Likely MAS/ECU issue?

[Steve_Perry]

:bannana: :bannana: Quality result Shude See? You should trust those geniuses *ahem* Star diagnostics computers

Glad to hear it's all sorted mate, and a bargain too!! I'll bet 4 sparkies plus fitting is a damn site cheaper than a MAS replacement. Heh, be thankful you don't have a V6, the costs of MAS replacement and sparkies are roughly the same

S.

 

[Dieselman]

Had a Vauxhall Cavalier from new some years ago. EVERY time I went on the motorway it would fire on 3 cylinders. Wrong spark plugs fitted at the factory!!

 

[Will]

Glad you got it sorted Shude - out of interest, how much did they charge you for fitting the plugs (parts and labour?)

Should pay for itself in fuel economy lol!

Cheers,

Will

 

[Shude]

Glad you got it sorted Shude - out of interest, how much did they charge you for fitting the plugs (parts and labour?)

Should pay for itself in fuel economy lol!

sparks: £27.56 for 4
labour: £39.95

inclusive of VAT that comes to about £80. Bargain really

 

[Dieselman]

inclusive of VAT that comes to about £80. Bargain really

really???

 

[Shude]

really???

compared to the 12 sparks and 2 hours labour for a v6 model, yes

 

[Will]

sparks: £27.56 for 4
labour: £39.95

inclusive of VAT that comes to about £80. Bargain really

You knew I was going to say it, but ~ £50 labour (ignoring the mark-up on parts!) is criminal.

It is genuinely a 10 minute job! 3 screws holding the cover in place and 4 plugs to undo! fair enough though, they diagnosed the fault!

How much was the service in total?

Cheers,

Will

 

[Shude]

How much was the service in total?

B service was about £400

additional work came to about £600.
coolant + brake fluid
front discs and pads
sparks
steering damper

all adds up.

EDIT: forgot to add that they tried to diagnose the alternator/battery problem I was having and came up with "NO FAULT FOUND". The service guy said the process of taking it all apart, checking then putting it back together again may well have sorted out whatever bad connection or loose fitting was causing it. It's not done it since!

Car also sounds a LOT better, engine runs much more smoothly and it goes like a rocket again, so I'm not bothered, well worth the money!

 

[Shude]

It's doing it again!

Surely I've not eaten a set of sparks in 2 or 3 months (~4000 miles)!

Any clever ideas? Prolly need to take a sparkplug out and see if they look ok...

 

[mark.t]

B service was about £400

additional work came to about £600.
coolant + brake fluid
front discs and pads
sparks
steering damper

all adds up.

EDIT: forgot to add that they tried to diagnose the alternator/battery problem I was having and came up with "NO FAULT FOUND". The service guy said the process of taking it all apart, checking then putting it back together again may well have sorted out whatever bad connection or loose fitting was causing it. It's not done it since!






Car also sounds a LOT better, engine runs much more smoothly and it goes like a rocket again, so I'm not bothered, well worth the money!

would you be better at a indi that seams an orrrfull lot of doller

 

[Dieselman]

It's doing it again!

Surely I've not eaten a set of sparks in 2 or 3 months (~4000 miles)!

Any clever ideas? Prolly need to take a sparkplug out and see if they look ok...

If the plugs are burnt out then suspect the mixture to be running too lean

 

[Shude]

If the plugs are burnt out then suspect the mixture to be running too lean

Mixture running too lean? Maybe that's the MAS after all, under-stating the airflow?

 

[nickmann]

That shouldn't happen - it's a closed-loop system so the O2 sensor will pick up on a lean mixture.

 

[Shude]

Ian Walker spotted a tick coming from the engine at the GTG and diagnosed it as a sticking valve. This probably causes oil to seep into places it shouldn't and has glued up the spark plugs etc and it's also made for some oil consumption during normal use, also the oil now has the texture of coal rather than oil!

He squirted some ATF into the engine and next weekend it's having oil/filter/sparkplugs change carried out by Ian himself!

Will naturally post pics and details etc!

 

[Shude]

next weekend it's having oil/filter/sparkplugs change carried out by Ian himself!

Engine looked lovely inside after the ATF polished it up!

Car is a lot better, but still missfires a bit if I press the pedal hard. Ian now suspects there is a sticking injector.

I poured 250ml of STP injector cleaner into it yesterday and will be putting 250ml of STP valve cleaner in tonight with a re-fuel.

 

[Dieselman]

That shouldn't happen - it's a closed-loop system so the O2 sensor will pick up on a lean mixture.

Not if the Lamda sensor is on the way out.

 

[Dieselman]

Engine looked lovely inside after the ATF polished it up!

Car is a lot better, but still missfires a bit if I press the pedal hard. Ian now suspects there is a sticking injector.

I poured 250ml of STP injector cleaner into it yesterday and will be putting 250ml of STP valve cleaner in tonight with a re-fuel.

What condition and colour were the plugs?

It could be down to a partially blocked injector. It's worth running injector cleaner regularly anyway.

Also check there are no airleaks either into or out of the inlet ducting.

 

[Shude]

What condition and colour were the plugs?

The plugs looked like new. As Ian had bought me some new ones anyway I took those out and boxed them up to keep as spares.

It could be down to a partially blocked injector. It's worth running injector cleaner regularly anyway.

Funnily enough the instructions on the back of the bottle recommend a blast of injector cleaner every 3000 miles. Of course they're not biased!

 

[C240Sport97]

what injector cleaner do you recommend?

and how often would you use the cleaner?

It could be down to a partially blocked injector. It's worth running injector cleaner regularly anyway.

 

[Ian B Walker]

About time I threw in my pennys worth. When Nick spoke to me in the first instance and started his car there was a loud tapping when the engine missfired. It really did sound like a sticky valve, hense the ATF to clean it out. Last Sunday when I went over to change the oils etc the engine did look remarkably clean. It ran beautifully untill it was put under some strain. Back at the ranch we pondered over what could be the cause. A Ticking could now be heard by injector number 4. When removing the electrics from the injector the ticking stopped. This caused me to think that the injector may be blocked, hense the suggestion of using injector cleaner. One point here though, when we changed the plugs they were only in finger tight, not the 11 foot lbs as per the book. Another couple of thoughts crossed my mind too, those of maybe one of the two coil packs was breaking down under load, or there was a loss of fuel pressure due to rapid acceleration. I do welcome advise and any suggestion that anyone wants to make as I take the car not running properly as a challenge that I MUST beat. I am a poor loser.