Your fleet running reports

[Coaster1]

I like my car

I was impressed with your driving mate. Like Jon said elsewhere, it’s silky smooth. ‘One input steering’, good trail brake, throttle adjust.... And you weren’t slow either!

Your car, from the passenger seat, felt well sorted. Like we said yesterday, combination of X74, different geo, cage, RSR tyres, lower COG with the seats, all helped.

Did you manage to check tyre pressure during the day? I don’t like mine when the front are too low (i.e. when cold), as the car understeers more.... once they’re at the right pressure they are fine. Obviously too high are no good either.

I had never really been sure about my car’s brakes, mainly because the ones on the Integra are so bloody good. But yesterday it was clear to me that they are indeed superb, even more obvious when following other cars towards the braking zones.

[duncs500]

@SJ - Least I could do after how much time you dedicated to helping me.

@YK - It was certainly clear to me that your brakes are superb!

[JLv3.0]

Duncs - have you actually told us what happened yet or you being a little bitch about it?

[duncs500]

Long story, but it got sickly Sunday night, seemed to go away after a short drive. Drove it up Monday but it reappeared and got progressively worse. Spent the day trying to figure out what it was but no definitive clue. Limped it home.

That pretty much brings us up to date. Trying to work out what to do next.

[dan]

Long story, but it got sickly Sunday night, seemed to go away after a short drive. Drove it up Monday but it reappeared and got progressively worse. Spent the day trying to figure out what it was but no definitive clue. Limped it home.

That pretty much brings us up to date. Trying to work out what to do next.

Rubbish. Engine related?

[Marv]

I like my car

I was impressed with your driving mate. Like Jon said elsewhere, it’s silky smooth. ‘One input steering’, good trail brake, throttle adjust.... And you weren’t slow either!

That's the driving style I aspire to, but I always feel I somewhat fall short of achieving!

[duncs500]

Long story, but it got sickly Sunday night, seemed to go away after a short drive. Drove it up Monday but it reappeared and got progressively worse. Spent the day trying to figure out what it was but no definitive clue. Limped it home.

That pretty much brings us up to date. Trying to work out what to do next.

Rubbish. Engine related?

Yeah, it starts up as normal, revs when not under load as normal, but when driving it gets 'stuck' at around 3k rpm and just judders and coughs along. You can get through it, and sometimes it seems normal, although I have seen similar things at lower and higher revs.

After driving it for a while home I realised that when it starts doing it you lift off to just very lightly hold the throttle for a good while it eventually works its way through the sticking point and starts accelerating fairly normally again.

Don't know if it's related or not, but we noticed the engine bay was splatered with coolant and the coolant was almost empty. Tightened up a few jubilees (as the hoses have just been replaced) and topped it up, but it was empty again when I got home.

Theories so far:
Throttle position sensor
Air flow sensor
Smashed cat stuck in there
Impending HGF doom
Injector wiring

[duncs500]

Pretty sure it's been exposed to some water while in the garage over the last few weeks, so that could have been the cause.

We did find a ht lead which looked a bit dodgy, so that's an easy starting point, but would it run normally when not loaded if it was a dodgy connection there?

[JLv3.0]

I'd imagine it would do exactly that mate - falls apart when asked to conduct heavy loads but happy enough to make a loose connection for the light stuff. There aren't any induction leaks, are there? Sounds like unmetered air might be finding its way in. Brake cleaner leak test FTW.

[jamcg]

Pretty sure it's been exposed to some water while in the garage over the last few weeks, so that could have been the cause.

We did find a ht lead which looked a bit dodgy, so that's an easy starting point, but would it run normally when not loaded if it was a dodgy connection there?

I had this on my sportka years ago- misfired horrendously but only when it felt like it, new leads solved the problem for a while, turned out rainwater was getting in the engine bay and corroding the contacts

[Simon]

I wonder if it's coil related. When the coil pack was failing on my last car it started to exhibit similar problems, particularly when the engine was warm. Too much air/fuel in the cylinder was just to much for the weak spark to ignite.

[dan]

Remind me what spec it is, its a K series on throttle bodies right?

It sounds more likely to be crank sensor or throttle position sensor. The coolant thing might be something else.

[Sundayjumper]

Duncs is underplaying the HT lead issue a little - when we pulled the lead from plug #2, part of the lead stayed attached to the plug ! The metal tube bit that actually locates onto the plug. We had to pull it out with some long pliers. So that lead is *definitely* faulty and I strongly suspect it to be the cause of the misfire problem.

As for the coolant, there was definitely some coming from the top radiator connection, and some from another connection to the side of the engine, near the peal box. We tightened up all the clips we could see but it seems that's not (entirely) the problem.

[drcarlos]

Found out the knocking from the scooby was the front strut, it has developed the famous scooby strut knock, which can be maintained with a bi of white grease every few months or replacement struts which will last a fe years and start to do the same thing. The only permanent cure is a suspension upgrade to either koni struts or coil overs. I’ll maintain for a while I think and see how troublesome it is. The only symptom is the knock, it’s caused by dried grease causing a spacer to stick inside the strut, there’s nothing else wrong no errant handling or anything.

Carl.

[Sundayjumper]

Did you manage to check tyre pressure during the day? I don’t like mine when the front are too low (i.e. when cold), as the car understeers more.... once they’re at the right pressure they are fine. Obviously too high are no good either.

I had never really been sure about my car’s brakes, mainly because the ones on the Integra are so bloody good. But yesterday it was clear to me that they are indeed superb, even more obvious when following other cars towards the braking zones.

Tyres - after one session where the car suddenly seemed to go quite "floaty" I dropped the pressures about 2psi and I think that did the trick. I will pay closer attention next time.

Brakes - 911s always brake well (at least, in a straight line) because there's so much weight at the back, low down, you don't get such a huge weight transfer onto the front wheels like you do in front-engined cars that will virtually lift the back wheels off the ground. Plus you've got fancy pads. What fluid are you using ? I only had one instance of the pedal going slightly soft all but I wasn't braking as hard as you were.

[JLv3.0]

Remind me what spec it is, its a K series on throttle bodies right?

It sounds more likely to be crank sensor or throttle position sensor. The coolant thing might be something else.

Yep - it does sound unrelated, doesn't it. Unless the temp sender / sensor is in the thermostat housing and it ran dry, or something, or MAFs and head units.

[integrale_evo]

It won't have a maf so at least we can rule polishing that out

[Marv]

It won't have a maf so at least we can rule polishing that out

Does Beany offer a call out emergency MAF cleaning service yet?

[Marv]

Duncs is underplaying the HT lead issue a little - when we pulled the lead from plug #2, part of the lead stayed attached to the plug ! The metal tube bit that actually locates onto the plug. We had to pull it out with some long pliers. So that lead is *definitely* faulty and I strongly suspect it to be the cause of the misfire problem.

As for the coolant, there was definitely some coming from the top radiator connection, and some from another connection to the side of the engine, near the peal box. We tightened up all the clips we could see but it seems that's not (entirely) the problem.

Sounds like a Shonky Caterham to me. Duncs, I'll pay you £500 CASH for it.

[Mito Man]

Most surprising fact this week. The Defender has an “oil service” warning
Such sophistication, such technology, such wow.

I thought it would be bollocks as the service book says the message will flash at 12,000 miles/1 year or 6000 miles if driven in some dusty third world dump. So why the hell is it on after 10.5 months and 5000 miles... Thought about ignoring it then read it works off a sensor which measures the amount of oil dilution due to the DPF and flashes the message at 7% dilution. Will just leave it for a couple weeks so I can get a full MOT on it with the service.