SpeedPete

I forgot to mention that just before stall/block, I'd noticed some smoke coming from where the starter is. After disassembly it seemed like it was the source of the smoke, but the starter motor and gears looked fine to me. 7 wonders, I'm not sure if I understand correctly what you're saying regarding startup behavior. The engine was always running pretty rough, especially when cold or at low revs. Indeed, the last startup just before this catastrophe required a very long cranking.

The only thing touched shortly before was the TPS sensor and air bypass valve which aren't typical suspects. On the track, oil temperature and pressure has always been within usual ranges. I'm not so sure about oil level, though. I'm not yet much familiar with measuring the level in the dry sump system without having a dipstick. How would a loose front pully bolt look like? Maybe my mechanic missed this. I'll ask him to check that tomorrow. He suggested to high revs caused by changing to a gear to low. That would have led to a piston moving faster than the valve, as forces of inertia were higher than valve spring force.

No, it didn't

After an intense track day, I drove my Caterham another 45 Minutes home without noticing anything particular. When I started it 3 days later it sounded as if the muffler was filled with lots of stones rattling in it. 5 Minutes later it stalled and the crank was blocked. The mechanic in the workshop told me today that all the pistons have marks from hitting valves. On one cylinder the valves are bent, causing the blocked engine. I would understand happening this during track racing, but not after 3 days parking. Any ideas for a possible cause, I should check? And is there something you'd recommend to modify / upgrade to take advantage of the engine being disassembled anyway? The engine is standard 2010 factory spec.

Very interesting hint, James! I couldn't find a TPS of Penny & Giles for the standard Caterham Plenum, though. Do they only sell TPS for individual throttle bodies? Those won't fit my engine, I'm afraid. I had to learn that cheap sensors are not worth the likely trouble they create, too. I now tend to chose products of brands like Delphi, Hella or Bosch. But the Hall-effect type of P&G sound top notch compared to these. Geoff, the picture does not show my Caterham - it was supposed to clarify where the inertia switch is usually located. Mine doesn't have such a switch installed. My Caterham is a 2009 model with no modifications to the engine so far, apart from a conversion to LH steering and at least one engine in/out job which became necessary after an accident I had. I don't know how to check which type of loom is installed. Since both RH-to-LH conversion and engine removal have not been done by myself, I can't rule out the possibility that the wiring has been damaged in the frame of these jobs, even if I think that this is rather unlikely. Unfortunately such looms are expensive and supply isn't always secured neither. I'd appreciate the piece of mind of having new looms.

Hey everybody, I just wanted to let you know that the issue has finally been sorted. While waiting to get an appointment on a rolling road (many around here, but all booked for weeks), I did a few short tours with my Caterham. On one something happened and the engine became no longer drivable with the described symptoms but much more severe. I found that one of the three wires of the TPS was loose at the connector to the TPS. I installed an additional wiring from the sensor to the ECU to test the difference at first. All issues were suddenly gone. So, the wiring / connector was the issue all the time, but I only realized when it became as apparent as one wire falling off completely. For the time being, I simply soldered the new wire to the TPS leads directly. Later, I realized how difficult it is to get such a connector (and even search for one online, if you don't know what it's called), so kept it like it is until now. 3 spare connectors should arrive in a week or two, just in case. Conclusion: don't trust the wirings, even if resistance measurements don't indicate issues. And always have a lighter and some solder with you on a tour...

Hi James, great to have some reference values thanks to you! My logs show the patterns which you describe as being correct. Lambda and TPS seem to be fine. The battery voltage varies by about 0.1-0.3 volts every 200 ms, sometimes it makes a step by up to 0.5 volts under unchanged engine conditions. I guess that's to be considered fine. I had checked and reconditioned all earth-points which I could find a weeks ago, so I thought this was anyway rather unlikely an issue. I'm at about 500m above sea level. That's probably far enough below the 1000m mark which you mentioned to be critical. Maybe I should just have the car's power measured on a rolling road to have some precise knowledge how good or bad the engine's state is or try to join other owners to compare. I wish I was in the UK... Thanks everybody for your support!

The best product to be recommended depends on how you intend to use it and what you expect as a result. If you just want to protect an existing cfrp part and take the easiest alternative, I'd use the 1-component TRISTARcolor clear coat which is delivered in a spray can. Very fine distribution of the particles in the air and large spray volume. It's also somehow leveling the surface when it dries and with this correcting a bit mistakes made when applying it, other comparable clear coats I know do not show such a behavior. High quality results require 2-component applied with a professional spray gun. Those guns are expensive, though. And if you make a mistake, you won't get it off again easily to start from scratch. Then there are epoxy gel coats which are the most resistant to scratches. Not that easy to apply, though. I've made good experiences with this: https://shop.hp-textiles.com/shop/en/covering-system-gelcoat-epoxy-resin-hp-e25dm.html . It's low priced and didn't create any troubles. I can't tell about the long-term UV stability, though. The resulting products haven't been exposed to extreme UV conditions over long periods of time yet. Peter

Hey Jim, sorry, I didn't see your comment. I was not aware that the TPS could be reset? I've got the factory MBE 992 ECU installed. To my knowledge it's not possible to write into its memory, as it's locked by Caterham. I don't remember exactly for which purpose it was, but I had been talking to MBE who told me that even they themselves could not unlock it - not sure how reliable this statement is, though. So far, I didn't find any other feature than reading the live data of the ECU and log it. I've heard of others who adjusted the angle of the TPS by modifying its mount to make it send the signals which the ECU expects. When I tried this myself, I only made the car running worse - might have been due to my lack of talent, though...

Thanks Chris, for the advice! Makes sense. I will do so, in case I don't find it anywhere else and after I have educated myself on how to install it. Since nobody seems to have had issues like me being caused by the injectors, I guess that by having verified the condition of one exemplary injector at Bosch in the next days, I can then assume they are okay. It's kind of a relief I probably don't have to buy new injectors, but somehow I was hoping to have found a way to get those bits of power back I feel to be missing. Maybe that car just makes me greedy ;) Thanks guys!

Hi Jim, thanks for the hint! Searching for pictures of the brake master cylinder engine bay area, I found this picture which seems to display the switch attached to the bulkhead. I definitively don't have such an item near my bulkhead. If it's unlikely to be positioned elsewhere and possible to somehow bypass, then I would assume that it has not been installed in my car (or has been removed due to whatever reason). Then this couldn't be the issue. However, a friend of mine running a car repair workshop informed me that I could have my injectors checked at one of the local Bosch service stations, which I would do to verify that it's not the injectors causing the issues. He said that this would be unlikely, though.http://www.motorverso.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Caterham-SMMT-16.jpg

Hi Chris, thanks a lot for sharing your insights! I haven't found a sensor myself neither. But I didn't have an explanation for the Easimap fuel pressure values which varied over time, as they would with a sensor providing its input. I've always wanted to check the inertia switch, but have never been successful in locating it. Is it possible that my car doesn't have one fitted? I guess it's supposed to be near the ECU (the area on this ). Peter

If you can take out the fuel pump, you could change the angle of the float by hand while checking if the gauge follows your input. However, that would probably not be enough resulting info to identify the exact location of the issue without additional further steps like the ones suggested by the others, I guess.

Hi all, I'm glad to have become a member of this great community. My first post is about my R400 Duratec which seems to lack power and runs rough until warm, stalling at each traffic light stop if not pushed by giving it throttle. It's a stock 2009 engine which I recently got to get running after annoying trial & error repair attempts by myself (far from being an expert) leading to my engine now having replaced all sensors I could find, new spark plugs and intake gasket as well as the air filter and in-tank fuel mesh cleaned. Easimap indicates at WOT a fuel pressure of up to 6 Bar (I'm not aware of where this sensor is and if it's accurate), max throttle site 15.1 (should it be 16?), Manifold Air Pressure around 0.94, lambda 0.76-0.85. Since the duty cycle goes up to 86% while fuel pressure looks very high to me, I thought that I might have an issue with my injectors (the blue ones) not delivering enough fuel. The low lambda value doesn't seem to support this theory, though. Maybe the orange Bosch 0280156156 injectors would solve the issues? Without having someone knowledgeable around here in southern Germany, I'd highly appreciate if someone could share his view on this. Peter