Car really acting weird after a 3 month layup.
Discussion
Spent the last couple of months spring cleaning the car, getting under it, cleaned the chassis, the suspension and engine bay with degreaser and low-pressure water, and after letting it sit for two more weeks to make sure it was thoroughly dry, today decided to start it up.
It fired up, massive white cloud, chugging along on 5,6,7 of the cylinders, who knows, and it absolutely stunk of fuel. I thought it might be just clearing its throat and let it idle for a few fan cycles, then tried an 'Italian tune' but the smoke and smell continued while the car sounded like a tug boat and would not idle at all without wedging a screwdriver behind the throttle lever to hold the revs up.
Put RG on, not surprised to see the trim fully to the left on both banks, so thought I would clean the stepper (always a good starting point) reset the ECU. With an IR gun, checked that none of the manifold outlets was colder, they were not, but it continued to run rough like this for another 30 minutes, still stank of fuel, smoke everywhere if you revved it a little.
Pulled the ECU out again, plug off, on, and it started up and for the first time ran smoothly, idling well, and the RG was showing the trim acting normally going backwards and forwards across the centre point. Then it started spluttering again and cut out. Tried restarting it, now the pump wasn't priming, so engine turned but did not start. Reset the ECU again, took the relays off and put back on, also taking the ECU plug off and on a couple more times, and the pump came back to life, and it started and again ran normally with the trim working, smell and smoke more or less gone. The fans though didn't kick in and let the car go up to 105 deg. After using my override switch to cool the car down, that started working properly again as well. Turned it all off, restarted it, and it seems to be 'nearly normal' now but WTF?
I have started the car up after a 3-4 month SORN many times in the past and it just worked fine, but today with all of this, what on earth was going on here?
I'm going to start it up again tomorrow morning, hopefully, it justs acts normal but I am wondering if there is something about to die on it that needs getting to before it decides to strand me somewhere.
It fired up, massive white cloud, chugging along on 5,6,7 of the cylinders, who knows, and it absolutely stunk of fuel. I thought it might be just clearing its throat and let it idle for a few fan cycles, then tried an 'Italian tune' but the smoke and smell continued while the car sounded like a tug boat and would not idle at all without wedging a screwdriver behind the throttle lever to hold the revs up.
Put RG on, not surprised to see the trim fully to the left on both banks, so thought I would clean the stepper (always a good starting point) reset the ECU. With an IR gun, checked that none of the manifold outlets was colder, they were not, but it continued to run rough like this for another 30 minutes, still stank of fuel, smoke everywhere if you revved it a little.
Pulled the ECU out again, plug off, on, and it started up and for the first time ran smoothly, idling well, and the RG was showing the trim acting normally going backwards and forwards across the centre point. Then it started spluttering again and cut out. Tried restarting it, now the pump wasn't priming, so engine turned but did not start. Reset the ECU again, took the relays off and put back on, also taking the ECU plug off and on a couple more times, and the pump came back to life, and it started and again ran normally with the trim working, smell and smoke more or less gone. The fans though didn't kick in and let the car go up to 105 deg. After using my override switch to cool the car down, that started working properly again as well. Turned it all off, restarted it, and it seems to be 'nearly normal' now but WTF?
I have started the car up after a 3-4 month SORN many times in the past and it just worked fine, but today with all of this, what on earth was going on here?
I'm going to start it up again tomorrow morning, hopefully, it justs acts normal but I am wondering if there is something about to die on it that needs getting to before it decides to strand me somewhere.
ianwayne said:
My car was running rough and massively over-fuelling after a lay up. White smoke, chugging, like happened to you.
It was the small hose on the back of the plenum I discovered was disconnected. It's under the stepper motor housing.
I will check for that, although that does not explain the rest of it though.It was the small hose on the back of the plenum I discovered was disconnected. It's under the stepper motor housing.
Sorry if stating the obvious but have you put any fresh fuel in. 3+ months is a long time to be standing.
It could possibly lead to mis-fuelling if the ECU is hunting around trying to get the balance right.
As for the white smoke could you have dislodged something (possibly that was on it's last legs) and introduced a power steering leak.
The fluid can drip down onto the exhaust manifold and that creates a lot of white smoke as it burns off.
It could possibly lead to mis-fuelling if the ECU is hunting around trying to get the balance right.
As for the white smoke could you have dislodged something (possibly that was on it's last legs) and introduced a power steering leak.
The fluid can drip down onto the exhaust manifold and that creates a lot of white smoke as it burns off.
I started the car again this morning and it was running better but there was still a lumpiness in the way it idled.
So I spent the rest of the morning going over it, cut all the tie clips holding the wiring conduit together across the front of the engine and also took out the HT leads and refitted them. Just as I was moving the wires that go to the front of the coil, I saw that one of the spades had more or less come off. I also found that the engine breather hose that connects to the top of the rocker cover was also loose as it came straight off as soon as I touched it, I really don't know how that happened.
New spades, tidied the wiring, refitted the HT leads and checked the hoses, and it's purring again.
Thinking about it further I also now suspect that as I went over the engine bay with an air gun that must have pushed some moisture into somewhere where it would not normally go. I have cleaned the engine in the past a couple of times and it was fine.
So I spent the rest of the morning going over it, cut all the tie clips holding the wiring conduit together across the front of the engine and also took out the HT leads and refitted them. Just as I was moving the wires that go to the front of the coil, I saw that one of the spades had more or less come off. I also found that the engine breather hose that connects to the top of the rocker cover was also loose as it came straight off as soon as I touched it, I really don't know how that happened.
New spades, tidied the wiring, refitted the HT leads and checked the hoses, and it's purring again.
Thinking about it further I also now suspect that as I went over the engine bay with an air gun that must have pushed some moisture into somewhere where it would not normally go. I have cleaned the engine in the past a couple of times and it was fine.
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