Had ongoing problems with my 16v since purchase 4 years ago. Now on the 6th garage!!
Here's the rub - buy the car 4 years ago and after a few weeks noticed the car was consuming oil. Burnt inlet valves. So the story starts, here is the mail that was sent to the latest garage:-
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Usual 16v K-Series story - suffered stalling on depressing clutch when approaching roundabouts, slow moving traffic etc. Never happens on cold start ? gets worse the hotter the engine gets, bad when electric fan kicks in.
During this time:
New cylinder head fitted 3 yrs ago ? valves burnt.
New injectors fitted last year.
New ISV fitted 2 years ago.
Airflow meter checked 2 years ago.
Throttle body cleaned last service.
New throttle switch fitted last year.
New fuel pump fitted last year.
Had car serviced at John Austin last November, the 4th garage I have unsuccessfully used since purchasing the car 4 years ago. The car has always suffered from pinking ( reason for new cylinder head?? ), they said the timing was out and mixture was very weak. This was rectified in the service. However, took the car out after service and also noticed the stalling was apparent, this was when they mentioned getting you guys to inspect it.
The car suffered exhaust popping on overrun ever since this service and only ever since. Middle box developed a hole about a week after service so new exhaust fitted by JA in December. I?m still debating whether the exhaust popping caused this hole in the first place i.e. very hot gases in exhaust pipe. I asked them whether the exhaust was still popping before I picked up the car c/w new exhaust, they said no. Drove the car a mile, very bad popping, very annoyed.
2 days later car broke down on my partner ? stalling in traffic jam, no engine response when throttle pressed and would not run properly after restart. Went to pick her up, adjusted idle and CO2 and successfully got car home. Very annoyed.
Currently, the car does not suffer from stalling at all. It starts first time from cold or hot. Acceleration is reasonable but not what it should be. It still pops on overrun about 2500 rpm, has flat spots up to 2000 rpm either when cold or restart when engine warm i.e. left for 30 mins. A full tank of gas gets us 210 miles as opposed to a usual 330. This is predominantly A12 driving i.e. 60 mph. Temperature of oil and water seems fine when driving in any manner.
I know there is a leak on distributor, no problem if you feel it should be replaced before diagnosis. Could be a long shot but the rev counter seems to ?stick? at around 2800 rpm ? is there something in the mapping at 2900 on the EMS on these cars ?? The idle adjustment screw fits very flimsily and you may notice hissing around it.
The car has just passed MOT i.e. passed emissions. A 21 mpg return does not make sense with this.
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So, had a response from the technician who said it was the worst and saddest 16v he had ever driven, the diagnostics said 75bhp!!!!!!
He went down the usual route of solving the problem. Gave me a call at 4pm today and he sounded more wound up about the whole saga than the sum total of all my annoyance since owning the car. He has consequently sent the airflow meter off to a specialist to do whatever they do with them. He is baffled. Going off the checks he read out to me over the phone ( and the GBP total so far ), he knows his stuff and some of it went over my head.
Compression OK.
Fuel injectors OK.
Spark OK.
Exhaust popping FIXED ( airflow meter sticking ).
Timing OK ( rocker cover off, cams checked etc. ).
Low / high fuel pressure OK.
Warmup regulator OK.
Cold start OK.
Any help and pointers very much appreciated. Head scratchers and 16v KR series unite!!
