Discussion
Hi all!
This morning I have gone for a ride with the Cerb and suddenly, the car started to be very hesitating at low revs in all gears(under 2000 rpm). It seemed a lot underpowered at these revs.
My neighbour has noticed a grey smoke coming from the right exhaust when I was arriving home.
Please, tell me what you think it can be as I am a bit worried.
Thanks all in advance
This morning I have gone for a ride with the Cerb and suddenly, the car started to be very hesitating at low revs in all gears(under 2000 rpm). It seemed a lot underpowered at these revs.
My neighbour has noticed a grey smoke coming from the right exhaust when I was arriving home.
Please, tell me what you think it can be as I am a bit worried.
Thanks all in advance
Check your coolant and oil levels.
Also open the hood and have someone stand over the engine while you rev her up and ask them to place their hands on either side of the V on the brackets holding the air boxes.
He should be able to tell you which side of the V is playing up by stronger vibrations. This could just simply be one of your throttle pots playing up, but the grey smoke sounds a little worrying - investigate the grey smoke claims by yourself.
Also have someone look underneath the enginebay whilst you rev and see if any fluids are dripping or pouring or even burning (evident by slight vapours pouring out from underneath)
If all else fails, get the car to a specialist ASAP. Do not drive her to hard, if there is anything wrong you could cause some serious damage. I'd suggest you get her picked up if you've got recovery cover.
Good-luck, and I hope its simple a t-pot or lambda failing or injectors not firing pushing towards either failing coils or damaged HT-leads, could even be a ECU failure. Too many things really, plugging up a laptop to the ECU will definitely assist in tracking the issues down if they are at all electrically associated.
Take her to the DOCTORS!
Also open the hood and have someone stand over the engine while you rev her up and ask them to place their hands on either side of the V on the brackets holding the air boxes.
He should be able to tell you which side of the V is playing up by stronger vibrations. This could just simply be one of your throttle pots playing up, but the grey smoke sounds a little worrying - investigate the grey smoke claims by yourself.
Also have someone look underneath the enginebay whilst you rev and see if any fluids are dripping or pouring or even burning (evident by slight vapours pouring out from underneath)
If all else fails, get the car to a specialist ASAP. Do not drive her to hard, if there is anything wrong you could cause some serious damage. I'd suggest you get her picked up if you've got recovery cover.
Good-luck, and I hope its simple a t-pot or lambda failing or injectors not firing pushing towards either failing coils or damaged HT-leads, could even be a ECU failure. Too many things really, plugging up a laptop to the ECU will definitely assist in tracking the issues down if they are at all electrically associated.
Take her to the DOCTORS!
My neighbour (the same that noticed the grey smoke, which knows much more than me about engine mechanics) has inspected the engine and dismounted the air intake corresponding to the side with the grey smoke. You can see the photo below. There are some broken areas in the conection to the rubber purple tubes. He has also noticed a strong petrol smell inside the corresponding purple tubes not present in the other four.
Could this be the problem??
>> Edited by javi1892 on Sunday 15th May 19:10
>> Edited by javi1892 on Sunday 15th May 19:11
Could this be the problem??
>> Edited by javi1892 on Sunday 15th May 19:10
>> Edited by javi1892 on Sunday 15th May 19:11
Hope when you say broken, you mean cracked, and not missing broken.... if those bits get inside, god knows whats going on in there...
You dont just ask any old person who knows a thing or two about mechanics to stick their head into your engine. I'd advise you get her checked out by a pro.
the fuel smell is typical of this engine due to the positioning of the injectors.
Just get her seen to.
When was she last serviced?
You dont just ask any old person who knows a thing or two about mechanics to stick their head into your engine. I'd advise you get her checked out by a pro.
the fuel smell is typical of this engine due to the positioning of the injectors.
Just get her seen to.
When was she last serviced?
S-X-S said:
Hope when you say broken, you mean cracked, and not missing broken.... if those bits get inside, god knows whats going on in there...
It was cracked w/o any part loose but in its state it cannot guarantee proper sealing of the air intake.
S-X-S said:
You dont just ask any old person who knows a thing or two about mechanics to stick their head into your engine. I'd advise you get her checked out by a pro.`
You are right but we have just sealed the part and re-fit again to see if it made any difference. We have not done any hi-level work. My neighbour has a Griffith and has some good basic understanding of engine. Once it has been sealed I have notice a less hesitating behaviour of the engine but still not running smooth. I guess it could really be the lambda sensors.
S-X-S said:
the fuel smell is typical of this engine due to the positioning of the injectors.
I know how Cerbs smell but definetely my engine smells much harder now and is running very rich in 4 cylinders, the ones linked to the above cracked part.
S-X-S said:
Just get her seen to.
When was she last serviced?
It was last serviced 3 months ago (2000 miles)
It's the neighbour here... I do have a TVR, so they're not exactly unknown to me 
And all I did on the "inspection" is what S-X-S suggested about chacking for fluid leaks etc. The damaged airbox was obvious from a quick look!
The ports were cracked and a little melted, but no bits missing. It looked as if the jubilee clips had been wound up a bit tight. (This sort of thing annoys me - there's no need for it.)
A temporary repair has been done to the airbox so the car can go to Fernies now for a check up. (You don't want to pay recovery from the Isle of Wight, so it needs to be able to be driven on to the ferry!!!)
My money is on a lambda fault possibly brought on by the airbox problem. (ie over time, the lambda sensors get choked up with carbon as happend on my Impreza)
And all I did on the "inspection" is what S-X-S suggested about chacking for fluid leaks etc. The damaged airbox was obvious from a quick look! The ports were cracked and a little melted, but no bits missing. It looked as if the jubilee clips had been wound up a bit tight. (This sort of thing annoys me - there's no need for it.)
A temporary repair has been done to the airbox so the car can go to Fernies now for a check up. (You don't want to pay recovery from the Isle of Wight, so it needs to be able to be driven on to the ferry!!!)
My money is on a lambda fault possibly brought on by the airbox problem. (ie over time, the lambda sensors get choked up with carbon as happend on my Impreza)
javi1892 said:
By the way, I don't know if this helps but at full throttle, the MIL light switches on from about 5000 rpm. As soon as the pedal is released, it switches off again.
Like its been said before, its sounds very much like an electrical fault, faulty sensors, fuelling, ignition... if you're driving over, take it easy!!!!
Sorry about jumping the gun before with the neighbour thing, its just some people who think they know what they're doing can make things worse.
On your point about rich fuelling in one of the cylinders, have you checked that your injector leads are plugged in? Its not common, but the plug has been known to snap in the past.
Good-luck!
I like having a next door neighbour with a Cerb 
I don't think I've made things worse, but I've not improved them very much
I did check the plug leads, but only the left hand bank got a thorough check, as I didn't want to disturb the other side air box any more than I had to. (and after fixing the air box and letting the epoxy cure, it was beginning to get dark.)
I had a similar plug problem with the Griff the other week, and these don't seem to be the same sort of symptoms. I know the RV8 and AJP8 are quite different, so the way they react to problems will be too so nothing is really ruled out until proper diagnostics. If there's time tomorrow, we might see if we can get a lambda reading from the exhausts at idle with my WBO2.
Incidentally, what protocol does the Cerb ECU use to talk to laptops? I have some OBDII stuff I've been playing with, so hoped this might help...
I don't think I've made things worse, but I've not improved them very much
I did check the plug leads, but only the left hand bank got a thorough check, as I didn't want to disturb the other side air box any more than I had to. (and after fixing the air box and letting the epoxy cure, it was beginning to get dark.)
I had a similar plug problem with the Griff the other week, and these don't seem to be the same sort of symptoms. I know the RV8 and AJP8 are quite different, so the way they react to problems will be too so nothing is really ruled out until proper diagnostics. If there's time tomorrow, we might see if we can get a lambda reading from the exhausts at idle with my WBO2.
Incidentally, what protocol does the Cerb ECU use to talk to laptops? I have some OBDII stuff I've been playing with, so hoped this might help...
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