Here�s the story, the Head Gasket went on my Mums 2002 1.8 Rover 45, so inevitably oil spread though the engine , after the Head Gasket and radiator were replaced the oil was �flushed� by running some agent though the engine, however the car was still running �lumpy�.
The mechanic recons that there is a �glazed bore� on the number 2 cylinder, thus creating a drop in compression, now this I can understand, but the next thing he said threw me�
He connected a Lappy to the ECU, which gave the response of �Management Fault� (or something along those lines). He thinks that when the engine was running with oil in it, the ECU tried to adjust it�s mapping to meet the engine, and now that the engine is back to normal it, and I quote, �isn�t doing it�s job right�. This seems a little odd to me, can ECUs change to meet alterations in the engine, and if so, why isn�t this one changing back to it�s original mapping ?
Personally I think that the ECU is fine, but that the �glazed bore� on the number 2 cylinder is throwing the diagnostics from the Lappy, could this be plausible ?
Basically, I�m wondering the best course of action is, and any input would be hugely appreciated, believe me, I need it .
Disconnecting the power whilst all the work was done on the engine would have wiped all the adaptive values.
Has it been running long? Is it really bad? You may need to teach it the throttle limits again (5 slow pumps of the throttle pedal with the ign on and then key off again).
Other than that, I’d check the plugs, make sure all sensors were connected properly, clean the idle valve and take it for a thrash.
I’m not sure how bad one cylinder would have to be to cause it to run so lumpy? I should still fire, just be down on power. If you take the oil filler cap of when its running, is it smokey and blowing gas/vapour out or will it gently suck if you put your hand over the hole? Blowing = bad.
You could also do a compression check to see if there’s a duff cylinder and if so then do a wet and dry leakdown check to see where the leak is.
Just a few late night thoughts, but basically the spanner monkey has left a wire off somewhere…
Thanks Bob, I�ll give some of them a go tomorrow
And no, it�s not terribly bad, just at tick over, it tends to stall after a while , but on the plus side it doesn�t really seem to be down on power.
Just another thought - it may be that the cam timing is off. I know a few K series caterhams which have have the cam timing fettled to boost torque but dont idle too niceley .
Set the crank to the cam timing marker - look for the markers on the plastic lower belt covers, line up the groove on the crank pulley to the -90�BTDC mark which is the little mark on its own at 12 o’clock (tip ex on the marker is a good idea). The true TDC marker is over to the 10o’clock posn, ignore that for now.
Then unbolt the upper cover and you should see the two pullies sitting in line with arrows and the words EXHAUST on both pointing to the 9 o’clock position.
Thanks so much for all the help guys, much appricated
I�ll try and find out some more specifics about the HGF. Also, would it help if I made a sound recoding of the engine and exhaust note, so you can hear the odd way it changes tone every 10 seconds or so�