ep3 not running right!!!!!

[stu1873]

hi guys i hope someone can shed some light on a problem i had last night driving home from the football which was a 75 mile trip.

everything was fine on the way through but when i was driving back about 10 miles into my trip on the outside lane of the ** the whole front of the car was wobbling bigtime as if i had a flat on the front, i promptly pulled over and checked my tyres which were fine.

as i got in the car started and reved the engine to pull off it sounded not good at all and was really lumpy like it was missing on one of the cylinders and the exhaust was banging off the floor when reving it.

by this time my heart had sank and the **** was very close to flowing out my arse. i swithched her off and let her cool down so i could check the oil level.

i always do my pre flight checks before i go to the football, oil, water, tyres, brake fluid ect.

after half an hour or so i checked the oil level and it was the same as when i left. i decided to start her up as the engine managment light didn't come on before and to my amazement it was running ok.

i proceeded down the ** steadily at 50 and another 10 miles down the road it did it again!

i was propper gutted by this time and pulled over again and swithched her off for another half hour and same as before it started with no problems.

when it does it at say 50mph it feels like a flat or the wheel is only on with a couple of bolts, i was able to get her home and today have went for a spin in her with no problems.

the only thing i can think of now is if one of the pulleys on the side of the enginge is fooked and is siezing when it gets hot but not sure if thats possible?

any help is appreciated

 

[Griffin]

hi stu, thats a problem that no one needs. i found this thread with pully problems but it may not be any help.

http://type-r-owners.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?67828-Car-Died-on-me!-HELP-SMOKE!

thinking about your description it sounds as if its a electrical problem cutting one cylinder when you hit 50 and not resetting until rebooted (ecu) but then again it should be affective through the rev range rather than speed. your cornering can be greatly effected when dropping a cylinder as i once had a trust fiesta that dropped a cylinder when cornering and started wobbleing all over the place. it turned out to be a split HT lead that was arcing out on the engine but type r's are a bit more advanced and have coil packs on top of the spark plugs but its defenetly worth checking. best of luck with it.

 

[stu1873]

cheers bud, its not done it again but its always in the back of my mind now when driving it.

 

[Griffin]

maybe it was a bad batch of petrol. small fuel stations with water in the fuel and such.

hope it never happens again mate.

 

[stu1873]

same thing again today, luckily i was 200 yards from my house.

this shuddering has only happened twice and both times i was driving in very heavy rain.

i am thinking now that its electrical or air intake related with it raining both times

 

[Marshall-P]

That sounds like a reasonable assumption; checking all the wirin is insulated and the fuses are ok first on the cards then, sensors as well might throw up an issue.

 

[Earthslug]

Did it run on 3 cilinders or did it feel like running on 3 cilinders?
Running on 3 cilinders would feel like your car is broken and having like only 40 horsepower, shaking your car and steering wheel.

If it was a faulty cilinder:

bad sparkplug? I'm sure you checked this, but having no ignition in one cilinder is most often caused by a sparkplug not doing it's job...

Other options running on 3 cilinders:

*Injector fault (needs cleaning...)
*compression loss (unlikely, you would have constant issues then)
*water in fuel
*ECU fault
*fuel trim messed up (could be caused by faulty O2 sensor)
*...

If this could make you feel better: "Probably something real stupid like a wire not conducting like it should or an electrical connection"

if you get more symptoms, please share... it might help

 

[stu1873]

i would say it felt like it was running on three cylinders. the steering felt like i had a flat and was shaking badly.

when i rev'd it the engine was very lumpy and the exhaust was banging off the floor or rear arb violently.

if it was a spark plug i would expect it to happen constantly?

 

[Earthslug]

if it was a spark plug i would expect it to happen constantly?

Unless the rain you talk about, makes it happen periodically...

the exhaust banging is probably caused by the engine shaking (better check the engine mounts too, when being too violent on them, they might break)

However, I think running on 3 cilinders makes the engine management light come on... You're getting a real messed up fuel/air mixture, as unburnt fuel is sent into the exhaust, what should trigger the light... Might be something else then...