Plea for help from SE owners in NW England!

[danny tattersall]

I am having problems diagnosing an ECU fault on my '93 SE and would like to know if anybody in the North West has a SE and would be willing to assist me with diagnosing the problem. I suspect that my wastegate/boost solenoid is on its way out and would like to borrow one temporarily to try the theory before I buy one. Failing that, a swap of ECU temporarily to see if the fault transfers over may be an option. If my ECU was fitted to someone elses car it would not cause any harm but it would be a useful exercise. Also, mine has the high torque chip so you could see what a difference it makes if your car is standard. I look forward to hearing from you and would obviously travel to you to do this work.

[superdave]

Hi Danny, I live in the NW but don't have an SE. I do however know a guy with a Highwing in Bolton.
Do you have any fault codes at all?
You can download freescan from LEW. All you need is a laptop and an interface cable. Dermot O'Hare can also assist once you have the fault code and tell you what's your problem.
So where abouts do you live then?


Cheers,



Dave Walters

[oharedm]

Danny,

I am happy to help remotely if you can get me a Freescan log.

Also post your request on the UKEsprit Egroup much bigger Esprit membership or even NORLOG.

Dermot

[superdave]

You can always try PNM on 0151 630 6101 and ask for Pete. They are on Merseyside. They may have some of the parts you require for testing.

[danny tattersall]

I have a SE highwing and live in Burnley. I have a code 26 which relates to the quad driver circuit. There are no obvious problems with any of the wiring etc and the AC fans,EPBV etc all work fine. This problem only showed itself when I fitted the high torque chip. When the check engine light is not on you sometimes have loads of boost (well off the gauge)and the next minute you have the wastegate limited boost (0.6 bar). That is why I suspect that the wastegate solenoid, or the part of the ECU that controls it, is defective. Interestingly, while travelling on the motorway the light does not seem to come on until I slow down and get to urban areas. Around town, however, the light comes on every minute or so (and stays on but I keep re-setting it). I have taken the ECU out of the car and checked the soldering on the EPROM holder and it is OK. I have freescan but the problem is getting a decent scan. I need to drive it for long enough to get sufficient data, but this is hindered by how frequently the engine light comes on. Each time you turn off the ignition to reset the light it stops the data log. I have e-mailed Dermot about this in the past and will endeavour to get him a decent scan to analyse for me. I would still appreciate it if an SE owner would be willing to come forward and help with this though. Any chance that the Highwing owner in Bolton could assist please? Thanks for the help Dave and Dermot.


I do not think that a company will let me borrow the bits for fault diagnosis and buying them to do this could prove a very expensive and time consuming way of resolving it.

[superdave]

You'd be surprised what PNM can do to help. Ring Pete on 0151 630 6101 (Tell him you got the number from me).
He has helped so many people over the phone to fix their cars. He is very paitient and knowledgable. He asks nothing in return. Everyone who he's helped in return would then use his services in the future and buy parts from him.
He also deal in used parts as well and may well have these in stock.

I will try and contact the guy from Bolton but he's only just bought his car and is not on this forum yet. I have only spoken to him a couple of times.
Sean Keane also live your neck of the woods in Skipton. Iam not sure what model he drives.

Do you have the original chip handy? Is the uprated chip new and where did you buy it from?
I have heard that you have to cut your old chip out to put the new one in. There was one guy who had another problem with his new chip that one of the prongs were connecting properly on the new chip. Have you double checked that the whole chip is properly seated and connected?

Cheers,



Dave Walters
ps. My e-mail address is [e-mail] Iam trying to form a data base for NW owners to arrange a meet in early spring and future ones in the year. Can you send me your e-mail address please.

[igreenrover]

Danny

Just to let you know your not being ignored by other NW people!
I’m in Manchester and have an SE. But I’ve just got over a number of ECM problems last summer and so I’m just not up for messing around with it again now.

I had a number of faults and ended up with a new ECM (from South West Lotus @ about £180). I’ve still got the old one (less the memcal). Initial problem I had with the old unit was it’s inability to maintain any constant idle speed, and then an intermittent problem with Injectors 2 and 3 (same circuit) not operating, and right at the end the cooling fans would come on at random.

Anyway, what’s my point… I don’t think the old one would be of any use…

Gareth