Fastinmydreams Posted May 4, 2017 Share Posted May 4, 2017 Got my '96 1.6 K series out from the garage for the season last week to find that the battery was low. After a charge, it started without problem and I took it for a run. It ran perfectly. This week, it needed an MoT, so I got it out of the garage and parked it on my drive ticking over while I collected things from the house. As I got back to the car, the engine faded to a stop. I could restart it, but it would immediately die. Left it for a few minutes, whereupon it started and I drove to MoT station some six miles away. I thought I noticed occasional power loss, but it was otherwise fine. It stalled once at the MoT station, but restarted to get on to the ramps and again to return home. A mile into the journey, it lost power and we came to a halt at the side of a road. Same problem: started, but immediately died. It started after a few minutes and I limped home with several stuttery moments and cut outs that I drove through. The next morning, I attempted to start it to visit my local garage. Again, it started, but stalled as I was closing garage and repeated the start stall sequence which could not be overcome by leaving it. So, it's fuelling to start and has power. It cranks well on the battery. I guess that something is causing it to cut out. All hoses in good order, so no vacuum leaks as far as I can see. Is it IACV or ECU? Or something else? Suggestions welcomed! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Jonathan Kay Posted May 4, 2017 Member Share Posted May 4, 2017 I'd exclude a couple of simple things first. What's the battery voltage at rest, minimum during cranking and at 3,000 rpm? It's fading before stopping. If you remove the filler cap while it's running can you hear air rushing in? Does removing the filler cap prevent the stopping?Jonathan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rich71 Posted May 4, 2017 Share Posted May 4, 2017 take a look here http://www.mycaterham.com/66828/66590.html for things to check, very useful even if it's to eliminate future problems Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fastinmydreams Posted May 5, 2017 Author Share Posted May 5, 2017 Jonathan, tanks for responding. I'll test the battery, though, as it won't start, doing this at 3000 rpm will be trickyNo fade before the stall in the start/stall sequence. It fires as usual with plenty of revs, then abruptly cuts out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Berry Posted May 6, 2017 Share Posted May 6, 2017 I had a very similar situation with my 1997 1.6K last year after an lay-up of a few years. All was fine for the first few starts then had problems with starting and idle, with cutting out too. So in ine with the usual forum advice I methodically checked/replaced/reset/cleaned all the usual suspects, hoses and connections, including the injectors, temperature sensor, MFU relays, crank position sensor, TPS, IACV, plugs, HT leads, cap and rotor arm... the list goes on. Still no joy so I tried an engine diagnostic app on an Android phone with a (slightly) modified serial adapter. This showed strange things going on with the ignition timing but other parameters looked OK - enough to prompt a change of ECU. With the new ECU in place all the problems were immediately resolved. (I did not push my luck by putting the original ECU back to confirm.) So in my case the issue almost certainly sat with an ECU that had gone bad in some way. This was the one item I felt sure would not be the problem at the outset.I have no idea if your issue may be ECU related or not but thought it worth relating my "surely that can't be the problem" story.Nick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john milner Posted May 6, 2017 Share Posted May 6, 2017 Could be the crankshaft position sensor. As a quick free check disconnect and measure the resistance. Mine is over 1200 Ohms but when I had a dead one it was open circuit. If it is intermittent then you could get a good reading but it still be faulty.https://www.lotus7.club/forum/techtalk/turning-over-not-starting Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fastinmydreams Posted May 7, 2017 Author Share Posted May 7, 2017 Thanks all. Useful stuff and lots to work on, so it's into the garage! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fastinmydreams Posted May 8, 2017 Author Share Posted May 8, 2017 The good news is that the problem is sorted. The bad news is that I have created one where ! didn't have one at all! This is embarrassing. The car was fine; it was out of fuel. Yeah, I feel like a complete prat. But I learned something in investigating the idle air control valve (IAVC). I opened this up to see if it was operating. It seemed to make slight movements, and the car ran a bit longer without it in place. Then the lack of petrol was discovered and remedied. When I came to replace the valve, its extending valve seemed to have fallen out of the housing along with the spring and the plastic shroud. They went back together, but would not fit back in the housing. (On reflection, the stepper motor must have been winding out to the point that the valve fell out.) Leaving this loosely in place, I thought I would see if the engine would start. It sure did, and the revs built steadily until I killed it. Problem sorted; time to refit valve properly. Problem. Valve core and spring had completely disappeared and, search as I might, I could not find them anywhere. Now that is slightly worrying. Finding a replacement was not straightforward. Caterham don't stock it. They suggested Redline, but they were out of stock. Elise Parts.com (sorry about that!) do, however. Caterham and Redline were quite helpful, but could not tell a self confessed wally whether it was a good idea to mess about with the IACV in this fashion or whether it was faulty in some way. Any guidance would be interesting to said wally and, no doubt others! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silver Machine Posted May 9, 2017 Share Posted May 9, 2017 It may be worth a phone call or email to Dave Andrews (DVA Power). Over the years he has removed several while upgrading the induction etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john milner Posted May 9, 2017 Share Posted May 9, 2017 Eliseparts.com were the cheapest I could find a few years ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SM25T Posted May 9, 2017 Share Posted May 9, 2017 Out of fuel !!!! Well done for confessing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Jonathan Kay Posted May 9, 2017 Member Share Posted May 9, 2017 What Ian says. We've all done dumb stuff: you were good enough to save someone else from the same mistake. But you'll probably never know whom!So why did none of us spot it either? I've got a theory...Jonathan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john milner Posted May 9, 2017 Share Posted May 9, 2017 I did something similar years ago with a two cylinder motorcycle. The engine was running very rough and for some reason I decided the carburettors needed to be pulled apart. It made no difference and finally the engine conked out. I then realised that I had run out of petrol even though I had only done half the mileage I would have expected to. The cause was a failed spark plug which had led to the rough running and a doubling of my petrol consumption. The lesson I learnt was to do easy stuff first not last. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Jonathan Kay Posted May 9, 2017 Member Share Posted May 9, 2017 Medical analogies apply!Jonathan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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