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Well I can\'t see what else it is going to be other than water seal failure I\'m afraid to say. Ah cheers Prof, was kinda\' thinking along that lines. Weighing up the choice between rebuilding it myself(probably more my brother to be honest lol), or pulling the engine apart and sending it south for a rebuild and a bit of porting...DIY can\'t be that difficult surely?!

So it would appear the water seals have actually gone, its not some silly little fault. Plumes of white smoke with brand new plugs and still won\'t run. A new engine or rebuild, not sure yet. Need to have some money before I wonder things like that! So who is the main man for a rebuild then? Considering getting some sort of port done as well, but this isn\'t going to happen in a hurry - like I say, I need to save first. Probably sounds daft but I\'m guessing the engine can just sit dormant whilst I save money, I shouldn\'t have to drain it of fluids or that no?

Yeah, well my brother being a mechanic he\'s been through it all I\'m afraid. I mean everything, from putting the battery back to the front, to using it at the back, the injectors have been out and cleaned, put back in, fuel pump jumped for voltage, its flooding everytime it \'nearly\' runs, we\'ve checked the coil packs, the leads, made sure they are on the right way round...even checked the ECU for the cold soldered joints!  And the CAS wire is ok, the timing isn\'t out, swapped a good few vacuum hoses since they were all brittle.

 He\'s convinced its not sparking as it should be though, so I\'ve ordered (yet another) set of spark plugs just in case but...this white smoke isn\'t looking good.  He\'s gonna pressure test the coolant side also, that will put to bed the theory on a rebuild I guess.  But thanks for the input Grinder!

Run is probably a bad word to use...it attempts to run. I think I\'ll maybe get a video of it, it is awful. Just thinking the seals have maybe gone with this plumes of white smoke? Well it hasn\'t ran in long enough, can\'t really think of anything that would affect the starting of it if you get me!

Hello all. Got yet another update. Car is looking good! It is now lowered properly, I had to rebuild and paint my Panasports (never again) so have done that, put new discs, pads and braided lines all round, battery to boot, and shimmed the thermowax pellet. Only one problem persists however...it wont run! :@

So hoping someone could point me in the right direction. My brother is a mechanic, and he thinks it might need a rebuild . Money I don\'t have at the moment! So, got some symptoms...

The car will turn over, but won\'t actually start - fires slightly but never runs and makes a funny popping noise.
It floods. Then, if we deflood it, it will rev to around 2000rpm but dies within 10 seconds and it still runs like a bag of s**t.
The spark seems very weak.
There is also really thick white smoke coming from the exhaust when cranking.

It has new leads and plugs on it, a new battery, fuel pump...I know Grinder has said the ECU might be worth changing, so might try that. But does that sound like it is maybe just needing to be rebuilt? Mileage is circa 70k. Any help will be greatly appreciated!

This thread is not what I wanted to see this week, was planning on changing all my discs, pads, lines and rebuilding the calipers this weekend...! Haha. Glad you\'re getting sorted though!

Yes I see your point. My plan was to only have one big trip south for work at somepoint in the future - probably for a rebuild and map with a power fc. Hmm. Not sure what I will do now, a bit catch 22!

Well sods law has come into full effect, ordered my new brakes and all was well...then I get a phonecall to say that they only had one pair of rear discs left, and they were damaged so they were going to have to cast new ones for me. So that has scuppered my progress a bit. In the meantime...

I have just bought a boost controller - namely an Apexi AVCR Black - which has me pondering. I was thinking to just get a chipped ECU mapped for higher boost and an FMIC etc etc. Nothing too fancy. Will I need a fuel computer and wideband as well for this to work well? Just a thought considering we do not have decent fuel on these islands...:@. And whilst I\'m at it, anyone got a chipped ECU?!

Well to be fair I haven\'t actually contacted them, just had a browse on their website and didn\'t see anything. Haha, just read some of the threads on MRC! That\'s what got me to pull my finger out again! Although in saying that, if it still doesn\'t run properly after all of the work I\'ve done I don\'t know what I\'ll do!

Hello boys and girls. Minor update required I guess - after getting completely hacked off with my car, I started feeling sorry for it and got my finger out! So. I got to it. Removed the air pump and blanked it off, fitted a walbro, battery to boot, fitted my HSDs, got some wires stuck in for my defis and fixed my leaking wheel. Looking for a boost controller next, and about to purchase black diamond discs, pads and braided lines. Still got a few more things to do so I\'ll post pictures when I\'m all done. Anyone know where to get a caliper rebuild kit? Tried that biggred crowd to no avail

Haha, yeah it certainly is. That photo was taken after I\'d managed to stop my eyes running and stopped coughing and spluttering too! The spark is very weak across all coils and is very inconsistent, ie as soon as I try and let it idle it just cuts out again.  So must be something between the coil and the ECU I think, so a bit of tracing to do I guess! Joy.

Hey Prof, sorry for the serious delay in a reply but I\'ve been on nightshift. I did plug lead to plug lead, so I\'ll say you\'re right. However, I did get some new spark plugs and Magnecor KV85 leads and it did start last night.

As ever, there is always a but...

http://i1137.photobucket.com/albums/n506/davidgrieve89/070.jpg

As alarming as that looks, it isn\'t actually on fire haha. It\'s misfiring very badly and won\'t idle, however I am unsure if I have a consistent spark for now.  Will be my next port of call. Thought I\'d post up 2 teaser pictures also...

http://i1137.photobucket.com/albums/n506/davidgrieve89/025-1.jpg

http://i1137.photobucket.com/albums/n506/davidgrieve89/019-1.jpg

Also got a bit made up for the defis:

http://i1137.photobucket.com/albums/n506/davidgrieve89/023.jpg

More updates soon!

Ade - yeah, just hoping it will still work the same really! Hmmm...how mobile is mobile? Haha. It\'s a long way off yet though.

Grinder - Yes all my dash lights work, everything is working as far as I know but I\'ll have a check. I get solenoid clicking noises before I start but they don\'t carry on for anything like as long as mentioned in your older post! Mines literally turns and turns and turns but won\'t bloody catch and run! My \'French\' has improved greatly over this period. But thanks Grinder, anything is appreciated right now.

Lucus - Ohh I know you do and have been eyeing it up for a little while now but I honestly can\'t afford to right now, otherwise I\'d probably have bought it a while ago! Thanks anyway though.

On more of a general point, I don\'t think I have ever seen such terrible wiring skills as I have seen in my car.  I will post up pictures at somepoint of what I\'ve got, but it is absolutely shocking. I haven\'t done anything more with it other thank look at it right now, but it looks as if I will find (for example) a blue cable in the engine bay that will more than likely not be blue when it goes through to the ECU etc. But I shall not be beaten!!

A piggy back would work or a chipped ecu too. But if you can afford to I would go for a standalone unit as you can do what you like with it then. Only thing is with your location you\'d have to do the map yourself or travel a very long way on a base map to a tuner.

If you need an ecu to try I have a spare I think. I could send it up to you for postage. If it sorts you out you can buy it.

Ade

I would like to think I will eventually go for a power fc at somepoint but there is one major issue with where I live - we only have 95 ron...I\'m no genius but that will hold me back some I\'d think. So I\'m not sure what my best plan is, originally I was going to get a rebuild and possibly source a power fc and do the whole 24 hour journey once for a major bit of work.

I\'ll post up on here about the ecu Ade, gonna try some error codes and stick my multimeter in some places :2Confused

Thanks again Ade! This site is awesome.

have you checked all the basics ?

1 - good spark
2 - not flooded
3 - dead ecu ( dont even get onto me about that )
4 - Air Flow meter connected
5 - you are defo getting fuel ( you can prime it by the means of a connector in the engine bay .. i think its green )
6 - good set of HT leads

And then your into the head scratching stuff .. i spent about 6 months trying to get a car to start ... it was a dead ECU in the end

Well my trailing coilpack wasn\'t giving a spark, but it will run without that I\'m told. \'Deflooded\' it (that\'s my term for it) on tuesday night and tried to start it to no avail. ECU...hmm, put the s***s right up that has! I tried to get her going with the AFM connected and disconnect, again to no avail. Fairly sure I am cos you can smell it haha, might be worth a punt though. HT leads are coming home!

With regard to the ECU, I am planning to get an FMIC installed this winter anyways - is it a new ECU you get for that, or just a piggy back?  Thankyou Grinder!