S2000 engine issue ....

[JamesR]

Evening all,

 

I took the car (S2000 engine) out for a blast this evening and everything was running smoothly for 5 miles or so.  I gave it a good run up a bit of A road and then when I accelerated out of the next roundabout I suddenly lost most of the engine power and it was running really lumpy.

 

I managed to limp it 5 miles home.  It ticked over on idle (just) on very low and hunting revs for a short while, so I tried to keep the engine busy when I was stationary which caused quite a bit of black smoke to get pumped out of the exhaust.  For the last mile or so it cut out every time I had to stop at a roundabout or traffic lights and struggled to start again.  Smelt like it flooded a bit but still started.

 

Then when I was half a mile from home, I was turning the engine over for a good 5 seconds or so when it fired up and there was a loud clattering noise from the engine, and suddenly it came back to life and power seemed to be restored.  It didn't cut out when I stopped, no more black smoke and it seemed to run smoothly.  When I got home I checked the engine bay and everything looked OK.  Started and stopped the engine a few times and no problem.  (I also learnt a very valuable lesson about not leaning over the engine bay from the hot exhaust side whilst wearing shorts!)

 

Whilst I'm glad it seems to be behaving itself at the moment, I'd like to try and figure out what happened and make sure it doesn't happen again.

 

Does anyone have any ideas what might have happened and what I should check?

 

I'm actually booked into a dyno day next weekend, but not sure if it would make it at this point.

 

Cheers!

 

James

 

 

 

 

[Tom Frankland (T3OMF)]

oh b*******, I have no idea what happened or what the problem is, but if you need help I can pop round one evening this week mate 

[Stu Faulkner]

Others more experienced than myself will no doubt be along shortly but in my small experience never overlook anything.

I've had loose earths that cause greef so it wouldn't do any harm to check all your connections including the engine loom as its been known that the wires can be loose in the plugs.

[Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Chairman]

Just what I was going to suggest too; check the obvious connections like earths, but also check the wires where they go into the connectors, including the ecu connector.

Omex have now taken the wiring looms in house after one or two quality issues with the previous supplier.

In particular, check the coil wiring for the coil on plug units.

Also, physically check the COP units too, if the seals on the spark plug wells aren't properly seated on the head, the wells can slowly fill with oil, and can get into the connection between the COP and the plug, which can cause miss fires.

[CosKev]

If it had cleared sooner than 5 miles worth of travelling I would be wondering if it was fuel surge?

Out of interest how much fuel was in tank?

[JamesR]

Thanks for the quick replies guys - I've arranged for Tom to come over and have a look with me tomorrow as I'm a little out of my depth here!  Hopefully it's easy to diagnose   

 

@CosKev - Fuel level was slightly under 50%.  What are you thinking?

[CosKev]

I don't think it will be fuel surge,due to how long it took to clear and if you had half a tank of fuel it should have been ok.

Just springs to mind as you say you put it to go,then went around a roundabout(presumably quite fast?)then it lost power etc.

[Thrustyjust]

Sounds more electrical than fuel. If you can smell fuel and see black smoke, its not being ignited.

[Tom Frankland (T3OMF)]

as I'm a little out of my depth here...........

 

Makes 2 of us then   

 

I have a couple of ideas, I'll bring my tool box (large hammer) and trolley jack, we'll get it sorted 

[JamesR]

Hammer? Are you a wizard??

I've been poking the red and silver bit with chopsticks!

[AlexST]

How many miles has the engine covered.

[AlexST]

Had similar issues with my s2000 and it turned out to be the coilpacks. Mine lasted just over 100k but they can fail sooner. If that is the problem they are a lot cheaper to source from the states about 1/4 of the price including shipping and import duty.

[JamesR]

Engine's only done around 26K from memory. Something else to add to the list of potentials, thanks!