If the coolant system has let go then you wont see any change on the coolant dipstick, as it now may not build pressure past the radiator cap to increase the level and similarly when cold it wont suck back in out of the bottle. Did you remove the radiator cap to look at the colour of the coolant?
Yes but couldn't see the coolant level.......just the interior of the radiator. There wasn't any muck on the inside of the cap though. If what you say is true it might have lost just enough coolant to drop that level. Engine was still running at normal temp when I stopped, but probably wasn't driving for long enough to lose that much (1-2minutes from start at shops).
How far down is it? Have you topped it up? I would be doing an oil change so you can really check the condition of the oil properly.
If you take the cap off, and all you see is the radiator core (the holes etc) - that's way bad. There are circumstances where the car won't take from the resevoir (bad cap, resevoir pipe dropped off, suction leak etc etc etc) Take the cap off radiator and pour in coolant (or water if you have to) from a container and note how much goes in before it's full. That'll tell you if it ran dry or not. Watch for leaks anywhere while you're doing it. You *should* then be able to try turn over and see if it fires up. (If you're really worried about hydrolock, disconnect the spark plugs first. Turn over a bit. If sounds OK, reconnect to start car) Like someone else said though - get it to engine reco place asap. Maybe even confirm your intended actions first in case they want to do something special. Oh, from memory, if there's no coolant at all, often the temp gauge doesn't read correctly, because there's nothing to read from..... depends on the design. Likewise, if sender is before thermostat, and thermostat is blocked / stuffed, temp sender will get the wrong values.
Also remember that if there is in fact water in the cylinder(s), you need to remove the spark plug, not just disconnect it. You want to give the uncompressable water somewhere to go, other then bending valves and smashing bearings and rods.
I have a mechanic coming out to look at it this evening. He's a mobile guy who has done a lot of work on Z's so he should be able to shine some light on what is going on.
I'm know it never ran hot as I alway watch the gauge and it's never moved off center, even right before I stopped on side of road. When I popped the bonnet and it just wasn't hot. I was wriggling connectors etc with my hand on top of the throttle cable cover and there just wasn't much heat in it. I know the type of heat a TT motor can generate under there, and this just wasn't hot.
Thanks, I'll remind the mechanic if he tries it without removing plugs first, but I think he should be right.
Mobile Z mechanic in Sydney? wow! could you please post his details Marcus? Sorry to hear about your engine probs mate, we were just talking about how smooth and fresh it was on the tech day - hopefully it's nothing major & you'll be back on the road asap. Cheers Sav
Thanks Sav, you have no idea how frustrated I am!!!!!!!!! Here is a link to the mechanic: http://prestoautomotive.com.au/I got his details off Wizard who said he's good, but I've never used him before myself.
Check your cas connector and also check you tps voltage. Mine developed a stutter under acceleration a few years back and turned out to be tps
From reading your first post, it sounds like a fuel or spark issue. Car was running fine, then was hard to start after sitting, a head gasket does not blow while the engine is sitting there switched off. You could smell fuel and visibly seen smoke out the exhaust, white and grey smoke can be hard to tell apart if you do not know what you are looking for. White smoke is not smoke at all, but steam, which disipates very quickly. Smoke tends to blow away in a cloud. I believe this car has a TWD fitted??? Do not rely on the factory temp gauge at all, they are barely indication of approx temperature. Looking down the radiator neck, you can't can't see too far into it because of the offset neck, it may only take a litre or 2 to top it up. At this stage, with the info given, I doubt it is a head gasket, most likely a spark or fuel issue.
Well you are spot on Eric. I gave the car a good shake and the coolant lipped into the neck, so no problem there. I had Rob (from link in previous post) just look at it and it's an injector issue. The white smoke is actually grey (and lots of it) as you suggested. There is also another development........battery completely flat today?? Rob suggested that if there is a ECU problem the injectors can "lock" open (even while the car is not running) draining the battery. So my first point of call I think will be to try to borrow someones ECU (please let me know if you are close and able to help out with this) to swap with mine and see if there is an issue there. Rob said he would replace the injectors, but that is quiet a costly exercise so I'll have to face that once the ECU has be ruled out. I now welcome any comments if anyone else has any more ideas in light of this new information. Do injectors usually "let go" like this? Thanks for the help so far.
An injector can stick open both mechanically and electrically, They are fed a constant 12v and the ecu switches the negative side to earth to open the injector. Next step is to check for a short to ground on the injector negative with the key off, one side will be 12v positive, the other should be open circuit. If you have a circuit to ground(short), disconnect the ecu and retest the negative side. If the short is still present it is wiring related, like a wire rubbed through the metal in the harness. If the short is no longer present, it is a failed injector driver, which means either have a good ecu repiar place rectify it or replace the ecu with another known good ecu.
Update.... Thanks to Dave Budden for coming over this afternoon and lending me his ECU. Unfortunately the swap changed nothing (would have been the easy answer if the ECU was at fault). So next I'll be checking for a short from the injectors as per A2Zeds post.
Agreed, 1st thing I would do is pull the plugs and inspect all connectors. My fuel pressure regulator was leaking fuel into one of my cylinders. The head gasket had a very small leak and oil was getting into the same cylinder, I too was blowing smoke, running on less than 6 cyls and could smell fuel. Upon inspection the plugs were all burnt and the problem cylinders plug had cracked ceramic.You seem to have very similar symptoms to what I have just experienced. Hope this helps. Good luck!
Hey Marcus I remember you telling me a tech day that when you give it a bit of a boot there is slight hesitation, sounds like your injectors are due for a proffessional clean out and service. Look up Australian Fuel Injection at Boundary road Mortdale. Cheers Matt.
Injectors were supposed to be cleaned and tested before they went on the new motor. It's very frustrating that all of the things I paid for in advance so that I would have a reliable drive are now needings to be done again .
Update.... As per A2Zeds recommendation, I put a multimeter on the injector connectors and one is giving me a reading of 11.5V (the rear passenger side). Now when I was driving he car it didn't feel like just one injector was a problem. The car didn't have enough power to drive after a while and I had to pull over. There was enough grey smoke to make the car behind completely disappear. Could this all be caused by one injector???
If one injector is constantly dumping fuel in, the engine will be very loaded up. Looks like you have a short to ground in the wiring harness somewhere.
