Hi.. my auto tt has been running with lack of power for some time now. when i'm driving i feel like i'm having to press too far down the accelerator to get it to shift..or have to make it kick down all the time...

 

My cat warning light comes on and off and glows dim then bright which i realise is unburnt fuel gettin to them...

 

When i press on the accelerator to pull off or to rev.. the revs drop by about 300 rpm an it sounds like it's gonna stall...but never does!

 

I don't think it's ideling right... and gear changes feel a bit harsh..when it was runnin fine just the slightest flick of the key and it fired up..now i notice it's always a couple of turns before it fires.

 

My question is...after all that!...could all these symptoms be from my timming being out???... because when i think about it... it's never run right since my cambelt was changed.

 

Is it possible that the belt has been fitted slightly out or can that not happen.

 

I have a series II ptu and i've checked that all my plugs are sparking ok.

 

Sorry to go on..but really need to get to the bottom of this... i miss my pwr!

 

Any advice as maybe how to check or wot to do next please! :headvswal

would still try a swap of air flow meters, wouldn't hurt and could save a big garage bill. Lamba would effect idle, but not start up to much. The MAF would effect both, as incorrect mix of fuel/air in cylinders. Poss' cauesing cat light to come on. It may still in spec enough not to put permant fault in ECU. When disconected ECU just reverts back to a pre defind reading, aka a limp home setting, not full power same as if it was completely knacked. No harm in trying before a trip to Z world. Keep us up to date.

Swopped the MAF this evening.... (thank you Chris 300ck)

 

Did make the car feel better.... hesitation gone! power back!!

 

CAT light still came on but not as often or bright and only when bootin'... This could be down to one of my O2 sensors tho eh??

 

Seems like the combination of the two could of been causin' all my probs... hope so anyway!!

 

When i swopped back to my old MAF and drove home i it's hard to feel any difference in the power but the car was definately runnin worse...

 

Is it typical of this fault to be intermitant?? Come an go n that??

 

Defo gettin a new MAF anyhow!

Did you look at the hotwire inside yours to see how cruddy it was ? you can clean it with carb cleaner.

smithy

No i did'nt mate........ i'll have a look again tomora..... carb cleaner?? motor world/halfords??

Yep or anything similar. If your MAF has the gauze still on an don both ends, remove the gauze that is furthest away from the airfilter so you can get in there with some ear bud thingys and cleaner.

 

Fairly common with those who use cheaper branded air filters tbh, not saying you got one like :nelson:

smithy

No offence taken!! lol my air filter's are standard and really been a long time since they were changed. They look a little grubby!!

Really glad to hear you tried it and it made and improvment.Yes it can seem as if it ''come's and goes'', due to the varied readings it wants to give off, some time at ilde sometimes full power.You shouldn't really clean air flow meter wires as they have a coating on them to protect from day to day sh*t, and can also cause them to burn out premiture (coating is kind of like an oil base substance). ''Cleaning'' will only work for a little while if at all, the wires run on very small resitance. I would just buy one (new if youre not parting company with her soon), you'll know at least you wont have same prob's in a few months unlike second hand one.

Bad news about cat light is, that maybe all the unburnt fuel that has entered your exhausts when engine was missing could have burnt your cat or sensor tip and poss nacked your cat starting to block them up.

Good news is that it could just theres fuel in your cats or that the air flow meter wasn't great and is just giving a faulse reading to the lambda sensors. I would leave well alone until you have a new air flow meter and then try out for a few days/long trip to see what happens with the light and even run a diag' check as you know to do it.

Oh yeah would deffo change those filters when your in there and mayb some plugs if you have changed them recently. hope it clears up soon, and don't forget keep us informed.

Just a bit of info on the Z32 airflow meter.

It uses a hot wire type sensor to send "pulsed" signals back and forth to the ECU, incorrect or weak signals results in poor performance.

 

Extremely weak or no signal, fooked MAF and you can even unplug it and still drive with the exact same symtoms.

 

The most common cause of a weak signal, is a dirty hotwire. Yes they can be cleaned and numerous have done so.

 

The same airflow meter can be found on the early Scoobies, Graham Goode who tunes these cars in great detail and with success does an upgrade to the strength of the pulsed signal i referred to above.

 

It involves totally removing the hotwire, cleaning it and refitting in a new metal pipe closer to the turbo ( closer to turbo, stronger the signal)

 

I know of both Zeds ( including my own) and Scoobies having cleaned their hotwires years ago to no ill effect.

Choice of cleaning at a cost of a fiver or even nowt if you use ear buds and see how it goes or anywhere from 80-140 quid for a new or second hand one, which again will clog with dirty or poor performing airfilters.

 

Cheers

Smithy

like I've i said be4 no zed expert, just know what i know in general and cleaning isn't recommended. If on other hand it has been done time and time be4 on zed's then I guess there's nothing to lose. What's the worst that can happen? you'll need to buy a new one, well sort of at that bridge now anyways. Good luck, I hope shes up and running soon.

Took the MAF off at my cusin's garage and blasted it with break cleaner...worked a treat... when i drove the car after it felt just like it did when i had ck300z's MAF in it...power back and no hesitance!! (replacement on the way anyway

 

Whilst at cusin's garage he explained to me that when he originaly put the cambelt on for me he did set it a cog out an the car turned over poorly so he re-did it and assures me it's cock on!!

 

So i've set my ignition timing on the gun to 15 degrees and i'm gonna leave it like that as it's not to off centre on the CAS bolt slots.

 

The CAT light is still coming on but not as much... seems to come on as soon as i start up cold and then flicker on/off when the engine has warmed up...usualy under heavy acceleration... i'm putting this down to one off my O2 sensors not showing up on the basic ecu check i carried out. Gonna order a replacement soon as.

 

The car is so much better to drive now.. smooth gear changes...no hesitance...and pulls again!! :dance:

 

Thanks to alll for advice :bow:

 

Glad you got sorted at Jeff's Sean...think i will book myself in there at sometime...i'll try and do it more at my liesure if ya know what i mean.

 

let ya know how it is with new O2 sens and new MAF.

 

PS much of a job to change O2 sens?????????

really glad to hear you stuck with it, and it was the maf all the time. Sure it must have save a few quid just for the sake of trying. hope the lambda sensor sorts the cat light (pretty sure it will as no lack of power) would change sooner rather than l8r not a hard job at all to change, but do at your cuz's garage so much easier on a ramp than on your back.

Happy motoring