Been quiet but now I am back, louder than ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Discussion
Hi all, I have been a bit quiet on the forum of late due to falling out with the car but now I am back and so is my grin 
.
Why did I fall out with the car????? Cos she went all slow
.
Here is the tale for anyone who wants to read it...
Before I went on holiday (early October) the car just didn't seem too sprightly, not her usual self but I put that down to the blowing down pipes which still hadn't been replaced despite acquiring a pair from Bugsy at SCH3 :blush:
So the day after I returned from my hols I set about replacing the pipes, all went well, straight forward job with no dramas. However all was not well as she still was not performing properly.
The symptoms were, she was struggling at anything above 3500rpm and would not really rev above 5000rpm in the higher gears.
I spent the next few Saturdays checking and rechecking everything I possibly could. I started with looking for any possible air leaks in the induction system and drew a blank. I then moved onto the engine management system, borrowed a very nice pice of test kit for checking all the major sensors and signals to and from the ECU to ensure everything was doing what it should ie afm's, tp, temp sensors all that kinda stuff and also checking for any dodgy connections.... All checked out fine..
Moved onto ignition system, timing, plugs, leads, cap, coil etc.. Again all is fine..
Compression tested engine to make sure I didnt have a blown head gasket and that was ok..
By this time I was getting kinda stumped, I know my way around a car but was beginning to struggle and go round in circles checking things again because I knew something was very wrong, in fact so wrong it really could not be that hard to find.
I took the car to my friendly local mot centre and hooked her up to the exhaust gas analyser to see what the mixture was like, found her to be running rather rich but put that down to the leaks I had cured in the induction pipes from the afms after a bit of twiddling she was mixing things just as she should be but still not performing correctly.
I had of course made a couple of phone calls to various experts looking for inspiration but after all the checks I had done most were as stumped as myself and the general concensus was she would have to go on the rollers to find out what was really going on...
Just as I was getting to the point where I may have to admit defeat and pay somebody else to find the problem I remembered there was 1 thing that had been mentioned by a local fuel injection specialist that I had not checked...
"Check the exhaust for blockages" the man said.. followed by "I know what you are thinking, its very unusual for an exhaust to be blocked but we get atleast 3 cars a week with that problem"
He was right, at the time I thought, don't be daft I can see the vapour coming from the pipes so how can they be blocked?
As I had nothing else left that I could check and was off work Thursday and Friday last week to sort her out I decided to pull off the exhaust and take a look..
Off came the exhaust and out came the angle grinder...
I cut the whole top out of the silencer and to my amasement and joy, found that the baffles had collapsed and all the fibreglass padding had been blown to the back of the box, packed solid almost completely blocking both pipes!!!!!!!!!!
Well whats a guy to do??
Take the whole lot out and weld the top back on the box is the only answer
.
1 1/2 hours later I fired her up OMG!!! What a noise..
Ok I know a straight through exhaust is by no means ideal but boy oh boy does she sound good! And Buddy Loud! More importantly step on the loud (now very very loud) pedal and she is off, screaming all the way round to the red line in all gears.
I never would have believed it was a blocked exhaust but there ya go that was the problem and now she is cured and I love her again. Took every opportunity to take her out over the weekend, growling everywhere and with the greasy roads she was wiggling her bum like a cheap hooker on a street corner (which didnt impress the other half one bit )
So after all that (has taken a month to find the problem) I am a very happy chap again and now have the excuse I have been looking for to shell out on a nice shiney new stainless system cos she is just a tad too loud at the moment, only a matter of time before I get some unwanted attention from Mr. Plod for the noise I think.
The moral of the story is never give up and never give in.. If there is a problem it can always be found and rectified.. And when it is the smiles come flooding back.
Carl.
. Why did I fall out with the car????? Cos she went all slow
. Here is the tale for anyone who wants to read it...
Before I went on holiday (early October) the car just didn't seem too sprightly, not her usual self but I put that down to the blowing down pipes which still hadn't been replaced despite acquiring a pair from Bugsy at SCH3 :blush:
So the day after I returned from my hols I set about replacing the pipes, all went well, straight forward job with no dramas. However all was not well as she still was not performing properly.
The symptoms were, she was struggling at anything above 3500rpm and would not really rev above 5000rpm in the higher gears.
I spent the next few Saturdays checking and rechecking everything I possibly could. I started with looking for any possible air leaks in the induction system and drew a blank. I then moved onto the engine management system, borrowed a very nice pice of test kit for checking all the major sensors and signals to and from the ECU to ensure everything was doing what it should ie afm's, tp, temp sensors all that kinda stuff and also checking for any dodgy connections.... All checked out fine..
Moved onto ignition system, timing, plugs, leads, cap, coil etc.. Again all is fine..
Compression tested engine to make sure I didnt have a blown head gasket and that was ok..
By this time I was getting kinda stumped, I know my way around a car but was beginning to struggle and go round in circles checking things again because I knew something was very wrong, in fact so wrong it really could not be that hard to find.
I took the car to my friendly local mot centre and hooked her up to the exhaust gas analyser to see what the mixture was like, found her to be running rather rich but put that down to the leaks I had cured in the induction pipes from the afms after a bit of twiddling she was mixing things just as she should be but still not performing correctly.
I had of course made a couple of phone calls to various experts looking for inspiration but after all the checks I had done most were as stumped as myself and the general concensus was she would have to go on the rollers to find out what was really going on...
Just as I was getting to the point where I may have to admit defeat and pay somebody else to find the problem I remembered there was 1 thing that had been mentioned by a local fuel injection specialist that I had not checked...
"Check the exhaust for blockages" the man said.. followed by "I know what you are thinking, its very unusual for an exhaust to be blocked but we get atleast 3 cars a week with that problem"
He was right, at the time I thought, don't be daft I can see the vapour coming from the pipes so how can they be blocked?
As I had nothing else left that I could check and was off work Thursday and Friday last week to sort her out I decided to pull off the exhaust and take a look..
Off came the exhaust and out came the angle grinder...
I cut the whole top out of the silencer and to my amasement and joy, found that the baffles had collapsed and all the fibreglass padding had been blown to the back of the box, packed solid almost completely blocking both pipes!!!!!!!!!!
Well whats a guy to do??
Take the whole lot out and weld the top back on the box is the only answer
. 1 1/2 hours later I fired her up OMG!!! What a noise
.. Ok I know a straight through exhaust is by no means ideal but boy oh boy does she sound good! And Buddy Loud! More importantly step on the loud (now very very loud) pedal and she is off, screaming all the way round to the red line in all gears
. I never would have believed it was a blocked exhaust but there ya go that was the problem and now she is cured and I love her again
. Took every opportunity to take her out over the weekend, growling everywhere and with the greasy roads she was wiggling her bum like a cheap hooker on a street corner (which didnt impress the other half one bit ) So after all that (has taken a month to find the problem) I am a very happy chap again and now have the excuse I have been looking for to shell out on a nice shiney new stainless system cos she is just a tad too loud at the moment, only a matter of time before I get some unwanted attention from Mr. Plod for the noise I think.
The moral of the story is never give up and never give in.. If there is a problem it can always be found and rectified.. And when it is the smiles come flooding back
. Carl.
well done mate!!!Gassing Station | S Series | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff