Idle problem - down to 500rpm
Idle problem - down to 500rpm
Author
Discussion

Avalanche

Original Poster:

615 posts

254 months

Tuesday 12th October 2004
quotequote all
1 year and 7,000 miles later - my first significant problem to report!

Pulled off the motorway yesterday and suddenly engine cut out. Re-started okay but only at 500rpm! Cut out again - then back to 7/800rpm. But now seems to be misfiring/not running on all cylinders and sometimes returns to 500rpm at idle...

Read thru old posts and seems that my problem is one of the following:

Idle adjustment
Valve guides
Valve clearence - reshim?
Cylinder compression loss - rebuild?
Throttle potentiometer - adjust?
Lamba sensor - replace?
Tappets - adjust?

Found one pointer by Lady Topaz - listening to exhuasts whilst ticking over at 500rpm, one is definitely popping unusually...so probably one of the more serious of the above...

Will take it to a local garage in Geneva recommended by TGE (TVR) in Zurich and see what they can find, although I doubt they've seen a Tuscan/Speed 6 before... So, if anyone has any other pointers to help them hit the ground running, I'd appreciate the advice!

Cheers all.

supergrass

426 posts

256 months

Tuesday 12th October 2004
quotequote all
Tappets.

powerlord

771 posts

257 months

Tuesday 12th October 2004
quotequote all
lots of rain ? the covers that cover the spark plugs are notorious for leaking and letting water in.

Apparently this is a main cause of misfiring (which would cause this).

In fact, mine got serviced last week and they found water in one and had to reseal it (mine was doing to same thing a while ago)

The symptoms here sound very like that: you have a misfire caused by something. could be loads of things:

-crappy ht leads
-knacked plug or plug gap
- oiled up spark plug (symptomatic of another problem)
-water in leads or connections (as mentioned above).

Any garage should be able to track it down if it's a misfire pretty easily. There's nothing amazingly space age about a speed 6 engine.

good luck! (I'd stick with them to show them how to take the bonnet off if I was you though....).

stu

Avalanche

Original Poster:

615 posts

254 months

Tuesday 12th October 2004
quotequote all
Supergrass - I'm all s - what lead u to tappets?! Had the same symptoms? What's involved in adjusting tappets and average cost?

Stu - nope, no rain, although a knackered plug would be a welcomed result! The thing I find odd is the sudden change - something just gave out somewhere........

powerlord

771 posts

257 months

Tuesday 12th October 2004
quotequote all
well, 2 months ago mine started doing the same.. uneven running.. down to 500rpm idle, stalling all the time.

I adjusted the idle speed to 'hide' the problem but it was clearly still there.

But since the service it's gone. It was the big service (inc tappets), so it could certainly have been the tappets as much as the water in the sparky leads.

They said one of the cylinders was way out so it could have been buggering up the emission and causing misfires so quite possible.

tappets adds about 300-400 quid to the service. It should be something any dealers can do if they can get hold of a shim kit I'd have thought...

stu

swilly

9,699 posts

290 months

Tuesday 12th October 2004
quotequote all
What about a cracked ignition coil?

Had my clutch changed last week and they found the ignition coil was cracked and seemed to be causing a slight misfire.

Changed it and now its fine.

Tuscaholic

281 posts

255 months

Tuesday 12th October 2004
quotequote all
Happened to me on another car and it was the idle valve..

supergrass

426 posts

256 months

Tuesday 12th October 2004
quotequote all
Yes idid have the same symptoms. Cost £245.00.+ vat.

NCE 61

2,426 posts

297 months

Tuesday 12th October 2004
quotequote all
Sounds like valve clearences closing up. If it's misfiring get it sorted ASAP. Had this on mine and it did come & go, but the tappets had to be done as several had nearly closed up.

basil brush

5,363 posts

279 months

Tuesday 12th October 2004
quotequote all
My water temp sensor caused my idle to drop and rough running due to the mixture being screwed up. When it first failed, the idle would occasionally jump back up, sometimes accompanied by an efi error message on the pod. Check what temp your cooling fans are coming on. If more than 92 degrees it could be the culprit. It was fine again when I put a new sensor in.

If it's happened suddenly I would have thought something actually failing rather than clearances closing up.

Avalanche

Original Poster:

615 posts

254 months

Tuesday 12th October 2004
quotequote all
Voila - took a rdv with

www.auto-rallye.ch

Spoke with one of the mechanics there (this one more of a Caterham expert) - certainly seems to know what he's talking about - he said "tout à fait - sounds like valve clearance problèm"

Will let u know how it turns out.

Thanks 4 all yr input,

Avalanche - well, light snow dusting for the moment...

Avalanche

Original Poster:

615 posts

254 months

Tuesday 12th October 2004
quotequote all
basil brush said:
My water temp sensor caused my idle to drop and rough running due to the mixture being screwed up. When it first failed, the idle would occasionally jump back up, sometimes accompanied by an efi error message on the pod. Check what temp your cooling fans are coming on. If more than 92 degrees it could be the culprit. It was fine again when I put a new sensor in.

If it's happened suddenly I would have thought something actually failing rather than clearances closing up.


Thanks Basil Brush - fans have and still kick in at 95o... Your last point is what makes me wonder as well. Will take this thread along with me to the garage

basil brush

5,363 posts

279 months

Tuesday 12th October 2004
quotequote all
Avalanche said:

basil brush said:
My water temp sensor caused my idle to drop and rough running due to the mixture being screwed up. When it first failed, the idle would occasionally jump back up, sometimes accompanied by an efi error message on the pod. Check what temp your cooling fans are coming on. If more than 92 degrees it could be the culprit. It was fine again when I put a new sensor in.

If it's happened suddenly I would have thought something actually failing rather than clearances closing up.



Thanks Basil Brush - fans have and still kick in at 95o... Your last point is what makes me wonder as well. Will take this thread along with me to the garage


95 is too high. First one should kick in at 92 then both at 94. Mine were not coming on til about 95 when the sensor was failing. You don't happen to have a fluctuating voltage reading on the dash do you?

Avalanche

Original Poster:

615 posts

254 months

Tuesday 12th October 2004
quotequote all
ah....gonna watch the voltage this evening then. thanks again

Avalanche

Original Poster:

615 posts

254 months

Tuesday 12th October 2004
quotequote all
All v.odd. Cut out again. No voltage fluc. Oil pressure up to 35psi/800rpm idle (used to be ~20psi). Then drops to 25psi/500rpm idle.

Booked in for Thursday

swissgriff500

104 posts

275 months

Wednesday 13th October 2004
quotequote all
Sorry to hear this mate - will keep my fingers crossed on Thursday.
Hope it’s not too bad and you can get it back on track soon.
Take care, Ozren

avalanche

Original Poster:

615 posts

254 months

Thursday 14th October 2004
quotequote all
swissgriff500 said:
Sorry to hear this mate - will keep my fingers crossed on Thursday.
Hope it’s not too bad and you can get it back on track soon.
Take care, Ozren


Cheers mate. Well, Tuscan fixed itself again today - revving like normal. What a car! Garage will take a look anyway. Great place - owner is ex driver du Monte-Carlo rallye, Paris-Dakar and 24heures du Mans! Apparantly Phil Collins has his car(s) looked after there as well. In good company then - like a certain bleu Griff I saw there for it's 1st service, eh Pierre-Olivier

Avalanche

Original Poster:

615 posts

254 months

Friday 15th October 2004
quotequote all
...and the winner is: Powerlord! Nothing more than a knackered plug!

NCE 61

2,426 posts

297 months

Friday 15th October 2004
quotequote all
That's good news a bit easier to fix than mine when it had similar symptoms.

luca brazzi

3,982 posts

281 months

Friday 15th October 2004
quotequote all