Half an engine?

[alinton]

Wonder can anyone point me to whats causing this:
I started the cerb today after leaving it idle for 2 days (it rained), and while it started OK, it's completely gutless.
It's like driving a noisy Nissan - feels like only half the engine is working!
It's also pinking a bit when I take off, and the idle revs are slighly lower that normal. Engine temp and oil pressure ok, no warning light.
I thought it might be moisture somewhere that would dry out after a couple of miles, but I drove it into town, parked up, came back and drove home and its still the same.
Any ideas anyone please?

[trooperiziz]

Most likely a split coil pack on one of the banks. Have you got the software to connect up to the ECU to read the fault codes?

[alinton]

No I havn't, anyone care to send me it?

Where are the coil packs?

Cheers!

[kojak]

Water in the ECU.

[alinton]

Well if I disconnect the multi-plug from the front coil pack (odd coil) the engine still starts. If however I disconnect the rear pack (even coil) it won't.

Guess that means the coil pack is faulty?

Are these common to any other car?

[Julian64]

That doesn't mean you solved the problem, it just means you found which side of the engine the problem is on. Try swapping over the coil pack and see what happens.

[trooperiziz]

can you see the coils? take a look at the rim surrounding the plug plate, there should be no gaps anywhere, it should be one solid piece of plastic. If you have a gap it will need replacing.

Best bet is to give a dealer a call if it is that, as i don't know what other car they come off.

[alinton]

Yes, looks like the metal can has expanded or the epoxy has contracted.
Car is a '98 4.2.
Thanks..

[seamus]

Have the same problem with mine, replaced the coil pack but made no difference although I was led to believe it still needs to be plugged into the laptop to resolve, have now sent to TVR Power to sort.. will let you know what they come back with..

[mrmop]

had the very same problem, took the car the Andy @APM automotive and he found both coils to be badly rusted and required changing,perfect ever since.

[seamus]

Turned out not to be the coil pack on mine afterall... somewhere along the line someone had changed the eprom chip, having put the correct one in it now runs ok again, Dom confirmed that with the original chip it just wouldn't run all 8 no matter what they tried..