420SE Bad Engine

[Mr WST]

Suggestions please!!! Had some problems with this car from day one and the engine is still not right. Its pumping too much petrol into the engine, smells like a Petrol Station.
I have changed so far, plugs, leads, dist cap, air flow meter and its been to TVR specialist in York area who cant fix it.
Every time we think its fixed, it resets itself and back to poping with no power.
Please help, has anyone had this problem at all?

Cheers

[keatsie]

Usual reason for over fuelling is down to the temperature sender, when it fails it reads a valid value for a cold engine and the ecu over fuels. Simple checks, resistance change as the engine heats up - you can bridge the coolant sensor with a 330 ohm resistor which will inform the ecu the engine temp is about 80 degrees.

[Wedg1e]

If the problem is intermittent it could be the classic dry solder joints in the ECU. Anyone half competent with a soldering iron could sort it, just don't start swapping ECUs as you'll never get one with the right calibration for your engine.
One way to find out: if the ECU is mounted to a hinged flap in the pasenger footwell, have someone repeatedly kick the flap as you drive along. You'll soon spot if the ECU's working intermittently

[grahamw48]

You could also give Richard Thorpe at RTracing in Sheffield a ring (if you haven't already done so). There isn't much he doesn't know about Wedges, he managed to fix mine which had a similar problem, and he won't mind chatting. Mine was down to damaged/brittle wiring, incidentally. www.rtracing.co.uk

PS: Is your car the one that was at Selby...that I believe may have previously belonged to 'firefox' on here ?

Any pictures ?

Edited by grahamw48 on Monday 29th November 15:11

[jmorgan]

Something similar on my hotwire. Throttle pot was too high. Ended up flooding it, set back to the correct setting and it was OK.

[Mr WST]

Yes the yellow one, its a keeper though as i have said before. I will get it right at some point
Thanks for the link to RT Racing. He has said that it may need a carb due to elec faults that most have
Will have to ba after christmas now, expensive!!

[B-Reight]

Wayne, which injection system is it, flapper or hotwire?

[TVRleigh_BBWR]

B-Reight said:

Wayne, which injection system is it, flapper or hotwire?

I think all the 420SE's was flapper, as hotwire did not come in to late 89 early 90.
Maybe also worth checking the FPR as if the fuel pressure is not right then you could over fuel.

[firefox1712]

Yes - my old motor. Hope it gets fixed up soon.

JJ

[Mr WST]

Yes flapper system. Just seem to be pumping money into it with people ideas on how to fix it when i take it places. The guy at RT Racing seems to have a good head on him, think it will be there next year!

[Trickie Dickie]

I don't know where you are in West Yorkshire Wayne
and taking nothing away from RT Racing but
I use a mechanic in Kirkstall Leeds who is a Rover v8 Guru

He has prepared and repaired RV8s for years and to a very high standard

Andy Turner 0113 278 4003

He is also very reasonable certainly for his expertise

HTH

Trickie

[Wedg1e]

Mr WST said:

He has said that it may need a carb due to elec faults that most have

BULLst. That's a cop-out for not fixing it properly if ever I heard one.

[grahamw48]

[ed_crouch]

Megasquirt it.

[Wedg1e]

ed_crouch said:

Megasquirt it.

Probably not a bad idea, could optimise what's in the engine better than the Lucas system. Perhaps

[B-Reight]

Mr WST said:

Yes flapper system. Just seem to be pumping money into it with people ideas on how to fix it when i take it places. The guy at RT Racing seems to have a good head on him, think it will be there next year!

I feel your pain, my car had running issues when i first got it and it took a hell a lot of head scratching to get it sorted.

Can you describe the problems, how they manifest and when? Does the car start okay, does it drive at all etc? I wouldn't take smelling strongly of petrol to be necessarily a symptom of overfuelling because for one, it could well be an ignition issue and two, all wedges seem to reek of petrol to a certain extent.

Edited by B-Reight on Tuesday 30th November 01:11

[Mr WST]

Trickie - Thanks for the number im Leeds Area anyway, so every person is an option at this time, il give him a call.
When i first got the car it was fine, drove it home and all well. The next day i went to start it up then, once warm it cuts out and the engine seems to be flooded.
So for some reason or another. You get all the mixtures rigtht etc, the car will run fine for that day. Next day will be back coughing farting, and cutting out, no power at all!!!
Strange i know, though 4 mechanics down the line im still bo better off...

[adam quantrill]

If it's failing far too rich then the engine temp sensor or wiring to it is number one suspect, then after that the ECU, the solder joints do fail over time, it takes about an hour to go over them all with fresh solder which usually does the trick.

[Mr WST]

ECU has been sent off and all dry solder has been fixed. I believe when it went to selby TVR they put a Temp Sens on and in their won words it made things worse, so they put the old one back on.
Im sure il get there at some point, Maybe!
Thanks though, all advice is good

[gruffalo]

I had a Range Rover that did this, the cauise was the temp sensor in the fuel line, car ran fine when cold but as it heated up it got worse and worse. Often would not start or reluctant when hot, and banged and popped like mad on the over run, even down to the point that a mate following me one day commented on theblue flames coming out of the exhaust, this was a Range Rover FFS.

On the advice of the local Range Rover main dealer head mech bloke, he said change the fuel tepm sensor first as it is cheap and easy to do, if that does not cure it the next thing would be the ignition amp on the side of the distributor, that could break down when hot causing weak or intermittent spark.

May be worth a try, cheap to do and easy.