KR VERY down on power. CRANK SPROCKET DIED, see p.7!!!

Hi,

From one day to another (crappy fuel from a cheap petrol station is the main suspect!), the car started to fee like it had no power at all. There was no kick at 4.000rpm as it used to be, and nothing at all. It ran like a 90(ish) HP car...

then I checked/replaced the following:


-overrun cutoff valve OK
-vacuum pipes with no leaks
-idle screw+o-ring replaced
-delivery test (all 4 injectors with good spray pattern, and same delivery per injector)
-fuel pressure tests OK (WUR, accumulator, FPR, and fuel pumps OK)
-new ignition coil
-replaced leads
-timing (crank to cam, and crank to gearbox, and to dizzy rotor arm ALL set OK)
-new air filter
-non blocked oil recirculation pipes
-cold start injector's plug disconnected
-throttle body opening both "bodies" correctly

and after dropping in a new fuel filter, and a tank full of good fuel, the car came back to life!!!




Then (after 1 month or so), I commited the same mistake again and used crappy fuel (), and the car started to run bad again


I don't know if it's due to using "cheap" fuel (despite being 95RON!), or it is only caused by a coincidence... but this time I've done the following:

-new spark plugs
-new dizzy rotor arm
-new dizzy cap
-replaced leads

-----27/04/2011-----
-added a wire from battery negative to head
-did some autodata - ignition tests, and the ECU is okay
-hall sender plug gets +11v with ignition on. Autodata says it's okay if voltage isn't lower than 5v.
-checked vacuum pipes, no leaks
-checked air filter, no oil/dirt
-checked oil recirculation pipe, not blocked


BTW:
mpg "used to be" about 28mpg when the car was running fine
now, it's 23mpg!!!!!
-----27/04/2011-----


and the car is still running like a 90HP one



I've only left to test:

-something about a sheared or worn crank pulley or something like this (on page 4 I think).
-check fuel pressures and delivery test again
-replace fuel filter
-check ignition timing advance with a stroboscopic lamp (I'll need to buy one!)
-do a compression test (I'll need to buy the 'tester' ...)
-metering head pin or something like this




what do you think? I'm going to torch it !!!!

 

Possibly damaged the air intake too the airbox. Might be restricting flow.
If not check for the intake pipes from the metering head to TB. Make sure they are all secure an no leaks any where. Some may have become dislodged with the impact.

 

I have know cars in accidents to jump teeth on the cambelt............

 

all air pipes + airbox are OK as I checked them today and the other day (twice), but thanks for the suggestion


cambelt teeth jumping?? OMG I'll have to check it. Well I've got to replace front engine mount first LOL

 

right. I've replaced front engine mount as it was dead and the car is running as bad as before...

I've got myself a set of fuel gauges (thanks to neil). if I check fuel pressure at idle, should I find the problem? or should I check it at full charge too? how could I use the fuel gauge in order to see if there's any air or fuel related problem?

thanks...

 

What does the mfa read ? If the cambelt has jumped it will half the indicated mpg
I had this happen to me and noticed the mpg was at best 12-15 ish , also the car ran hotter
Once I had corrected it , it was flying Again

 

did you check the timing? thats the first step on this one...

 

MFA reads nothing LOL as it was faulty and I unplugged the vac hose regarding to MFA. OBviously I 100% deleted it from the manifold I mean, it's not unplugged

 

no, I didn't check it yet. I'd also like to align all marks and check distributor rotor arm. how can I know that it's OK?

 

Fuel problems will make the engine louder when on flat out
Makes the engine bark , had that as well when a filter blocked up , and could not drive up hills

 

I'll drop a new fuel and air filter in today to see if that helps... but I think it'll only "hide" the real problem ...
well I'll wait for the fuel tank to get nearly empty and then try with a different petrol station just in case I filled the tank with crappy fuel last time...


oh and is it possible to check cam-cam timing without removing rocker cover? I think not... but who knows

 

I forgot to mention that my car seems to have some kind of "LAG" when I push the accelerator pedal. It does take like 1 or 2 seconds to accelerate, no matter if it's at 1.500 or 5.000rpm...

 

Diagnose the problem properly before you start swapping bits around!!

Quick checks to do:

- Take the airbox lid off, and check the pipe at the front of it. Does it all look ok? Maybe the breather dumped a load of oil into the filter during the crash, maybe the intake pipe at the front is broken?

- Take 5-10 minutes and check the cambelt timing (screwdriver down the spark plug hole and flywheel marks to check TDC, rather than the extra time needed to take the belt covers off). You can't check cam-cam timing without removing the rocker cover, but if that's out (and it's less likely) the belt will be out for sure. If the cam timing is out, it will have knocked the ignition timing out too, because the cam drives the dizzy.
- Check the wiring to temp sensors on the head
- Check the valves and gizmos on the back of the airbox haven't fallen out or worked loose.

 

Do you mean the snorkel? I removed it last year, so this can be discarded.
I replaced the air filter today just in case, but it looked okay-ly dirty.
I also replaced all air pipes with new(ish) ones, and also checked vacuum pipes for leaks.
I used a vacuum pipe in order to force the warm air feed of the airbox to be open all of time just to know if there is a problem with the headlight blocking the front intake (it's a lil close to the airbox, but it's always been this way).

Will be doing it tomorrow, as I've no more time today

done. all of them look right to my eyes

done. they look OK.


I've also removed afterrun cutoff valve and blanked the hole and also checked it's not air-leaking


I also found that if I blow air through the ISV, this air gets into the manifold (as I can hear it through the TB) with the engine OFF. is that right?



Idle is OK by the way, and TB microswitch too.

 

I forgot to ask... how can I check that the crank pulley is correctly "timed" (installed) to the crank itself? or does it have NO "position"?

 

well, confirmed: car ran like crap as well with the cutoff valve deleted (and vacuum pipes, etc, blanked), and with rear airbox' intake permanently open, and with "new" intake piping.

I'll check timing belt today and a few more things and I'll take the car to a garage on monday to get the CO checked. When I bought the car, from one day to another, the CO automatically and misteriously "changed" from night to day with the car parked..... I hope it's what happened in the crash...

 

I've reconnected and plugged in the cutoff valve and spraid wd40 everywhere and there are no leaks.

car was idling at 1000rpm and I disconnected the ISV's plug and it lowered idle to 900 but still idled OK...

just to clarify: with ignition ON, the ISV does buzz. if I disconnect it, the car runs and idles but stalls when A.C. is ON (on idle).... so it looks like the idle screw is bypassing the isv isn't it...? great, another problem to fix... but... what's the fix?

where is ECU earthing point located?

 

Unless the keyways have sheared, the cam and crank pulley only fit on one way. You can double check by comparing the crank pulley to the marks on the flywheel, and comparing the cam pulley to the position of the cam lobes.

 

ok, thanks.



as an update: I've filled the tank (35L up to the top) with "good" fuel and the car is still running like crap.


I've found that i.e. i'm accelerating and push clutch pedal at 4.000rpm, revs drop really slow..... a lot slower than they used to "fall" when the car was running good. It makes me think that I've got a massive airleak somehwere but I've checked everything except inlet manifold (visually yes, but not with wd40).... what can be causing this slow drop of rpm?

 

Check the plugs to see if there's any noticeable difference in colour between them? Perhaps you have cracked the inlet on a runner if the slam panel was pushed into it, while the engine was forced forward by the momentum? Long shot...