Troubleshooting

Post by **Lonewolf** » 19 Oct 2004 12:00 pm

My B200E is acting up in several ways so i'll give a rundown of what its doing, what i've done so far(with results) and next things to be done.

1- Starting for the first time of a morning, it cranks over, but sits around 100-200 rpm and carries on, this doesnt improve with time, and it stall when ANY accelerator is applied. when started within 5 minutes it does the same thing.

2- When the engine is started but still cold, it runs like it should and is very racey. When the engine begins to warm however there is a rapid loss of performance, the powerband up to 3000rpm is almost halved, and above 3000 through to redline it is almost flat. To add insult to the injury there are random flatspots in the powerband, more noticable above 3000rpm, and more noticable with wide open throttle. The final problem is the occasional presence of backfiring when at low(2000) rpm and moderate throttle (50+%) is applied.

* Problem persists when different batches of fuel are used of same octane.
* Fuel economy is normal
* Spark Plugs were replaced that resulted in a slightly smoother running. This was mainly because the old plugs were old over the place with their gapping, some more than double the gap size of others. Also of the old plugs 3 were slightly oily, the other was slightly carbon coated.
* Air filter (which looked like it had never been changed) was replaced with no change
* 2 Exhaust leaks were fixed but the backfiring is still there, no change
* Fuel economy is normal

The Oil and Oil filter are to be changed when this rain stops for more than 5 minutes with the injectors to be serviced/replaced after that. Will also check the replacement spark plugs when rain stops. The other immediate thing will be running a batch of higher octane fuel. Also when i get the cyl head off the other engine it'll be overhauled and put onto this (Thats a while away though).

Thats what its doing, and what i've done to try to fix it. Any ideas?

Post by **5lab** » 19 Oct 2004 12:47 pm

try dropping some cleaner stuff in there - might be that a sensor or something is covered in crap and cant 'sense' any more

Post by **foggyjames** » 19 Oct 2004 02:53 pm

I'm no expert on injection systems, but this is crying 'air mass meter' (or whatever similar unit the 'E' has) to me. Worth a try...

cheers

James

Post by **Lonewolf** » 21 Oct 2004 07:51 am

well i threw the air meter on from the donor car after scourering and degreasing it, 5 mins later started it up, and the power doesnt die off when engine is warm. havent checked the cold start as i swapped when i got home after fetching the part, so will check that tomorrow, but the engine in general runs smoother like my old one did. I think the other air meter was damaged from a backfire, pinging or rust, as the inner surface had that rusty look about it. Cheers fellas i was gonna fix the injectors up, thinking that was the problem lol.

Post by **foggyjames** » 21 Oct 2004 11:47 am

Ah, Smug mode

It's a famous fault with injection systems. The wire inside the unit picks up dirt every time the engine is run, so when you switch it off it heats the wire right up to burn off the muck. However, over time it gets to the point where it can't clean itself anymore.

Glad it looks like you've got it sorted anyway!

cheers

James

Post by **5lab** » 21 Oct 2004 11:54 am

james you got any of them lying around mate? grace is fairly lumpy from a cold start (needs manual feathering of the gas to keep her going for the first min or so), think it might be the same problem..

Post by **foggyjames** » 21 Oct 2004 12:15 pm

I could probably get one...although I don't think that's the problem in your case - you say its only a problem when cold?

cheers

James

Post by **5lab** » 21 Oct 2004 12:35 pm

yeah, its like, if it were a carb engine, the choke adjustment doesnt open the throttle quite enough

Post by **Lonewolf** » 21 Oct 2004 02:36 pm

Ahh... its good to be reminded what that little nudge into the back of the seat feels like... must have been driving that subaru around for too long...

As for grace, it takes about 5 mins to get the air meter off with a 12 and 13 mm spanners. Give it a clean up and try it again, if foggy is right bout dirt building up on it, it may just need a good clean.

Post by **foggyjames** » 21 Oct 2004 03:15 pm

Right, well assuming all the service items are up to speed (plugs, filteres, etc), you're looking at FI system components - specifically the cold start circuit. Time to consult Dr Haynes. I'd be looking at the cold start injector, and the two temperature senders for the FI system, but you certainly shouldn't stop there. Its a fairly specific problem, so that helps you. I'm no FI expert, so I can't help much. I'll ask around though.

cheers

James

Post by **Duvel78** » 23 Oct 2004 12:37 am

5lab wrote:grace is fairly lumpy from a cold start (needs manual feathering of the gas to keep her going for the first min or so), think it might be the same problem..

Same problem with my B200E

Things to check are:

- the cold start injector
- the command for additional air
- the air meter

Post by **5lab** » 23 Oct 2004 01:06 am

i'm gonna service it before checking all them. i know of a breaking b200e (or i did) not far from here, so if all else fails i can nick them off that

Post by **foggyjames** » 23 Oct 2004 01:39 am

I'd definitely check those temp senders (there are two extra ones on a B200E) - they're what tells the FI computer that the engine is cold, so it needs to run the cold start injector as a virtual choke. In other words, no signal, no 'virtual choke' - and the characteristics you describe!

It sounds rather like that's the problem - maybe its as simple as a broken / corroded / detached wire?

cheers

James

Post by **5lab** » 23 Oct 2004 01:46 am

yeah, nessy had like 8 wires dangling thruout her life (all did different things, didnt work them all out but i guessed some were for the moss radio controlled alarm). i think nessy's got 2.