Tune Up - Help

[simboy1973]

Morning all, ive managed to get my 400SE booked into an old skool garage for a tune up and try and assist with this misfire.
So far ive in the last couple of days fitted new
Plugs - leads (not king lead as im trying to source one long enough) - coil, ignition module on side of distributor, new cap and rotor arm, put injector cleaner in full tank fo fuel.. Oh and new air filter..
What else can i do, so i've given in and booked it in for a tune.. But given the nature of the car i want to ensure i have all the right details and spec for the garage to set it up too...
So my Wedge bible gives me the timing and spark plug gaps etc... I think the cars running lean, so what doe the CO have to be set at and any other settings i can give the garage to set it up properly..

After i fitted all the above yesterday, i ran the car and can i say, it just aint fast. My 390 i had was a Bullit compared to this thing.. The plugs i took out lastnight dont have oil on, they look clean and healthy, i say the cars lean because of the colour of the plugs. When i changed the 390 ones you knew the car was running rich, very rich as they're supposed to. The engine is alledgedly only 50k old and shows no sign of wear... The garage said they'd do a compression test to ensure the cylinders are ok..

So i need a nice clear list of specifications to hand the garage..

Cheers

Si

[wooly350i]

Think I'd wait and see what they come up with first and see how it runs after they have done their bit,after all its a rover v8 hardly an unknown to them.

[keatsie]

I agree, let them have a quick look - assuming you checked fuel pressure and timing etc, always good to get a second pair of eyes on it. How many miles has the engine covered?

[honestjohntoo]

simboy1973 said:

fitted

• new Plug
• leads
• coil
• ignition module on side of distributor
• new cap
• rotor arm
• injector cleaner in full tank of fuel
• new air filter

What else can I do, so I've given in and booked it in for a tune

If nothing really changed, it seems like were no faults in those replacement components anyway. The good news it you do now have a set of working spares, but the bad news is, it may not have been an ignition problem in the first place. So what to do? First, establish whether the fault is ignition or fuel related. Generally its easier to determine if the ignition system is working properly so have a butcher's at both these links, eventually to follow the very simple test program in the second one.

http://www.vintagemodelairplane.com/pages/Download...

http://www.vintagemodelairplane.com/pages/Download...

Because your car runs, but not very well, I think you will be looking at a fuelling problem quite soon after OK-ing the ignition. Hopefully an old school garage won't simply replace everything and charge accordingly.

They may know already, over 80% of period Rover based fuel injection system faults are caused by poor Efi wiring loom connections AND the existence of rogue air leaks into the plenum chamber and/or inlet manifold.

If they choose to randomly replace components then they only have a 20% chance of finding the fault anyway. Doing a compression test on an engine that has only done 50k miles and is known to be in good order - allegedly, does seem a strange place to start, by the way!

I'm assuming its a flapper by the way - in which case they, like you, may want to brush up on the Rover Efi system fitted to your car.

From your description of the symptoms

• misfire
• think the cars running lean
• it just aint fast
• lean because of the colour of the plugs

My first reaction is that you have a rogue air leak, which will cause lumpy, unstable running, wrong plug colour, low torque and poor acceleration with lack of speed.

Learning the system, these days, is quite easy. There is loads of flapper stuff on the inter-web and plenty of descriptions and test processes to follow.



A good garage should know this stuff anyway and it helps any owner/enthusiast too. For your car, a good place to start would be a 15 point health plan - thus:

http://www.vintagemodelairplane.com/pages/Snippets...

performed diligently it rarely fails to uncover a problem, and if done by the owner/enthusiast, costs nearly nothing.

One further possibility is that the symptoms you describe might also be due to crud in the fuel system - ie - tank(s), pump, fuel lines, fuel filter, injector filters, etc, so the full tank of fuel and the injector cleaning fluid may not change anything if crud is endemic.

[simboy1973]

Thanks for that. I'll see what happens Friday. Fingers crossed. I'll give the inj/intake and pipes one last look over tomoz.

As you say it's an old V8 so they should get the old beast back on the boil. I'm missing he power.

Si

[simboy1973]

Oops forgot to say. It's the hot wire set up. Checked the plugs tonight, it's definitely running weak.

[simboy1973]

Just ordered a AFM. Saga continues.

[simboy1973]

OK, given in.
Booked in for Monday AM, rolling road session with an old skool bloke whos family were TVR dealers in Edinburgh back in the day.. He seemed knowledgeable this morning and quite interested in my tales and woes with this car..

Update soon to follow.

I hope its something simple and cheap....