Engine failure hazard - Days after litchfield tune
Discussion
As the title says I received the 305hp tune by Litchfield on Tuesday (14th) and then driving home from work on the (16th) I got an Engine failure hazard warning. The car crawled to my house, luckily just round to corner from where the error happened.
I've spoken to Litchfield, and they can't look at it until the 1st of March. I got a local garage to check for an error code but couldn’t find anything.
I’ve been testing it locally and no issues. Even pushed it a bit to see but still nothing. It still has a year on its warranty.
I’m looking for a bit of advice what to do? Litchfield have said they’ve never had issues with the Alpine tune and it seems a few people have had the Engine failure hazard before without any mods. Should I get the tune removed and then go to Alpine with the error. Looks like it’s something to do with the fuel pump.
Annoyingly I’ve got a Scotland Road trip planned at the start of April.
I've spoken to Litchfield, and they can't look at it until the 1st of March. I got a local garage to check for an error code but couldn’t find anything.
I’ve been testing it locally and no issues. Even pushed it a bit to see but still nothing. It still has a year on its warranty.
I’m looking for a bit of advice what to do? Litchfield have said they’ve never had issues with the Alpine tune and it seems a few people have had the Engine failure hazard before without any mods. Should I get the tune removed and then go to Alpine with the error. Looks like it’s something to do with the fuel pump.
Annoyingly I’ve got a Scotland Road trip planned at the start of April.
my bet: fuel pump.
Likely to be unrelated to Litchfield. I doubt the fuel pump is over-driven with a tune? even if so, they are s
t and fail without a tune.
Did you see injector error before engine failure? I got the engine failure message too but first sign was injector error. Was the tank nearly empty? were you running it warm for a while?
If you can limp or still start, the fuel pump is giving up but has not blown its fuse yet. It just isn't giving enough fuel. When mine failed the car was undriveable but sometimes would start for a 5 seconds with a bad idle, before dying with a mess of errors again. So the fuel pump was still pushing a little fuel forward (hah, backward I mean).
Likely to be unrelated to Litchfield. I doubt the fuel pump is over-driven with a tune? even if so, they are s
t and fail without a tune.Did you see injector error before engine failure? I got the engine failure message too but first sign was injector error. Was the tank nearly empty? were you running it warm for a while?
If you can limp or still start, the fuel pump is giving up but has not blown its fuse yet. It just isn't giving enough fuel. When mine failed the car was undriveable but sometimes would start for a 5 seconds with a bad idle, before dying with a mess of errors again. So the fuel pump was still pushing a little fuel forward (hah, backward I mean).
Edited by a110au on Sunday 19th February 01:13
Edited by a110au on Sunday 19th February 01:14
They did with mine. I have the Life110 300ps map installed. Fuel pump failed last summer and was replaced within a week. I didn’t mention the map and they didn’t ask.
I understood from David Pook that dealers would not easily be able to tell that the ECU map had been tweaked.
Given the known issue with the fuel pump I imagine they wouldn’t have a (reasonable) leg to stand on even if they were aware of the map?
I understood from David Pook that dealers would not easily be able to tell that the ECU map had been tweaked.
Given the known issue with the fuel pump I imagine they wouldn’t have a (reasonable) leg to stand on even if they were aware of the map?
domrusty said:
Given the known issue with the fuel pump I imagine they wouldn’t have a (reasonable) leg to stand on even if they were aware of the map?
I would hope not, but an antagonistic dealer could claim that a fuel pump has to work harder when a remap requires more fuel at certain points of the engine map.The other worrying thing about fuel pump failure is the potential damage that it could do to the engine if it can't maintain the proper fuel pressure and the engine runs lean, causing detonation. Hence the 'engine failure' warning light.
+1 for fuel pump.
Had an alternator failure last year; the dash lit-up like a Christmas tree. The car went into lump mode and later the power steering stopped working.
Although it took over one month to get the parts, it was done under warranty without a problem despite the garage knowing I have the Life tune and all suspension mods.
Had an alternator failure last year; the dash lit-up like a Christmas tree. The car went into lump mode and later the power steering stopped working.
Although it took over one month to get the parts, it was done under warranty without a problem despite the garage knowing I have the Life tune and all suspension mods.
domrusty said:
They did with mine. I have the Life110 300ps map installed. Fuel pump failed last summer and was replaced within a week. I didn’t mention the map and they didn’t ask.
I understood from David Pook that dealers would not easily be able to tell that the ECU map had been tweaked.
Given the known issue with the fuel pump I imagine they wouldn’t have a (reasonable) leg to stand on even if they were aware of the map?
I agree, unlikely to be related to the Litchfield tune and I also heard that the dealers would not easily detect the ECU change; and nor would they look for it unless they had reason / suspicion to do so.I understood from David Pook that dealers would not easily be able to tell that the ECU map had been tweaked.
Given the known issue with the fuel pump I imagine they wouldn’t have a (reasonable) leg to stand on even if they were aware of the map?
one would think the company whose pre production car immolates on top gear would go back over the fuel system and ask themselves “did we use the best quality components for this?”
ok that might be unfair
maybe they found out later that they bought into a batch of poor plastic pumps, so now whats the excuse. Why did they not replace every single one from the earliest failure production day to the last..
ok that might be unfair
maybe they found out later that they bought into a batch of poor plastic pumps, so now whats the excuse. Why did they not replace every single one from the earliest failure production day to the last..
JGBULMER said:
Litchfield have said they’ve never had issues with the Alpine tune
I'm deeply sceptical of this. I'm wary of saying exactly who on an open forum but I know for a fact that someone had this exact message on Litchfield's original red car. What year is your car and what torque did Litchfield map it to?
I don't think anyone has yet mentioned that the post-'21 cars can't take much beyond about 340nm before giving this message.
It happened again, this time I managed to film it. Wasn't pushing at all. Pulled away from the lights, doing about 50 then the error came on. Check the video here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/148k82lPxB9QcnDEtJ...
Restarted the car and pushes a bunch to try and see it again but nothing.
Any ideas?
Restarted the car and pushes a bunch to try and see it again but nothing.
Any ideas?
JGBULMER said:
It happened again, this time I managed to film it. Wasn't pushing at all. Pulled away from the lights, doing about 50 then the error came on. Check the video here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/148k82lPxB9QcnDEtJ...
Restarted the car and pushes a bunch to try and see it again but nothing.
Any ideas?
Exactly the same as mine, they replaced the fuel pump.Restarted the car and pushes a bunch to try and see it again but nothing.
Any ideas?
I have had some experience with the fuel pump problem which I can share.
I bought my 2019 car 12 months ago and it came with the Litchfield map on it that the first owner had installed straight from the showroom!
When I took possession, as a precaution, I phoned Manchester who are my nearest dealer and asked about any outstanding recalls for the car. I was told that it needed a new fuel pump. The car was actually running fine and a real hoot to drive.
I also wondered about the map and when I asked about the exact work to be done the words “recalibration of the pump” was mentioned which resulted in an ECU software update.
I just let them get on with it, they knew the car but it wasn’t a problem that it had been mapped.
The pain was I had to go back to Litchfield to have the car mapped again but they did it at no cost.
I bought my 2019 car 12 months ago and it came with the Litchfield map on it that the first owner had installed straight from the showroom!
When I took possession, as a precaution, I phoned Manchester who are my nearest dealer and asked about any outstanding recalls for the car. I was told that it needed a new fuel pump. The car was actually running fine and a real hoot to drive.
I also wondered about the map and when I asked about the exact work to be done the words “recalibration of the pump” was mentioned which resulted in an ECU software update.
I just let them get on with it, they knew the car but it wasn’t a problem that it had been mapped.
The pain was I had to go back to Litchfield to have the car mapped again but they did it at no cost.
am pretty sure you would have got a new pump and the rest is just smoke and mirrors.
do renault/alpine use pulse width modulated fuel pumps? I cant find much evidence of this online. If not then the pump runs the same way all the time no matter what software is thrown at anything else. So a recall is “replace the thing”.
do renault/alpine use pulse width modulated fuel pumps? I cant find much evidence of this online. If not then the pump runs the same way all the time no matter what software is thrown at anything else. So a recall is “replace the thing”.
So, the fuel pump shouldn't be the issue. I forgot it was replaced in Nov under warranty.
I plugged in my trickle charger and found this:
It seems the battery might have been the issue. Plugged the charger in and it started at number 3, number 4 in ready to use. Hopefully this is the issue, it's no fully charged.
I plugged in my trickle charger and found this:
It seems the battery might have been the issue. Plugged the charger in and it started at number 3, number 4 in ready to use. Hopefully this is the issue, it's no fully charged.
JGBULMER said:
So, the fuel pump shouldn't be the issue. I forgot it was replaced in Nov under warranty.
I plugged in my trickle charger and found this:
It seems the battery might have been the issue. Plugged the charger in and it started at number 3, number 4 in ready to use. Hopefully this is the issue, it's no fully charged.
I hope not because after the car is started it runs on the alternator ar 14,5v ok so it has a smart alternator system that uses a chip on the (-) post to try to disconnect the alternator when the battery is considered full but the operative word there is “full”.I plugged in my trickle charger and found this:
It seems the battery might have been the issue. Plugged the charger in and it started at number 3, number 4 in ready to use. Hopefully this is the issue, it's no fully charged.
If your battery is half discharged it should not hand over power duties to the battery when engine running..
not until its crawled back up in voltage - mind you I do think the smart charge / stop start system is buggy so who knows.
good luck!
I drove yesterday for 8 hours with a lifepo4 battery, shedding 12kg (the stock battery is such a lump) plus a cheap little bluetooth battery monitor, and the bms lead disconnected from the negative post.
without wanting to jinx it, very happy with this mod from data so far. Will write it up. The battery was 200 euros.
I drove yesterday for 8 hours with a lifepo4 battery, shedding 12kg (the stock battery is such a lump) plus a cheap little bluetooth battery monitor, and the bms lead disconnected from the negative post.
without wanting to jinx it, very happy with this mod from data so far. Will write it up. The battery was 200 euros.
I think you are clutching at straws if you think that charging the battery is going to prevent the engine failure warning.
I know nothing about Alpines, but if it's already had the replacement fuel pump, my next point of call would be back to Litchfields, because the problem has only started since you've had it mapped.
I know nothing about Alpines, but if it's already had the replacement fuel pump, my next point of call would be back to Litchfields, because the problem has only started since you've had it mapped.
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