Hi all,

Since purchasing the car (part built) the engine has always been rough. Its a 2.0 silvertop zetec (removed from automatic mondeo) with griffin plenum and megasquirt. Originally it wouldn't rev past 1000, this was resolved by swapping vr wires. This was last November, since then I've not ran her as I've been working on other elements that required fuel and cooling to be removed.

This weekend I started her for the first time, she runs but is lumpy, I assumed it must be the map/megasquirt settings so I tried 4-5 different maps, none of which really helped. I also verified the trigger wheel readings today, these appear to be fine.

Tonight I removed the plugs which were changed in November and have 0 miles on them (20 mins run max) and I believe I found the symptom of the problem. Plugs associated with cylinders 1 and 3 are very sooty where as cylinders 4 and 2 are like new. I did check that all cylinders were firing last November when trying to trace the rev issue, I used a spark plug tested for which the led lit on all plugs when tested. I've check the coil pack output are correct and double checked the megasquirt wiring multiple times and it looks fine.

The question I have is, could this be megasquirt setting related or more fundamental?

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A little more history around the car is on this thread along with an earlier post, though it makes more sense to be in the engine section! http://www.locostbuilders.co.uk/viewthread.php?tid=194068

Have a listen to the injectors when running with a long screwdriver held against the body and your ear to check they are clicking away nicely. If a couple are silent move the injector plugs around and see if the clicking follows the lead. Mega squirt will not car which injector it is firing unless it's configured for sequential injection, most people just batch fire.

If it does then suspect the wiring, have you got a good battery on the injector pins, mega squirt triggers an earth, if so work your way back to the ecu and probe the connector for continuity.

I have had a bad joint in the head shell, if that's all good you may have fried an output transistor, pennies to replace.

If the problem remains with the injectors themselves, they may have gummed up with lack of use try dropping them in a jam jar of solvent overnight and see if that frees them off, once working run some injector cleaning fluid through them.

Regards Mark

Looking at the headers, it appears from the colour that havent 2-4 been hot so confirms that those 2 aren't firing (I'd expect it to be a bit more than just "rough"

If you've got sparks then fueling is the next thing to check. If you run the engine then stop and remove the plugs are they wet with fuel? Follow Marks listening suggestion to see if the injectors are operating. If theres no clicking from 2-4, you could confirm if there's a signal with a noid light on the connectors or as mark says swap the connectors and listen again.

Thanks for the advice,

I can confirm she is indeed rough as it only running on two cylinders!

I checked the injector wiring this morning, all looked good. I then checked for injector noise, injectors 1 and 3 made a loud clicking, 2 was faint and 4 was silent!

I swapped the connectors over and injector 4 was fine, so it looks like one of the injector banks from the ecu. I'll dig out the megasquirt guide.

Can we help?

Mapped loads of locoster's car's

Megasquirt specialists, we supply, fit, map and repair.

www.facebook.com/baileyperformance

www.baileyperformance.co.uk

Its turning into one of those weeks.....

In trying to find the fault with the 2nd injector bank, I removed the megasquirt, on re-homing I have lost the VR signal!

I've spend the last week trying to resolve this issue (new sensor, checked wiring, checked ecu, etc.), whilst cranking the engine tonight looking for the VR signal, the starter span freely. On investigation the pinion has snapped in half!

Soooo.... I need a new pinion and possibly need to investigate why the other one snapped, need to resolve the crank sensor signal and then I'll be back to where I was two weeks ago.... which will still require the injector issue resolving.

Starting to think I'll make more progress by not going in the garage!

On the plus side, its great experience (I keep telling myself that).

[Edited on 21/4/15 by adamswifty]