Hi guys, after replaceing the ecu over a week ago now i thought all the problems with the car had finaly been put to bed! boosts well and no more random cut outs, it runs like a dream!! - It drove perfect for a week and a bit, then today *blat* it dies on the motorway for no reason again. :rolleyes:
Any ideas on where i go next, i feel this is going to be one of those hard to diagnose problems as it works more than it doesnt, on the plus side im running out of things to replace!
So far i\'ve done the following:
Replaced plugs & leads.
Cleaned and Reseated Cables from battery to 100amp.
Installed ground kit. (includeing one on the Ecu)
Cleaned the throttle body and the ICS with carb cleaner and tested for functionality.
TPS has been checked and is within spec.
Replaced vac hoses and check valves.#
Replaced ECU.
Checked the sock on the fuel pump, and cleaned its ground.
Replaced fuel filter (and got a mouth full of high octane fuel)
I\'m thinking of going down the route of Ignitor, Coilpack then Fuel pump. After that i think im looking at the loom! I can\'t see it being the loom, as it\'s not a case of the car dies when ever i go bump, and trust me it goes bump. I do however have a HKS Turbotimer that has lost a cap! (but it runs fine, i think) im going to remove this anyway.
Anyone have any random off the wall ideas/divine inspiration? or do you think im going down the right track. im close i can feel it..
Can you describe how it failed? Was it a refusal to rev cleanly followed by he revs dropping down to zero or did it just cut out?
sudden death could be fuel pump happened to me on M62,new walbro fitted 45 miles earlier - a faulty one according to Pip who fitted it -all of a sudden no power :2eek in middle lane scary
Exactly! mine just goes \'dead\' Complete loss of power. feels like somebody has just turned the engine off, funnly enough on the M62 in the fast lane(HAH rush hour) this morning. Rolled to a stop, turned the car off, started it back up stright away! im 99.9% sure i am running on the standard pump, is it possible for these to run fine then \'stall\' then resume function?
just to clarify, at the time i randown, while the gear was still engaged as i didnt want to lose brakes and steering on the motorway. but if i was to dip the clutch the car would just rev down to 0 and die.
Sounds like its time to inspect the wiring to the pump too.... could be you have a chaffed wire, its creating resistance, getting hot and then you are not getting enough oomph to drive the pump...
i\'ve never had fuel pump problems before, Is that the kind of symptoms you would have if the fuel pump was to go offline, just a nice smoth death rather than a dramatic one?
Not sure, usually the engine will stutter slighty before dying if its fuel related...
So the engine cuts out? Do the dash lights come on? (i.e. engine HAS stalled).
If so, will it bump start? If not, while still rolling, can you switch the ignition off, and then switch it back on, and bump start it from that? If so, it sounds like it might be a relay: the switching off of the ignition and switching back on re-triggers the relay.
Quote from: leoni\'ve never had fuel pump problems before, Is that the kind of symptoms you would have if the fuel pump was to go offline, just a nice smoth death rather than a dramatic one?
mine was instant,no warning just no power,wouldnt restart - lowloader back to wgt on a cold/wet sunday earlier this year
No lights come on to the dash (if it hapens tonight ill double check the lights) until it\'s roled to a complete stop. I have bump started the car a few times in the past while its still rolling, but i cant remember if i just droped the clutch let it die then re engaged, or if i had to key off key on. If it is the relay which would it be that i need to check/replace.
im an idiot, Fuel pump relay at the front :Hammer
Don\'t start assuming that that\'s at fault, but it may explain what the problem is, so it is certainly worth checking.
Oh i\'m not presuming, im just trying to figure out some way to limit this down to a component thats causeing the problem, or make the problem make sense. With it being an intermitant thing i cant realy do the usual checks such as resistance. Am i right in saying that there are two relays on the fuel system the circuit relay and the fuel pump relay.
Does the circuit relay do anything else other than the fuel pump?
As if i understand this right:
The Circuit relay provides power to the pump, (on/off) and the fuel pump relay controlls exactly how much juice gets to the pump via passing it through the fuel pump resistor.
But what i cant understand is why would the circuit relay disengage, and i cant see the fuel pump relay causeing this, As its either off or on, being off would just force power through the resistor, I Think, unless it gets halfway inbetween? but that could be said for the circuit relay *crys*
Quote from: leonOh i\'m not presuming, im just trying to figure out some way to limit this down to a component thats causeing the problem, or make the problem make sense. With it being an intermitant thing i cant realy do the usual checks such as resistance. Am i right in saying that there are two relays on the fuel system the circuit relay and the fuel pump relay.
Does the circuit relay do anything else other than the fuel pump?
As if i understand this right:
The Circuit relay provides power to the pump, (on/off) and the fuel pump relay controlls exactly how much juice gets to the pump via passing it through the fuel pump resistor.
But what i cant understand is why would the circuit relay disengage, and i cant see the fuel pump relay causeing this, As its either off or on, being off would just force power through the resistor, I Think, unless it gets halfway inbetween? but that could be said for the circuit relay *crys*
You are correct, the pump only switches the resistor in or out, not the pump on or off.
Thank you Martiny,
So logic would say that if a relay was to fail it would be the circuit one, unless the fuel pump relays got stuck midway, Not sure if this is relevent or even possible as i have not had a look at the way its wired up yet.
Im a curious lil fellow aint i? :rolleyes: feed me knowledge :E
your logic sounds reasonable. Not sure if i\'ve ever heard of a relay getting stuck half way, so go check out the circuit relay.
A relay has a mechanical compenent so it is possible, but they should be good for about 50million operations or more.
It\'s not unknown for relays to fail though either. In operation, they\'re not a million miles away from solenoids, and they fail.
But its back to the intermitant nature of things, It could be a relay with it being so intermitant. something thats teetering on the edge of death. i think i need to check the wireing and give the relays a good look over or just replace them! because how do you test something thats intermitant? :3Confused
a friend of mine EVO RAY on here had the same issues cut out dead over and over. a sparky found some immediate problems with the wiring to the ecu and ignition area behind dash. sorted for a while then but kept blowing the extra fuse to the ecu (power) that the sparky had put in.
then the under headlight area caught fire! this was due to wiring for a hid kit going through a metal hole with no grommit and after chaffing for months every time the headlights went up etc it caught fire but luckily he was removing the front splitter just as the blaze started. another fix by the sparky and car is 100% and even been mapped.
So your friends still having problems? Do you know exactly what the cause of the problems were? Or were they just \'problems\' i seem to remember reading about the HID post a while ago. I guess im going to have to face the prospect of potentialy re doing the loom at somepoint, once the more easy accessable parts have been looked at.
i guess what im getting at are they the kind of problems if i run the engine and stick my hand up there and start wiggling around manicaly im bound to either get shocked or the car die? :)
nope all his problems are now solved after the repair to th dodgy wiring to the headlights, it wasnt so much and old loom problem it was what some japanese guy had done when he fitted - Tvs ariels, his kit etc had a ton of excess dodgy wiring thats all. get a good sparky to check it and it should hopefully resolve it if it is electrical.
the way my mate knew it was electrical and not mechanical is everytime it cut out the apexi lost power and turning the ignition on didnt turn the commander on
Ahhh! something like that would make this easyer to diagnose, the only diffrence is my car will start back up stright away.
When the car does go splat the rest of the electrics are running fine, I\'ve just had a thought however i have a knightsports EBS3 in the loop which has its own ecu harness but the wiring last time i had a look was just stright through for most of the ECU and in good condition.
Wonder if its worth spliceing a bulb onto the wire so i can see if that goes dead...
Quote from: leonAhhh! something like that would make this easyer to diagnose, the only diffrence is my car will start back up stright away.
When the car does go splat the rest of the electrics are running fine, I\'ve just had a thought however i have a knightsports EBS3 in the loop which has its own ecu harness but the wiring last time i had a look was just stright through for most of the ECU and in good condition.
Wonder if its worth spliceing a bulb onto the wire so i can see if that goes dead...
maybe not a bulb but use a tester on it when it happens. anything at all aftermarket should be a suspect assuming its electric which it seems to be as car runs normaly otherwise.
I think best bet for me is if i replace these relays first. The annoying thing is that the car ran perfectly this morning, i wanted to do a few little diags when it died on me.:Tongue1
As brett sid before, if it was the fuel pump, i think youd feel it stutter first before it died.
IT does sound more like either a spark related problem (maybe a dodgy coil pack, lead, ignitor or ground for the ignitor).
Quote from: leonI do however have a HKS Turbotimer that has lost a cap! (but it runs fine, i think) im going to remove this anyway.
Get rid of that ASAP! It sounds like ignition cut, which is exactly what these do ;)
Where about\'s is it? You sure you\'re not kicking it with your leg?
Either way, get that out of the equation IMHO.
it\'s under the steering colum, i\'ll hike it out. The only way it could get knocked would be if i knee\'ed it while changing gear etc. id laugh if all this was caused by a faulty Turbo timer :rolleyes:
Stranger things have happened!
A mate of mine thought his TVR was playing up all the time, with the throttle sticking sometimes, sometimes not being able to go all the way down and it feeling stangled... He changed the air filter, lubed the linkages, made sure it was all OK, pulling his hair out!
Turned out sometimes he was pushing the floor mats forwards under the pedal and causing all this greif for the want of a couple of mat pins ;)
Do the guages do anything weird when she cuts out? On mine the oil pressure goes particularly crazy if there are electrical problems. The more elctrical gremlins I fix the more stable and reliable it becomes.
Good luck finding your problem.
well the oil preasure gauge has never been the most reliable of monstors on this car. Upand down depending on load. But when it all dies usualy it just looks normal except the car has no go. im going to rip the Turbotimer out but when i get home im going to leave the car idleing and slap it around a few times. :Laugh
On the bright side im getting to do something i always wanted to do, get to know a car intermatly. next comes babys.
Lol. Gotta love em\'. I bought one because I was curious, with the intention of selling it after tinkering with it a bit. I\'ve had to learn so much to make it work properly I feel I really ought to own one to justify accumulating all that knowledge. Much as they drive me nuts....
My gauge goes up and down with load, but tends to go wild if the grounding or +ve feed isn\'t stable. I always get very tempted to re-wire the whole engine loom with _proper_ gauge wire and decent heat insulation, but it\'s such a nightmare of japanese inscrutability I very quickly give up.
only way you could feaseably do that is if you had a donor loom that you could copy, would be a great project but a real ball ache, i can already feel them acheing now..
LMAO. I get that feeling a lot working on the FD.
I like my FD. Nice and reliable. Couldn\'t fault her......touch wood!! (I don\'t want her breaking down on me this weekend! I\'m going camping in the new forest in her!!!)
Well i\'ve got to admit the cars fine mechanicaly, had a few turbo probs to begin with but that was just shot vac pipes. And i expect a few niggles with a car this age, Its an old car so i cant realy moan wires/rubber do degrade with time/heat. :Laugh
Well i riped the HKS Turbotimer out the best i could do, theres a little bit of funky whireing going on there. but for the most part it was through the optional loom :rolleyes: i have now developed a slight diffrent problem. rather than the car completly cutting out i lose the ability to apply more than minimal throttle! when i do it just goes pop pop pop pop, but idles perfectly fine. Key off, Key on, problem is gone. :xconfused Does this sound like it could be the fuel pump relay?