Wondering why my car conked out today
Discussion
So, drove the 90 miles from home to the Shakespeare Raceway today to watch the lads breaking their cars drag racing.
87 miles into the journey, after a faultless drive, including seeing a Porsche Panamera off, the car suddenly loses power at 60 mph.
Tried changing down, but it continued to lose power and run very rough. Just like when you have lost the 100 amp fuse and the battery is almost dead.
Finally coasted to a halt and sat there with the engine running on about 4 cylinders and cycling between 400 and 1200 rpm.
Nothing I did changed anything.
After about three minutes it finally died.
Called friends at the track and lovely Alex jumped into his car to come and rescue us.
Put the phone down and thought "I'll just try it again"
Car fired straight up, slightly rough but otherwise as if nothing had happened.
Drove to the track fine.
Started up slightly roughly two hours later, blew out a little light grey smoke, but it drove home fine, though the idle was a bit rough when stuck in traffic for 20 minutes in Stratford upon Avon.
Any thoughts?
I have a track day at Donington on Monday, and would ratter not cause any red flags.
Only silver lining is Mat Smith is doing the same track day.....
87 miles into the journey, after a faultless drive, including seeing a Porsche Panamera off, the car suddenly loses power at 60 mph.
Tried changing down, but it continued to lose power and run very rough. Just like when you have lost the 100 amp fuse and the battery is almost dead.
Finally coasted to a halt and sat there with the engine running on about 4 cylinders and cycling between 400 and 1200 rpm.
Nothing I did changed anything.
After about three minutes it finally died.
Called friends at the track and lovely Alex jumped into his car to come and rescue us.
Put the phone down and thought "I'll just try it again"
Car fired straight up, slightly rough but otherwise as if nothing had happened.
Drove to the track fine.
Started up slightly roughly two hours later, blew out a little light grey smoke, but it drove home fine, though the idle was a bit rough when stuck in traffic for 20 minutes in Stratford upon Avon.
Any thoughts?
I have a track day at Donington on Monday, and would ratter not cause any red flags.
Only silver lining is Mat Smith is doing the same track day.....
Partially blocked fuel filter, fuel pressure regulator failing, relay.
Or as said a wiring or component issue.
Do you have a spare ign amp you could try,
Have you tried using an old spark plug against the block to see if you have a regular fat spark mate.
Check the usual earths etc,
It's always a good idea to check the easy things first and that includes the air intake pipe hasn't collapsed where it goes through the wing etc.
Rovergauge will be good to discount things like temp sensor etc.
I'd probably try cleaning the stepper motor as my first port of call although I wouldn't really expect that to cause a sudden loss of power
It does sound electrical.
Good luck finding the fault mate
Or as said a wiring or component issue.
Do you have a spare ign amp you could try,
Have you tried using an old spark plug against the block to see if you have a regular fat spark mate.
Check the usual earths etc,
It's always a good idea to check the easy things first and that includes the air intake pipe hasn't collapsed where it goes through the wing etc.
Rovergauge will be good to discount things like temp sensor etc.
I'd probably try cleaning the stepper motor as my first port of call although I wouldn't really expect that to cause a sudden loss of power
It does sound electrical.
Good luck finding the fault mate
QBee said:
So, drove the 90 miles from home to the Shakespeare Raceway today to watch the lads breaking their cars drag racing.
87 miles into the journey, after a faultless drive, including seeing a Porsche Panamera off, the car suddenly loses power at 60 mph.
Tried changing down, but it continued to lose power and run very rough. Just like when you have lost the 100 amp fuse and the battery is almost dead.
Finally coasted to a halt and sat there with the engine running on about 4 cylinders and cycling between 400 and 1200 rpm.
Nothing I did changed anything.
After about three minutes it finally died.
Called friends at the track and lovely Alex jumped into his car to come and rescue us.
Put the phone down and thought "I'll just try it again"
Car fired straight up, slightly rough but otherwise as if nothing had happened.
Drove to the track fine.
Started up slightly roughly two hours later, blew out a little light grey smoke, but it drove home fine, though the idle was a bit rough when stuck in traffic for 20 minutes in Stratford upon Avon.
Any thoughts?
I have a track day at Donington on Monday, and would ratter not cause any red flags.
Only silver lining is Mat Smith is doing the same track day.....
That's real shame hopefully it will be something minor and if you can't fix it Mat will be able to,I was there on Wednesday he's bringing his garage on wheels with him,fingers crossed.87 miles into the journey, after a faultless drive, including seeing a Porsche Panamera off, the car suddenly loses power at 60 mph.
Tried changing down, but it continued to lose power and run very rough. Just like when you have lost the 100 amp fuse and the battery is almost dead.
Finally coasted to a halt and sat there with the engine running on about 4 cylinders and cycling between 400 and 1200 rpm.
Nothing I did changed anything.
After about three minutes it finally died.
Called friends at the track and lovely Alex jumped into his car to come and rescue us.
Put the phone down and thought "I'll just try it again"
Car fired straight up, slightly rough but otherwise as if nothing had happened.
Drove to the track fine.
Started up slightly roughly two hours later, blew out a little light grey smoke, but it drove home fine, though the idle was a bit rough when stuck in traffic for 20 minutes in Stratford upon Avon.
Any thoughts?
I have a track day at Donington on Monday, and would ratter not cause any red flags.
Only silver lining is Mat Smith is doing the same track day.....
yup likely to be the AFM - mine did exactly that last year. BTW don't buy one off ebay - even if they say they are Lucas - I did and they weren't. I bought two and neither worked - to be fair the guy took them back with a full refund but it was a right PITA. I needed one in 24 hours for a sprint. Mark Adams came to the rescue and got me a decent one..
Mat agrees with Sapper and Jesfirth - he suspects AFM leads too, which on the standard AFM are very close to the bonnet.
However, I am on a 20AM, the car is on the trailer ready for tomorrow, I have just got in from a day trip to Cwmbran, its dark and I am cream crackered,
So tomorrow morning at the track I will unload it nice and early and check the AFM, fuel pump contacts, and everything else you lovely guys have suggested.
The car sounds clattery on startup, and has that exhaust manifold gasket noise all the time, so Mat will be asked to have a listen.
However, I am on a 20AM, the car is on the trailer ready for tomorrow, I have just got in from a day trip to Cwmbran, its dark and I am cream crackered,
So tomorrow morning at the track I will unload it nice and early and check the AFM, fuel pump contacts, and everything else you lovely guys have suggested.
The car sounds clattery on startup, and has that exhaust manifold gasket noise all the time, so Mat will be asked to have a listen.
Funny that- I had mine run rough today, and the AFR was holding at 10:1 at anything below about 2500 rpm, and it would not idle. I did a U turn and headed home to put RoverGauge on it to try and catch whats been an elusive fault for months. Needless to say that having stopped the engine to plug everything in, the idle fault could not be replicated. Having said that the AFM voltage was a bit on the high side (about 12 % too high) at idle so I swapped it out anyway, as Id had to wind the CO trim back to compensate the mixture. The replacement AFM seems fine now with a sensible CO trim voltage.
If you do f9nd that the connection to the AFM is dodgy then you can get all the bits here
http://www.autoelectricsupplies.co.uk/mobile/produ...
Its called a junior power timer connector.
PS I was the guy with the spanners with alex.
http://www.autoelectricsupplies.co.uk/mobile/produ...
Its called a junior power timer connector.
PS I was the guy with the spanners with alex.
blaze_away said:
If you do f9nd that the connection to the AFM is dodgy then you can get all the bits here
http://www.autoelectricsupplies.co.uk/mobile/produ...
Its called a junior power timer connector.
PS I was the guy with the spanners with alex.
Thanks, and thanks for jumping to my assistance. Mine is a 20AM, but I am sure something from that catalogue will fit.http://www.autoelectricsupplies.co.uk/mobile/produ...
Its called a junior power timer connector.
PS I was the guy with the spanners with alex.
Will have a look in the morning while waiting for my track day to start.
Thanks for asking
Not as such.
Mat was late arriving at the track, so it was a mad scramble to get him unloaded, clocked on and briefed.
After that it got forgotten, but I had checked the AFM wiring myself.
Mat said something about a problem that only occurs when the engine is hot - I just need to remember what he said!
Anyway, the car ran fine all day, but sounded very rattley to my ears, so I stuck Mat in the car for the last session and he gave it some beans. He came in looking very wistful ....... I think an extra 100 bhp in his race car would be very welcome, especially with the torque my car has. But on restarting it to load it on its trailer, big clouds of white/grey smoke.
The long and short of it is that my engine needs a refresh, which he has been saying all year, so that is its fate this winter. Hopefully he will sort all my oil leaks and resolve any other issues while it's in his workshops.
Not as such.
Mat was late arriving at the track, so it was a mad scramble to get him unloaded, clocked on and briefed.
After that it got forgotten, but I had checked the AFM wiring myself.
Mat said something about a problem that only occurs when the engine is hot - I just need to remember what he said!
Anyway, the car ran fine all day, but sounded very rattley to my ears, so I stuck Mat in the car for the last session and he gave it some beans. He came in looking very wistful ....... I think an extra 100 bhp in his race car would be very welcome, especially with the torque my car has. But on restarting it to load it on its trailer, big clouds of white/grey smoke.
The long and short of it is that my engine needs a refresh, which he has been saying all year, so that is its fate this winter. Hopefully he will sort all my oil leaks and resolve any other issues while it's in his workshops.
Edited by QBee on Monday 10th October 20:40
how many miles did you manage out of the engine Anthony, I'm well aware this will include many trackdays and sprints and many long journeys etc etc.
It could be just a head gasket at the end of the day,
A good chance to tidy up the chassis and engine bay then mate.
Sorry to hear this buddy.
It could be just a head gasket at the end of the day,
A good chance to tidy up the chassis and engine bay then mate.
Sorry to hear this buddy.
ClassiChimi said:
how many miles did you manage out of the engine Anthony, I'm well aware this will include many trackdays and sprints and many long journeys etc etc.
It could be just a head gasket at the end of the day,
A good chance to tidy up the chassis and engine bay then mate.
Sorry to hear this buddy.
27,000 miles Alun, but it has been sounding rough for the last 4,000. It could be just a head gasket at the end of the day,
A good chance to tidy up the chassis and engine bay then mate.
Sorry to hear this buddy.
It has done about 30 trackdays and half a dozen sprints, so has done me proud.
So it will get a good refresh.
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