First Problem!!
Discussion
Morning all,
I started the Monaro up this morning, the 'Service Soon' message appeared on the dash (it is booked in at MF), all was fine. My daughter was at the door saying something that I could not hear so I switched off, replied and restarted the engine. This time all was not fine, the car was rocking and the engine was not firing on all cylinders. The 'Check Engine' and 'Reduced Performance' warnings flashed up on the dash and I did not have enough power to pull away as at least 2 cylinders were down. I turned it off, popped the bonnet and removed the engine covers, hoping that it was something as simple as an HT lead or LT supply. I checked all were firmly seated on the spark plugs and checked the LT connections to the coil packs. Nothing obvious to see. So I fired her up again to start pulling plug leads and see which pots were affected. However, this time all was fine again and she was back on 8 pots. I cautiously drove her to work, 20 miles, but the journey went without a hitch.
Have any of you experienced anything like this? I am almost sure it is electrical, probably coil packs or LT supply to them but I have no way of knowing for sure. I assume there is a diagnostic port somewhere, does it need Hoilden specific kit or will my local mechanics be able to read the fault codes?
Bugger, there I was last night, in the 'Girl Racer' thread, saying "I kept imagining myself, sitting yet again on the grassy banks of the M40, cursing the day I dumped my reliable German for a temperamental Italian". I was talking about the Maserati 3200GT I nearly bought and how I decided on the Monaro because I thought it would be more reliable. Ironically I have a 200 mile journey North tomorrow night, half of which is on the M40. Have I tempted fate? Is Ernesto Maserati punishing me from beyond the grave?
Bugger, bugger and bugger again.
I started the Monaro up this morning, the 'Service Soon' message appeared on the dash (it is booked in at MF), all was fine. My daughter was at the door saying something that I could not hear so I switched off, replied and restarted the engine. This time all was not fine, the car was rocking and the engine was not firing on all cylinders. The 'Check Engine' and 'Reduced Performance' warnings flashed up on the dash and I did not have enough power to pull away as at least 2 cylinders were down. I turned it off, popped the bonnet and removed the engine covers, hoping that it was something as simple as an HT lead or LT supply. I checked all were firmly seated on the spark plugs and checked the LT connections to the coil packs. Nothing obvious to see. So I fired her up again to start pulling plug leads and see which pots were affected. However, this time all was fine again and she was back on 8 pots. I cautiously drove her to work, 20 miles, but the journey went without a hitch.
Have any of you experienced anything like this? I am almost sure it is electrical, probably coil packs or LT supply to them but I have no way of knowing for sure. I assume there is a diagnostic port somewhere, does it need Hoilden specific kit or will my local mechanics be able to read the fault codes?
Bugger, there I was last night, in the 'Girl Racer' thread, saying "I kept imagining myself, sitting yet again on the grassy banks of the M40, cursing the day I dumped my reliable German for a temperamental Italian". I was talking about the Maserati 3200GT I nearly bought and how I decided on the Monaro because I thought it would be more reliable. Ironically I have a 200 mile journey North tomorrow night, half of which is on the M40. Have I tempted fate? Is Ernesto Maserati punishing me from beyond the grave?
Bugger, bugger and bugger again.
nitrosman1 said:
i had a plug lead do that to me once tho at the time it wasnt obvious that was the cause
Thanks Nitros,
How badly was your engine affected by the HT lead? Mine was not producing enough power to move the car at all and was very rough indeed. When it tried to reverse it back the engine bogged down and nearly died every time I started feeding in the clutch. I would assume that with 1 cylinder down the motor would still be able to produce enough power to do reverse on a level driveway but I am not an expert. To me it sounded like at least 2 cylinders or perhaps a whole bank was down.
B
i only had one lead off and the engine felt like a bag of nails tho id did get me home very worriying at the time ,tho it was my own fault because id replaced the plugs a couple of weeks earier and obviously i didnt put one of the leads back properly maybe your plugs were checked not long before you got the car ,that said id have a look at the one or two of the plugs and make sure they look right as im not convinced on the standard vaux service interval for plugs and i recomend changing them earlier than they say to on service as they only get changed on a major service with vaux because the tips can burn out or breakoff towards the end of their life
Here's a thought:
I had only just started the engine, from cold, for less than 10 seconds and then turned it off before starting it again about ten seconds later. Could it be that with such a big supercharged engine, cold and on choke, the EMS had chucked a load of fuel in to the motor that soaked the plugs and caused misfires?
That could explain why after leaving the engine for a minute or two and trying again the problem had cleared. I drove it through the traffic at lunch for an hour and all seemed fine.
I had only just started the engine, from cold, for less than 10 seconds and then turned it off before starting it again about ten seconds later. Could it be that with such a big supercharged engine, cold and on choke, the EMS had chucked a load of fuel in to the motor that soaked the plugs and caused misfires?
That could explain why after leaving the engine for a minute or two and trying again the problem had cleared. I drove it through the traffic at lunch for an hour and all seemed fine.
Boggie said:
Here's a thought:
I had only just started the engine, from cold, for less than 10 seconds and then turned it off before starting it again about ten seconds later. Could it be that with such a big supercharged engine, cold and on choke, the EMS had chucked a load of fuel in to the motor that soaked the plugs and caused misfires?
That could explain why after leaving the engine for a minute or two and trying again the problem had cleared. I drove it through the traffic at lunch for an hour and all seemed fine.
I had only just started the engine, from cold, for less than 10 seconds and then turned it off before starting it again about ten seconds later. Could it be that with such a big supercharged engine, cold and on choke, the EMS had chucked a load of fuel in to the motor that soaked the plugs and caused misfires?
That could explain why after leaving the engine for a minute or two and trying again the problem had cleared. I drove it through the traffic at lunch for an hour and all seemed fine.
Sounds feasable to me. Even my daily snotter doesn't like to be started/shutdown/started and runs rough if I do that.
Had a lead go on mine recently after having the manifolds replaced, ran like utter utter crap and as mentioned about 50mph was about the max could get was awful!
Mine doesnt like being started, stopped and re-started all quickly, only ever done it a couple of times but never liked it.
Mine doesnt like being started, stopped and re-started all quickly, only ever done it a couple of times but never liked it.
It does seem that the cold start-stop-start within 20 seconds was the problem. All has been well since but perhaps next weekend I should try and reproduce the problem to prove the theory. Could it do any harm?
One thing I do find is that tickover sees the car gently rocking randomly, like a caged animal waiting for the zoo keeper to open the cage and turn his back. Don't get me wrong, I quite like it but only as long as it is normal behaviour. Do all of you rock at the lights?
B
One thing I do find is that tickover sees the car gently rocking randomly, like a caged animal waiting for the zoo keeper to open the cage and turn his back. Don't get me wrong, I quite like it but only as long as it is normal behaviour. Do all of you rock at the lights?
B
Boggie said:
It does seem that the cold start-stop-start within 20 seconds was the problem. All has been well since but perhaps next weekend I should try and reproduce the problem to prove the theory. Could it do any harm?
One thing I do find is that tickover sees the car gently rocking randomly, like a caged animal waiting for the zoo keeper to open the cage and turn his back. Don't get me wrong, I quite like it but only as long as it is normal behaviour. Do all of you rock at the lights?
B
Yes, I think your problem was over-fuelled cylinders. No, don't replicate it, as in extreme cases you will also get bore-wash and engines don't like petrol mixing with the oil in the bottom end. One thing I do find is that tickover sees the car gently rocking randomly, like a caged animal waiting for the zoo keeper to open the cage and turn his back. Don't get me wrong, I quite like it but only as long as it is normal behaviour. Do all of you rock at the lights?
B
As to the rocking, our LS3 has done that from new. It's as if every couple of cycles, one cylinder doesn't fire - maybe the idle is set a little too lean (which won't harm it), so I wouldn't think that was a problem.
ARAF said:
Boggie said:
It does seem that the cold start-stop-start within 20 seconds was the problem. All has been well since but perhaps next weekend I should try and reproduce the problem to prove the theory. Could it do any harm?
One thing I do find is that tickover sees the car gently rocking randomly, like a caged animal waiting for the zoo keeper to open the cage and turn his back. Don't get me wrong, I quite like it but only as long as it is normal behaviour. Do all of you rock at the lights?
B
Yes, I think your problem was over-fuelled cylinders. No, don't replicate it, as in extreme cases you will also get bore-wash and engines don't like petrol mixing with the oil in the bottom end. One thing I do find is that tickover sees the car gently rocking randomly, like a caged animal waiting for the zoo keeper to open the cage and turn his back. Don't get me wrong, I quite like it but only as long as it is normal behaviour. Do all of you rock at the lights?
B
As to the rocking, our LS3 has done that from new. It's as if every couple of cycles, one cylinder doesn't fire - maybe the idle is set a little too lean (which won't harm it), so I wouldn't think that was a problem.
also mine rocks
Gassing Station | HSV & Monaro | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff