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[bootzey]

Hi All. I've had and cleared 0170 and 0173 fault codes and there's no fault codes now. The engine fires up straight away but with a puff of blue smoke then idles very badly. There's all sorts of noises from the engine as it struggles to idle, the exhaust fumes have a black tinge to them suggesting a rich mixture, no amount of throttle helps but more air can be heard going through the throttle flaps. After about a minute of this rough idle you can hear the engine gradually getting better and then all of a sudden, like a switch has been flicked, she idles sweetly at 500 revs which surprises me as I'd have thought it would be more like 1100 revs for a fast idle. So no fast idle. There's a slight misfire upon revving and the rev counter lags behind the engine but suddenly jumps to match engine speed. When de-throttling, the rev counter also lags behind, drops to match engine speed at about 6-700 revs for a couple of seconds then both drop to 500 revs. The passenger side main Cat cover has become detatched and the pre-Cat doesn't look to clever either (Can Cat's be repaired?) and there's a slight blowing where the rear box joins the pipes. I took the oil filler cap off with the engine running and there's zero crankcase pressure suggesting all breathers are OK. There's a slight drip of engine oil from the bell housing which doesn't get worse with high revs suggesting Cam cover gasket needs seeing to. From what I read in this hive of information, fantastic site by the way, it'll be Cam cover gasket and spark plugs. I'm thinking that oil makes it's way into the pots via the spark plugs (could be lose hense misfire at high revs) over a couple of hours, then when starting the blue smoke confuses the exhaust sensors then confuses the ECU, the oil also maybe stops a spark happening but unburnt fuel gradually cleans the spark plug up but the ECU is still confused (as I am) then all of a sudden a penny drops and the ECU sorts it all out but doesn't register a fault code for some reason. Very theraputic this. Doesn't explain no fast idle though. I'm taking the coil packs off tomorrow n changing the plugs when I've brought a new tool kit (dam star things). Also gonna risk taking a look at the exhaust sensors. Has anyone got any other ideas please? Sorry this turned into War n Piece     

[Kevin Wood]

First thing is to check for oil in the plug wells when you take the coil packs off. Cam cover gaskets may have filled them with oil leading to a misfire.

If that's clean, might as well change the plugs if they have not been done in the last 20K miles or so.

A good clean of the breathers and throttle body wouldn't hurt. Guessing it's a drive-by-wire (2.6 or 3.2) at that age?

Coolant temperature sensor might be a suspect if it just ruins badly when warming up. Not a common failure but it might be worth a look at the live data with a suitable code reader just to ensure the right temperature is being reported.

Welcome to the forum.

[cem_devecioglu]

Hi All. I've had and cleared 0170 and 0173 fault codes and there's no fault codes now. The engine fires up straight away but with a puff of blue smoke then idles very badly. There's all sorts of noises from the engine as it struggles to idle, the exhaust fumes have a black tinge to them suggesting a rich mixture, no amount of throttle helps but more air can be heard going through the throttle flaps. After about a minute of this rough idle you can hear the engine gradually getting better and then all of a sudden, like a switch has been flicked, she idles sweetly at 500 revs which surprises me as I'd have thought it would be more like 1100 revs for a fast idle. So no fast idle. There's a slight misfire upon revving and the rev counter lags behind the engine but suddenly jumps to match engine speed. When de-throttling, the rev counter also lags behind, drops to match engine speed at about 6-700 revs for a couple of seconds then both drop to 500 revs. The passenger side main Cat cover has become detatched and the pre-Cat doesn't look to clever either (Can Cat's be repaired?) and there's a slight blowing where the rear box joins the pipes. I took the oil filler cap off with the engine running and there's zero crankcase pressure suggesting all breathers are OK. There's a slight drip of engine oil from the bell housing which doesn't get worse with high revs suggesting Cam cover gasket needs seeing to. From what I read in this hive of information, fantastic site by the way, it'll be Cam cover gasket and spark plugs. I'm thinking that oil makes it's way into the pots via the spark plugs (could be lose hense misfire at high revs) over a couple of hours, then when starting the blue smoke confuses the exhaust sensors then confuses the ECU, the oil also maybe stops a spark happening but unburnt fuel gradually cleans the spark plug up but the ECU is still confused (as I am) then all of a sudden a penny drops and the ECU sorts it all out but doesn't register a fault code for some reason. Very theraputic this. Doesn't explain no fast idle though. I'm taking the coil packs off tomorrow n changing the plugs when I've brought a new tool kit (dam star things). Also gonna risk taking a look at the exhaust sensors. Has anyone got any other ideas please? Sorry this turned into War n Piece 

Kewin Woods recipe is the first way to go..
 
you may have leaking injector(s) also but solution is not cheap..

[cleggy]

Hi All. I've had and cleared 0170 and 0173 fault codes and there's no fault codes now. The engine fires up straight away but with a puff of blue smoke then idles very badly. There's all sorts of noises from the engine as it struggles to idle, the exhaust fumes have a black tinge to them suggesting a rich mixture, no amount of throttle helps but more air can be heard going through the throttle flaps. After about a minute of this rough idle you can hear the engine gradually getting better and then all of a sudden, like a switch has been flicked, she idles sweetly at 500 revs which surprises me as I'd have thought it would be more like 1100 revs for a fast idle. So no fast idle. There's a slight misfire upon revving and the rev counter lags behind the engine but suddenly jumps to match engine speed. When de-throttling, the rev counter also lags behind, drops to match engine speed at about 6-700 revs for a couple of seconds then both drop to 500 revs. The passenger side main Cat cover has become detatched and the pre-Cat doesn't look to clever either (Can Cat's be repaired?) and there's a slight blowing where the rear box joins the pipes. I took the oil filler cap off with the engine running and there's zero crankcase pressure suggesting all breathers are OK. There's a slight drip of engine oil from the bell housing which doesn't get worse with high revs suggesting Cam cover gasket needs seeing to. From what I read in this hive of information, fantastic site by the way, it'll be Cam cover gasket and spark plugs. I'm thinking that oil makes it's way into the pots via the spark plugs (could be lose hense misfire at high revs) over a couple of hours, then when starting the blue smoke confuses the exhaust sensors then confuses the ECU, the oil also maybe stops a spark happening but unburnt fuel gradually cleans the spark plug up but the ECU is still confused (as I am) then all of a sudden a penny drops and the ECU sorts it all out but doesn't register a fault code for some reason. Very theraputic this. Doesn't explain no fast idle though. I'm taking the coil packs off tomorrow n changing the plugs when I've brought a new tool kit (dam star things). Also gonna risk taking a look at the exhaust sensors. Has anyone got any other ideas please? Sorry this turned into War n Piece 

Kewin Woods recipe is the first way to go..
 
you may have leaking injector(s) also but solution is not cheap..

The puff of smoke is likely to be the valve seals on that model, it is on mine but nowt to worry about

[Elite Pete]

Early 2.6 did suffer from valve stem oil seal problems

[cem_devecioglu]

Early 2.6 did suffer from valve stem oil seal problems

personally I would prefer injectors to be faulty as the other is a head job  

[bootzey]

Hi Guy's. Thanks for the input.

I've put the following on another thread but thought I should also paste it here.

Had a miraculous recovery with it. Put a coil pack from Steve at Omega Spares on, which didn't cure it. However, a couple of mornings later it started no problem but after this is when I noticed the MPG drastically dropping.

So, I too have high consumption if you watch the fuel gauge but the instant cons on the mid is telling me she's doing 38 at 30-40mph, when I release the throttle and free wheel it goes upto 999.9! Which may well be normal.

I noticed the fuel pressure vacume pipe was disconnected n thought, wahey that's it! No chance lol. My injectors sound like they are really working hard, they are loud and can be heard in the car. Could the fuel pressure too high if the release valve doesn't work? I don't know how it works i.e. does the vacume increase or decrease the fuel pressure?

 Had the plenum off the other day, really clean, breathers too. But I have a slight hissing sound coming from the rear of the plenum on the drivers side, hopefully I'll have the scuttle off today n get my head in as far as I can to find it. The hissing changes when I move the pipes around, so something ain't right. Other than the split breather mentioned here is there anything else I should look for?

When I disconnect the battery the rough startup happens every time I reconnect it, almost like the ECU has senile dementia lol. Does the ECU need a permanent feed from the battery to remember how to run the car?  With the battery reconnected the EML doesn't light up and the fault codes (0170, 0173) are also gone then after about 8 miles they are all back. If I disconnect the MAF (thanks to a hint on here) when rough starting she rev's sweetly at 1500 no problem. Reconnect the MAF and idle drops to 500 revs. Does this indicate a knackered MAF?

I've also now got codes 0100 and 0110 after disconnecting the MAF.

There's a slight blowing of the exhaust where the rear box joins the pipes. The windows don't need the ignition on to operate and sometimes the parking light comes on when I turn the ignition off. The sunroof works sometimes.

The muppet that owned the car before me spilt coffee on the dash which ran all the way down and through the fuse box, there's drips on fuse 34 and on the pedals. He couldn't understand why the drivers seat was jammed and wouldn't move...I found £5.65 in coins in the track lol also found 2 tenners wrapped in tissue paper under the passenger seat so the car only cost me a little under 475. No key for the wheels though.

Once again great site you've done here. I dread coming on cos the hours fly by lol

Dave

[Marks DTM Calib]

Live values required to confirm but, I would be looking at the MAF, see if there is anybody local who can loan one to try.

[TheBoy]

So, I too have high consumption if you watch the fuel gauge but the instant cons on the mid is telling me she's doing 38 at 30-40mph, when I release the throttle and free wheel it goes upto 999.9! Which may well be normal.

Well at least that bit is perfectly normal

[bootzey]

  Phew! That's ok then. What does anyone think about driving round with the MAF disconnected, will it do any damage?

[dbug]

Ran mine with MAF disconnected whilst I waited for delivery of new one.  No issues

[TheBoy]

Phew! That's ok then. What does anyone think about driving round with the MAF disconnected, will it do any damage?

Not long term. OK for a few days.

[bootzey]

Hi and thanks again Guy's.

Still got the same problems, though I now have a problem with the car not holding on to idle until she's cooled down a bit as well.

No EML light anymore though. But do have mis-fire codes for pots 1,2 and 3.

Had no choice but to get a cheapo ebay MAF from autosensors. It switched the EML off after about 30 odd miles and fuel trim codes went as well. Forgot to plug it in yesterday (yep, car runs better with it unplugged) and the EML was back on within 5 miles. Stopped and plugged it in...EML off within 10 miles. So it seems to be performing OK. Could the ECU a bit confused?

However, Jimbo thinks a bit differently when looking at the below screen shots from Android Torque (yep, before you ask...a cheapo bluetooth adapter from......ebay) which will apparently soon have Tech2 capabilities.

http://s1163.beta.photobucket.com/user/bootzey/library/[/url]

The ECU is telling me I'm getting 30 mpg, the MID is displaying 18 mpg and the fuel gauge is saying about 6 mpg!

The gearbox is having trouble deciding what gear to be in between 30 and 50 mph.

I know it needs a Tech2 diagnosis but I'm skint hence having to buy chinese stuff of ebay.

Thanks in advance

Dave

[bootzey]

This has now been cured with a new ECU temperature sender.

Though other problem still exist.

Thought it would be polite to so and say thanks for the input