starting problem after cleaning stepper motor
Discussion
Hi you all,
I noticed that my 400SE (hotwire) had some idle issues. As I never cleaned the stepper motor before, I decided to give it an inspection. When removing, the cone was screwed in totally and quite dirty. A bit of WD40 did help a lot and I unscrewed the cone to clean everything. Checked it's operation by plug the connector and turned on/off the ingnition key to I. (not starting) it operates fine and the cone is moving inwards. As it was already late, I did not start the engine.
Today I did try to start the engine, if fired right away (as usual) but stalled within seconds. Doesn't want to start anymore. Checked on operating again, but works fine. Tried the ECU reset trick (5-times throttle) but did not make any difference. Any tips?
Cheers!
I noticed that my 400SE (hotwire) had some idle issues. As I never cleaned the stepper motor before, I decided to give it an inspection. When removing, the cone was screwed in totally and quite dirty. A bit of WD40 did help a lot and I unscrewed the cone to clean everything. Checked it's operation by plug the connector and turned on/off the ingnition key to I. (not starting) it operates fine and the cone is moving inwards. As it was already late, I did not start the engine.
Today I did try to start the engine, if fired right away (as usual) but stalled within seconds. Doesn't want to start anymore. Checked on operating again, but works fine. Tried the ECU reset trick (5-times throttle) but did not make any difference. Any tips?
Cheers!
Thanks for all the suggestions. However, as a basic approach; it works fine; cleaned the stepper motor; doesn't start. Then the best starting point is stepper motor related rather than the other suggestions (which seem plausible if it just doesn't want to start overnight) Otherwise diagnosis gets complicated i suspect. As i inspected the gasket of the stepper motor, it seems to be a bit worn out (overtightening) so i will grab a replacement on the way home tonight and see if this causes an air leak.
Tried last night. replaced gasket and turned the ignition key 5 or 6 times on/off till the stepper motor stopped "ticking" (should be in base position than i guess) She started with the second attempt. Did 1600 rpm but quickly went to 1200 - 1000 (as normal) Due to the rain i did not made a test drive. I don't suspect that the gasket made that much of a difference, so my guess for now is that the stepper motor was too far off to make it burst to life. Fingers crossed for the test drive.
Tony, I think you are right.
Tried to start here up again, same thing happend as before, runs for 2sec and cuts off. I understand multiple options to assess. Immobelizer led goes out (fuel pump is not cranking otherwise) and the inertia switch is down (had this before) First to check is the relay. Can anybody give me a hint which one to check on a hotwire? I understood that is supposed to be marked with red stripes?
Cheers!
Tried to start here up again, same thing happend as before, runs for 2sec and cuts off. I understand multiple options to assess. Immobelizer led goes out (fuel pump is not cranking otherwise) and the inertia switch is down (had this before) First to check is the relay. Can anybody give me a hint which one to check on a hotwire? I understood that is supposed to be marked with red stripes?
Cheers!
I can confirm that the stepper motor does work (not if it works correctly however) is it turns in if you remove it and reconnect it. As Tony indicated, this should not be the main issue.
I checked and i do have a spark, but the sparkplugs stay dry. Fuel pump is priming, so first to check is the fuel relay. I saw about 12 relay's in the passenger side, can anybody give me a hint how to find the fuel relay as none of them is marked? Couldn't find the answer in the wedge bible. It's a hotwire. (found flapper pictures with the search)
Cheers
I checked and i do have a spark, but the sparkplugs stay dry. Fuel pump is priming, so first to check is the fuel relay. I saw about 12 relay's in the passenger side, can anybody give me a hint how to find the fuel relay as none of them is marked? Couldn't find the answer in the wedge bible. It's a hotwire. (found flapper pictures with the search)
Cheers
@Andy; thanks. Most is familiar (non ac thought).
I had some time in the weekend for searching, turned out that the hotwire relays are metal with a red mark on it. Het Pektron ones are supposed to be used with a Flapper I understood.
Both relays turned out to work correct. I stared working on the loom upwards and found a dodgy connection that is added at some point in time. Fiddling with that and it started right away. Replaced the connection and stared right away yesterday too. It looks like this was the problem, fingers crossed. When I have a spare weekend it would be wise to clean all the connections and check the loom, as these kind of problems don't come overnight. When I cleaned the stepper motor, I also cleaned the engine bay with a bit of fiddling with the loom and wires, that was probably just too much for this connection.
It’s part of the joy of old motoring, but became pretty frustrating as we finally had a couple of days without showering rain… On the upside, got to know more about the old girl and its technique too.
As for the stepper motor, I did not calibrated it with an ECU mate or something. I figured that drought the ECU might not recognize its position, starting in base position with the cone in should work and as Tony indicated, there were moments when it ran. When putting the key in stage II and turn it off again, it should go back to base position, maybe the ECU does recognize this. I’ve turned to stage II and back 5-6 times till is virtually stops ticking over. What also might help with the cold start is the mapping of Mark Adams in this car, it’s quite a rich mixture when cold and I suspect also with low revs.
First drive on Sunday (20mls or so) it idled high, especially when suddenly pressing the clutch, and needed some additional time to settle down at normal idle speed with a traffic light, but after 10mls or so all was good and more stable than before cleaning the stepper motor. Took it for a short drive yesterday and started and drove fine. Hope it stays that way. Thanks for the help gents, will give a update in a couple of weeks.
I had some time in the weekend for searching, turned out that the hotwire relays are metal with a red mark on it. Het Pektron ones are supposed to be used with a Flapper I understood.
Both relays turned out to work correct. I stared working on the loom upwards and found a dodgy connection that is added at some point in time. Fiddling with that and it started right away. Replaced the connection and stared right away yesterday too. It looks like this was the problem, fingers crossed. When I have a spare weekend it would be wise to clean all the connections and check the loom, as these kind of problems don't come overnight. When I cleaned the stepper motor, I also cleaned the engine bay with a bit of fiddling with the loom and wires, that was probably just too much for this connection.
It’s part of the joy of old motoring, but became pretty frustrating as we finally had a couple of days without showering rain… On the upside, got to know more about the old girl and its technique too.
As for the stepper motor, I did not calibrated it with an ECU mate or something. I figured that drought the ECU might not recognize its position, starting in base position with the cone in should work and as Tony indicated, there were moments when it ran. When putting the key in stage II and turn it off again, it should go back to base position, maybe the ECU does recognize this. I’ve turned to stage II and back 5-6 times till is virtually stops ticking over. What also might help with the cold start is the mapping of Mark Adams in this car, it’s quite a rich mixture when cold and I suspect also with low revs.
First drive on Sunday (20mls or so) it idled high, especially when suddenly pressing the clutch, and needed some additional time to settle down at normal idle speed with a traffic light, but after 10mls or so all was good and more stable than before cleaning the stepper motor. Took it for a short drive yesterday and started and drove fine. Hope it stays that way. Thanks for the help gents, will give a update in a couple of weeks.
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