So Zedster has been running fine since the phantom misfire issue UNTIL he wouldn't start one morning. Engine turned but wouldn't catch. It felt like it was a fuel delivery issue so I checked the LP fuel pump. The filter looked empty so I disconnected the pipe but fuel flowed fine. I then pulled the pipe off the LP pump and turned on the ignition - fuel came out so the pump was working. Connected the pipes back and tried re-starting the engine - started first time. Weird. Did I clear something out of the filter? Are the electrical connections to the pump dodgy and my mucking about temporarily re-connected them?
So now, every engine start is Russian Roulette - great!
Anyway, had an enjoyable day out to the Bromley Pageant in...er... Bromley with SKCC:
A huge show of modern classics, with some wonderful reminders of my driving past - for example, one of my early cars was a 1988 Golf GTi, similar to this one (which is the more desirable 16V - mine was the 8V):
As you might expect, within a stone's throw of Essex, Ford's were everywhere:
And there was a HUGE stand of Mini's - don't think I've ever seen so many in one place before (sorry, forgot to take any pics) - must have been at least 60.
Some other highlights:
A good day out and Zedster started OK on the way home, so all good...
So, I ordered a new starter motor (£65) and struggled for another hour to fit it back on. The new motor is a slightly different design and I couldn't get the socket around the top bolt, so I had to use a spanner, turning the bolt about 1/20th of a turn at a time - took 15 minutes just to get that one bolt in!
Finally on and scared the life out of me when I turned it on - seems to be much more powerful than my old one and spun the engine so much quicker.
So, repairs done, out for a drive and...bugger - misfire still there. Very annoyed.
Back home, I emailed Emerald to ask if the ECU had any diagnostics I could use to try diagnose the problem. They replied the next day (impressive) and said there aren't any diagnostics BUT there is a datalogger which records ignition, injection, coolant temp etc. In theory, if I drove with the laptop connected and the datalogger on, any break in the signal of one of those areas could suggest where the problem was.
So, I decided to try this out. Unfortunately, the Emerald manual is sorely lacking in describing how to use the datalogger - there is one line in the appendix that is the only mention of it. Ironically, this oversight fixed my problem! I sat on the drive for about 10 minutes with the engine idling, trying to work out how to turn the damn datalogger on. I finally did it and drove off, waiting for the misfire to kick in. But it didn't - Zedster ran as smoothly as ever! Problem fixed!!
I can only assume I had dirt or something in an injector and the time spent idling on the drive cleared it out, although I'll wait until my next drive out to fully confirm it's fixed.
I may also need to consider fitting a filter after the HP pump and maybe also changing the HP fuel lines. Despite being R9 (supposedly the best), they already seem to have small cracks in them where they bend round to the fuel rail.
My brother and family arrive next week from Florida and he seems very keen to drive my car - he's never been one to worry about the banality of laws of the land, so keeping the keys away from him may be tricky.
A job that would take 5 minutes with the car up in the air (removing the starter motor) takes me an hour of sweating, lying awkwardly on my back, frantically checking that the axle stands aren't going to somehow give way with my head under the car.
So the repairs following my track day weekend are under way. These are:
1. Replace HT leads (done - not exactly tricky).
2. Rewire the plug into the coil pack.
3. Fix/replace the starter motor.
Once the starter motor was off, the problem is more obvious - the 12v terminal has come loose (arrowed in pic below) and as the vibrations have moved it about, I think it snapped the copper wire that was soldered inside the body of the motor. So, the motor worked on the lucky times the wire (circled in the pic below) made some contact with the place it used to be soldered to and other times, contact was lost and no starter motor. The track day made it worse but it was a problem before that.
As you can see, I've pulled it all apart, so it's history and I'm going to have to get a new one - great.
...might have been at the track day I went to but it certainly wasn't me!
Yup, my first track day is done and I'm in one piece - not too sure about Zedster but more about that later...
First up was the 160 mile drive to the track in Llandow, near Cardiff. Friday afternoon traffic out of London is always bad so it took me 5 hours, with a couple of stops. Tent up and a few beers with other members of SKCC. Slept slightly better than normal in a tent which is to say, a solid 3.5 hours rather than 2.
The paddock in the morning was full of very serious racers; slicks, multi-function steering wheels, vans of equipment, a hive of activity. I attached my camera and took my doors off - that was about it.
After the briefing, we went out in groups which were supposed to be by ability. I said I was slow and rubbish but my group seemed to contain several people who didn't quite match that description. However, everyone was very well behaved, there were no idiots and it was AWESOME FUN!!!
I've been on a track for a few laps in a single seater and a Ferrari on 'track experiences' but this was much better; no limits and all the time you need - brilliant fun.
Here's some video for your delectation:
In total, I did about 50 miles on track in 3 sessions - I could have done much more but I didn't want to put Zedster under too much strain and he had run flawlessly all day.
Sadly, it didn't go well on the way home...
I decided to take the scenic route home - I couldn't face another 4 hours on the motorway, I'd rather do 6 hours on nicer roads. I had just found an amazing road (my sat-nav said 17 miles to the next turn!!) when Zedster started misfiring. Just a little hiccup at first but within a few miles, it was so bad, I couldn't drive - it was like the engine was switching off and on, not just 1 cylinder.
After 5 minutes, I had run out of ideas so I called the AA. The guy who came out was brilliant - an ex-Ford mechanic who knew the Zetec inside out - just what I needed. Sadly, 3 hours later and he still hadn't fixed it. He was sure it was ignition-related so he changed the coil pack, HT leads and spark plugs, among other things, which seemed to improve it but still not perfect. He finally admitted defeat at 11:30pm and I asked to be trailered home, only to be told my cover wouldn't pay for it all - I'd have to cough up £250!! I'm far too much of a tight-wad for that so I set off, keeping to a max of 60 mph - any more and it seemed to make the misfire worse. Finally got home at 4am!!
And to add injury to insult, he pointed out that my starter motor is knackered - the 12v connection is hanging by a thread and that is the cause of my recent starting problems I mentioned a few posts ago.
So Zedster is off the road and it may take a while to sort out, as I have no darn idea what the problem is. An old thread on a forum from someone who had the same problem turned out to be their HP fuel filter but I don't have one - maybe my HP pump is not working properly under load?
It's that time of year and the annual pilgrimage to Stoneleigh for the National kit car show.
This year, I met up with a few people from SKCC and we took an enjoyable run through Berkshire and Worcestershire. I had planned to make a video on the run but my cheap camera decided to not work (I may have to bite the bullet and buy a GoPro).
The show itself was as good as always and slightly busier than last year, despite the weather not being as good. As always, there were the usual rumours that this would be the last year of the show which, strangely, I heard a lot last year as well 😊
As magazine editor for the UK Kit Car club (aka RHOCAR), I was re-elected at the AGM which is always held at Stoneleigh. The club is doing quite well now, membership up to 200 which is good news.
Because of the AGM, I didn't leave Stoneleigh until about 6.30pm but the run back was good fun - some great roads and not a huge amount of traffic at that time. I thought I was 'making progress', overtaking a few dawdlers, when a fire-breathing Holden V8 flew past me.
Ten minutes later, I noticed my voltmeter had dropped down to 11v - not a good sign. As background, I've often had concerns around the wiring into my alternator because my battery light is always on which, in theory, means something is wrong. The night before Stoneleigh, I had been fiddling around with the wires and one came off the spade terminal! So I had re-crimped both plugs and they all seemed fine on the way up.
So, I pulled over to have a look and when I gently pulled the wires, they came out of the butt connector further up the line! With no crimper handy, I just twisted the wires together and, for the first time ever, I've used gaffer tape to get Zedster going 😊 - I didn't have any insulation tape to cover the join.
Early in my build, I posted a question on a forum about how best to join 2 wires; butt connectors or soldering. The responses stretched to 3 pages and the result was a 50/50 split. As my soldering skills are rubbish, I decided to use the butt connectors and I now wish I hadn't - this is the 3rd time I've had problems with dodgy electrical connections and my loom is dotted with butt connectors 😕
Anyway, got home of and, apart from the electrical problem, Zedster was superb; 250 miles in the day, about 70 of those at high motorway speeds - superb!
Sometimes, you think a return to steam would be so much simpler - electrics are a PITA !
So, after my rewire of the aux panel, weird things have happened. First, the starter motor seems to be turning over very slowly, as if the battery is flat. Then, the motor seemed to stop disengaging, so after the engine started, it was being spun round with a high-pitched wail for a second or 2.
Then, the starter motor gave up totally! I took the dash all off again, rewired my immobiliser switch in the starter motor circuit and it seems to be ok now - I must have dislodged the wire connection while doing the distribution box.
Part of the rewire included a replacement USB socket which includes a voltmeter display. Since the rewire, that display has been fine but the voltage gauge in the dash has been under-reading. But when I plugged in a mobile phone, the volts gauge started working properly again!
Wouldn't have this problem with a boiler and tender.
Anyway, despite the weirdness, I couldn't miss out on the stunning weather this weekend and dragged myself out at an ungodly hour (6.30am) to meet up with the SKCC club for a run. I've been given a radio from a club member who emigrated, so I was able to listen in to the banter on the run - really makes a run out even more fun and very useful to be told about a horse rider round the corner, for example.
The run ended at a cafe at an old train station which, ironically, had steam engines!
A great turn out with about 10 kits, wonderful scenery and, thanks to the early hour, little traffic. As always, not a run for the faint-hearted and Zedster performed well, despite probably being the most standard car there and with me as a driver :-)
A great run and I'll have to keep an eye on the electrics over the next few days/weeks.
This is actually the first time I've done some proper garage work on Zedster in a few months - by 'proper', I mean unbolting major parts and getting into the hidden depths that don't normally see the light of day.
The wiring behind my aux panel was always a mess - I'd added a few switches over time and just spliced extra wires in to existing plugs (because most things behind the panel need a switched live from the ignition). It all worked but I always had the niggling feeling it could go wrong at any time.
So, time to use a distribution box - one positive and live in from the ignition and 6 separate positive and negative terminals for various switches - all neat and tidy (in theory).
The problem with wiring is that there is little to show for your efforts, so here's a before:
...and an after:
Dull, huh? Ok, yes but trust me, it will be much more reliable than the previous setup.
Annoyingly, one of the switches seems to have broken - it's only a switch, how can it stop working?! Cheap rubbish is why - problem is, I'm not sure where to get a decent quality one from.
UPDATE: actually, the switch was fine - it was a dodgy spade connection.
I also took my centre tunnel panels off to get to the speed sensor above the propshaft but it looks fine. I've been getting occasional sporadic readings on my speedo so I assumed the sensor had moved but no. Bit worrying - I hope it doesn't mean the sensor itself is failing?
I might re-cover my tunnel panels - it's worn through on one edge and I've got lots of vinyl left over from when I did my armrest.
