[firefish]

About 1 minute after I started the engine today I pulled away in second gear at 1/2 throttle and like 1700 rpm. The engine started to miss and run so I eased of the throttle and it ran better. This repeated itself for a minute or so but the the problem went away. It felt like a moped with a too big carb on it and more like a lack of fuel problem (or too much air) and when it cleared I didn't know what to make of it - perhaps an intake leak that sealed when the engine started to warm up?

The car ran great for like 30 km but on the final stretch home it started to miss again and worse this time. It runs smooth (no vibrations, at least no more than usual) but when in idle and trying to rev it it almost dies, despite steady idle rpm. I popped the hood and the plug wires weren't sparking in the dark. I pulled all plug wires, one by one, and the only time I didn't feel a change was with no1 cyl although it is hard to tell. All four wires were firing. The problem is coming and going like at the flick of a switch so it seems more like an electrical problem (although it feels like it's lacking fuel). Can a sparkplug "come and go"?. A quick inspections of the engine bay didn't reveal anything obvious.

I'll pull the plugs tomorrow and see what they say. I'm hoping that it is something simple...

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[flash]

likely the MAF

i am chasing down 2 similar problems on mine right now - i may have created both of them - the symptoms are:
rough off idle
high idle
feels like a dead short at high rpms (much worse than fuel cutout)
low power

plugged it into the durametric and i got both a MAF fault and a hall sensor fault (1121 and 1134)

the hall sensor fault is a wiring problem - i have a damaged wire - fixing that now

the MAF problem may be that i hit it with some gunk i knocked loose yesterday when i cleaned my air filter - i just cleaned the MAF again, and will test later today

unfortunately in order to fix these, i had to yank the valve cover to gain access to the damaged hall sensor wire

pain in the butt, but could be worse

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[xrad]

Start with all the above, then:

sounds fuel supply issue when first started. could be needing injector cleaning. I Think bosch has a cold start fuel enrichment loop based on a temp sensor womewhere,, could be this..

sounds like electrical issue on long drive...fuel pump.

Having a miss due to low fuel pressure feels just like a miss form bad plug wires. you will have to sort it out step by step. start with easy stuff....

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[flash]

well, seems i took care of the MAF issue, but still having hall sender problems - i redid the connections and removed the bad section - no good

the upside is that the idle and off idle are better

i'll dive back in tomorrow

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[firefish]

<!--quoteo(post=77993:date=Aug 17 2009, 02:02 AM:name=flash)-->QUOTE (flash @ Aug 17 2009, 02:02 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec-->well, seems i took care of the MAF issue, but still having hall sender problems - i redid the connections and removed the bad section - no good

the upside is that the idle and off idle are better

i'll dive back in tomorrow<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

Thanks. I'll start with pilling the plugs and see what they have to say. I'll also check for leaks and bad connectors. Perhaps I'll try finding a shop with a hammer to see if that'll help me locate the problem.

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[firefish]

Problem solved! It would seem that the car (like many of my cars in the passed) had caught something commonly known as SO - Stupid Owner. When pulling plug wires I noticed moisture in the no1 spark plug cap (do you say cap?), must have gotten there when I cleaned the engine a week ago despite me being careful. When pulling connector at MAF there was the distinct smell of Air Sensor Clean and also a few droplets (despite letting it dry for like one hour, I did really soak it though when I cleaned it). I also checked all/pulled all connectors that I could find but they were all ok.

In addition to this I found out that the plug wires needs to be replaced and that rotor and cap are both showing the worst wear I have ever seen (!). Neither of these was the culprit this time. Parts are ordered together with a new fuel filter as it is only a matter of time before they cause trouble.

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[rhudeboye]

That's great news.

Seeing as how you discovered the problem and repaired it yourself, SO now stands for Smart owner [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/wink.gif[/img] .

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[firefish]

<!--quoteo(post=78032:date=Aug 17 2009, 02:36 PM:name=rhudeboye)-->QUOTE (rhudeboye @ Aug 17 2009, 02:36 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec-->That's great news.

Seeing as how you discovered the problem and repaired it yourself, SO now stands for Smart owner [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/wink.gif[/img] .<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

Well, now that you mention it... [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/laugh.gif[/img]

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[flash]

very cool - found my problem too - thinking i only had a connection issue, since the connector was disconnected, i repaired wiring - only to find that it was not the connection at all, but rather the hall sensor itself had grenaded

new part en route

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