Jump to content

M A F Sensors & Brains


Recommended Posts

Posted

A long read but bear with me......

 

For ages I've been thinking about why the ASBO was running a bit lean, along with that it was running a bit rough on tick-over, sometimes it would almost stall, then it would bounce to 1500 rpm and repeat until I intervened with some throttle. 

Add to that the pops and bangs on gear change and over-run that were just a tad too much even for the ASBO. 

 

To top that off it's been running hot, and a couple of times it's refused to start for a while after parking up.

 

A bit of background on the ASBO, it's a Factory built SEiGHT with a fuel injected 3950 Rover V8, the only mods I've done to the engine are a baffled trapdoor sump and a wind-age tray.

  

The stages of running the problems to ground were as follows.

 

One of the tech guys at the factory stuffed a small bolt into the open end of a bit of hose that was connected near to the 'Flapper Valve'(not sure if it's called that but I reckon it's a good name for it..... and whatever it does), that smoothed the tick-over out a bit.

 

I removed, cleaned and replaced the K & N Air filter, another slight improvement.

 

I removed and cleaned the M A F Sensor with carb. cleaner, again another improvement. 

 

I dived into a box of shiny new bits I purchased from John Eales a few years ago, I changed all 8 plugs, the rotor arm and distributor cap and all of the HT leads.

 

One of the distributor outputs was corroded in a way that reminded me of an old battery....... Again an improvement in the general running and a lot less lumpy-ness in the tick-over but it still lacked something, and managing the engine temp. was still challenging.

 

A Radtech radiator with 50mm cores and a new expansion tank & Cap, (the last one in the country apparently) filled with proper blue Glycol and not that pink carp (Radtech's words not mine) plus a newer version of the same fan that was fitted have sorted the effective cooling, the fan now defeats the engine heat (if that makes sense) but it takes a while!

 

Yesterday I visited a local Land Rover specialist, I pointed my non technical finger at the M A F Sensor and said "got one of those?"..... "Nope.... but if you want to wait a lifetime or two we can get you one, it'll be £1050 plus the vat..... or you can have a Tradefit one for £118 inclusive of VAT "

 

No brainer..... "how soon?" says I.... "12:00 o'bells say the man"..... and true to his word whilst having my old gits health MOT at the quacks the phone rang to say come get it.

 

Well I waited until today to fit it...... and I really wish I hadn't, what an amazing difference, the ASBO is back to full nutter, and no more pops and bangs, it's just smooth uninterrupted lunacy from tick-over to O-Dear how do I survive this......

 

I shall be ordering a spare one of these Anti-Depressant devices on Monday..... no longer will I ponder the troubles of the ailing V8...... 

 

It just goes to show how the abundance of cylinders can overcome such a mix of problems and still function......  

 

So on to the word "Brain".... if the ASBO was equipped with more brain power , and i had been born brighter could we have fixed it sooner???

 

Answers on a small postcard please...... 

 

A very happy Nem.......

 

 

  • Like 4
Posted
On 31/08/2019 at 21:06, Nemesis said:

filled with proper blue Glycol and not that pink carp (Radtech's words not mine)

 

Blue coolant is usually ethylene glycol based. Red/pink is usually propylene glycol. Red coolant can eat away at old copper rads and the soldering/brazing that holds them together. 

There is a great (if a little old) thread about the differences between ethylene glycol, propylene glycol and the various chemical reactions and preventative additives in the different coolant types over on Blatchat:

https://www.lotus7.club/forum/techtalk/ethylene-glycol

Posted

After reading thought all that I’m non of the wiser!.    I have the Pink stuff in mine as I thought it’s better for aluminium than the traditional old blue stuff.  But if I read correct pink stuff isn’t good for copper rads and radiators.   I had a ‘mini’ heater and that was a copper rad and connections.    Up to this year. 

 

That at I can say is when I dropped the water a few weeks back when changing the box the Pink was quite orange and murky.   I’ve given it a good flushing and used de-ionised water and fresh pink this time.     I’ll watch to see what happens..   hate to think my ally rad is being eaten.   

Posted

Pink and blue are OK for ally. Pink not so good for copper. Pink better at avoiding local boiling/hot spots in the water jacket.

Read it again until you get it. I think I read it four or five times before it started to make sense, but that could just be me 'cos I do that a lot...

Posted

Pink does the toilets and sinks, blue does the bins on Friday mornings and empties the dishwasher.   

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

Please review our Terms of Use, Guidelines and Privacy Policy. We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.