help2003

iTrader: (1)

Afternoon all,

Having a little problem and loosing my hair over it, please stay with me lol

Car has be stood for about 3months from december while i was changing gearbox, which was fine then after 3wks, it go stuck in 1st gear, so had to take it back out, and make 1 gearbox from 2, well that all went well and we are back on the road,. now the problems start.

1) Fuel smell,
there is a smell of fuel after the car has been stood for 30min etc, from inside, not done anything with the tank or fuel lines while working on it and it wasnt like it before.

I have changed the fuel filter as it was due anyway, still the same I noticed that a wire had broken from the oxgyen sensor on the down pipe, so i have rejoined it but not tested car as yet. Not changed air filter yet, as i took it out and noticed it was aliittle dirty so i cleaned it, that did nothing..

2) Car is Kangarooing
It did these when i 1st got it and i replaced the maf and all was well., the power is on and off etc, some times it will be fine for alittle run then it like your head banging in the car, i cant say its mis firing as i cant say what one feels like, sometime when driving the car will feel like it has stalled, but when you push acc pedal nothing, nothing at all, but the boost gauge goes up and down etc, but if you drop down a gear the engine will rev etc, then all of a suddon it comes alive again,

When its doing it the battery volts are all over the shot, sometimes running around 11v the sometimes back to 14v, its strange,
I have ordered some new spark plugs which i will install asap when they get here.


So to run it up:
1) Fuel smell inside,
(changed Maf and fuel filter, cleaned air filter)

2) Car kanagarooing
(changed Maf, cleaned air filter, changed fuel filter, fixed oxgyen sensor,) and will be changing plugs..



All i can think off, is, plugs, coil pack, alternator, fuel pump,


Please help, need it running stop on so i can sell it, dont want to hand it off to someone with these problems, want them to injoy the car from day 1.

Splitpin

All I can think of is that you haven't told us what type and year the car is.

Beyond that, from what you've said at the moment there's no point you asking for help on here other than asking where your nearest good specialist is.

If the thread fills up with ten different people giving you ten different guesses, or anecdotal stories on what was happening on their car, you won't know where to start.

it might be a wiring loom/relay issue, it might be something else entirely. What's needed is someone with some experience and some diagnostic kit to start ruling stuff in and out.

help2003

iTrader: (1)

sorry about that, its a my99 uk turbo.

Shame about the help on here, it use to be really great, you would get a response from at least 5 people before the day was out, when simon was running it,

Owell, might as well test it all myself then, going to try and clean the idle control valve tomorrow

stedee

iTrader: (4)

coil packs are a common fault i am wondering if the coil packs are shorting out would it be drawing to much current hence lowering the voltage???? look for signs of arcing

but if youre alternator is jumping around like that suggest that is faulty it should read 14v and the smell of fuel is unburnt fuel when you arent getting a spark.

help2003

iTrader: (1)

cheers for that,

the lack of spark, would that be down to the alternator or the coil pack, ie not enough volts from the alter to the coil pack,.

I did have the alternator off a couple of weeks back but hadnt really used the car since then, as i stuck a new belt on it, if the belt was to tight would that be given me trouble

going to take it all off and check connectors and run my laptop for some fault codes and shall see,

if its nice tomorrow new plugs are going in as well,......

robimportwagon

the answer is in your thread, if it only messes about when the voltage is jumping around there is the answer = alternator ... when an alternator stops regulating correctly its output becomes erratic which in turn means the cars ecu and running gear are getting the right voltage needed to work effectively one minute and then hardly anything to work with the next you'd be suprised at how many problems and symptoms a faulty alternator can cause, hope this helps .

mit

iTrader: (10)

Did you connect the inlet manifold earth properly? Also, the connector on top of the box, is that ok? These will cause problems your explaining.

help2003

iTrader: (1)

earth on the inlet manifold, mmmm where about is it, ive dont that much to it now iam losing track, lol

stuck some new spark plugs in, and cleaned up coil pack, and had a play around with alternator connectors, took it for a spin all seems alittle better, then all of a sudden it started again volts are dropping again,

so ordered a cheap second hand alternator just see if it changes anything.


started to lose my rag now, and the smell of fuel is getting on my ****, thinking i should be burning it in the car not smelling it, lol....

so the next few days we are waiting for the alternator,

Splitpin

Bolted to the inlet manifold, on the 2/4 branch, next to where the intercooler mount bracket is attached. Thick black wire with a 12mm bolt through it. If it's loose it'll cause all sorts of weird problems.

Also, and this is a slight longshot but I've seen it happen before. You haven't painted your intake manifold have you? If so, you need to cut/abrade any paint off the earth lug in order to get a good contact.

Hmmm. It doesn't sound like it's your alternator, your symptoms aren't quite consistent with that (a failing alternator shouldn't make your engine run as odd as yours seems to be, it'll just, eventually, result in a flat battery). However, a good diagnostic test to try is the following:

Make sure your battery's well charged. Disconnect the alternator positive wire from the lug on top of it (and make sure it doesn't touch any metal!), as well as the green plug. You could, for the sake of being completist, loosen the auxiliary belt and take it off to stop the alternator even spinning.

Then start the engine. It should run for a good old while with a charged, good battery powering it. If it suddenly runs great with the alternator disconnected, then you know what the problem was. If it still dicks about, you know it wasn't the alternator.

The smell's in the cabin? If you've got a problem with the ECU sensor ground (the one on the manifold), it'll overfuel like f**k so this is another reason to pay that some really close attention.

You've got some work to do in the meantime! Get looking at those grounds - the one on the manifold and the one Mit suggests between the gearbox and the tab above the pitch stopper (underneath the intercooler).

Also, do you have a digital multimeter and the knowledge to do some continuity checks? If not the other thing to look into would be a local specialist who knows their stuff. This sounds like the sort of issue that someone with the right diagnostic kit and experience will be able to pinpoint within minutes. If push comes to shove that might be preferable to the hair loss!

help2003

iTrader: (1)

cheers for that guys,

well the cheap alternator made no difference, lol was only £24 so wasnt to bad,


"Bolted to the inlet manifold, on the 2/4 branch, next to where the intercooler mount bracket is attached. Thick black wire with a 12mm bolt through it. If it's loose it'll cause all sorts of weird problems."

Going to have a bloody good look for this tomorrow morning,


going to try replacing the oxgyen sensor in the downpipe, as the wires broke on it before hand and just rejoined them, which measures how much fuel to push through it, as it has 3 wires 1 black and 2 white, which am hoping i rejoined the white ones to the right white wire lol... going to try swapping the white ones around just to see if its any better, (cant get any worse lol) which might be the smell of fuel problem, worth a try for £18 for a cheap one just to see..


If that fixes the fuel smell, am hoping it will fix the power cutting out like there is not fuel going through it, if not mmmmmm might have to think about fuel pump. lol at least i can upgrade it..


I wil get underneath it tomorrow as well and have alook around the gearbox as am sure there was a connector around there,

So jobs for tomorrow,
Look around the intercooler, for thick black wire on a 12mm bolt, and rewire the oxygen wires, white to other white lol


time will tell again

help2003

iTrader: (1)

crap, still cant anything loose, i have changed the oxgyen sensor and nope

going to try it without the alternator plugged in and see what happens,

its hard when i only have the car on weekends, but just wish i could enjoy the car again before i sell it.

help2003

iTrader: (1)

still the same problems but getting there slowly, its so hard when you only have the weekends and then your bloody family start to kick off lol

Change coil pack, still same, with volts and jumping/cutting out, and fuel smell is there still


well this morning i read something about old fuel pumps shorting out etc, so ripped up back seat to only find a fuel pipe weeping, under pass side, so going to get round to replacing the fuel pipe or pushing a temp rubber pipe over it and seal it,

and ordered a new fuel pump on the safe sound lol, might as well

help2003

iTrader: (1)

MOrning all,

Well the relay died last weekend, and had to replace with new, got subaru deliver one to me, and had chance to fit it last night,

well took it for a 30min drive, and it only cut fuel like twice, then drove great afterwards, and when left ticking over the car was sitting at 14v ish all the time where normaly it was dropping down to 12 and below,

Not had time this morning to see if the car would start again, but will see tonight when i get home, but i did notice that there is to much bloody oil in it, so will drain some out tomorrow morning, dont know how that has happend as ive not but any more in it, but cant say if the bloke who did my gearbox has.

Time will tell

as for chasing wire to immoblizer, am really crap at that and fault finding lol

mit

iTrader: (10)

You've not got fuel in the oil have you, causing a higher level? Have you had any injectors out at all? A damaged o-ring can leak fuel into the cylinder, then it gets past your rings, into the fuel. If this is the case, you need to sort it asap!

help2003

iTrader: (1)

well got told its down the alternator not working grat, so i forked out and got a brand new one,

and its still bloody playing up,

really getting pissed off now, volts keep droping and some times the fuel cuts out, i cant even go and fill the car with fuel as everytime i have it wont start again on the for court

joz8968

iTrader: (13)

Battery? Earth strap? CTS?

Sorry if this has been suggested before (haven't read through thread).

help2003

iTrader: (1)

new battery already on, just reading about earth strap, just need to find it and check it out

help2003

iTrader: (1)

CTS??

joz8968

iTrader: (13)

coolant temp sensor.

When it fails, the misreading or stuck voltage can fool the ECU onto thinking a warmed up engine is a cold one, and overfuel. This can cause bad idling and/or dipping revs/cutting out when coming to a stop, etc...

help2003

iTrader: (1)

thanks for that, another thing to look at