Ok so now I have tried to heat the car up. It didn�t start, but it was very close. Actually I am not sure I got the temp high enough.
I definatly can hear now that it repetively seems to ignite two cylinders. As there are two coils in the coilpack, it seems reasonable that there is a problem there.
Think I�ll order a new one, and see if it works.
I will keep you posted guys
“Actually I am not sure I got the temp high enough.”
So how hot do you have to heat an Exige up to get it to fire???
I think mine has seen a bit of snow and still started.
I’m told that it gets colder north of Winchester!
Aye, it does, Basingstoke is freezing!
Ian
How thoroughly did you check the fuses?
I had an intermittent starting problem once. It was caused by a partially blown ECU fuse. The wire was broken, but the gap was tiny. Sometimes it would make a connection, and sometimes it wouldn’t. Temperature was definately a factor, as the wire would bend slightly with a bit of heat.
Sounds a bit like my problem. Although mine wasn’t firing/switching at all.
Ian
I have now changed the coils, no result
I will check the ecu fuse again.
Have checked the wheelspeedsensor, looks good.
The only thing I can think of now is maybe the cranksensor, but it is impossible to reach. Maybe you can reach it from under? Roxteddy, do you think you could get two cylinders igniting with a faulty cranksensor?
And the ecu of course. Maybe the prob is there
Never ending story.
Booger … so the coil didn’t fix it… (i know you are thinking booger too ?? ) now my lack of real knowledge will be tested…
These may be famous last words but i personally don’t think it would be the crank sensor.
Which two cylinders fire ? (IIRC its 1+4 and 2+3 from the coils) if its either of these pairs all the time then i’m still drawn to the coilpack you changed that… but i wonder could it be on the LT side ie a wire/signal problem from the ECU?
another thing to bear in mind (if you think it floods when you crank it) is that turning it over with the throttle fully depressed should cut the fuel supply so you might want to try that to see what happens??
Laugh if you feel inclined but I had a similar problem last winter, car just kept flooding cleaned the plugs and it would try to fire but then nothing , turned over great but no start
Nick Whales mechanic told me to heat the plugs, I laughed but thought what the hell
Heated the plugs on top of a toaster till I could just about hold them , started straight away and has started ever since I dont quite understand why this worked but it did
JohnC
ps I also turned the engine over a few times without the plugs in just to clear any fuel in the cylinders.
Sounds a real interesting problem this one - would love to get my hands on it to check things out
Even when warmed up it still takes 10 seconds to start hmmm thats not good it should start very quickly one or two cranks should be enough but the extra heat is obvioulsy telling the ECU not to use so much starting enrichment.
Have you checked the IACV valve and air flow through the throttles ?
John,
That was an interresting one with heating the sparkplugs. Will definately try that. Spoke to the mechanic again, and he was sure that the spark looked good whwn they looked at it. Im not sure i�m doing things right when testing. Have to test the sparks once again. By experience i know that when you are trying to test and rule things out when there is an engineproblem someone else with fresh thinking comes in and finds out that the petroltank was empty (not this time though) or somtehing really stupid
I am really grateful to you all for trying to help me.
I have tried different throttlepositions including fully depressed.
Hopefully I will have time to spend tomorrow with some more testing.
Regarding the airflow through the throttles I thought of something. When I took the airfilter off it had actually melted on the engineside (suggesting alot of backfire?) and was broken (presumably from a backfire pressureshock?).
I can hear that the sound increases when depressing the throttle during starting, but I wonder if pieces of filtermaterial could have got stuck in the throttles thus making the mixture rich
I would really check that IACV … or something that is telling the ECU to dump in loads of fuel when its not wanted. You changed the water temp sensor ( the one for the ECU ) didn’t you ??
One thing not mentioned yet is the MAP sensor and associated pipe work.
yipee!
Got it started today. The spark was not so good on the sparkplugs, so I bought new ones (could�nt get the right ones, so found some temporary ones with different number Bosch f7dcor) and they showed a better spark.
So when It started it was I must say with some hesitation because I had to fully depress the accelerator and then after some seconds it started.
Ialso took a short drive after having it on tickover, and the car runs perfect.
Tried to put my old sparkplugs in when the engine was warm, and it started and ran well.
So My conclusion is that it gets a bit too much petrol when cold, and because of that it needs a good spark. I will try to start it tomorrow from cold, hpoefully it starts and my problem is ruled out. The fact that the car eats sparkplugs Ican live with.
I read that it is mainly the airtempsensor that regulates the extra amount of coldstartpetrol. Does anyone know if that is right, and if it is the green sensor in the throttlebody?
I will try to heat that up and see if it changes anything.
So if an Exige don�t start, it�s always the battery,battery, battery or sparkplugs, sparkplugs.
Or the fuse!
Well done Felix, I hope you’ve nailed it.
My frigin’ beast is playing up AGAIN! Started first time, 10 min drive, came home, parked up gave it half and hour - same old problem! Turns over, doesn’t start, probably the same problem, but pulled the fuse and that didn’t help.
I went karting in the Puma, the Exige deserves to be ignored, for a few hours.
Ian
Ian
Don’t give up - think of it like chasing pussy…
The fun is in the chase…
PS I am only allowed to think of it, these days - hey ho
Felix
Really glad you got it started, at least you now know its nothing too serious… the only problem is trying to find out quite what the problem is.
Is it a Lotus 190 conversion or something else?
Ian
It’s the battery, it’s always the battery!!!
Except when it’s the fuse!
I had an AA van, spare battery and my own fully charged one on there a few weeks ago. It had 14V, with 12V whilst turning over! It wasn’t the battery!
But thank you for the battery thought. Even the wife said I should get a new one, just before asking if the alternator was holding a charge (bless her).
Ian
Ian,
Think you lost out there, you should have said “NO i need a new one - the lightweight one fron Eliseparts!”
Doh!
Are you suggesting somebody has finally come up with a good alternative to ours that tend to fry??
Ian