Chaps/Chapesses,

 

This morning, I set out for work as normal, and everything goes tits-up!

 

First off, I thought, hmmm, steering feels a bit heavy, and the speedos up to its usual trick of not really doing anything 'til warm (worse on cold mornings) ... then the HICAS light comes on ... oh well, top it up, I thought.

 

Once the car's warm and the speedos working again, the HICAS light disappears and PS is fine:confused:

 

Anyhow, then get some petrol, join the M20, accelerate up to 90-ish (overtaking Scooby;) ), then there's a jolt, and I'm slowing down - coasting in fact - Shite! No life from engine.

 

Pull on to hard-shoulder, call AA, freeze my nuts off:( - half expecting it to start when he arrives (perhaps PTU), but no - still no life.

 

Anyhow, he wiggles the EGI and Ign Coil relay, and we're back in business - have ordered new relay - collect on Saturday.

 

Problem is this - I now have zero faith in taking the car out, and the question is this - are these things related??

 

Any help would be much appreciated from the experts!:)

 

CheerZ,

John.

You never did say what the non-starting problem you had was the other week, but..

 

What you describe sounds very much like what happened to me (chasing a scooby, oddly enough) - foot down, engine twists on it's mounts, and the ECU loses the signal from the CAS..

 

When it does that, it goes 'oh bugger' and shuts off the fuel - hence, you coast to a halt..

 

Pull the ECU error codes and see if there is a stored CAS code, if there is then you probably have dodgy wiring to the CAS (that's what mine was).

 

If yours turns out to be the CAS connector, I have a spare loom I may be able to hack the connector off (can't remember if someone wanted that bit already - so I best check before pi55ing them off!), so you could replace the connector...

Cheers Aaron,

 

Don't think it's the CAS - thought I'd posted this, but once James's spare PTU was fitted the car burst back into life, and was fine yesterday (I did about 60 miles - no problem).

 

AA man also reported, that when he was fiddling with the relay, it "clicked" then the car was going again ...

 

Also, when I did the ECU diag, I got the very helpful "55", will try again today, though, just to see if there was anything else happening.

 

Checked the CAS connector, seemed pretty sound, and made no difference when it wasn't starting.

 

Thanks for your help ...

 

CheerZ,

John.

Just like to add ...

 

Has anyone else had the ignition coil relay or the EGI relay fail?

 

CheerZ,

John.

The speedo problem could be your speed sensor.

My speedo had the same problem as yours of only working when it wanted to but the steering wroked fine. My problem was a faulty speedo. If the steering is going kaka, the its either speed sensor or speed converter.

 

Stuart

Thanks Stuart, that's helpful ... does it seem likely that it's cold-related?

is its an import

 

If so its probably your convertor. This also happened to mine and I had to change it for a new chip. Loss of power steering. No speedo when cold. Hicas light flashing.

Thanks Roy, sounds like the man ... where do you get a converter chip from and where does it go?

 

Thanks for the advice.

 

CheerZ,

John.

Don't forget that your HICAS probably settled a bit due to the cold, making the steering heavy, then once warmed up it worked properly again.

 

Best to top up the levels.

 

:)

Thank you Neet, for that additional advice - temporarily forgetting my manners there:rolleyes: ..

 

Additionally, when performing an ECU diag - I've got code 21, this suggests something to do with the ignition circuit - could be the relay?

 

I was supposed to get a new one from Mandella today, but surprise, surprise, no show until Tuesday .. grrr:mad:

 

Does this all add up?

I beleive that Silvia Engineering did the speedo convertion and it always had a dodgy speedo at anything under 10mph but never gave problems with p/s or the other things you mention.

 

Coincidentally the speedo convertor should have removed the speed limiter but it still kicks in at 150mph.

 

Speak to SE and get em to sort it possibly, though be prepared for a monumental wait :(

 

Good luck

Thanks Glen,

 

Agreed about the sub 10 mph thing, but these days, it's been playing up and not working at all when cold - apparently, this could cause the steering problem.

 

I haven't experienced 150 yet!:D I've only done about 120, and then she suddenly died, although soon picked up - must admit, I did wonder if she still had the 112 limit in place, but I guess not.

 

I've been a bit tentative about winding her right up since then.;)

 

Not sure I fancy that wait - perhaps I could just source the speed sensor from them and get someone else to fit ....

 

CheerZ,

John.

BTW,

 

Took out the floorboard covering the ECU the other day and found the fuel controller you mentioned ... it was switched off and I have left it like that ...

 

Do you (or anyone else) know what the idea is with it? It's called an SFC, I think - Simple Fuel Controller, and seems to have adjustable "gain" - still firmly plumbed into the ECU:eek:

 

CheerZ,

John.

Not sure on the Fuel/Air controller.

 

I left it well alone, as melted pistons didn't appeal to me much. I think when Chris had the car he and Warren (300z) messed about with its calibration and it made the car run like a bag o sh|te.. It needs expert set up..I always looked at it like one of those wierd Sci-Fi movies where an alien latches itself to its host and cannot be removed without killing its host .. eek like ya say its plumbed in but ill be buggered if I was messing around with it ;)

 

Think of it as a carbuncle on your bum.... its there but if you scratch around with it, it might hurt ;)

Ring Latz at GPS about the fuel controller as he knows WTF he's talking about and how to calibrate and set the things up.

 

My car does something very similar to what you have described on occasions. Speedo stops working and displays about 190mph (off the clock) when I might be doing a modest 30mph. Still need to get a photo of that when it does it next as it would prove that autos can do 150+ mph doing only 2000rpm! ROFL :D

 

Right, so speedo needle packs up and HICAS light may or may not come on but the power stearing goes west aswell.

 

Dodgy speed sensor my friend, get it changed! I still need to get mine done but not got round to it. Must sort before the summer though! ;)