Hey Jarl are you bringing this beastie down to the Nats? Would love to see the hardware involved...

 

it would be nice after missing last years nats.

but luck isn't on my side. I tempted fate and thrashed it Friday night with the higher boost and no tune.

it wont start now.

it did start on Saturday and I moved it a couple of times. now nothing. still diagnosing it.

I wish I had bought one of those compression testers in that other thread

 

Oh dear . I hope it is OK man .
You don't need a compression tester . Just pull out 2 plugs put your thumb over the hole while someone cranks it over. You will be able to tell if it is toast .

 

thanks for the tip brettus.

do you need to pull a fuse when doing that compression test? I don't think I want the plugs firing with my thumb over the plug hole.

 

/\ I didn't , but i guess it would'nt hurt to do that ..... good luck

 

Disconnect the ESS (at the crank pulley) so that it doesn't fire the plugs or inject fuel while you crank it.
You don't need to put your thumb over the holes - if the motor is functional, it will make a quite audible "puff" out of the plug holes at each compression cycle.

 

thanks MM

I'll give it a go on the weekend.

 

NP. Keep us posted.
I'm curious to hear details of what led to the "failure", if it is one.

 

Hope it's ok too.

If you're running, come down in August.

Fri night must have been the night for it. I got pulled over by plod on the way home from the Crusty Demons show for a little chat. He thought I should have been exercising more caution in the wet. Luckily, he was one of the few humans accepted into the force (hi Drew, Trev, lol) and accepted my contrite apology with a severe caution and much finger wagging.

 

sounds like you had a little to much excitement that night

 

While I haven't confirmed it yet I believe I'm getting spark. I find it hard to believe I have suffered coil failure overnight.

Fuel seems to be there and I have never had starting issues previously so I'm doubting it is the tune or management.

loss of Compression is what I think it will be. What caused the loss?

I may have been driving around with a bad seal for quite awhile and just not noticed it. The boost was originally rock solid at 7-8psi and then it started to bounce around. I thought the bouncing boost thought was a leak that I have never really found or my drive belt slipping. This could also possibly be a bad apex seal? However the idle has always been smooth and the local rotary mechanics have never noticed anything.

I may have killed it on the last drive with higher boost. It had a couple of psi more and was still bouncing and inconsistent 6-9psi. I think my boost gauge is optimistic as it doesn't zero it sits at 1-2psi with the engine off. Also when I use full throttle at low rpm it tends to jump to 1-2psi then starts to climb. If it is optimistic then I'm running low boost. 5-6psi on the old pulley and maybe 8psi maximum on the last drive.

The tune was struggling with throttle enrichment but seemed to be running smoothly though the rpm range and had more power. My log of the drive failed to download so I lost the data. The next day the car had a slightly rough idle on start-up but nothing out of the ordinary. Started twice that day.

I'm actually leaning towards a sticky apex seal cause by synthetic oil. Now I have thought about it, there has been a couple of overly long starts in the past few weeks.

I have revised my opinion of the trailing plug on the front rotor that I pulled on the weekend. it now looks fowled and wet. it looked clean on the weekend. No visible carbon chunks, black but not oily and I could still clearly see the different materials through the black soot. The plug looked fresh with the electrode having sharp well defined edges without pits or wear. Gaps seemed large but that’s how they come in the box. Is there a need to gap them?

the front rotor has three distinct puffs when I put my finger over it. I thought I'd see straight into the combustion chamber however the plug looks like it is shrouded. the hole looks like it is 5mm or so. is that normal for the trailing plug?

I couldn't budge the trailing plug in the rear rotor and gave up. After I check the compression I will use a decarb spray through the spark plug hole and see if that helps.

 

Definetely check your coils , yes they do go overnight no warning whatsoever .

 

Just a short lived rush of blood in the wrong place at the wrong time. No risk involved but a teensy bit naughty. Plod seemed ok once I explained it was out of character...

Great show though. Those guys are nuts!

 

I agree with Michael about the coils.

Mine also went without any warning. I now keep a spare set just in case.

 

Would second the fact that the coils will just go, would also add to check the battery. The .com.au forums see's a lot of "hard to start" issues around winter time.

 

Ok I'll check the coils to keep eveyone happy

the battery was just replace a week ago. it is a tinny pulse battery but it has been trying to start the car like a champ. the engine cranking speed seems really good pointing to no compression also.

 

Jarl

Most of us preffer seeing you actually driving ,enjoying your car rather than constantly working on it and fixing it lol lol ,, i have got to admire your determination in getting your system to work , i would have buried the car by now

 

yeah times like this I just want to get rid of it but I know I would just chop up my next car. I looked at sti's and evo-x's late last year and they just didn't make me want to part with the 8.

If i get it running it will be tempting to go back to NA and trade it in quickly.

If it has lost compression and needs to be rebuilt I might as well stick with it.

 

Hi Dave...Crusty Demons eh? Its good to see you taking an interest into our two wheeled cousins.

You were also obviously dealing with an ordinary copper (not the Traffic *****)....pass the attitude test and you're on your way again.....

 

I finally got the rear trailing plug out it was really seized in there. I resorted to a air ratchet and after about 9 goes it finally released just before I stripped the plug. it was in good condition like the front rotor however it was flooded.

the thumb test returned one strong and two weak pulses. a weak apex seal. although I don't see why it shouldn't start.

checking plugs next. and decarbing.

 

one of the coils on the rear seemed dead. but retested ok.
the rear rotor wasn't producing regular puffs so I think it is an issue with weak compression.

 

hard luck man - engine is toast .
you could probably push start it if you want to get it going

 

I was thinking about that. I live on a good sized hill and the street is down hill.
then I though about what would happen if it didn't start. might as well call a tow truck to drag it home as I could never push it back up the hill again

 

It's alive!

you can tell something is wrong by the idle but it is starting again and reving quite cleanly.

tomorrow I'll finish the de-carbing treatment and that's about all I can do. I may try some AT fluid also.

time to start purchasing parts for a rebuild

 

Bugger.

Sorry to hear that Jarl...