Fester mystery SV problem SOLVED!!!!

[Unclefester]

I made it to Brive this afternoon, managing to avoid swarms of black helicopters etc and after being misdirected by 4 successive locals, found one who knew where the Ave. John Fitzgerald Kennedy actually was, and got to my diagnostics appointment 45 minutes late.

 

What happened was very interesting.

 

First, as before in Limoges, the diagnostics machine couldn't get in contact with the ECU. In this case it was simply becaus ethe thing needed a Rover 25 VIN number, so I tried ringing Caterham to see if they had an override number we could use. It was however impossible to contact them as Orange refused to accept that it was a real number. I'd rung Hugh Dent in Bordeaux for the Caterham numbers, so I then left a message on his number asking him if he could contact Caterham from his landline to ask them about the code, as the garage's line was out due to a storm last night!!!

 

Then the mechanic started thinking laterally....and we used the VIN from another Rover 25 with the same EU3 1600 engine.

 

In fact the diagnostic was pretty much useless, in his opinion, so we just started substituting bits, starting with the coils, and this was immediately successful.

 

It's odd, given the symptoms were:-

 

1 Lumpy on tickover

2 Very bad, hesitant, flat, on linear, gentle acceleration from tickover to 3800rpm, then ok and pulling strongly from there on up to 6000. If I booted it, pedal to the floor, it was always OK and pulled strongly......the opposite of what I'd expect with a coil or coils on the way out, and the opposite of what the mechanic said normally happens, which is that it's usually OK on gentle accelleration, but fluffs out if the pedal is booted.

 

In fact the problem got worse on the way to Brive, which I managed to overshoot, on the way back towards Brive it was cutting out even at high revs, which is new.

 

On the way back, Caterham phoned up on my mobile and I told them what had happened and asked how much new coils are from them....£43.60 each it seems....I'd just paid 333 euros for the pair, with the leads!

 

Nice to have it running properly again, and thanks Hugh!

 

 

 

NICE PLATE!!!

😬 😬here *eek*

 

 

 

Edited by - UncleFester on 20 Jul 2006 18:26:45

[CageyH]

Glad you got it fixed.

 

Should have listened to my advice on Page 2 of the other thread here

 

Edited by - CageyH on 20 Jul 2006 19:52:32

[Unclefester]

Yes, true, but I was going on past experience and they have never packed up progressively before in mine! I'd have expected them to fail at the higher revs....but they were fine at 4000 +....weird

 

Should have taken bets on it.......

 

My new sucker type fan is working on the TC but I was surprised to find it was running even when the car was moving at 20mph or so....maybe the thermo switch is coming in a bit early, looked like about 165°F...should it be 175 or 180?

 

NICE PLATE!!!

😬 😬here *eek*

[Myles]

TC?

 

Standard rad fan switches will switch on at one temp and then off at a *lower* temp. Mebbe you'd just not managed to cool it down enough to trigger it back off...

 

Project Scope-Creep is live...

 

Alcester Racing 7's Equipe - 🙆🏻™

 

Alcester-Racing-Sevens.com

---

[Nifty]

TC = Twin Cam I think Myles ..... Uncle Fester is a man of many cars

 

Keep off the straight and narrow 😬

[CageyH]

Many, many cars....

[Unclefester]

It's a known hazard of owning a barn.....a bit like Parkinsons Law, you "just can't stop" (aquiring cars) untill it's full.

 

Unfortunately, (or fortunately depending on your point of view) my barn is equipped with nearly 4000 square feet of floor area......that's a lot of cars......fortunately (or unfortunately)I can't use half of this, as it's upstairs and I haven't figured how to get cars up there yet. The forklift seems a bit dodgy for hoying a car up, and the loading bay door on the first floor is too small anyway!

 

NICE PLATE!!!

😬 😬here *eek*

 

Edited by - Unclefester on 21 Jul 2006 06:41:30

[CageyH]

A four poster ramp.

You can use it for maintenance as well!

[Graham Perry]

CageyH - great idea 😬