Rough running

[blackbelt1990]

Hi, problem time

went out for a drive today over some rougher than normal terrain, car acted fine, perfect running. Filled up on the way home, red light had just come on, full tank of vPower (99 Ron) as usual, ten minutes later and the cars now running really rough! Struggling to accelerate and idling badly.

I'm going to try injector cleaner in the morning, have I picked up some faulty fuel or should I be lookin at any sensors? I've got a diagnostics machine that I'll be using in the morning.

Thanks all

[bkf_uk]

bumpy roads + getting low = clogged fuel filter form shite been draged from the bottom of the tank

[blackbelt1990]

bumpy roads + getting low = clogged fuel filter form shite been draged from the bottom of the tank

that's always my first thought, what with being used to driving ancient minis! Ha
where is the filter on a 480?
Thanks

[glasgowjim]

underneath the body
drivers side 30 in front of rear wheel arch and 30 cm in with rusted to fook nuts.

[bigdickbuster]

Noooo.... don't touch the fuel filter You must dismantle fuel pump from the tank and put it to some jar or other tank with few liters of gasoline. If engine will run smooth, therefore check the filter and fuel tank. Probably you will need some kind of rubber pipe to extend the original pipes

[bkf_uk]

Noooo.... don't touch the fuel filter You must dismantle fuel pump from the tank and put it to some jar or other tank with few liters of gasoline. If engine will run smooth, therefore check the filter and fuel tank. Probably you will need some kind of rubber pipe to extend the original pipes

think i would rather try the filter first, instead of ripping the back seats apart to try to remove the bastard of a pump that invarably breaks and you end up buying a new one, filter costs £30 max, fuel pump £100+ i know which i would rather do!

[blackbelt1990]

Ordered a new filter and booked it in at the garage to get changed (not going to burden myself with that job!) and suprise suprise, it's all running fine again!

I'll be saving that filter when it arrives then...

[bigdickbuster]

Did you fill the tank with using new gasoline in the meantime?

[blackbelt1990]

Did you fill the tank with using new gasoline in the meantime?

No, it hasn't used it all yet. Only thing ive done is fill the screenwash! Ha

[bkf_uk]

easy answer, crap in the bottom of the tank was disturbed and floating in the fuel, this blocked the fuel pick up, now it's sat far a while the crap has settled to the bottom again and is no longer blocking the fuel pickup pipe.

[bigdickbuster]

Disconnect the fuel pipe from injector rail and check the fuel condition. Someone must help you, and turn on the starter. Use a little jar or bottle for the fuel. Both of this stuff must be transparent

You can use bottle from the screenwash

Or you can use some denaturant - maybe you have water in the tank. Denaturant will bound the water and engine will burn this mixture without problem

[blackbelt1990]

You can use bottle from the screenwash

HA!

I'll see how it goes!

[blackbelt1990]

This problem's come back. So a quick update,

I didn't change the fuel filter in the end and the car fixed itself. This was a few months ago.

The problem has come back, but in a slightly different form.
Randomly struggles to accelerate at different points throughout the rev range and has a very poor idle which the car tries to correct itself by increasing revs, it'll drop again after 10 seconds or so and the cycle starts again. However, after its been running for maybe about half an hour the problem goes away and its smooth running, Turn the engine off and back on, the problem comes back for about 20-30 minutes again.

I put some injection cleaner in again as I thought that's what fixed it last time, but clearly it didn't.
Any ideas please? It's come about since i drove in some heavy rain on Saturday, before that it was caused by a long spell on very rough road with low fuel.

Thanks in advance, Ryan

[ted clutch]

get that filter in and see if it aint gone. lambda sensor. has haeting element to work. if its got slugish might only be working on heat from long drive. how does it go with the throttle full open, speed doesnt matter.

[blackbelt1990]

Hi,
If its at the point when its struggling, then no amount of acceleration cures it, it just seems to come back 'as and when' it feels like. It can get worse on uphill too, had me crawling up some yesterday.
I've only just found my lambda was disconnected the other day, I couldn't say how long for but this problem came a good few days after.

[Captain Slow]

I was gonna suggest water getting into the lambda seeing as the sensors under the car and therefore quite susceptible, but seeing as a similar thing happened when it wasnt connected I guess that rules that out...

[blackbelt1990]

That's whats confused me... the only explanation i can see for it being the lambda is that it got disconnected the last time it wasnt running right, either by a bump or something, so possible disconnecting it will fix it again?

I'll try that

[blackbelt1990]

And that was the quickest "fix" ever...

It must need a new sensor... boo lol

[ted clutch]

sounds like its got lazy.it will run better with a new sensor. it will be on safe backup (underfueling) without pluged in.

[blackbelt1990]

Underfueling... result! ha

Is there anything I should know before I buy a new sensor, like the fact that minis only run properly on Bosch ones.

Ta,