car troubles

[cosmo vyss]

I started my car the other morning and it would run for a few seconds rough as and then stall. After a few starts and a few herbs it got going and all was well. Thought it was just being temperamental. I thought it may be an idle controller problem. The car hasn't done it since.

Four days later whilst driving the car would hesitate and then go. It was like something was holding the car back. This was only noticeable in 5th or 6th gear cruising at around 100 to 120 clicks. A snappy phone call ( Sonny's first day on holidays dooh) to Sonny and he though it may have been a spark problem. So after a quick phone assessment from Sonny (car unseen). He though it may have been the leads. Anyway no where in Sydney had stock of genuine holden leads so i purchased a set of leads from Repco to get me by. So i chuck them on and no dice, the problem still isn't resolved. It actually seemed to me me to highlight it more. So i thought it may be the plugs. I had the plugs changed, fuel filter changed and the problem still remains. It actually got worse and was noticeable in all gears now and at different revs.

After racking what few brain cells i have. I think it may be a 02 sensor or something of the like.
So this morning i run it over to the exhaust shop down the road from to have the 02 sensors checked. Anyway it turned out to be the drivers side cat had let go. It took all of 20 seconds under the car to find this out.
This is now the third cat that the car has spat. Is there anything in particular that causes these to let go? I am trying to work at out what causes this and reduce the chances of it happening again.

How long of a warrantee do you normally get with cats? I am assuming it would be about 12 months. Considering that holden warrantee there parts for two years.
Does anyone of any stockist of di fillipo cats in Sydney, in case i can't get one in the very near future.

JB

[Stevie_D]

Is your car a series 1 or II VY SS because I have a couple of OEM cats with only a few thousand kays on them to suit a series I if you want them.

PM me your mobile if you're interested and I can give you a bell to arrange pick up.

[cosmo vyss]

Is your car a series 1 or II VY SS because I have a couple of OEM cats with only a few thousand kays on them to suit a series I if you want them.

PM me your mobile if you're interested and I can give you a bell to arrange pick up.

Thanks for the offer. Its a series 2. I am after a di fillipo cat as i want to keep the system all the same.

Cheers
JB

[RedVYIISS]

replace it with a metal substrate cat and you'll never have the problem again. More expensive, but they flow better and don't collapse.

[DaveHAT]

replace it with a metal substrate cat and you'll never have the problem again. More expensive, but they flow better and don't collapse.

Agreed Al, I just did this very thing to mine. :)

It seems to be the season for these sort of niggling car related things JB, my chariot went all funky on me with a hanging and erratic idle which was shitting me up the wall ... THE DAY AFTER SONNY CLOSED ! :headbang:

Fortunately a phone call to an enlightened fella in the neighbourhood with some technowizardry :bow: plus some scan gauge work and the problem was diagnosed as a faulty TPS ...badda bing, Medowie speed shop swings into action and problem solved in 1/2hr. Luckily had a spare TB with sensors in the "just in case pile"

Motoring again shortly afterwards. :yahoo:

[cosmo vyss]

Well after alot of mucking around and stuff. I got a new cat on today. Well you just wouldn't read about it. The old one come off no worries and after checking it out it looks to be ok. So i chuck the new one on anyway. The car still has the same problem and the new cat seems to have made little difference.

I like to see how the exhaust guy come to the conclusion that the cat was stuffed. Anyway i am back to square one. The main symtoms of the problem is, that whilst cruising the car hesitates and goes, its like it hit a wall and then goes through it. Sometimes on take off it just feels flat and then starts to go. I have put in new, plugs,leads,fuel filter and also had the injectors cleaned.


So i am at a loss as to what it could be. Rather then rushing down to holden and getting new 02 sensors and forking out more money (only later finding out, the ones in there were ok, as i have with the leads,plugs,fuel filter) Do you guys have any ideas on what could be going on here.


JB

[Ron]

Well after alot of mucking around and stuff. I got a new cat on today. Well you just wouldn't read about it. The old one come off no worries and after checking it out it looks to be ok. So i chuck the new one on anyway. The car still has the same problem and the new cat seems to have made little difference.

I like to see how the exhaust guy come to the conclusion that the cat was stuffed. Anyway i am back to square one. The main symtoms of the problem is, that whilst cruising the car hesitates and goes, its like it hit a wall and then goes through it. Sometimes on take off it just feels flat and then starts to go. I have put in new, plugs,leads,fuel filter and also had the injectors cleaned.


So i am at a loss as to what it could be. Rather then rushing down to holden and getting new 02 sensors and forking out more money (only later finding out, the ones in there were ok, as i have with the leads,plugs,fuel filter) Do you guys have any ideas on what could be going on here.


JB

Maybe fuel pump playing up ??

[235rwkw]

need to hook yours up to some tuning tools or at least a scan tool. take some guess work out of it. guessing can get expensive. if the tune/scan tools pickup nothing then you look at things without sensor input to the pcm.

cats either rattle of become blocked. blocked the make the car run flat no power, they don't hit a wall then go ok again.

could be a fuel pressure problem as well. depends if it does it in the same place everytime. need a fuel pressure gauge for this check. Did you remove the injectors for cleaning and testing? on car cleans tell you absolutly nothing. need them cleaned and flow checked off the car, that way you can find a faulty one, or one leaking or flowing less than the rest.

[SSUte01]

JB,

I am in OZ too ;), dunno where you live, I think Sydney sounds familiar. If you need a hand lemme know I am up near Dave but I am travelling down the M7 to Canberra on Thu and I can bring the laptop and WB if you are interested - it may be of no help but as mentioned above if it is related to PCM sensors then we would be able to narrow it down and if not we can always cannibalise parts to try and eliminate the issue like say coil packs etc.

Does the issue get worse with heat, almost does sound like a crook coil pack or fuel related pump/injector.

Good luck

Luke

[Febs]

Did you manage to hook up any diagnostic equipment to check if the 02's are behaving properly (ie: "sawtoothing" like I mentioned in your other thread?)

My money is still on the 02's. I went through what you're going through a little while ago...fuel filter, plugs, leads etc... In the end it was the 02's.

Cheers,
- Febs.

[SSUte01]

Poor man's test to ascertain whether or not the O2s are messing with your proportional fuelling and causing surging and other 'funky' behaviour is to simply unplug one or both as this will force the PCM into 'Open Loop' ie no feedback from the O2 sensors, if problem disappears then this is your issue, if still there then it cannot be solely O2 issues (they may be part of it) BTW I have a spare pair too as I unnecessarily changed mine earlier last year.

[35R]

JB if you are near Maroubra i have some tuning/scanning tools here.

[cosmo vyss]

JB if you are near Maroubra i have some tuning/scanning tools here.

I am in the Ryde area so a trip to Maroubra isn't a problem at all. It tends to do it more when the car is hot and has been running a while. Also at higher speeds car kinda gets the shakes and its like something is holding it back. Its like when you have a faulty cat feels flat as no power but then finds it and then goes back again to having none.
JB

[cosmo vyss]

JB,

I am in OZ too ;), dunno where you live, I think Sydney sounds familiar. If you need a hand lemme know I am up near Dave but I am travelling down the M7 to Canberra on Thu and I can bring the laptop and WB if you are interested - it may be of no help but as mentioned above if it is related to PCM sensors then we would be able to narrow it down and if not we can always cannibalise parts to try and eliminate the issue like say coil packs etc.

Does the issue get worse with heat, almost does sound like a crook coil pack or fuel related pump/injector.

Good luck

Luke


I am in the Sydney area. :beer: Thank you for the offer. I will send you a pm if i can't resolve it.
JB

[VooDoo]

Could be something as simple as bad fuel. Fill the tank to the brim. You can put something in it that absorbs water but its late and i cant remember (kero?)

Cats are easy to hear when they fail, they rattle as the honeycomb stuff falls apart. A tap with a hammer and it sounds like its full of sand (i went through 3 sets before i bought the metal substrate ones)

[Febs]

Voods - out of curiosity, how long did you get out of your old cats? I've heard lots of people talking about stuffed cats lately, but mine are still going strong after 130,000km.

Cheers,
- Febs.

[RedVYIISS]

Febs, it's guys with lowered cars, long headers and low mounted Cats that destroy them. Typically the Cat mounting flanges are the low point of the exhaust system, and it's these flanges that clobber speed humps and the like, though any part of the zorst hitting an obstruction can transmit shock to the Cats.

It's physical damage that destroys them, not km driven.

[RedVYIISS]

Could be something as simple as bad fuel. Fill the tank to the brim. You can put something in it that absorbs water but its late and i cant remember (kero?)

It's metho that absorbs water. I've no idea what adding meto does to fuel octane rating though (In the bad old days it didn't matter!!!!).

If I was worried about water in fuel, these days I'd just let the car sit for 24 hrs (Water is heavier than fuel), disconnect the fuel filter then pump some fuel out of the tank into a drum.

[cosmo vyss]

A big thank you goes out to Dunc and Eric :beer: The problem has been found although a repair wasn't an option at the time due to not having the parts on hand.
It turned out to be the iat sensor problem. It wasn't actually the iac sensor itself, it was the plug, that plugs into it from the harness. It must have hit the belt or something and was snapped off with only the two wires remaining. So hopefully tommorow after a trip to holden i should have the hand little new plug in my hand and then a snappy trip to an auto electricans to get it soldered up and all things being equal I will be back in motoring bliss again.
Also a big thank you to Sonny as well for helping me with a new cat on short notice. :beer: No wonder so many of us use his shop for our motoring needs.

JB

[35R]

Glad to help. A quick check with the scanner found 138* IAT; thus we quickly found the snapped IAT cable. Hopefully an easy fix and back to normal JB.

[SSUte01]

JB,

Awesome to hear.

Dunc and Erik - Good work.

It must have been shorting somewhere as well because usually when they disconnect completely they will default to -39*C as opposed to what you saw.

Awesome glad it sorted