sjmmarsh

Having got the new BMS and fitted it, all seems to be OK but I'll know better when I do a proper test (it was raining today, so didn't run it that long in the garage... The new one is a much tighter fit and less sloppy in its action, but think part of the issue is down to the design. The key on the left is the old one, the key on the right is new. The big difference is the amount the pin protrudes on the new one - also it is in a blind hole rather than one that goes right through. The old switch still feels a bit sloppy with the new switch, so I think a new BMS was the right way to go. https://1drv.ms/u/s!AlrS6KK8r-4KgpobFRMKfdR0Q0k05g https://1drv.ms/u/s!AlrS6KK8r-4KgpochIBwh8_Vejf12Q ... the pictures don't work for me. I need to remember how to work round the limitations on here..... Steve https://1drv.ms/u/s!AlrS6KK8r-4KgpochIBwh8_Vejf12Q https://1drv.ms/u/s!AlrS6KK8r-4KgpobFRMKfdR0Q0k05g

Good idea as a temporary workaround. Long term it would just end up with a flat battery as I have no power in my garage to hook it up to a battery conditioner. Replacement is now on order with Redline. [edit - it arrived less than 24 hours later - now I just need to find time to fit it] Steve

Update - I've been waiting for the weather to get warmer as the garage was too cold to work in, particularly when fiddling with bolts to check earth connections. I've made some progress and think I have found the problem but will put a longer description here in case it helps someone else in the future. The symptoms are that, after hitting a flooded road and deluging the engine and footwells, the immobiliser would not turn off unless the voltage at the battery was fully charged. Even then, although the car would start, it cut out when the engine went from fast idle to tickover (i.e. while I was locking the garage up - just enough to do that and get in the car). After that, the car would not immobilise unless I put jump leads on the car. Suspecting the battery (Banner, 4 years old) was on the way out, I got a new one, same result. This led me to check all the earth connections and cleaning the electrical connectors to the ECU and relays in case water had got in there. All looked ok and I got a 0.0ohm reading from the -ve battery connector to the bulkhead. Hmmm. I checked the positive leads as best I could and while there was a small 0.1 ohm resistance, (between the positive lead and the starter motor), I couldn't see anything amiss I put the battery back in and the car immobilised and started Ok. I did this several times with no problem, so decided to go for a blat. I locked the garage up and .... it cut out again and would not restart. aaaagh! I went through the resistance checks again (battery removed of course) but this time I got a 5 ohm resistance to the starter motor. Wiggling the Battery Master Switch brought this down to 0 ohms, so at last I was getting somewhere. Battery back in, start the car. Running ok. Tap the BMS and the engine cut out, so the problem looks like the 16 year old BMS is the problem At that age, it is best to get a new one - other than CC have none in stock and Redline are mid stocktake and not answering the phone or email at the moment. Hopefully this will fix the problem, rather than just reveal the next layer of the onion skin! What I think is happening is the initial start is OK but the current through the BMS is causing some arcing and increases the resistance, so any interruption causes the immobiliser to cut in and won't deactivate as there are not enough volts getting to it. I'll confirm all is working when I find a replacement BMS Steve

7 wonders - is the multi plug inside the box with the immobiliser or in the loom somewhere? Steve

7 wonders - is the multi plug inside the box with the immobiliser or in the loom somewhere? Steve

7 wonders - is the multi plug inside the box with the immobiliser or in the loom somewhere? Steve

Thanks Jonathan The acid levels are fine. The voltage drop on the old battery was to around 8.5V (when it just started OK). The earth strap is worth looking at as well. Thanks Steve

You may have seen that on my way back from my annual service in November that I hit a bit of flooded road which went right over the car and dumped half a bucket of dirty water into the passenger and driver footwells. It is all dried out now and, last week, I thought I would take it out for a run in the milder weather. Flat battery. I jump started it using a leisure battery in the garage and it fired up OK - a bit lumpy as it had not run for 6 weeks, but it soon settled down to normal. When the engine came up to temperature and the fast idle cut out the engine just died. It would not restart as the immobiliser was still active. Nothing worked, so I took the battery home from the lockup to charge it up. It was holding 12.8V overnight but, at 4 years old, the voltage dropped to 12.4 when it went in the car. I still couldn't turn the immobiliser off. New battery time - put it in the car and same result. 12.4V (turns out it is not fully charged) and the immobiliser still wouldn't turn off. I put the leisure battery across the new battery with jump leads and now the voltage in the car showed 13V (I have a plug in meter) and the immobiliser turned off and the car started no problem. The new (Banner) is on to charge which should work (fingers crossed) but I am concerned that there is a dirty/damp connector somewhere that is reducing the voltage to the immobiliser which means at some point I could end up stranded if the battery voltage drops too far. It used to (just) start OK if the battery was only showing 12.4V and I have never had problems with the immobiliser refusing to disarm before this. My next test will be to undo the immobiliser to check for a bad earth and to check all the connectors on the ECUs on the bulkhead. Should I be looking anywhere else? it is a 2007 CSR 260. Thanks Steve

I am over 50k miles now on my CSR260 and have had no problems with the engine. This includes 7 seasons of sprinting and 20-ish track days. When the car was remapped by the two Steves after 20k miles it was still producing 260 bhp. Steve

The very early ones did have an LSD, but they stopped before I bought mine in 2007 (I now have a Titan fitted). A lot of the early ones were bought as weekend toys by people with big bonuses - you can spot them as they are normally in BMW/Audi colours (black/blue/silver) and are likely to have needed a fresh rear end... I upgraded mine as on a damp road I was aware of the rear wheels alternately gaining/losing grip, which effectively was a form of traction control, but I didn't like the feel at all, hence the upgrade (I was sprinting it at the time as well). The car is now much more stable I and controllable in corners, but you do need to respect it in the wet - full throttle on a bend will bring the back end round very quickly, so you need to use the throttle pedal for traction control, rather than the failsafe of just one wheel losing grip with an open diff. Steve

Thanks Ivan. Yes, the original batch definitely rust! Steve

I bought some of the lightweight mounts in the original order a few years ago, but the nuts and bolts used to fasten the bracket to the stanchion and the mirror to the bracket are all starting to rust and look a bit tatty. To save me taking it apart, does my one know what length and size I need to replace these, presumably in stainless or alloy? Thanks in advance Steve

Paul That is annoying - I lost a rear wing when som Japanese girls sat on it to have a photo taken (duck tape was used to get me home) and nearly lost a nosecone on the Portofino trip when a wedding party was going to use it as a seat for the bride when they were taking photos! Steve

I was behind you in a blue mini for a while as you headed out of Trowbridge on the A429. What happened to your rear skin? It seemed to have a hole in it on the passenger side? Steve

I was behind you in a blue mini for a while as you headed out of Trowbridge on the A429. What happened to your rear skin? It seemed to have a hole in it on the passenger side? Steve

Mark. This old thread on CSR.informe.com may help. Steve

JK sent me a PM to alert me to this thread, so it does work. Mark - I have a CSR but have the normal gauges. As far as I know the black/white cable is the right one that gives the tachometer signal to the stack dash so I can’t help you much but will put out a request on CSR.informe.com to see if anyone else has run into this. Steve

You followed me from Ryhall to the Birchfield Loop turnoff on the Bourne road. Are you local to Stamford? Your number plate seemed familiar. Steve Yellow CSR

That's a vey neat job, James!

James i had a look through my archives. While there have been a few discussions over the years, I don't know if anyone who has ended up fitting a sump guard in the end. The nearest it got was Darren Harold who was looking to fit a nylon wedge (in 2008) and this thread on pistonheads . i have run without one for 13 years and 40k miles, with only minor dings inflicted. I think part of the problem is that fitting a guard reduces the clearance (and so increases the chance of a strike) and the force has to be absorbed somewhere - if it isn't the sump, then the only other area to take the impact is the spaceframe, which is why the solutions tend to focus on a nylon wedge with some give in it rather than a metal bar or plate. Remember that it needs to be capable of lifting the whole car by a few mm when it is at speed, so the forces involved are not trivial. Just avoid cast iron cats eyes in the crown of the road! Steve

Anthonym i am at the same point with my CSR260. I’ve managed to stay with CR500s until now, but now need to make the switch. Only rears at the moment, so don’t have the problem of trying to fit the higher profile ZZS tyres under the CSR front wings! I reckon I have another 2-3k miles left in the fronts. Steve

Paul - you may be right. By the time we had cleared the trees, built a retaining wall to level the site and sorted the garden it cost about the same as a house (albeit 40 years ago or a derelict one in a very undesirable area today).

Inside views:

My new shed! I’m not sure why it comes out upside down... it isn’t on my iPad .

A good question Andrew; I have just spotted that one of the routes I uploaded needs a pin moving as it has decided it is quicker to do a U-Turn and use the faster A47 than the route I had intended.