8 replies to this topic

[garyk220]

This is a new one on me, so sorry for the long post. I took my car out to deliver a report and its the first time I've had a chance to drive it for more than 5 minutes for the last month or so. The first time I tried to accelerate from 40ish in 4th it felt a bit hesitant, as though it was low on fuel, but it has 25 litres plus in the tank. Then I pulled out to overtake a couple of cars, from 45ish in 3rd gear and it ran like a bag of nails, the EML flashed 3 or 4 times and then stayed on. As I finished overtaking it felt like it was running on 3 cylinders and the light stayed on. I pulled in, switched off and checked the connections, water and oil to make sure there was nothing terminal and then tried restarting it. It was fine, the light was off and the engine was running smoothly again. I thought I'd risk it and carried on to my destination another 20 miles or so down the road, being careful not to accelerate too quickly and the car ran faultlessly. On the way back I pulled out to pass a lorry doing about 40ish in 5th gear this time, being careful to push the accelerator gently and avoid the turbo boosting, and it did the same again as soon as I got to about 55, light flashing a few times, car running like a bag of nails and then the light remained on. Completed the overtake and pulled in at the next lay-by, switched off and back on and it was fine again. I'll not get a chance to look the car over till the weekend but I'm trying to make a list of things to check. - fuel; pump may be on its way out, in-line filter may blocked - AMM; may be dead - coil pack; could be water ingress - plugs; may be broken terminal on one or water in the plug wells Anyone think of anything else worth checking? I'll try to fire up my old PDA which has OBD diagnostic software on it to see if it has stored any codes. My first thought as it happended was a fuelling issue. But on the way back I gently accelrated up to 60-70ish without problem, dropped to 4th 4500rpm and still fine, then to 3rd, 5500rpm and still OK. So its not engine or vehicle speed related. I've had 2 or 3 AMM fail, and this was nothing like those. I don't think it is turbo or boost related as I can hear the boost solenoids bleeding pressure as normal on light throttle and the boost levels all look fine when idling and cruising. And the second time it failed I was accelerating so gently the boost did not register on the gauge. Running on 3 cylinders points to an ignition issue I think. It has been out in all weathers since January this year and we've had a lot of rain this last 4-5 weeks. Plus it is not being used very much, so the recesses in the head could be full of water. Coil pack would be the next obvious thing to check, but again it is fine at higher revs in 3rd, 4th if not accelerating. Has anyone had an issue with water in the spark plug wells shorting out the plug and causing a serious enough misfire to get the EML flashing and the leave the engine running on 3 cylinders. I'm leaning towards it being this, but it just sounds like too easy a solution. Although it would be great if I don't need to replace any parts to get it going again.

[techieboy]

Probably no help to you but my NA (when it was NA) would do something very similar when we were trying to run a 68mm throttle body on it. In my case it was triggered by a spike in the MAP sensor readings as I accelerated from a steady state partial throttle but not necessarily to wide open throttle. The pressure reading was too far outside the ECU's expected parameters that it would kick the car into limp mode. I think the rough running and lack of power that you suffered is the full on "limp mode". Stopping the car and restarting it would clear the fault and let it run normally until it faulted again. Ended up having to revert to the standard throttle body in the end.

[Gareth Jones]

I had the same problem last month pull the coil pack out and dry it. Then dry around the spark pugs. Take out the pugs and clean them up. Put them back in and spray wd40 over it all. If that don't work it is your lambda switch their about £80 from vhall. the lambda switch is easy to change. Vhall charged me £400 to all of this. But like I said I had more or less word for word the same problem. Vhall said this is a problem with a coil pack engine with water getting in. Dry and cleaning the pug solved the problem but what i have done now is put cv grease over top of the cracks of the engine. Good luck

Edited by Gareth Jones, 19 August 2010 - 10:21 PM.

[two4oneuk]

I've had the same problem for the last 18 months. Cant help but i have a similar problem that only appeared when i put a short belt mod on. Swapped back to the original set up and still the same. I've changed amm, coilpack, plugs, map sensor. Thought it might be the fuel pump but another one fitted and the same. New vxr injectors fitted then mapped and TMS and local dealer have tried to find problem but still the same. It rarly happens on road unless really really nailing it but happens every time i'm on a timed run doing a hillclimb or sprint just when you would like the car to run its best. The EML will sometimes come on and flash. When checked with my scan gauge it has stored no codes. When check at dealer it sometimes pops up with missfire at plug 2 or 3 or 4. Been recommended to change the ecu to see if that would help. The dealer could remove data from old ecu the upload it to the new one but if there is a duff file it would just get swapped over........i'm lost just like you.

Edited by two4oneuk, 20 August 2010 - 09:26 AM.

[Zoobeef]

I've had the same problem for the last 18 months. Cant help but i have a similar problem that only appeared when i put a short belt mod on. Swapped back to the original set up and still the same.

I've changed amm, coilpack, plugs, map sensor. Thought it might be the fuel pump but another one fitted and the same. New vxr injectors fitted then mapped and TMS and local dealer have tried to find problem but still the same.

It rarly happens on road unless really really nailing it but happens every time i'm on a timed run doing a hillclimb or sprint just when you would like the car to run its best. The EML will sometimes come on and flash. When checked with my scan gauge it has stored no codes. When check at dealer it sometimes pops up with missfire at plug 2 or 3 or 4.

Been recommended to change the ecu to see if that would help. The dealer could remove data from old ecu the upload it to the new one but if there is a duff file it would just get swapped over........i'm lost just like you.

Just guessing things here but inlet air temp related? Getting to hot or the sensor reading to hot cocking thing up?

If not if i were you i'd take it to courteneys or similar. they need to put it on the roaling road while connected up to see if they can replicate it and see what all the sensors and ecu map are doing at the time of the fault.

O.P: See if you've got any fault codes before going too in depth with guessing. Although coil and plugs are a good start

[garyk220]

Thanks guys. I'll keep my fingers crossed it is water ingress then. Matt, thats the first time my car has gone into limp mode, does it really feel like it is misfiring in the mode? I presumed it would just be down on power and probably not allow full throttle. Mine was accelerating in 5th gear doing about 65ish until I got far enough ahead of the overtaken cars to pull in safely and definitely felt like one of the cylinders was missing. Hope my PDA fires up after lying in a box for 3 or 4 years and I can remember the codes to synch the bluetooth OBD-II reader.

[spider]

Just had most probably the same problem, lots of rain in june caused a partial power loss and stuttering engine. partial throttle gave a normal engine but full throttle gave misfire and EML light. after several options were checked new plugs, all vacuum lines etc, exchanged my ignition with a buddy and problem gone, so try an exchange of the coil pack! since today I am driving around with a brandnew coil pack (cost me 300 Euro) but having fun again! here a few pictures of my ignition connections. http://picasaweb.goo...feat=directlink

[garyk220]

Well this morning I took the coil pack out and found plug wells 1 and 4 full of water. The plugs were submerged a couple of inches under water. I've syphoned off the water and dried the wells out thoroughly and left the coil pack out to dry all afternoon. It is now running fine after a quick test drive so fingers crossed thats the source of the problem. Not sure whether it has been a wet coil pack or the plugs trying to spark submerged in water, but I'll keep an eye on it and try replacing the coil pack if the problem returns. Until this year my car has always been garaged so I've not had to worry about water damage. I think I'll need to invest in a water ingress kit now, or make up a similar plate to cover the head and ignition. Does anyone have a picture of the kit installed on the engine cover or better still dimensions of the plate?

[jbudgie]

Wasn't someone selling coil pack covers? Thought I'd seen them somewhere.