Engine misfires when I steer to the right???

[kal-el]

Ok this is quite bizarre, but even the slightest hint of a right hand turn and the engine heavily misfires. Straighten the wheel and all is well. Does anyone have any ideas before I sell the car to a Daytona race driver?

[jonnyb]

Lack of fuel in the tank?

[kal-el]

I wish it was something so simple! I have a full tank of gas...

[chassis 33]

Loose HT lead or any electrical connection, did you know the AFM connector changing the throttle pot last night? Are all the HT leads home tight?

As I'm finding out on the racer, eliminate all the stupid stuff before thinking you need a new expensive thing.

Regards
Iain

[Don]

Loose HT leads could very well be the thing. My Chim started misfiring under hard acceleration. Then it was constantly lumpy. Gave all the HT leads a good shove on and it was fine again....for a while...until they got loose again...always set off by hard acceleration. Turns out two of the HT leads get loose and then wobble about under strain...

I'm getting some lovely burned fingers from needing to shove 'em back on whilst its hot.

New leads for me soon.

[petros]

Could also be the inertia switch under the dash, designed to cut off fuel in case of an accident, just a ball bearing.

[esselte]

petros said:

Could also be the inertia switch under the dash, designed to cut off fuel in case of an accident, just a ball bearing.

Wouldn't you have to reset this once it had been activated though?

[chassis 33]

The Chim's don't have an intertia switch do they? The fuel pump relay is controlled by the ECU, so if it sees not spark it turns off the fuel pump, hence when you turn the ignition on the pump whirrs for a moment and then stops.

Regards
Iain

[v8 racing]

my old sd1 racer did exactly this it was fine under aceleration/braking/turning right etc... as soon as you went into a left hander the damn thing started missing!! turned out to be a dodgy connection on the ignition barrel and as the steering column turned it was just catching the block connector!

[kal-el]

Thanks everyone, I will check out all these ideas!

Chassis 33, what do you mean with regards to the AFM?
"did you know the AFM connector changing the throttle pot last night?"

P

[chassis 33]

Sorry..."did you knock the AFM connector"...

On my car I've found that it doesnt lock in place terribly well and has popped off several times, so its now held in place with an zip tie around the whole unit.

Regards
Iain

[mackempete]

chassis 33 said:

The Chim's don't have an intertia switch do they? The fuel pump relay is controlled by the ECU, so if it sees not spark it turns off the fuel pump, hence when you turn the ignition on the pump whirrs for a moment and then stops. Regards Iain

Mines got one? Need to remove the glove box pouchy thing and its inside to the left. Always seems to trip if I go round corners a bit quick and hit a bumpy patch.

Dont think this would be causing your problems though.

Pete

[shpub]

chassis 33 said:

The Chim's don't have an intertia switch do they? The fuel pump relay is controlled by the ECU, so if it sees not spark it turns off the fuel pump, hence when you turn the ignition on the pump whirrs for a moment and then stops. Regards Iain

Yes the ones that have them do. Hidden behind the passenger side of the dash...

[chassis 33]

Ok Ok, they have one

Sheesh, ones mind is a little clouded by the affects of liquid poison and he's the worlds worst.

Regards
Iain

[FourWheelDrift]

Just make sure all your journeys take in left turns only

[tvr keith]

If you have a trolley jack, why not try jacking it up under the RHS with the engine running?
If you can reproduce the fault like this it may be less frustrating than keep driving it down the road to see if you have cured the problem.
Hundreds of broken crankshafts ago, I have a similar thing on a Hillman Imp! It turned out to be a piece of the carbon centre contact had broken off the distributor cap which rolled on RH bends and shorted something on the baseplate out. Probably not this on your Chim, but you have to admit it's a good 'un!

[rfisher]

Could well be an electrical short to earth causing momentary power loss to the ECU or relays.

My 3000M used to short the horn out on left turns only - caused a few incidents until I fixed it!