Missing, no power, clouds of smoke !!!!

[MKNoble]

During a track day at Bedford Autodrome, which is particularly fast track, my car started coughing and spluttering and missing and all power disappeared when I tried to put my foot down. Also the red heat warning light came on although the coolant temp was fine.

I managed to limp home amongst clouds of smoke.

The cars starts OK but won\'t tick over.

Someone at the track day had suggested that the plugs might have burnt out so I had them changed but it made no difference.

I have tried disconnecting the battery and re-connecting it thinking I might be able to reset the ECU but still no joy.

I’ve noticed that all the power cuts when the boost gets up to about 0.5 bar.

I’ve had my local garage look at it and they think that the seals on the turbo might have gone, allowing oil into the engine, clogging the plugs and causing the clouds of blue smoke. However they don\'t feel qualified to work on the car.

Has anyone ever seen or heard of problems like this before and have any ideas what could be causing them?

Many thanks,
Mike.

PS: I had been running the boost at about 0.9 bar using a Knightsport EBS III boost contoller.

[Brett]

The heat warning is for the exhaust I belive.
However a knackered turbo would not account for the car not idling, does it run really rough when its running? If so thats very similar to when I lost a rotor. (But running more boost on a trackday is giving the car one hell of a hard time, so I\'d be prepared for the worst)
  I\'d give one of the specialists at the top of the page a call.

[Wav]

Maybe something simple like your map sensor pipe coming off. The map sensor is a black plastic box attached to the bulkhead next to the throttle body. There is a vac pipe which connects to it from the upper intake manifold. If this comes off then the engine map can\'t tell what boost (i.e. load) cell it is in and can make the car behave in a similar manor to what you describe. So yeah check that out before anything else.

Good luck with sorting it,

Paul:)

[iaint]

Maybe something simple like your map sensor pipe coming off. The map sensor is a black plastic box attached to the bulkhead next to the throttle body. There is a vac pipe which connects to it from the upper intake manifold. If this comes off then the engine map can\'t tell what boost (i.e. load) cell it is in and can make the car behave in a similar manor to what you describe. So yeah check that out before anything else.

Good luck with sorting it,

Paul:)

This gets my vote from the symptoms described.

[MKNoble]

Hi Brett,

Yes it does run really rough!
What does \'losing a rotor\' mean. Does that mean that the tips are worn so there is a poor seal between the rotor and casing? Sounds expensive.

By the way I\'ve already sent an email to Clive at Shy Autos.

Cheers,
Mike.

[Brett]

Yeah, although now Iant and Wav have given my brain a poke, it could also be the knock sensor too.
 Out of interest, were you flat out when it happened? On a corner?  I know the FC\'s can lean out in hard cornering, so its possible you may have done some damage by leaning out and doing some rotary style cooking of the engine.

[MKNoble]

Hi Wav,

Thanks for your post.
I\'ll have a look at the MAP sensor.

Cheers,
Mike.

[MKNoble]

No I\'d come in for a cool down and filled up with gas.
I went for a ride in a mates car and then when I tried to go back out again it was broken and I had limp round and back into the pits.

Cheers,
Mike.

[MKNoble]

Paul,
I\'ve had a look but the brake servo seems to be in the way.
Can you tell me what I should be looking for.
Thanks,
Mike.

[Wav]

Paul,
I\'ve had a look but the brake servo seems to be in the way.
Can you tell me what I should be looking for.
Thanks,
Mike.

It\'s on the passenger side firewall, small black plastic box 1x2 cm. Here\'s a pic:

Paul:)

[FD3Typer2]

Now that is a superb V mount..

[MKNoble]

Wow ...nice intercooler.
Thanks a lot for the piccy. I was looking on the wrong side.
I\'ll check it out in the morning.
Cheers,
Mike.

[MKNoble]

Paul,

I couldn\'t wait until tomorrow so went to have a look just now....and you\'re a genius!!!
Many, many thanks for your advice. It\'s running sweetly again and no smoke!

Just a couple more questions now if I may.

1) I noticed that there was lose tube in the cockpit coming in by the accelerator peddle mounting. I traced it back to where it joins a small disc shaped object with two other tubes coming out of it. Is this the dump valve? One of the other tubes is perished and had become disconnected from the engine. I reconnected it loosley using a peice of cyphering tube but I don\'t think it\'s airtight. The tube that went into the cockpit I clamped off. When I went for a test drive I noticed that I was losing the boost after an initial burst. Is it something to do with this? If so what should I do with the tube that was coming into the cockpit and where can I get some more tubing.

2) Where can I get a solection of fuses. I need a 120A main amp fure and a selection of the smaller colour coded fuses.

Once again many thanks!

Cheers,
Mike.

[ReX 7]

Wow what V mount is that ?

[clive]

Paul,

I couldn\'t wait until tomorrow so went to have a look just now....and you\'re a genius!!!
Many, many thanks for your advice. It\'s running sweetly again and no smoke!

Mike.

Real pleased for you      


( sorry l didn\'t get back sooner)