The new adventures of Brownnova! Another Saab joins the fleet… 13/10/24

[Eyersey1234]

1 minute ago, paulplom said:

Coil pack would be my first suspect.

It's definitely guilty ?

[gm]

Nah, can’t be - these mazdas are bullet proof and never go wrong ! hope it’s an easy fix 
 

[brownnova]

51 minutes ago, paulplom said:

Coil pack would be my first suspect.

Mine too... luckily I have a spare in the garage.

I’ll go down tomorrow and start crossing items off the list. 

[Jim Bell]

Really I think we need a thread about instances where the RAC kept putting people off and they had to end up recovering themselves. 

Seems to happen all too often on here. 

Ps I'm saying collapsed fuel filter or crimped line.  

[brownnova]

Maybe they’ve got a list of Shiters and put us off knowing we’re self sufficient enough to do it ourselves. 

[Mr_Bo11ox]

I know ex-shiter 'Breadvan' had one of these RAC experiences this week where his recovery just never actually happened despite several hours of promises, seems to be a growth sector for that company

[hairnet]

aa rac just absolutley fuck them

i go with one of those places thatll ring anyone near you

luckily in 20+ years only needed help once

[wuvvum]

1 hour ago, Mr_Bo11ox said:

I know ex-shiter 'Breadvan' had one of these RAC experiences this week where his recovery just never actually happened despite several hours of promises, seems to be a growth sector for that company

No doubt he will be commencing legal proceedings shortly.  I didn't even realise he was back on these shores - last I heard he was sunning himself in the BVI.

I rarely hear a good word about the RAC, and certainly the one time I had to use them (when my BMW 635CSI snapped its prop shaft) they were thunderously shit, taking nearly four hours to get to me (the contractor they eventually sent was based less than a mile from where I'd broken down).

The AA aren't as good as they used to be, but they're nowhere near RAC levels of uselessness.

[dollywobbler]

RAC are utter shite. My last experience (not me paying thankfully) was an XK150 which broke down on a dual carriageway. A terrifying first hour waiting with no hard shoulder (or hazard lights, or electrics at all in fact), then the bloke started tinkering with it IN THE LIVE LANE! Finally talked him into dragging it into a layby we could see from where we stood. To be fair, he had a good go at trying to get it working but then realised his time was up, so off he went. Four hours it took from breaking down to finally getting the thing onto a recovery truck.

The recovery truck was outsourced, and the chap blissfully told me he'd not seen his bed for two days. We had a fair distance to go, but he kept the tacho off the whole time...

[Eyersey1234]

29 minutes ago, dollywobbler said:

RAC are utter shite. My last experience (not me paying thankfully) was an XK150 which broke down on a dual carriageway. A terrifying first hour waiting with no hard shoulder (or hazard lights, or electrics at all in fact), then the bloke started tinkering with it IN THE LIVE LANE! Finally talked him into dragging it into a layby we could see from where we stood. To be fair, he had a good go at trying to get it working but then realised his time was up, so off he went. Four hours it took from breaking down to finally getting the thing onto a recovery truck.

The recovery truck was outsourced, and the chap blissfully told me he'd not seen his bed for two days. We had a fair distance to go, but he kept the tacho off the whole time...

Recovery wagons don't need tachograph if operating within 50km of their base

[dollywobbler]

26 minutes ago, Eyersey1234 said:

Recovery wagons don't need tachograph if operating within 50km of their base

Can confirm that this one definitely was not. But it still rather emphasised why that loophole isn't a good idea...

[hairnet]

did small nova shout at you for breaking down yet

 

[Zelandeth]

Random engine stopping without prior warning, my usual suspect would be crankshaft position sensor - especially if it starts up and behaves fine again from cold.  That's just general engines from this sort of era though - some folks here probably know the precise habits of the Mazda engines better than me as it's a car I've never worked on.

[brownnova]

Sadly even from cold it was a thanks but no thanks from the engine....

[brownnova]

I found myself with a couple of free hours this afternoon so I decided it was time to do the fuel tank swap on the 2CV Dolly. 

I’d been putting it off a little as one if the screws on the sender rounded when I tried to get it off... after some more butchery from me it didn’t get any better...

I cut it off in the end... 

I am very grateful to @dollywobbler for the tank, (and even name checking me in a video Mentioning the tank).

Stripping the old tank of the sender, and the old bolts was the most time consuming aspect as it had been sat around for a while, so bolts were heavily rusted and the sender was of unknown quality so I decided to use the sender and bolts from the tank which was now holed. This was I think a good move as the sender I removed from the existing tank looked very clean and new.

Removal of the tank is straightforward enough, 4 bolts, but I had to do it lay on my back as moving the cars around to get this one over the pit was too much of a PITA! 

Refitting is the reverse of removal... took a little longer as relocating the bolts trying to hold things either side of the chassis wasn’t the easiest. 

New Tank now place! 

No leaks when I filled it with fuel and... 

Not that you can tell, but this is a running 2CV!

First time I’ve ever changed a fuel tank, not sure that the fuel gauge is working, although it may just be that the little fuel I put in from the Jerry can wasn’t enough to register. But being Sunday and being in rural Wales my closest petrol station is closed by 6pm... so I’ll have to do that another day.

But not tomorrow as I broke down last time I was going to work, age I’m due in again tomorrow... I don’t think my boss would be amused if I failed to arrive again. 

Might go to look at the Mazda tomorrow... depends if the rain stops. Was ready to set it on fire in Friday, but I’ve mellowed now... 

[brownnova]

Mazda died and wouldn’t restart so I left it at my brother in laws as it was close by.

Right c ‘mom you bastard, get me home! 

Thought I’d give it a try when I arrived and bingo... it started... and ran lumpier than 10 day old gravy. Not even enough puff to get up the slight incline so I could work in it on the flat.

Top suspect was the coil. So we swapped that and the spark plugs which had seen better days... 

But... alas still running very badly... seemed to be missing on one cylinder, so the old take the lead off trick revealed lead 1 made no different whereas all the others led to a drop and running on two cylinders. New suspect is the ignition leads. Sadly all the motor factors were closed as it was 6pm so that job will have to wait for tomorrow.

And if that doesn’t work it’s back to the drawing board. 

[brownnova]

In other news I should have a collection mission on Thursday! Only 30 miles so not a massive adventure but still should be fun. 

[brownnova]

Ok, so now have changed plugs, leads and coil and still have a misfire on the first cylinder. 
 

Thinking next step is to compression test the cylinders, but starting to think this may be more serious than first thought...

Or could it be the EGR valve? 

 

Any other bright ideas of things to try? Please... 

[Mr Pastry]

5 minutes ago, brownnova said:

Any other bright ideas of things to try? Please... 

I think a compression test would be the sensible next step. 

[barefoot]

There's an MX5 specialist just up the road from me/just off M1 J24. Mike's a nice chap.

https://www.pmsportscars.com

[gm]

is the wiring to the injectors in good shape ? Might be a bad connection on the cylinder that is misbehaving ? 

have you read the diagnostic codes ? It's a basic flashing led system but might shed some light 

[brownnova]

2 hours ago, barefoot said:

There's an MX5 specialist just up the road from me/just off M1 J24. Mike's a nice chap.

https://www.pmsportscars.com

Thanks, I do have an MX5 specialist who I will take it to if I can’t get to the bottom of it. I’d rather do it myself if possible as it’ll be better on my wallet! Currently it wouldn’t be safe or possible to drive it to the specialist.... as it just belches smoke and has no power when you try and drive. 

43 minutes ago, gm said:

is the wiring to the injectors in good shape ? Might be a bad connection on the cylinder that is misbehaving ? 

have you read the diagnostic codes ? It's a basic flashing led system but might shed some light 

I’d not come accross this before. I’ll have a go at figuring out how to do that. Thank you! 

[dollywobbler]

What colour smoke?

[brownnova]

White/light grey

[New POD]

I don't know why you'd need a specialist for an mx5. It's a simple car 

[SiC]

21 hours ago, brownnova said:

Or could it be the EGR valve? 

Do they even have an EGR?

Have you tried changing or at least cleaning up the crank sensor?

 

Edit: forgot this was the 1.8 so possibly got an EGR. Do these run ok when they're blanked @gm ?

[SiC]

Also make sure you check earths. 

[gm]

21 minutes ago, SiC said:

Do they even have an EGR?

Have you tried changing or at least cleaning up the crank sensor?

 

Edit: forgot this was the 1.8 so possibly got an EGR. Do these run ok when they're blanked @gm ?

I wasn't aware of mk1 having an egr but they might have shoehorned it into the later ones. I think brownova's is an early 1.6 so shouldn't be troubled with such nonsense. 

[brownnova]

Yeah it’s an early 1.6... so you’re right no EGR... so it’s not that! 
 

Compression test didn’t go well... range from 9 bar to 3.5 bar... I didn’t do it tho (my wife’s uncle did it whilst I was in work), so I’d rather do it myself to be sure of the result. 

I might attempt to get it home later. 

[Jim Bell]

Can I change my answer from fuel related to stuck valve?