Sparky

Some of you may remember the yellow S4 I pulled a mullered cambelt off last year.  Well, it's back today with a new owner.  But I have a conundrum.  Amongst other bits and pieces, he complained of a high idle, so I whipped out my Freescan and set to work.  No CEL, but code 26.  Either the CEL has blown or somebody removed the bulb (I have my suspicions).  So, reset, ran the engine and got code 26 back immediately.  Checked all the relays, powered the circuits, no fault found.

Then I suddenly got code 42 and the engine stuttered and died.  Restarted, ran fine for a minute or so, then code 42 and died again.  I could carry on all night - it starts, runs for a minute, then fails.  During this time, code 26 keeps reappearing, but code 42 has now disappeared.  CEL remains off.

I got desperate and swapped ECUs with my GT3 - same symptoms, and my GT3 runs fine on the S4 ECU.  Phew!  But what in blazes is going on?  I can't find a thing wrong, all Freescan parameters look good, nothing disturbed except a few relays that shouldn't make any difference, but the engine only lasts lasts a minute or so - unless I clear the ECU by disconnecting the battery, then it lasts maybe 3 minutes.

Any ideas?

Name the aircraft.

Replaced Alan's (temple) S4 clutch today.  Had a horrific time as some lazy git had put the starter bolts in the wrong way round and one of them was seized bad, literally like concrete.  Heated, froze, lubed, and bashed the hell out of it but it wasn't going to move.  So eventually I removed and replaced the gearbox with a huge lump of thread in the way and an immovable starter, which was no fun.

Just finishing putting it back together, I thought "I pity the poor sod who has to change that when it expires".  Guess what?  It died on its second turn.  Checked electrically, and the fault is internal.

Booooo.  

Just as I was cursing Mr Chapman, and looking for a cat to kick, Tracy came out to tell me we'd got 5 on the lottery.
Yaaaaaay!

M25 J15-16 this afternoon.  Not one, but two!  A silver one was a few cars behind.  Couldn't get any decent pics though.

Two small hunks of metal, combined, worth more than my house.

I fancy doing a full circuit of the M25. This will involve leaving my house early Sunday morning, joining at J18 and heading to South Mimms Services.  I will rest/chat there for 45 minutes, then proceed to Thurrock services where I will repose for a further 45 minutes.  I will then head off for Clacket Lane and another 3/4 hour sojourn, whereupon I will continue round to J18 once again, and back home.

All of this can be done in 5 hours or less, meaning I'll be back just in time for lunch (which may involve a pub).

I already know a few who may join me for the crack, and I thought it might be interesting to see how many Lotus vehicles might coincidentally occupy the same piece of road at any given time, at any point around the circuit.

So, 120-odd miles to a simple schedule, and 3 handy meeting places along the way.  Surely we can get a lot of motors together? SLEGS especially shouldn't have far to go to say hello, wherever they live!

You know the drill...

1. sparky - GT3