Trevz

Ok thanks, I'll post back when the jobs done. Btw, they make a truly amazing sound don't they, it's nearly 10 years old and the exhaust sytem is totally sound still :) I was thinking about upgrading the power, not sure yet as it goes pretty well as it is, bucket loads of torque :)

Yeah that's weird lol, you would think it would act like an interheater rather than an intercooler! Apparently it's all to do with heat exchange from air to water that I don't need to understand, luckily. One last question then I'll leave you in peace (for now), do you know what the smaller pump does that's right next to the one I'm changing? Cheers :)

We checked the pump and it doesn't work, so I've bought a "Johnson CM30P7-1 CM30 Mercedes Pump SL55" from ebay, which is supposed to pump 3x faster than the Bosch standard one. I've been searching for info about the charge cooler set up, and bizarrely the charge cooler is in the V of the engine, can't think of a hotter place to put it lol. The fluid then gets pumped through the middle radiator to cool. My only problem now is how to refill the system after fitting the new pump. I'll clamp the hoses to minimise loss, but don't want an air lock. Any chance you could find out what fluid it is (presumably water + antifreeze?) and how to top up the system? There must be some room for expansion when it gets hot? Thanks if you can! :)

Ok thanks, will check relay tomorrow. I'm lucky that a mate is a mechanic (one man band) so I can use his lift. We had a look for the pump today and found two in that place right next to each other, a tiny one and a bigger one, we think the bigger one is the charge cooler pump. Didn't have time to test it though as the 2 pins were hard to access, so taking o/s/f wheel off tomorrow to get better access. My mate said does it use the same coolant as the engine - I would guess not - in which case is there a resevoir for it do you know? Cheers :)

Cheers Paul, Will try and do that today/ tomorrow, I expect I'm going to ask you which relay it is later :)

Couldn't find the EGR valve, like you say perhaps there isn't one on the AMG? I think you're suggestion about the coolant pump is most likely. I googled the fault code and found this, http://www.justanswer.com/mercedes/51b88-sl55-amg-p0403-egr-vacuum-transducer-merc-tell-me-egr-valve.html written by a guy with the same fault code, but the advice is to check the charge air temp sensor and wiring, but I can't imagine the snesor would be faulty because the problem isn't intermitent, it's always after a brief hard boost. I'd like to check the charge coolant pump and radiator, could you give me an idea of where it is please? :)

Thanks for that, I'll let you know how we get on with the EGR valve :)

Hey Paul, a local diagnostic bloke looked at the car today and found fault P2027. Y31/1 EGR valve Transducer (P0403). He said he's 99% confident that would cause the problem, but to check with you first . He said the EGR valve could probably be cleaned and would be fine, does that sound ok? Also can you describe roughly where it is please, we can't find it! The other thing I wanted to ask you is, when I give it a blip of throttle in say 2nd gear at low speed, it lets out a very short squeal almost as if a belt slips for 1/4 of a second. Is the supercharger belt driven? I don't know anything about the mechanics on these cars as you can guess, can't even find the air filters. Also it had a new power steering pump (950 quid just for the part - jesus) last year and I've noticed that the fluid level is just about touching the bottom of the dipstick, but my mechanic doesn't know what fluid I should top it up with. I guess you know? Thanks for help, it's much needed on a car like this :)

Ok will do, thanks for help :)

Thanks for that, I've arranged to get it plugged in on Weds. So the charge cooler is cooled with water or some other fluid which has it's own pump? If so is it likely to be a case of fitting a new pump or possibly just low fluid level? Thanks!

Hi Paul, I tried sending you a message but it wouldn't let me, so hope it's ok to ask you a question here. I remember from ages ago that you work with Mercedes' so thought you might have come across this problem before. I've got an SL55 AMG (I bought the one that I started a thread about ages ago, Clarkson's old car) which has an intermittent fault. Most of the time it's perfect, but occasionally the throttle becomes unresponsive, like it's gone in to some sort of safety mode. It happens after a short blast, no warning lights come on, it just won't accelerate from say 70 or what ever speed it's doing, but will still change gears. There's no coughing or chugging, I don't think it's a mechanical fault. It lasts for about a minute then it's fine again. A mechanic friend suggested plugging it in to a laptop and searching for error codes. The car's on 92k miles, full Merc service history, last service 1k ago. Any ideas would be appreciated - Thanks!

I've never heard of him, but rip stranger. That road looks absolutely fantastic for testing out your cars speed, and by the look of those skid marks you can only guess he was well in to 3 figures. No matter how experienced you are or how good you are, if something (an animal or what ever) jumps in the road at those speeds you're in the hands of luck.

Well we looked at the blue one and it was an absolute dog, the worst respray I've ever seen, runs etc, peeling off around rubbers. So I ended up buying the one below (not for me, for a friends son) which looks good but won't know until tomorrow. Just wondered if any of you have seen the car before or know anything about it? It's been sold by a guy at Car Surgeon Ltd, Birmingham. Thanks for any opinions, and sorry I know this isn't the MR2 forum :) http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=180677490156&ssPageName=ADME:X:AAQ:GB:1123

Thanks guys and girls :)

Hi all, A friend is taking a look at this MR2 Turbo, does anyone know any common problems to look out for with them please, thanks :) http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=180676367879&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT

Just an update to the misfiring problem, now solved. After spending months searching for it and checking everything, I feel quite stupid now because it turned out to be a spark plug. I didn't know they could break down, when I checked them before they all looked clean and correctly gapped, so I put them back in. Luckily the misfire became less intermittent this week, so I located it to front o/s cylinder and thought it would probably be a dodgy coil pack, but thought I'd try a spare spark plug first, and vroom smooth again :) The dodgy plug was a NGK PFR6B 11C, can't imagine many of them break down.

Hi TonyC, I've been trying to contact you to ask you a question about ADZ194! It's started to play up (I started a thread on the other forum) possibly PTU, and I wondered whether you knew if the loom was modified when the PTU was relocated to passenger front wing? Sorry for hijacking thread! Cheers :)

It was relocated before I bought the car about 4 years ago, done by a member here so I think it was a good job. Started playing up a few months ago, but I don't do much mileage now so haven't been flooring it. I'm gonna check the maf today, don't know how to check coils or injectors properly, but the problem seems quite severe that it's probably not an individual coil I thought. Medallian Man, I'm gonna look for any modification to the loom in a min, if I could remember the guy's name who had the car before (black swb ADZ194) I could have asked him (he's been posting on here for years). Thanks for the offer, I'll see what I can discover this afternoon and get back to you on that, cheers :)

Hi all. Any help please. I have a misfiring problem with the Z, starts fine, runs on all 6 for about 2 minutes, then half a mile down the road goes lumpy and runs on 5. About 2 miles later runs on 6 again. Up to 0.4 bar boost it pulls ok, anything more and it starts juddering violently, no pull at all. Revs freely at stand still across the band, fine. Have cleaned the PTU connectors (and all others I could see) one was green, and it did seem a little better after that. PTU is a series 1, relocated behind passenger headlamp. Any advice appreciated, cheers :)

I think alot of younger student types will vote LibDem, I've put a few quid on them at 300/1 as a consolation should a shock happen, unlikely as it is. The trouble is, as said earlier many people are taken in by the face on TV, yet know nothing about the policies. The LibDems would cripple motorists with road pricing and create other stealth taxes based on MMGW nonsense, and of course they're anti nuclear so power cuts would be on the cards in the not too distance future as our country became littered with expensive useless unreliable inefficient windmills. They would unfairly double corporation and capital gains tax while all but scrapping defence spending leaving us vulnerable to the unknown future. I wouldn't be suprised if they do quite well though.

Oh by the way, as you're an overdrive user, have you noticed that applying overdrive when in 3rd gear at over 50mph but driving sedately, makes the engine rev up momentarilly (about 250rpm) just as you press the o/d button, thens drops into o/d. That's normal, so I always ease off the pedal when pressing the o/d buton to get a smooth change without the rev-up. The rev-up is caused by 3rd jumping back out of lock up before entering o/d, and that's why it doesn't happen when applying o/d at under 50mph.

I think we probably have vastly different driving styles, but here's my 2p. It won't cause any problem to the box, you'll simply be dropping out of overdrive then dropping back in. But a slightly stronger press of the pedal will do exactly the same thing. Third gear locks up at 50mph and overdrive locks up at 40mph (iirc - I don't use o/d except m-ways) so if you want to drop back out of lock up you can release the pedal slightly as if easing off, which will resume you back to non lock up as you re-apply power, then lock up again. I noticed with my first Z that when pulling hard in 3rd gear and lock up (over 50mph) if you then press overdrive to ON that knocks you back out of 3rd gear lock up and pulls slightly stronger if you're running standard boost. On my next Z I ran 1 bar of boost so had the greatest power in lock up with the extra torque. Hope that makes sense!

You never got back to me Jeff, not a good way to treat potential customers :(

I've never had any problems with Z auto boxes over about 5 years worth of driving, even with an auto line controller fitted that increases the line pressure for swifter gear changes at high revs. I hardly ever use overdrive (just on motorway runs obviously) as in overdrive it feels like driving an unresponsive coasting lardy slug. I don't bother with the power/hold button either, it's just a gimmick and pointless. Power will hold you pointlessly longer in each gear under slow acceleration, and comes on automatically when needed at kickdown anyway. Hold cuts out first gear, so you pull away in second, and disables kickdown. I've never found a use for either.

Ok thanks, and yes I already changed the rad cap :)