Rover ill!

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Discussion

Alan420

Original Poster:

5,580 posts

260 months

Sunday 1st June 2003
quotequote all
Need ideas guys.

My H-reg Rover 216 GTI (which I only just bought!) is having trouble.

There's been a couple of occassions now that it's misfired on a single cylinder under power, and sometimes it makes wierd, diesel-clatter noises (the noises and the power loss never coincide though).

I'm frequently getting the 'CHECK ENGINE' light on the dash, mostly at sustained high speed, but sometimes immediately on startup.

Switching off and restarting turns off the engine warning light, and it usually stays off, unless I'm cruising above 60, in which case it returns within a mile.

I need to do some fairly heavy motorway driving in it over the next few months so any help would be much appreciated!!!


Disclaimer : I'm moving house at the min so I haven't had time to buy a Haynes manual.

Thanks in advance!

Al.

annodomini2

6,881 posts

253 months

Monday 2nd June 2003
quotequote all
check the obvious first, plugs, leads, dizzy cap, rotor arm.

nevpugh308

4,398 posts

271 months

Monday 2nd June 2003
quotequote all
What's the engine temperature doing ? I wonder if that clattering noise (and the light) is low oil pressure ... ? (I presume you have checked the oil level ?)

deltaf

6,806 posts

255 months

Monday 2nd June 2003
quotequote all
Ok Alan, dont panic!..lol.
216 gti 16valver should be the honda engine for that year, with PGMFI injection, ya can easily tell, just have a look on the intake plenum, itll say? yep PGMFI !

The check engine light coming on is a good sign, it means that the managemnt is logging a fault that you can have a look at.

Open the passenger door, and push the seat back for some room.
In the footwell, pull up the carpet, from the front, and you should be able to see the ecu.
If i remember rightly, there may be a bracket that gets in the way if you wanna see the ecu fault code light, you may have to remove it.
The fault code light is either on the side or the front face of the ecu, and you will see it flashing if you turn on the ignition only and have a look.

Ok youve got the carpet up, you can see the red led (theres sometimes a yellow one too ignore it) get someone to turn the ignition ON.
The red led will now flash a number of times depending on the fault logged.
To count the fault code, count the number of flashes of the led, NOTE: you may have more than 1 code stored, so youll get the codes flashed out one after the other, paper and pen is handy to write em down with.
The codes are followed by a delay of 2 seconds and then repeated.
Once the fault is fixed, you need to erase the ecu memory of it.
Turn OFF the ignition and remove the ecu fuse(in the box somewhere) for around 10 seconds minimum, then put it back in (obviously)

Ok, the fault codes you should see (if any) are as follows.

0 ecu wire disconnected(non start)

If the led isnt on when the ignition is then: ecu wire disconnected or short in warning lamp(non starter).

1 oxygen content (cat models) -a
2 oxygen content (cat models) -b
3 poor connection to m.a.p. sensor-open or short circuit in map sensor or faulty map sensor.
4 crank angle sensor
5 disconnected or blocked map sensor vacuum pipe.
6 coolant temp sensor disconnected.
open or short in coolant temperature sensor wiring- or faulty sensor.
7 throttle switch disconnected-open or shorted-or faulty switch.
8 crank angle sensor open or shorted or faulty sensor.
9 cylinder sensor(knock) faulty.
10 air temp sensor disconnected open or shorted or faulty wiring/sensor faulty.
11 idle mixture adjuster sensor disconnected,open or shorted wiring or sensor faulty.
12 egr(exhaust gas recirculation) system harness disconnected, open/shorted or faulty sensor.
13 air pressure sensor disconnected, open or shoted wiring/ faulty sensor.
14 idle control valve wiring shorted/open circuit or faulty idle control valve.
15 short circuit in ignition circuit or faulty amplifier
16 injector valve fault (cat models)
17 speed sensor faulty.
18 open or shorted timing circuit or faulty ignition timing adjuster.
19 lock up control solenoid valve, (auto trans models)


Hope this helps geeza.

Alan420

Original Poster:

5,580 posts

260 months

Monday 9th June 2003
quotequote all
Hi guys, sorry I've not replied before now, work's been hell.

I really needed the car to be back on the road for two days after it broke down, and as I was moving house I didn't have much time to fix it myself.

A quick check of the dizzy cap and rotor showed them to be pretty much dead, so I replaced them, but that didn't help. On the test drive it broke down completely and wouldn't go for about 10 mins.

I limped it home, then up to Honda in the morning (it is the honda engine by the way - identical to my housemates' CRX).

Turned out it was the sensor gear in the Distributor housing; (first thing you warned me about Deltaf!) sorted at a cost of £310.56.

That was over a 3rd of the value of the car. If I didn't need it so bad I'd have sold it. Still I don't have much luck with cars so it wasn't much of a suprise.

I'm now looking into buying a bike (for backup) as the two hour train journeys to work (25mins by car) nearly killed me.

Cheers for your help anyway guys.

Al.



Edited to add: They charged me £35 + vat for the info you gave me there Deltaf, curse my dead broadband connection!!!


p.s, the oil level is well up and the oil is only 3000 miles old.

Since the sensors were replaced the noise hasn't been repeated.

The car also pulls from lower revs, though the kick from the second cam seems to be at 4,000rpm now, instead of 3,500 before.


This is the really wierd bit; the garage cleaned my allows for me, and wiped the bonnet. Which is odd. I thought they'd either clean it or not clean it, not do one pannel and the wheels. It's not like there's any fluid you could spill on the bonnet while changing the bits anyway....

>> Edited by Alan420 on Monday 9th June 14:53