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[bluey]

I had a bit of a worry earlier today and wondered if anyone might be able to give a few pointers.

I took the Mig on a short trip, only about 5 miles in urban traffic, and it fired up fine and all was well for about 10 minutes.  Then it started idling a little lumpily and seemed a bit hesitant to pull away from some traffic lights, which made me turn the radio off a bit sharpish.  A few minutes later it seemed to idle much better but putting the engine under load had it struggling.  I parked up, went to sort a couple of things out, came back to the car and the problem persisted for 5 minutes, then cleared over the space of a couple of minutes. 

At first I though the problem may be the coil pack, but the way the problem came and went had me wondering if it might have been fuel related, or perhaps damp - it hasn't done it before but we did have a fair bit of rain over the last few days, so that with the cold and me disturbing a few wires and pipes a couple of weeks ago to do the rocker cover gasket might have allowed a fault to develop?

Anyway, any ideas?

Oh, the transmission has begun to thump a little on the occasional kickdown and hold gears a little indiscriminantly too, which makes me think an oil change + filter is due.  Dexron III is the correct spec isn't it?

[alank46]

Paperclip test for fault codes?

[bluey]

I'll go and take a look for the procedure, thanks for the idea.

It did get read a few months back and was as empty as my brain, so that was a nice result.  Shows how reliable these motors can be. 

[Welung666]

Check the plug wells, there may be a bit of oil left in there from before the cam cover change

[bluey]

Good point, I'll shove some rag down there to check and give the plugs a quick spray with Electro stuff thingy to make sure any moisture is displaced too.

[bluey]

Apologies for bumping this back up.  I checked things over and can't see anything fallen off, and the plug wells seem dry.  Started the car this morning and it was clean as a whistle, picked up strong and all was well.  For sixty seconds.  Then it went back to 4/5 pots, idling badly, and there is a bit of stink coming from it too, sort of bad cat smell. 

That made me wonder if I have tightened the throttle cable adjustment just a tiny bit too much when doing the cam cover gaskets causing it to overfuel, but I think I may be up a blind alley here.  I'll squirt some WD round and check all the leads again now it's not dark and raining and see if I can spot anything again.  It really is the wrong time of year to have head-scratching faults like this, I hate the cold! 

[Kevin Wood]

Could still be a coil pack / leads problem. Often a bit of damp only causes problems when it starts to warm up and condense on ignition components. If no trouble codes present I would double check plugs / leads / coil pack.

Is there any evidence of water getting into the plug wells? Wondering if it's dripping of the scuttle cover into the plug wells and causing problems, then eventually evaporating.

Kevin

[bluey]

I guess it really could be as simple as some damp getting in while the leads were off when the cam cover was being done and I'm just trying to think too much. 

Being this time of year and with the car parked under a tree the scuttle is of course full of wet leaves, so I'll put some gloves on and get them removed to allow air to get round properly.   

[bluey]

Well, took the leads off the left bank that was done a couple of weeks ago.  Therewas some oil down in two of the plugwells so got some rag down there and gave it all a good wiping out, followed by a bit of WD-40 and checked everything was pushed home correctly.  Still no joy unfortunately.  I'll be gutted if this isn't due to something being dislodged and is in fact the coil pack and still banking on it being much simpler.

[Welung666]

Pete feel the padding under the skuttle panel just to the left of join and see if it's wet. If it is it may be dripping on the dispack and weakening the spark out. If that is the case whip the skuttle off and dry it out (airing cupboard or the like) and when re-fitting it run a bead of silicone sealant along the join and around the 2 wiper holes

[bluey]

Hiya Lee, just checked and it's bone dry.  Starting to get dark now so probably best I have a bit of a mug up on the dispack area, maybe get the carb cleaner out and make sure the plug leads are all super clean and dry, and read the blimmin' paperclip test too - I forgot to do that last night. 

Just odd that it starts fine when cold and then starts to play up a couple of minutes later.  Ho hum.

[Welung666]

That could be a small leak on the SAI pipes, while the sai pump is running it doesn't show, once it shuts off it could be allowing extra air in. Will need some investigation with a can of my carb cleaner

[bluey]

Darn it, looks like I'll have to buy some carb cleaner!   

If the SAI pump is what I think it is, a low sort of grumbling noise in the background for about a minute or two when starting up, then I'm not sure that's the problem.  It seems to start to happen at the same time it shuts off when firing up from cold, but if warm then it's running a bit rough and gets lumpy very quickly while the pump is running.

I'll keep plugging away and check all the sparky bits and go and look at this SAI pump thing too.

By the way, the paperclip test gave fault codes of 31 ( no engine RPM signal, so disregard that one) and 57 (Idle Air Control Voltage Low).

[Welung666]

Darn it, looks like I'll have to buy some carb cleaner!   

If the SAI pump is what I think it is, a low sort of grumbling noise in the background for about a minute or two when starting up, then I'm not sure that's the problem.  It seems to start to happen at the same time it shuts off when firing up from cold, but if warm then it's running a bit rough and gets lumpy very quickly while the pump is running.

I'll keep plugging away and check all the sparky bits and go and look at this SAI pump thing too.

By the way, the paperclip test gave fault codes of 31 ( no engine RPM signal, so disregard that one) and 57 (Idle Air Control Voltage Low).

I need to get the laptop on it I think, and a good clean of the IACV but buy carb cleaner first

[0795omega]

mines started doing this recently,since funilly enough since having had the spark plugs renewed at big cam belt service! far too much of a coincidence!! thinking plug leads perhaps as my rockers were also leaking,had new rockers fitted in march by my garage as they said theyd warped,then when he did the plugs 3 weeks ago said youve got oil in your plug wells drivers side,so i said i should hope not money i paid you in march to do them!!.hed forgoten car had even been in for this job!! seen the price of new leads about £154.00 aftermarket,may go for good genuine vaux/secondnand!