Bottrill

It is a CTEK 5.0 Jonathan, yes. Age wise, I'm not sure. I will have a dig through the history, I think I remember seeing a receipt when I purchased the car early last year. 

Thanks,

Lee

Morning, All

I will hang my head in shame and firstly admit the caterham has been sat on its trickle/maintenance charger for around 7 weeks due to other commitments recently. On first attempt at starting the battery seem to lose cranking power pretty quickly. On connecting a multimeter I had a static 12.7v. On cranking it instantly dropped to 7 down to 5. 

Are these serviceable if the acid levels have dropped (difficult to tell with the black casing) or is it new battery time? Haven't a clue how old it is to be fair.

Lee

If that's not fast enough, buy a superbike. 

Paul,

I've elongated the holes and managed to fit and set at 0.45V. The car was warm, so a quick run round the block where it seems to give a smoother throttle at low revs. The car still smelt rich on idle though. I will try it in the morning from a cold start. 

I don't suppose you know whether the 0.36V or the 0.47V settings were linked directly to the the 956 or 967 MBE ECU's? Out of interest it's an early 2003 R300. 

http://www.bikerhouse.com/testsite/minister2011/support/roller_barrel_setup_k-seriesr.php# 

The Minister Power guide which I've used in the past says 0.45V. 

Thanks

Excellent, I will give it a go. I read a number of times about elongating the holes for the screws a while back. I've came to have a look at mine and someone had beaten me to it. Whether it's because of the Roller Barrel design and the TPS part in question is used primarily on regular single inlet manifolds across various manufacturers, I'm not sure. 

Thanks, anyway,

Lee

I think this TPS is used in many applications and comes under many different part numbers. Just have a look at some of them for sale on EBay. I've recently purchased a genuine rover version for £22.50 I think it was. It is however not spring loaded, which to be honest seemed to feel better when I fitted it. You will need a multimeter though as suggested.

Paul,

that's great, many thanks. Is there any harm in fitting it and leaving it at the lower voltage on idle or would it be best to modify the holes to allow further adjustment to get near 0.47v as with the current TPS?

Lee

Evening, All

Is there a general reason why 0.47 seems to be the default value? I Swapped over to a new potentiometer this afternoon after a slightly fluctuating throttle on fast idle and a high CO on the emissions at last weeks MOT. The car is an EU2 R300 K.

On installing the new potentiometer I got an idle reading of 0.33 with the multimeter. The car idled very smoothly on the cold start map and once it was warm. When the throttle was blipped however the revs would drop and then bounce back to a stable 1000rpm. I've reverted back to the old potentiometer to be on the safe side without fear the engine would be running lean and adjusted the idle. The idle value is now back to 0.46. I did notice however that the holes had been modified to cater for more adjustment on the old potentiometer, something I had read about previously to try and get to this reading.

apologies to bring back a topic discussed many times over.

Lee

Just out of interest, what sort of mileage has the car done? (Assuming they are the original injectors/engine)

Lee

You can't miss it, it's the large grey multi plug under the TPS/throttle bodies. It's in a prime location to be hit with all sorts of road/weather debris from under/front of the car. 

Lee

Oh no!!

Piers, as mentioned earlier, just double check there is no loose connectors in that multi-plug and that they are all seated correctly when fitted back together. Exactly the problem with mine and a previous owner. I believe he eventually found that one of the individual pins wasn't locating properly. 

Good luck!

Lee

My CTEK 5.0 is always left on and plugged into the seven. No problems after nearly twelve months of ownership. Car is used every 3-4 weeks for a weekend blast.

Lee

Congrats Piers. I believe It's the plug Ben, a previous owner of mine, had issues with as mentioned. 

Now get out and enjoy it!

Lee

Jonathan, it's the second time I've read this recommendation about Shell. One of the "two Steves" I believe. Unless it's Chinese whispers so to speak. Just wondered what the reasoning was behind it.

Lee

I know the OP states Duratecs but for those K-Series owners my handbook states in a table that CC recommend 98 for standard R300, 400, 500 and 95 for all other K engines. 

Ive always ran my R300 on V-power (it's the closest petrol garage for a starters). What's the deal with a lack of recommendation for this fuel? I have read it a few times now but no explanation. 

Lee.

Piers,

just to add to Johns post above, trawling through the archives I stumbled upon a thread from Ben Ferrey, a previous owner of my car. He had issues with the car not starting at one point which was diagnosed to the large grey connector under the throttle bodies. There was a loose wire in one of the terminals. Worth a look....

Lee

Hi Piers, have you tried priming the fuel rail/lines a couple of times with the ignition on/off before engaging the starter? I think a gentleman earlier in the thread mentioned it? It is bizarre how changing the crank sensor immediately solved the issue for you (I'm assuming when cold?) then reverted back to the original problem. That possibly indicates a signal to ECU wiring issue somewhere?

Has the issue always been like this with your car or has it got progressively worse recently?

Lee.

We seem to be going round in circles don't we Piers. I removed my crank sensor this aft and indeed it did look like it had seen better days as the tip was typically grubby, but as it is a magnetised I was wondering whether this would effect its use. I have picked up a replacement (thanks for the part number) so will fit this tomorrow morning.   

Once warm, mine will start on the button. After a few hours and a cold engine the issue resurfaces.  Same with yours?

Lee

Many thanks Piers. I will take a look tomorrow. All makes sense reading the above. I will let you know how I get on.

Lee

Piers, I'm genuinely happy to hear the good news. Please let me know how the car behaves over the next few startups. Unfortunately I may have spoken too soon. The lasts two attempts have resulted in our original symptoms on my R300. The car is booked in with Nick Potter for its annual service plus fuel filter change in a few weeks so I will ask him to take a look at the crank sensor based on your findings. 

Lee

Is this a serviceable item or more a case of catching larger debris entering the pump and letting the inline fuel filter do most of the work? 

Lee

Excellent news Piers. A nice feeling I assume?!

those C-Tec charges are great. I purchased the 5.0 and the 12v cigarette adapter when I bought the car.

Have you replaced both the inline and tank filters? 

Lee

Let us know how you get on with the battery, Piers. I have my Banner hooked up to a CTEK charger but tonight I had a struggle. I need to check the cranking voltage. The battery nearly died by the time car caught and fired up, I think it must have heard me talking about it over the past two days!

Here is the link to the TPS page I have mentioned. Apologies if I'm teaching you to suck eggs so to speak. 

Www.enduringautomotive.com/tps

Lee

I have an R300 K on RBTB. From my hours of research on similar issues I have concluded the following which has helped and is now down to around 3 seconds of cranking before firing up. As has been posted, no real cold start help on these things.

Check the base voltage of your TPS (search through my threads to find a good guide I posted) and adjust accordingly.

spend a bit of time setting up the balance and idle of your RBTBs (again old threads of mine with the links). Re-check the TPS again after. These things are very sensitive.

I have also replaced all the ignition components. The car runs quite rough when started from cold but it does now idle and start without needing to use any throttle. Once warm the car drives really nice and is as responsive as you would expect from a well setup RBTB intake. Happy to have a chat over the phone if I can be of any help. Just drop me a PM.

Hope this helps.

LEE.

Check the coil HT lead is seated properly on the new dizzy cap. Before you do this however, spread the inner contact outwards on the end of the HT lead, give the dizzy cap a very light sanding to rough the surface and then replace. Had to do the same on my new dizzy cap/leads as the lead would just slide off slightly causing your symptoms. 

You can test your TPS prior to replacement using this simple technique. Ignore the values given but the theory is simple enough. You are looking for a smooth change throughout the range as you go from base to maximum voltage by slowly pressing the accelerator pedal or opening the throttle body by hand.

http://www.enduringautomotive.com/tps/

Lee