Is this strange?

OK, I got the car back with a whole 2klms on the odo after it was stolen.

Thought it was time to catch up on anything that needs doing.

Got the car back wouldn't even start, they literally drilled the ignition so put a new ignition on and turned over but wouldn't fire.
A little squirt of wd40 on the injector connectors and she fired and ran for maybe 10 seconds and died.

Replaced all the injector connectors and car fires up but spluttering missing, noticed the thermo was kicking in so realised the CTS was also needing a clean, replaced both sensors on the hardpipe and threw some new connectors on.
Changed the oil and filter, flushed the coolant, threw some new fan belts on and went for a drive.

Splutter, fart splutter... car dies on the side of the road. Managed to restart and get a few hundred metres up the road and dies again.
I'm scratching my head thinking WTF... fire it up again and all of a sudden it runs PERFECT. Revs cleanly no splutter no missing, runs better then it's ever run before.

Is this strange or what?... was it the ECU getting all new readings and went haywire for a while?

Just curious.

Egg

 

Well maybe the error code cleared from the CTS or maybe one of your solder joints isnt spot on and it was just luck? Any error codes now?

If they were that dirty and stuffed I'd replace all the main connectors, which I did...

 

Injector connectors...

...were done very pedantically, with a proper crimping tool no solder.

Coil pack connectors were all replaced a couple of years ago too.

I'm thinking self learn mode on the ECU. It had compensated for the dodgy old connectors in some way and had to self learn? (is this even possible?)

 

My car was doing this once and it turned out to be the temp sensor connector. When driving, it would unplug itself and id always have to click it back in. Worth a check.

 

^ what I was going to say. Could've bumped it while working in the bay.

 

Both sender units...

...on the hardpipe are brand spanking new, and the connectors brand new.

Touched nothing, it fixed itself. :zlove:
Hence I was thinking it had to be self learn mode... still not really sure.

Running extra sweet so that's all that matters really.

 

You get the award for luckiest bastard of the year that's for sure. :zlove:

 

Yes, lucky lazy sod...

...of the year.

I've known for three years the connectors were dodgy, but when you drive a hundred kays a year you put things off.
I would go down and just start it way more then I actually drove it.

Lucky it was joyriders. :br:

 

I would suggest either PTU, CAS or AFM connections are bad and you have inadvertantly touched it/them and sorted the issue.

All three of those will cause the car to not start, or with a bit of vibration, allow it to start and then kill the car.

 

petrol

do you think they put some E10 or something

 

Can't be PTU.

Threw a series2 PTU on only 15,000k's ago... AFM connectors were spotless but got a quick clean anyway, CAS was a bit green but was also cleaned.
Didn't pop the bonnet on the side of the road, nothing touched.

 

Nah...

....they dumped it without stealing fuel.

I reset the trip meter when I last put some fuel in, they've done 2 kays and car was found around the corner by parking inspectors two days later.

 

Are you sure the female pins in those plugs are making good contact with the tab/male end? You may be getting a bad connection occasionally.

If this is the problem, use a small pair of pliers to close the female plug end a little so that the hole is smaller and always grips the lugs/tabs.

 

Positive...

...and has run perfect ever since.

I'm thinking as the car was sitting in the garage just getting started every few weeks that the ECU was self learning with the dodgy connectors. Would like to know if it can compensate for such things.

All new connectors made it spazz with a pile of fresh readings, and now it's self learnt.

Just around the block is all it took to fix itself.

 

Doesn't sound right to me, but if it's ok now, that's the main thing :zlove:

 

Agree with Vader, PTU or AFM, I doubt CAS myself. Have you got a ptu adaptor harness fitted or is it soldered? It isn't fixed, whatever it is has a good connection at the moment. Go out there and start wriggling connectors to try and replicate the issue.

The ecu will not self learn to that extent, it will trim up to 6% +/- on fuel and timing, which is not enough to cause any erratic operational issues.

 

Adapter harness.

Perhaps she just knew the badguys were gone.

I will have a wriggle.

 

Get rid of the adaptor harness and solder the wires to the s2 plugs. Those things are the devil, well not so much the harness but the old original s1 connectors.

 

Issue solved.

Bit of a strange one... did it again today.

Culprit was my HKS filter element, it's only done 5k or 6k but it was falling to pieces, as it was disintegrating small pieces were getting stuck to the hotwire.

Perhaps 30% has been ingested. Should just pass through like a bit of roughage yeah it's just a light foam?

Spent hours today trying to work it out.

Running great again! :zlove:

 

That's crazy. Glad to hear you've found the issue.
So, you're running a HKS pod or panel filters?

Can't believe they just disintegrate like that after 5000 ks, I thought that it was a myth...

-Kirill