby **mazdamig** » March 23rd, 2011, 8:29 am

i install the ZL-DE in my BH. Sound like u need to check the wiring and do a diagnosis.

dReam09 · Postby **dReam09** » March 23rd, 2011, 10:16 am

thanks mazdamig for the reply.

ouch! shall i redo the wiring all over again or there's specific part of wiring which i should check/diagnose first?

btw, what's the top speed for your gears? 1st gear = ?km/hr, 2nd gear = ?km/hr and so on... just to compare my engine performance from yours. and do you have a wiring diagram of zlve? can i ask for a copy?

other gurus and zlve owner out there, appreciate your inputs. thanks a lot!

mazdamig · Postby **mazdamig** » March 23rd, 2011, 3:55 pm

check the wiring for the auto tranny. Check for a vaccum leak and than use a diagnostic tool to check all the sensors

nareshseep · Postby **nareshseep** » March 23rd, 2011, 4:43 pm

http://www.locost7.info/gearcalc.php

http://www.protegefaq.net/

Will check the speeds for 1st gear, but that sounds about right, are you using manual or auto, did you get the ecu also? zlve has extractors, dont know if thats the sound you are hearing, I have an SRI and there is constant hissing sound, this engine NEEDS 10W30 for the vvt to activate properly, 20W50 will have it feeling slugish, I run mines with premium and for 150$ to fill from 1/4 and get 350-380 km and thats with heavy footed/traffic. approx 9.7 km/l . If you take ur time and with gentle acceleration to about 3k , and have speed between 100-120 km, you can squeeze a 420 out of the tank

dReam09 · Postby **dReam09** » March 23rd, 2011, 9:53 pm

@Thanks mazdamig, will do the checking this coming weekend.

@Thanks nareshseep for sharing. My tranny is manual and got the engine with ecu and extractors(exhaust manifold right?). Yeah its a hissing sound and it gets louder as rpm gets to step-up. Will also change the engine oil to 10w30. For the gas consumption the 8km/l is heavy footed and traffic also, since the engine got stock-up for maybe 4mos or more and using it just for a week now, i think it just need sometime to reach its top performance, needs to shag-off some rust to perform well. hehehe! Is this right? Thanks again!

mazdamig · Postby **mazdamig** » March 23rd, 2011, 10:37 pm

Zl-VE manual in a BH 323 u have to join the crew. i want to see how your car working

"First gear limits the speed up to 40km/hr. - Is this the normal?" i think this a normal for a manual tranny

nareshseep · Postby **nareshseep** » March 24th, 2011, 11:27 am

A quiet muffler will help with performance believe it or not, this 1.5 engine has larger injectors than the 1.6, 290 vs 160, so there is not much you can do to get better mileage...I find if I drive hard I get better mileage ... ie, reach there faster less time on the road= less gas...

dReam09 · Postby **dReam09** » March 24th, 2011, 11:47 am

@mazdamig, what's the crew name? will post a video of the engine performance once i resolve the problem.

@nareshseep, good point. a stock muffler or a chambered one? Right now, i'm using a free flow tsudo.

to all gurus, any additional thoughts/experiences on the engine? TIA!

dReam09 · Postby **dReam09** » March 24th, 2011, 12:03 pm

btw, what's the best tube size for short ram intake? aside from that, any list of good upgrades for engine performance that won't affect the fuel consumption drastically.

mazdamig · Postby **mazdamig** » March 26th, 2011, 8:16 am

2.5 inch pipe for the short ram intake

nareshseep · Postby **nareshseep** » March 26th, 2011, 2:50 pm

dReam09 wrote:@mazdamig, what's the crew name? will post a video of the engine performance once i resolve the problem.

@nareshseep, good point. a stock muffler or a chambered one? Right now, i'm using a free flow tsudo.

to all gurus, any additional thoughts/experiences on the engine? TIA!

I will suggest autoexe, fugitsubo, megan racing mufflers the chambered ones, when I switched from straight through to a chambered I got increase in low end torque. ie between 1-3k rpm. Some may say straight through is better ... try one out and make ur decision

dReam09 · Postby **dReam09** » March 31st, 2011, 7:11 am

Thanks a lot mazdamig & nareshseep, appreciate the help.

Btw, does anyone here has a picture to lead me where's the solenoid of vvti for ZL-VE?

mazdamig · Postby **mazdamig** » March 31st, 2011, 7:25 am

top of the engine under the plastic cover

dReam09 · Postby **dReam09** » April 5th, 2011, 12:29 pm

mazdamig wrote:top of the engine under the plastic cover

Thanks thanks!

redpoison11 · Postby **redpoison11** » May 12th, 2011, 12:19 pm

dReam09..

Finally, a another fellow zl-ve user..

I also swapped for the same engine.. I find it fun to have it installed into my Ford Festiva a.k.a. Kia Pride CD5. I am just intrigued, you have acquired your ZLVE originally with STOCK ECU for a Manual tranny? we'll man, I wanna get 1 like that ECU..

Naresheep is right,this I have observed that everytime I drive it hard but (not that very hard), I get better mileage. But, when I drive soft on the pedal i get bad fuel consumption. I don't have any theories on this yet, but it amazes me..

It's been a while since I got the chance to log in again.. I have been to a lot out of town projects lately...

Naresheep has always been the guy for me to turn to when I had questions on my engine.. :wink:

kudos to your sir..

nareshseep · Postby **nareshseep** » May 14th, 2011, 6:41 pm

Thanks for the kudos redpoison11 but the knowledge I have gained on my car couldnt be possible without the help from mazdamig, ghostbusters, maztune, brian khan, red bwoy, wildcard26... to name a few.