Aston Martin advice from Bamford Rose independent specialist
Discussion
pete1212 said:
Does this can happen with a rapide too?
My dealer tells me they have only seen this once before - on a Rapide. Mike's thoughts on this issue which he has mentioned before on Pistonheads;
"My feeling is that cat failure was sudden exposure to severe exotherm, which can only come from neat fuel which only path to cat is via purge line".
CraigV12V said:
My dealer tells me they have only seen this once before - on a Rapide.
Mike's thoughts on this issue which he has mentioned before on Pistonheads;
"My feeling is that cat failure was sudden exposure to severe exotherm, which can only come from neat fuel which only path to cat is via purge line".
Thank you Craig,Mike's thoughts on this issue which he has mentioned before on Pistonheads;
"My feeling is that cat failure was sudden exposure to severe exotherm, which can only come from neat fuel which only path to cat is via purge line".
Cause I have an idle problem for 3 weeks 1200km, (air leak?) and I just red air leak can affect catalitic converter, and i noticed it smell much stronger. The oil filler cap was loose, car was accelerating alone when started cold upto 1500, sometimes twice or 3 times at 1300. no doubt I had an air leak could this affect the cats? i am now out of warranty, but they re trying to resolve idle issue with warranty since problem started 3 days before the end, will probably be left if cats broke in a few days and idle not resolved. i do not think it should idle that long at 1100, and i do remember well how fast it idle at 700 before. No error message the dealer says the car has a problem motor first, nothing has changed dealer says the car is perfect now, when i call AML I heard the transmission has an issue, that a sensor was sent, i asked 3 times which sensor i do not know yet, dealer was even ok not to set it back as for him all was fine this morning, but upon insisting he said he will verify all settings again like AML asked to do and not sure if he confirmed he will install this sensor? i must confess, i am well confused. I am worry at the consequences of checking testing a car too long, and keeping it that way if it strange.
Edited by pete1212 on Thursday 21st April 12:39
CraigV12V said:
So Mike, the logical thing to do is get a different exhaust fitted when they replace engine, one you describe without primary cats. I guess I have a snowball in hell's chance of getting a dealer to do this and not have my warranty invalidated.
What would costs be of exhaust system only, which in an alternative universe I managed to get a dealer to fit foc when replacing the engine?
Joking apart, with this cat ingesting seemingly now being a common problem it's the only preventative solution,isn't it?
Thanks for keeping me updated offline Craig.What would costs be of exhaust system only, which in an alternative universe I managed to get a dealer to fit foc when replacing the engine?
Joking apart, with this cat ingesting seemingly now being a common problem it's the only preventative solution,isn't it?
I'm pretty sure that a car within 3 year maker period, the removal of primary cats and ECU reflash would invalidate warranty, but it's interesting to read dealers are fitting aftermarket silencer and decats and comments I have read indicate warranty is not compromised, so where is the line drawn?
A sudden failure of catalysts can happen but is rare, but as in your example at low engine speed / load, it must require huge exotherm which requires neat fuel on face of cat which only can come from a couple of sources - such as an error state purge system which instead of only vapour contains liquid fuel. The more common cause of cat failure is engine running with undiagnosed misfire probably from coils or failed breather circuit. Yes, I would prevent the cat failing the engine by removing the cat if it were my car, that way an engine rebuild in region of £10k can be avoided
Navyatco said:
And who does/where can you get the ECU reflashed?
Any outfit prepared to undertake primary cat removal, on thinking job through, will know ECU will require reflash. So I would say whatever outfit accepts the job will be able to reprogram the ecu, but I have seen a number of dodgy ECU tunes out there, I will post up an example in a bit, it's best to select ECU tuner very wisely! Speedraser said:
Does the NP Vanquish have this issue also?
The architecture of vanquish, Rapide, db9, dbs, virage and v12v is all the same, so yes, run with a misfire for long enough and the cat could fail and the debris could be ingested and cause engine damage on a classic vanquish too.My experience of Vanquish is that the misfire detection light is illuminated a lot sooner / for less misfire rate than Gaydon V12 which means an earlier visit to workshop to get the problem checked out. Also for the case of Gaydon V12 there is careless forum information being taken as gospel which could cause a misfire to be overlooked. If a poster goes on main forum and says he has a check engine light, everyone jumps on there to say it's just an oxygen sensor, they all do that, don't worry about it, drive on and it might go away. This is probably correct in 9/10 times. However, if you are the 1 in 10, the code might be for P0420/P0430 which is cat efficiency issue and nothing to do with exhaust sensor. This code will only ping and light come on dash if the cat is pretty much broken up / failed and not gas converting. So for this case, the info to say carry on driving is harmful because the earlier the better to try and save the engine post cat failure.
In my experience Vanquish owners react to every issue the car might have whilst some owners with new era run on with problems. Because the architecture between the cars is identical, this reason and more sensitive misfire diagnostic can be only reasons why it is not commonplace on classic vanquish.
CraigV12V said:
My dealer tells me they have only seen this once before - on a Rapide.
Mike's thoughts on this issue which he has mentioned before on Pistonheads;
"My feeling is that cat failure was sudden exposure to severe exotherm, which can only come from neat fuel which only path to cat is via purge line".
I have had a ring around, the dealer network experiences this issue more frequently than what is being let on me thinks - for newer cars.Mike's thoughts on this issue which he has mentioned before on Pistonheads;
"My feeling is that cat failure was sudden exposure to severe exotherm, which can only come from neat fuel which only path to cat is via purge line".
For older cars I think problems are more commonplace outside dealer network because the car is of an age to stray the network. Also in my experience the cars coming to us with engine failure due to prior cat failure have usually been serviced by non aston specialist or perhaps race teams with little road car knowledge which means come service time no hook up to the factory diag system to run the real time misfire monitor tool, so missing a preventative maintenance fix. To this date, no BR service customer has had cat ingested engine failure, but, we replace lots of coils and breather circuits where the diag tool detected misfire but a human can't meaning we prevent lots.
pete1212 said:
Thank you Craig,
Cause I have an idle problem for 3 weeks 1200km, (air leak?) and I just red air leak can affect catalitic converter, and i noticed it smell much stronger. The oil filler cap was loose, car was accelerating alone when started cold upto 1500, sometimes twice or 3 times at 1300. no doubt I had an air leak could this affect the cats? i am now out of warranty, but they re trying to resolve idle issue with warranty since problem started 3 days before the end, will probably be left if cats broke in a few days and idle not resolved. i do not think it should idle that long at 1100, and i do remember well how fast it idle at 700 before. No error message the dealer says the car has a problem motor first, nothing has changed dealer says the car is perfect now, when i call AML I heard the transmission has an issue, that a sensor was sent, i asked 3 times which sensor i do not know yet, dealer was even ok not to set it back as for him all was fine this morning, but upon insisting he said he will verify all settings again like AML asked to do and not sure if he confirmed he will install this sensor? i must confess, i am well confused. I am worry at the consequences of checking testing a car too long, and keeping it that way if it strange.
If your car has an air leak, the dealer should know this very easily by looking at long term fuel adaption. If there is an airleak meaning un metered air is going into engine, the long term fuel trims will be positive. If more than 10% there is a problem, on reaching 30% the system will clamp out and there is serious issue that needs resolving. If the engine is accelerating without accelerator pedal being pressed, then a back to basics diagnostic session is needed. What is airflow from both mass airflow meters? What is throttle blade angle from both sides, what is fuelling value (should be lambda 1) and to get lambda 1 what is long term fuelling correction. Somewhere in that lot will be the key which sends you on a targeted fault find.Cause I have an idle problem for 3 weeks 1200km, (air leak?) and I just red air leak can affect catalitic converter, and i noticed it smell much stronger. The oil filler cap was loose, car was accelerating alone when started cold upto 1500, sometimes twice or 3 times at 1300. no doubt I had an air leak could this affect the cats? i am now out of warranty, but they re trying to resolve idle issue with warranty since problem started 3 days before the end, will probably be left if cats broke in a few days and idle not resolved. i do not think it should idle that long at 1100, and i do remember well how fast it idle at 700 before. No error message the dealer says the car has a problem motor first, nothing has changed dealer says the car is perfect now, when i call AML I heard the transmission has an issue, that a sensor was sent, i asked 3 times which sensor i do not know yet, dealer was even ok not to set it back as for him all was fine this morning, but upon insisting he said he will verify all settings again like AML asked to do and not sure if he confirmed he will install this sensor? i must confess, i am well confused. I am worry at the consequences of checking testing a car too long, and keeping it that way if it strange.
Edited by pete1212 on Thursday 21st April 12:39
Certainly, don't drive the V12 engine if rough or misfiring because a misfire means incomplete combustion, for anything other than lean misfire that means excessive HC in exhaust which means a bad day for the cat. A lean misfire means a hotter combustion gas which at idle is unlikely to over temp the cat and cause it to fail, so whilst you have this problem, just drive the car with low engine speed until a workshop can fix it for you
BamfordMike
dealer said the car is perfect now, they may have resolved the acceleration issue ( not sure yet) but the car rev much higher and takes 3 or 4 more times to be at 750 like it used to be.
they do not even want do more, for them, its fixed, its a real bummer and I knew I will struggle. i am so sorry I bought this car.
I emailed them translated the text, i am where i start to disturb them and where they are a bit tired at the car now, I beleive the oil filler cap was really bad and left there until i find it out.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4EYYyoD9s_Y
they changed it , said the new cap is same as old, but now are saying the acceleration may have disapeared. not sure about the idle so high for so long.
2 dealer says its normal now, do you think it's normal upon starting the idle is at 1100 and it take 1 minute and half to reach 800-900? while it was much more rapide before, and yes it smell stronger, the catalityc converter maybe already affected, dealer stat saying it was coils but said they tested them, for me when i was accelerating going to Portugal I fell like i was not using the full engine potential and the sounds was like this, if a few cylinder were not working properly.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8dosWN3z_v4&fe...
video showing the idle for 1mn 40 sec.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkfW3TutJoE&fe...
and here the worst, car accelerate alone, after my advice dealer change the oil filler cap, said they are the same but said the car does not accelerate anymore now...but it was one morning yes and one morning no so i need time to see if this is fixed but the idle takes a long time....
dealer said they verified everything and there is no air leak, he said in some occasion the car may do this one time and it will not happen again, it compre it to other v12 there, some takes 40 seconds to reach 750 idle mine takes 1mn 30 seconds, go and try to understand. this rapide was in nurburgring AML used it there.
dealer said the car is perfect now, they may have resolved the acceleration issue ( not sure yet) but the car rev much higher and takes 3 or 4 more times to be at 750 like it used to be.
they do not even want do more, for them, its fixed, its a real bummer and I knew I will struggle. i am so sorry I bought this car.
I emailed them translated the text, i am where i start to disturb them and where they are a bit tired at the car now, I beleive the oil filler cap was really bad and left there until i find it out.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4EYYyoD9s_Y
they changed it , said the new cap is same as old, but now are saying the acceleration may have disapeared. not sure about the idle so high for so long.
2 dealer says its normal now, do you think it's normal upon starting the idle is at 1100 and it take 1 minute and half to reach 800-900? while it was much more rapide before, and yes it smell stronger, the catalityc converter maybe already affected, dealer stat saying it was coils but said they tested them, for me when i was accelerating going to Portugal I fell like i was not using the full engine potential and the sounds was like this, if a few cylinder were not working properly.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8dosWN3z_v4&fe...
video showing the idle for 1mn 40 sec.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkfW3TutJoE&fe...
and here the worst, car accelerate alone, after my advice dealer change the oil filler cap, said they are the same but said the car does not accelerate anymore now...but it was one morning yes and one morning no so i need time to see if this is fixed but the idle takes a long time....
dealer said they verified everything and there is no air leak, he said in some occasion the car may do this one time and it will not happen again, it compre it to other v12 there, some takes 40 seconds to reach 750 idle mine takes 1mn 30 seconds, go and try to understand. this rapide was in nurburgring AML used it there.
Edited by pete1212 on Thursday 21st April 16:45
Edited by pete1212 on Thursday 21st April 17:23
pete1212 said:
BamfordMike
dealer said the car is perfect now, they may have resolved the acceleration issue ( not sure yet) but the car rev much higher and takes 3 or 4 more times to be at 750 like it used to be.
they do not even want do more, for them, its fixed, its a real bummer and I knew I will struggle. i am so sorry I bought this car.
I emailed them translated the text, i am where i start to disturb them and where they are a bit tired at the car now, I beleive the oil filler cap was really bad and left there until i find it out.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4EYYyoD9s_Y
they changed it , said the new cap is same as old, but now are saying the acceleration may have disapeared. not sure about the idle so high for so long.
2 dealer says its normal now, do you think it's normal upon starting the idle is at 1100 and it take 1 minute and half to reach 800-900? while it was much more rapide before, and yes it smell stronger, the catalityc converter maybe already affected, dealer stat saying it was coils but said they tested them, for me when i was accelerating going to Portugal I fell like i was not using the full engine potential and the sounds was like this, if a few cylinder were not working properly.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8dosWN3z_v4&fe...
video showing the idle for 1mn 40 sec.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkfW3TutJoE&fe...
and here the worst, car accelerate alone, after my advice dealer change the oil filler cap, said they are the same but said the car does not accelerate anymore now...but it was one morning yes and one morning no so i need time to see if this is fixed but the idle takes a long time....
dealer said they verified everything and there is no air leak, he said in some occasion the car may do this one time and it will not happen again, it compre it to other v12 there, some takes 40 seconds to reach 750 idle mine takes 1mn 30 seconds, go and try to understand. this rapide was in nurburgring AML used it there.
The video of the cap is entirely normal, this is the fit of a normal cap. The sealing is done by O-ring on rib in cam cover and although the cap moves, considering the cam cover should not have excessive positive pressure above atmospheric pressure, the sealing and movement of the cap as you show in video is perfectly OK and normal on every car.dealer said the car is perfect now, they may have resolved the acceleration issue ( not sure yet) but the car rev much higher and takes 3 or 4 more times to be at 750 like it used to be.
they do not even want do more, for them, its fixed, its a real bummer and I knew I will struggle. i am so sorry I bought this car.
I emailed them translated the text, i am where i start to disturb them and where they are a bit tired at the car now, I beleive the oil filler cap was really bad and left there until i find it out.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4EYYyoD9s_Y
they changed it , said the new cap is same as old, but now are saying the acceleration may have disapeared. not sure about the idle so high for so long.
2 dealer says its normal now, do you think it's normal upon starting the idle is at 1100 and it take 1 minute and half to reach 800-900? while it was much more rapide before, and yes it smell stronger, the catalityc converter maybe already affected, dealer stat saying it was coils but said they tested them, for me when i was accelerating going to Portugal I fell like i was not using the full engine potential and the sounds was like this, if a few cylinder were not working properly.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8dosWN3z_v4&fe...
video showing the idle for 1mn 40 sec.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkfW3TutJoE&fe...
and here the worst, car accelerate alone, after my advice dealer change the oil filler cap, said they are the same but said the car does not accelerate anymore now...but it was one morning yes and one morning no so i need time to see if this is fixed but the idle takes a long time....
dealer said they verified everything and there is no air leak, he said in some occasion the car may do this one time and it will not happen again, it compre it to other v12 there, some takes 40 seconds to reach 750 idle mine takes 1mn 30 seconds, go and try to understand. this rapide was in nurburgring AML used it there.
Edited by pete1212 on Thursday 21st April 16:45
Edited by pete1212 on Thursday 21st April 17:26
The time the engine takes to reduce from 1100rpm to 750 is normal - ok.
The video showing the start behaviour at 15seconds is not ok, if you did not press the accelerator pedal at 15 seconds to cause the fluctuating engine speed there is a problem which needs the dealer diagnostic tool to diagnose issue.
Does the engine revs fluctuate like in the video at every cold start?
Does the engine revs fluctuate like in the video at warm restart?
If leaving the engine to idle for long time is the speed steady at 750 rpm or does it fluctuate?
I can't really see there is any problem to get worried about too much here. You have no engine check light on dashboard and if all you have is erratic idle, the dealer diagnostic tool should guide the technician to the component at fault
BamfordMike said:
The video of the cap is entirely normal, this is the fit of a normal cap. The sealing is done by O-ring on rib in cam cover and although the cap moves, considering the cam cover should not have excessive positive pressure above atmospheric pressure, the sealing and movement of the cap as you show in video is perfectly OK and normal on every car.
The time the engine takes to reduce from 1100rpm to 750 is normal - ok.
The video showing the start behaviour at 15seconds is not ok, if you did not press the accelerator pedal at 15 seconds to cause the fluctuating engine speed there is a problem which needs the dealer diagnostic tool to diagnose issue.
Does the engine revs fluctuate like in the video at every cold start?
Does the engine revs fluctuate like in the video at warm restart?
If leaving the engine to idle for long time is the speed steady at 750 rpm or does it fluctuate?
I can't really see there is any problem to get worried about too much here. You have no engine check light on dashboard and if all you have is erratic idle, the dealer diagnostic tool should guide the technician to the component at fault
BamfordMike,The time the engine takes to reduce from 1100rpm to 750 is normal - ok.
The video showing the start behaviour at 15seconds is not ok, if you did not press the accelerator pedal at 15 seconds to cause the fluctuating engine speed there is a problem which needs the dealer diagnostic tool to diagnose issue.
Does the engine revs fluctuate like in the video at every cold start?
Does the engine revs fluctuate like in the video at warm restart?
If leaving the engine to idle for long time is the speed steady at 750 rpm or does it fluctuate?
I can't really see there is any problem to get worried about too much here. You have no engine check light on dashboard and if all you have is erratic idle, the dealer diagnostic tool should guide the technician to the component at fault
Thank you,
1 no, not at every cold start, it has happenned to me 3 or 4 times.
2 no never with warm start
3 when warm, it is steady and it goes quickly at 750.
Hi All. Please forgive me for my OCD post but as most of my life before i commit to something i do a thorough investigation to eliminate all unknown upfront…
Before i will write anything here a bit about myself: a happy 2011 370Z (manual) owner (had a car for last 2 years) and ex S2000 “graduate”. Nissan is a great daily commuter with some umps whenever i need it to be.
Although the car isn’t exactly bringing my S2000 thrills (not even close.. but thats understandable).
Although the Vantage is my I think one of the must have cars so this is main reason why I am writing up this post...
Now i have spend last 2 days reading through all 86 pages 😃 of this thread absorbing it all like a sponge and to my satisfaction of the knowledge that lays in the members as well as the creator of this thread i have decided to throw some nursing questions...
Now after some time that BR (Bamford Rose) have their first modification several winters have passed through, therefore please see below the questions that i couldn’t find an answer in the thread (or imply missed one)
- Re-sell value of modified car ? (can any members who have modified the car with BR shed some light on it?)
- Sportshift: good or bad ? (I prefer manual gearbox but I don’t think i am able to use it to the limit of their abilities 😔 also car will be driven daily so i have to take how easy would it be driving on day-to-day basis)
- Which year would you advise to buy (question comes down to either buy 4.7l or older 4.3l (at the moment prices range between is £31K (4.3l) vs £44K (4.7l))
- After so many upgrades you have done so far what is long-term experience owning one of the conversions?
- What to look for when buying a second hand V8V (taking I am planning to do a few upgrades at your shop to enhance the car)
- Is there a high milage warning when purchasing a second hand ?(one not to go any close to)
- If you upgrade engine what is the lifetime of it and do the milage reset to zero after this upgrade? How you calculate it?
- If purchased from main dealer is it worth paying for extended warranty or you can provide similar service?
- The components difference and associated cost to get (older 4.3l) up to the latter (newer 4.7l) model? (need to justify the most cost effective option)
- If N400 to be found would you even consider doing anything to the car itself (talking potential devaluation of the "limited edition" line ?)
- Or should i consider early DB9 (’06-’09 model) although I was reading about a lot of faulty and problematic models. Not sure if it has same agility drivability of V8V though...
I hope this is more of a refreshment to the thread where if covered in full more people could have most up to date details on your offer (not to mention you would make me very happy and whats more important much much closer to getting my first AM!!!
Thanks in advance for answering the above.
Marcin
Before i will write anything here a bit about myself: a happy 2011 370Z (manual) owner (had a car for last 2 years) and ex S2000 “graduate”. Nissan is a great daily commuter with some umps whenever i need it to be.
Although the car isn’t exactly bringing my S2000 thrills (not even close.. but thats understandable).
Although the Vantage is my I think one of the must have cars so this is main reason why I am writing up this post...
Now i have spend last 2 days reading through all 86 pages 😃 of this thread absorbing it all like a sponge and to my satisfaction of the knowledge that lays in the members as well as the creator of this thread i have decided to throw some nursing questions...
Now after some time that BR (Bamford Rose) have their first modification several winters have passed through, therefore please see below the questions that i couldn’t find an answer in the thread (or imply missed one)
- Re-sell value of modified car ? (can any members who have modified the car with BR shed some light on it?)
- Sportshift: good or bad ? (I prefer manual gearbox but I don’t think i am able to use it to the limit of their abilities 😔 also car will be driven daily so i have to take how easy would it be driving on day-to-day basis)
- Which year would you advise to buy (question comes down to either buy 4.7l or older 4.3l (at the moment prices range between is £31K (4.3l) vs £44K (4.7l))
- After so many upgrades you have done so far what is long-term experience owning one of the conversions?
- What to look for when buying a second hand V8V (taking I am planning to do a few upgrades at your shop to enhance the car)
- Is there a high milage warning when purchasing a second hand ?(one not to go any close to)
- If you upgrade engine what is the lifetime of it and do the milage reset to zero after this upgrade? How you calculate it?
- If purchased from main dealer is it worth paying for extended warranty or you can provide similar service?
- The components difference and associated cost to get (older 4.3l) up to the latter (newer 4.7l) model? (need to justify the most cost effective option)
- If N400 to be found would you even consider doing anything to the car itself (talking potential devaluation of the "limited edition" line ?)
- Or should i consider early DB9 (’06-’09 model) although I was reading about a lot of faulty and problematic models. Not sure if it has same agility drivability of V8V though...
I hope this is more of a refreshment to the thread where if covered in full more people could have most up to date details on your offer (not to mention you would make me very happy and whats more important much much closer to getting my first AM!!!
Thanks in advance for answering the above.
Marcin
pete1212 said:
BamfordMike,
Thank you,
1 no, not at every cold start, it has happenned to me 3 or 4 times.
2 no never with warm start
3 when warm, it is steady and it goes quickly at 750.
Ok, based off the info you give here and there being no fault codes on dash I don't think there is any problem to get overly worried about. The occasional glitch of engine speed at idle is not normal, but sounds to me to be minor issue which could range from glitch in mass airflow meter, oil in throttle body or some other glitch which is simply that and not a problem which places engine at risk. Should be a simple dealer glitch fix as you have the glitch on video. Keep us updated or if you have further symptoms come back for advice! You have done the right thing which is to be cautious of suspicious running and seek to get it checked out, the opposite is running on and on and on with a problem which was easy to fix at the start but the usage turns that fault into a much bigger problem to fix when the original small fault causes bigger symptoms.Thank you,
1 no, not at every cold start, it has happenned to me 3 or 4 times.
2 no never with warm start
3 when warm, it is steady and it goes quickly at 750.
mfrycz said:
Hi All. Please forgive me for my OCD post but as most of my life before i commit to something i do a thorough investigation to eliminate all unknown upfront…
Before i will write anything here a bit about myself: a happy 2011 370Z (manual) owner (had a car for last 2 years) and ex S2000 “graduate”. Nissan is a great daily commuter with some umps whenever i need it to be.
Although the car isn’t exactly bringing my S2000 thrills (not even close.. but thats understandable).
Although the Vantage is my I think one of the must have cars so this is main reason why I am writing up this post...
Now i have spend last 2 days reading through all 86 pages ?? of this thread absorbing it all like a sponge and to my satisfaction of the knowledge that lays in the members as well as the creator of this thread i have decided to throw some nursing questions...
Now after some time that BR (Bamford Rose) have their first modification several winters have passed through, therefore please see below the questions that i couldn’t find an answer in the thread (or imply missed one)
- Re-sell value of modified car ? (can any members who have modified the car with BR shed some light on it?)
- Sportshift: good or bad ? (I prefer manual gearbox but I don’t think i am able to use it to the limit of their abilities ?? also car will be driven daily so i have to take how easy would it be driving on day-to-day basis)
- Which year would you advise to buy (question comes down to either buy 4.7l or older 4.3l (at the moment prices range between is £31K (4.3l) vs £44K (4.7l))
- After so many upgrades you have done so far what is long-term experience owning one of the conversions?
- What to look for when buying a second hand V8V (taking I am planning to do a few upgrades at your shop to enhance the car)
- Is there a high milage warning when purchasing a second hand ?(one not to go any close to)
- If you upgrade engine what is the lifetime of it and do the milage reset to zero after this upgrade? How you calculate it?
- If purchased from main dealer is it worth paying for extended warranty or you can provide similar service?
- The components difference and associated cost to get (older 4.3l) up to the latter (newer 4.7l) model? (need to justify the most cost effective option)
- If N400 to be found would you even consider doing anything to the car itself (talking potential devaluation of the "limited edition" line ?)
- Or should i consider early DB9 (’06-’09 model) although I was reading about a lot of faulty and problematic models. Not sure if it has same agility drivability of V8V though...
I hope this is more of a refreshment to the thread where if covered in full more people could have most up to date details on your offer (not to mention you would make me very happy and whats more important much much closer to getting my first AM!!!
Thanks in advance for answering the above.
Marcin
Hi Marcin.Before i will write anything here a bit about myself: a happy 2011 370Z (manual) owner (had a car for last 2 years) and ex S2000 “graduate”. Nissan is a great daily commuter with some umps whenever i need it to be.
Although the car isn’t exactly bringing my S2000 thrills (not even close.. but thats understandable).
Although the Vantage is my I think one of the must have cars so this is main reason why I am writing up this post...
Now i have spend last 2 days reading through all 86 pages ?? of this thread absorbing it all like a sponge and to my satisfaction of the knowledge that lays in the members as well as the creator of this thread i have decided to throw some nursing questions...
Now after some time that BR (Bamford Rose) have their first modification several winters have passed through, therefore please see below the questions that i couldn’t find an answer in the thread (or imply missed one)
- Re-sell value of modified car ? (can any members who have modified the car with BR shed some light on it?)
- Sportshift: good or bad ? (I prefer manual gearbox but I don’t think i am able to use it to the limit of their abilities ?? also car will be driven daily so i have to take how easy would it be driving on day-to-day basis)
- Which year would you advise to buy (question comes down to either buy 4.7l or older 4.3l (at the moment prices range between is £31K (4.3l) vs £44K (4.7l))
- After so many upgrades you have done so far what is long-term experience owning one of the conversions?
- What to look for when buying a second hand V8V (taking I am planning to do a few upgrades at your shop to enhance the car)
- Is there a high milage warning when purchasing a second hand ?(one not to go any close to)
- If you upgrade engine what is the lifetime of it and do the milage reset to zero after this upgrade? How you calculate it?
- If purchased from main dealer is it worth paying for extended warranty or you can provide similar service?
- The components difference and associated cost to get (older 4.3l) up to the latter (newer 4.7l) model? (need to justify the most cost effective option)
- If N400 to be found would you even consider doing anything to the car itself (talking potential devaluation of the "limited edition" line ?)
- Or should i consider early DB9 (’06-’09 model) although I was reading about a lot of faulty and problematic models. Not sure if it has same agility drivability of V8V though...
I hope this is more of a refreshment to the thread where if covered in full more people could have most up to date details on your offer (not to mention you would make me very happy and whats more important much much closer to getting my first AM!!!
Thanks in advance for answering the above.
Marcin
Good luck with your Aston journey.
As your question is V8, Jessica is a good example to answer your points with but there are many more projects like Rosie, Teaspoon, Diablo Blanco which are equally good examples to use.
Looking at your car history the Vantage is the next logical move indeed, a badge, image, looks and style that can be matched by no other. But, a standard 4.3, even N400 might not tick all your boxes re driving dynamics, but after car wide modification it doesn't take too much to tip the balance and get Aston's ticking driving dynamics boxes too, they can be turned into demanding drivers cars.
Resale:
Reality is that when doing a major project, the Aston meets the driving dynamic dreams of the owner and the car is a keeper because for the same money as purchase price and modifications - what else out there measures up in comparison? (unless the car is carelessly smashed to pieces and written off and a load of crashed bits then go on a new car and everything is expected to work fine and if not replaced under warranty FOC and refuse to believe that crashed bits should be void of warranty because having no concept of how cars really work and get annoyed about a situation of own causing and sell the car and blame everyone else, sorry, I digress). I know of DBS and V8's which have had minor modification such as exhaust system which have been traded at dealer for going market rate, then sold on by dealer to new owner with mods in place. My comment would be mods are done for your enjoyment and not to add value, but an improved car at resale will make for a faster sale to the enthusiast who knows the value of the mods. Having said that, DB9 project Blofeld arguably commands greater premium if on the market than a std DB9 manual and I know of buyers who would seek out a BR car in first place over std.
My personal opinion is that an upgraded sportshift is better than a manual, but a upgraded manual clutch and flywheel car is better than std sportshift. The key is get the proven to be weak single plate clutch out the car as soon as possible. Faster yet smoother shifts and more lively engine acceleration, not to forget the twin plate will last longer. I know a few customers where upgraded sportshift meant being able to keep the car, because sportshift in std guise was not a liveable proposition for them as car / they live in city, if the upgrade didn't transform the car they would of sold it.
I guess it has to be said that if budget can stretch, get the 4.7L. The all up cost of 4.7L + exhaust to get to circa 475BHP is cheaper than all up cost of 4.3L + exhaust + rebuild to 4.7L. But the BR 4.7LGT4 is 500BHP. But if you can get a good spec tidy early 4.3L for a good low price, then the all up spend will be less to achieve the same end result as 4.7L
Owning a project car or lightly modified for long term. Jessica +25k hard miles and has only been in workshop for minor services since completion of project, same Rosie, teaspoon, Diablo Blanco. In total now in market is well in excess of 200 V8's and range of V12's I have never had back with a problem after the exhaust kit has been fitted. If we offer a product which is off the shelf, it is as durable as a factory product. If we offer bespoke engineering to a first off test car, these products come with risk, but we don't approach a-la-carte upgrades in that manner anymore, our prototypes are internal test cars and any new product is put on the shelf as an off the peg item not a-la-carte meaning no risk. For instance, we wouldn't blog we are doing a Turbo, state what the performance, durability will be, state when orders can be taken and price before even starting the engine and have it tick over, let alone show videos of it running full throttle around a test track, we have learnt all that approach makes for is entertaining car crash TV to brighten the day for the informed engineer to watch. It's also interesting to me to watch main forum and see none or very few of the folk who own a competitor modified car because they sold it compared lots long term owners keeping their BR modified car. What I do find is what used to be vocal forum members of another company's upgrade, under an alias I get an email or question posted to me on another forum from those owners with fundamental engine management system fault or error lights. Where are all the owners now who were responsible for turning this forum into a bit of a war? None or very few stick with the car and owners still driving another breed upgrade, you can find them advising others that dashboard error lights are par for the course of modified car, not ours and most of our upgrade owners still have their cars. This whole subject is best phrased under 'silent majority'.
What to look for in used car. The V8 is quite a hardy car with no real repeatable defects. Check all consumables, check not been track / hire car. Look in book who last serviced it and give them a call, get a pre purchase inspection. They can handle high mileage ok, but with any car, at 100k expect suspension arms, bushes, wheel bearings, ancillaries to all need renewing if you are going to be critical on how car drives. The Vantage is prone to stone rashing so if looking tatty on bumper, bonnet rear quarter factor in a respray. Be careful of a car park touch up special. I would be just as cautious over all these care points from a car coming from the most palatial dealer or from a private sale driveway - PPI is the key!
An upgraded / rebuilt engine resets age counter to zero, but any engine will be tired at 100k miles. For those who have a 100k miler and say it plods on fine, yeah, it probably does and will plod for quite some time to come, but would it need a tow truck home if used to limit of capability around a lap of N-Ring?
I find the dealer warranty is fine for first year to use as safety net to take care of major issues the last owner might of traded the car on with (most problem cars in the used world get traded onward instead of being properly fixed), but after first year ditch the extended warranty because arguably it covers major components that don't normally go wrong where as its so called 'wear Items' such as wheel bearings, suspension arms, springs and dampers that are actually the parts which need attention that might not be covered. I don't believe the very best policy from Warranty wise or warranty direct is any better or worse than the dealer product, and in my experience offers more cover for less cost. Just be careful that the independent car trader is offering a good quality 3rd party underwritten warranty and the 'policy' they offer isn't simply some form of warranty underwritten by themselves, that way you don't have to rely on good will to fix a problem, a certificate and a schedule outlines what is covered.
An N400 is a special car, but in terms of lacking in the areas you want to improve a standard 4.3L, the N400 with its +10 to 20bhp at best power still leaves a demanding driver wishing for more. An upgraded N400 by an outfit with pedigree will only enhance the car and in terms of any N400 future resale value, won't 4.7L cars cap the N400 value?
A DB9 is a great GT cruiser and is a completely different proposition to a V8. Go to a dealer and take each out for a test drive and you will see. Having said that, manual DB9 sports pack especially 470BHP models are fantastic cars standard or upgraded.
Great post and great questions, yes, should provide fresh insight if others chime in.
BamfordMike said:
Ok, based off the info you give here and there being no fault codes on dash I don't think there is any problem to get overly worried about. The occasional glitch of engine speed at idle is not normal, but sounds to me to be minor issue which could range from glitch in mass airflow meter, oil in throttle body or some other glitch which is simply that and not a problem which places engine at risk. Should be a simple dealer glitch fix as you have the glitch on video. Keep us updated or if you have further symptoms come back for advice! You have done the right thing which is to be cautious of suspicious running and seek to get it checked out, the opposite is running on and on and on with a problem which was easy to fix at the start but the usage turns that fault into a much bigger problem to fix when the original small fault causes bigger symptoms.
Thanks a lot BamfordMike for your passion and help,yes dealer let me the car 4 days and I did not even drove it, I was very cautious, it start better now, seems to take longer to reach the 750 idel but its ok, I thank you a lot for your help and advices! All the best to you!
Edited by pete1212 on Friday 22 April 14:02
mfrycz said:
- After so many upgrades...... what is long-term experience owning one of the conversions?
Marcin
Marcin
Navyatco said:
And who does/where can you get the ECU reflashed?
In answer to Navyatco - choose your ECU tuner with great care!To adapt the question slightly and answer to Marcin - here is the long term outcome if not choosing tuner with great care!
I have had to listen to a few forum members who say 200 cell cats with manifold upgrade is just too darn loud for quite a while over in the main forum. In my experience of BR upgrade kit the set-up provides a deeper bass / baritone exhaust note which goes from late 70's db to sub 100 adding a pleasing growl to the roar of the exhaust note. A minority of BR customers have said the growl is a bit raw, not a bad quality sound but not to their personal preference. In these cases we fit a free of charge X pipe which smooths the growl and shaves about 5 db off the total exhaust note. One customer even came back in after having the X-pipe and changed back to stock BR because he actually wanted the growl back after thinking he would prefer the note softened. All this was fine in my head until I actually heard a non BR upgrade manifold and cats for the first time - Totally popped my ear drums with a way too loud belch of poor quality raspy growl in excess of 110 db, and answered my question why on the main forum the non BR upgraders mostly stated the manifolds and cats was too loud - Well, not BR's is all i can say!
Here is a other than BR modified manifold and 200 cell cat car
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERr8CoFThxI
Here is BR kit without X pipe
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWtl8sudbcE
The noise was not the issue the car came in for, it had emissions warning light on the dashboard, which is another comment i have heard other than BR upgraders say on the main forum, something like "You have modified the car, you have to expect the odd light coming on every now and again" - complete tosh, if the car has been upgraded the light should never come on unless the original On Board Diagnostic system is alerting the driver to a real fault. But this car is an example where it is commonplace for the light to come on because of the upgrade so the driver ignores it, but once the light is on, behind the scenes errors could be accumulating which are serious and need attention but the light will not flash or tell you that because once its on, it stays on and will not differentiate from another fault.
After having ear drums burst, looked inside to find this.
After plugging laptop kit in, the P420/P430 code was on for poor cat efficiency - the normal code which other than BR upgrade owners ignore but ECU tuners should reset to reflect sensitivity of new cat so the light never comes on. Fuelling at idle was very lean which was another reason why check engine light was on, this situation had caused a misfire and stuck lean fuelling, also, the engine just didn't want to rev cleanly despite having a free flowing exhaust system and a supposed ECU reflash. The right thing to do wouldn't just be reset the misfire and lean clamp code, but take car for a drive and datalog to see whats happening with spark, fuelling, cams, airflow (i have been told by a genius that a petrol engine has another parameter to twiddle for power but he wont tell me because its his proprietary knowledge!). On accelerating at full throttle up the rev range from low engine speed the car just did not want to accelerate and despite being fooled by the belching exhaust note otherwise, i actually think the car was slower than standard. After looking at the data, i could find the reason why - the engine management system calibration.
The top row of graphs is the new modified spark and fuelling, the bottom row of data factory original.
For some unknown reason at 4000 rpm onwards there is a significant reduction in spark which could be knock control taking a momentary amount of spark away or that the modified spark table has not been applied to the software properly, i think the latter because the spark curve was repeatable on every acceleration. The lambda value stayed leaner than factory up to approx. 4000 rpm and went rich above that. The reasons why the retune behaves like this is a bit of a puzzler, its a complete mess of a set up to be honest and because of this is the outcome the diagnostic system was reporting as an error the driver had become commonplace to ignore - a misfire and lean running which puts engine longevity at risk!
Because the message goes out from some posters in the main forum that if you have modified you have to accept the odd check engine light code, then owners will ignore the light as in this case which can be dodgy if a real problem exists beneath the surface. rather than the light being ignored, the light should be the early warning detection system because if being flashed up in error because of poor ECU calibration, like in this example, the light cant flash back on to tell you when something else that is actually another problem and is something that needs to be dealt with, quickly.
For too long forums have become online sales pitches where stories go up of a load of benefits from an upgrade, but don't dare question them or ask them to prove their statements with data! Not all flywheels have been heat treated to the same engineering spec to prevent distortion, not all flywheels are balanced to the same engineering spec, not all exhaust upgrades sound the same, not all exhaust manifolds are welded to the same quality (see previous page!!) or produce the same power, and some ECU reflashes are plonked into the ECU by folk that should really not be touching an ECU!
But Whether you are an owner and favour one brand of upgrades over another is all beside the point of this post because the data which is out there will allow the critical consumer make a choice, the message here is...
DONT ACCEPT UPGRADES WHICH CAUSE ERROR LIGHTS ON DASH - EVER!
I rather suspect because of how lean the fuelling was on this car and how poorly it accelerated, that the exhaust valves are burnt out and engine is in need of a rebuild, probably because the owner has driven around for too long with an error light which became commonplace from the ECU tune.
I used Bamford Rose on my 4.7 V8 to fit the 200 cell cats along with the performance mods which add circa 25/30 BHP. I believe this is the first rung on the enhancement ladder. Boy did it transform my car. The sound was fantastic and loved by everyone who heard it. One of my friends with a DBS even thought it sounded better than a V12. The car also picked up much better and felt quicker as well. I never had any check engine lights or any issues of any kind. When I traded the car in at Aston Martin Works I received full exchange price with there being no problems with the car being modified. I fully recommend Bamford Rose for the quality of their products and their depth of engineering knowledge.
BamfordMike said:
Ok, based off the info you give here and there being no fault codes on dash I don't think there is any problem to get overly worried about. The occasional glitch of engine speed at idle is not normal, but sounds to me to be minor issue which could range from glitch in mass airflow meter, oil in throttle body or some other glitch which is simply that and not a problem which places engine at risk. Should be a simple dealer glitch fix as you have the glitch on video. Keep us updated or if you have further symptoms come back for advice! You have done the right thing which is to be cautious of suspicious running and seek to get it checked out, the opposite is running on and on and on with a problem which was easy to fix at the start but the usage turns that fault into a much bigger problem to fix when the original small fault causes bigger symptoms.
I was washing the car this morning and twice upon starting the engine, it did accelerated again like on the videos. it was almost stalling right after starting it and then re accelerated, like on this videohttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkfW3TutJoE&fe...
Edited by pete1212 on Sunday 24th April 18:57
BamfordMike said:
Ok, based off the info you give here and there being no fault codes on dash I don't think there is any problem to get overly worried about. The occasional glitch of engine speed at idle is not normal, but sounds to me to be minor issue which could range from glitch in mass airflow meter, oil in throttle body or some other glitch which is simply that and not a problem which places engine at risk. Should be a simple dealer glitch fix as you have the glitch on video. Keep us updated or if you have further symptoms come back for advice! You have done the right thing which is to be cautious of suspicious running and seek to get it checked out, the opposite is running on and on and on with a problem which was easy to fix at the start but the usage turns that fault into a much bigger problem to fix when the original small fault causes bigger symptoms.
I was washing the car this morning and twice upon starting the engine, it did accelerated again like on the videos. it was almost stalling right after starting it and then re accelerated, like on this videohttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkfW3TutJoE&fe...
Edited by pete1212 on Sunday 24th April 19:06
BamfordMike said:
In answer to Navyatco - choose your ECU tuner with great care!
To adapt the question slightly and answer to Marcin - here is the long term outcome if not choosing tuner with great care!
I have had to listen to a few forum members who say 200 cell cats with manifold upgrade is just too darn loud for quite a while over in the main forum. In my experience of BR upgrade kit the set-up provides a deeper bass / baritone exhaust note which goes from late 70's db to sub 100 adding a pleasing growl to the roar of the exhaust note. A minority of BR customers have said the growl is a bit raw, not a bad quality sound but not to their personal preference. In these cases we fit a free of charge X pipe which smooths the growl and shaves about 5 db off the total exhaust note. One customer even came back in after having the X-pipe and changed back to stock BR because he actually wanted the growl back after thinking he would prefer the note softened. All this was fine in my head until I actually heard a non BR upgrade manifold and cats for the first time - Totally popped my ear drums with a way too loud belch of poor quality raspy growl in excess of 110 db, and answered my question why on the main forum the non BR upgraders mostly stated the manifolds and cats was too loud - Well, not BR's is all i can say!
Here is a other than BR modified manifold and 200 cell cat car
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERr8CoFThxI
Here is BR kit without X pipe
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWtl8sudbcE
The noise was not the issue the car came in for, it had emissions warning light on the dashboard, which is another comment i have heard other than BR upgraders say on the main forum, something like "You have modified the car, you have to expect the odd light coming on every now and again" - complete tosh, if the car has been upgraded the light should never come on unless the original On Board Diagnostic system is alerting the driver to a real fault. But this car is an example where it is commonplace for the light to come on because of the upgrade so the driver ignores it, but once the light is on, behind the scenes errors could be accumulating which are serious and need attention but the light will not flash or tell you that because once its on, it stays on and will not differentiate from another fault.
After having ear drums burst, looked inside to find this.
After plugging laptop kit in, the P420/P430 code was on for poor cat efficiency - the normal code which other than BR upgrade owners ignore but ECU tuners should reset to reflect sensitivity of new cat so the light never comes on. Fuelling at idle was very lean which was another reason why check engine light was on, this situation had caused a misfire and stuck lean fuelling, also, the engine just didn't want to rev cleanly despite having a free flowing exhaust system and a supposed ECU reflash. The right thing to do wouldn't just be reset the misfire and lean clamp code, but take car for a drive and datalog to see whats happening with spark, fuelling, cams, airflow (i have been told by a genius that a petrol engine has another parameter to twiddle for power but he wont tell me because its his proprietary knowledge!). On accelerating at full throttle up the rev range from low engine speed the car just did not want to accelerate and despite being fooled by the belching exhaust note otherwise, i actually think the car was slower than standard. After looking at the data, i could find the reason why - the engine management system calibration.
The top row of graphs is the new modified spark and fuelling, the bottom row of data factory original.
For some unknown reason at 4000 rpm onwards there is a significant reduction in spark which could be knock control taking a momentary amount of spark away or that the modified spark table has not been applied to the software properly, i think the latter because the spark curve was repeatable on every acceleration. The lambda value stayed leaner than factory up to approx. 4000 rpm and went rich above that. The reasons why the retune behaves like this is a bit of a puzzler, its a complete mess of a set up to be honest and because of this is the outcome the diagnostic system was reporting as an error the driver had become commonplace to ignore - a misfire and lean running which puts engine longevity at risk!
Because the message goes out from some posters in the main forum that if you have modified you have to accept the odd check engine light code, then owners will ignore the light as in this case which can be dodgy if a real problem exists beneath the surface. rather than the light being ignored, the light should be the early warning detection system because if being flashed up in error because of poor ECU calibration, like in this example, the light cant flash back on to tell you when something else that is actually another problem and is something that needs to be dealt with, quickly.
For too long forums have become online sales pitches where stories go up of a load of benefits from an upgrade, but don't dare question them or ask them to prove their statements with data! Not all flywheels have been heat treated to the same engineering spec to prevent distortion, not all flywheels are balanced to the same engineering spec, not all exhaust upgrades sound the same, not all exhaust manifolds are welded to the same quality (see previous page!!) or produce the same power, and some ECU reflashes are plonked into the ECU by folk that should really not be touching an ECU!
But Whether you are an owner and favour one brand of upgrades over another is all beside the point of this post because the data which is out there will allow the critical consumer make a choice, the message here is...
DONT ACCEPT UPGRADES WHICH CAUSE ERROR LIGHTS ON DASH - EVER!
I rather suspect because of how lean the fuelling was on this car and how poorly it accelerated, that the exhaust valves are burnt out and engine is in need of a rebuild, probably because the owner has driven around for too long with an error light which became commonplace from the ECU tune.
Having seen the maps labelled by Alientech, I agree . Anyone tuning an AM with those will get unexpected resultsTo adapt the question slightly and answer to Marcin - here is the long term outcome if not choosing tuner with great care!
I have had to listen to a few forum members who say 200 cell cats with manifold upgrade is just too darn loud for quite a while over in the main forum. In my experience of BR upgrade kit the set-up provides a deeper bass / baritone exhaust note which goes from late 70's db to sub 100 adding a pleasing growl to the roar of the exhaust note. A minority of BR customers have said the growl is a bit raw, not a bad quality sound but not to their personal preference. In these cases we fit a free of charge X pipe which smooths the growl and shaves about 5 db off the total exhaust note. One customer even came back in after having the X-pipe and changed back to stock BR because he actually wanted the growl back after thinking he would prefer the note softened. All this was fine in my head until I actually heard a non BR upgrade manifold and cats for the first time - Totally popped my ear drums with a way too loud belch of poor quality raspy growl in excess of 110 db, and answered my question why on the main forum the non BR upgraders mostly stated the manifolds and cats was too loud - Well, not BR's is all i can say!
Here is a other than BR modified manifold and 200 cell cat car
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERr8CoFThxI
Here is BR kit without X pipe
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWtl8sudbcE
The noise was not the issue the car came in for, it had emissions warning light on the dashboard, which is another comment i have heard other than BR upgraders say on the main forum, something like "You have modified the car, you have to expect the odd light coming on every now and again" - complete tosh, if the car has been upgraded the light should never come on unless the original On Board Diagnostic system is alerting the driver to a real fault. But this car is an example where it is commonplace for the light to come on because of the upgrade so the driver ignores it, but once the light is on, behind the scenes errors could be accumulating which are serious and need attention but the light will not flash or tell you that because once its on, it stays on and will not differentiate from another fault.
After having ear drums burst, looked inside to find this.
After plugging laptop kit in, the P420/P430 code was on for poor cat efficiency - the normal code which other than BR upgrade owners ignore but ECU tuners should reset to reflect sensitivity of new cat so the light never comes on. Fuelling at idle was very lean which was another reason why check engine light was on, this situation had caused a misfire and stuck lean fuelling, also, the engine just didn't want to rev cleanly despite having a free flowing exhaust system and a supposed ECU reflash. The right thing to do wouldn't just be reset the misfire and lean clamp code, but take car for a drive and datalog to see whats happening with spark, fuelling, cams, airflow (i have been told by a genius that a petrol engine has another parameter to twiddle for power but he wont tell me because its his proprietary knowledge!). On accelerating at full throttle up the rev range from low engine speed the car just did not want to accelerate and despite being fooled by the belching exhaust note otherwise, i actually think the car was slower than standard. After looking at the data, i could find the reason why - the engine management system calibration.
The top row of graphs is the new modified spark and fuelling, the bottom row of data factory original.
For some unknown reason at 4000 rpm onwards there is a significant reduction in spark which could be knock control taking a momentary amount of spark away or that the modified spark table has not been applied to the software properly, i think the latter because the spark curve was repeatable on every acceleration. The lambda value stayed leaner than factory up to approx. 4000 rpm and went rich above that. The reasons why the retune behaves like this is a bit of a puzzler, its a complete mess of a set up to be honest and because of this is the outcome the diagnostic system was reporting as an error the driver had become commonplace to ignore - a misfire and lean running which puts engine longevity at risk!
Because the message goes out from some posters in the main forum that if you have modified you have to accept the odd check engine light code, then owners will ignore the light as in this case which can be dodgy if a real problem exists beneath the surface. rather than the light being ignored, the light should be the early warning detection system because if being flashed up in error because of poor ECU calibration, like in this example, the light cant flash back on to tell you when something else that is actually another problem and is something that needs to be dealt with, quickly.
For too long forums have become online sales pitches where stories go up of a load of benefits from an upgrade, but don't dare question them or ask them to prove their statements with data! Not all flywheels have been heat treated to the same engineering spec to prevent distortion, not all flywheels are balanced to the same engineering spec, not all exhaust upgrades sound the same, not all exhaust manifolds are welded to the same quality (see previous page!!) or produce the same power, and some ECU reflashes are plonked into the ECU by folk that should really not be touching an ECU!
But Whether you are an owner and favour one brand of upgrades over another is all beside the point of this post because the data which is out there will allow the critical consumer make a choice, the message here is...
DONT ACCEPT UPGRADES WHICH CAUSE ERROR LIGHTS ON DASH - EVER!
I rather suspect because of how lean the fuelling was on this car and how poorly it accelerated, that the exhaust valves are burnt out and engine is in need of a rebuild, probably because the owner has driven around for too long with an error light which became commonplace from the ECU tune.
Edited by rmrmd1956 on Monday 25th April 11:39
Gassing Station | Aston Martin | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff