engine under performing

[turbominicooper]

hi all,

i picked up my willy1 a few weeks ago and when i was first driving it it was pretty quick through the gears and nice and smooth, by the time i was well into 2nd gear i was at 60mph.

recently it seems to just be under performing, i shift all the way into 2nd and im barely at 40mph.

the car feels likes it bogging up a bit and smells a bit fuel at times.

engine mods are:
-airfilter
-exhaust

ive checked
-rotor arm
-dizzee
-leads
-plugs
-cleaned the airfilter
-replaced temp sensor beneath injectors - possibly put on wrong way round?

when i cleaned the airfilter last week it was bogging and looking at it today its back t being covered in crap again.

this may sound a bit random but there was a few fuses missing from the fuse box so i made sure the right amp fuse was in the alocated slot.
another thing that happened was i knocked the exhaust quite hard on the gate mount at work but the exhaust seemed ok when on the ramp today.

does anyone have any thoughts on this one?

[Wobba]

Which sensor did you change around? Was it the brown one or the white one you need to press to release (single wire I think?) The brown one is knock sensor and the other is oil level, maybe a third oil temperature as well. Won't change much tbh...knock sensor can retard ignition though and reduce performance, but it's a simple piece of kit and rarely goes wrong! Or do you mean the air temp sensor in the inlet manifold?

Bashing the exhaust will unlikely cause such a drop in performance, unless you cracked the manifold. You'll be able to tell by sound and smells of exhaust gases in the cabin.

Does it hit a kind of rev limit and start to bog down?

Could be the coil.

Open the oil cap and check for mayonnaise type substance, and see if the filter has a load of it on it from the camcover pipe which leads back to it.

Other things to check are the fuel lines and fuel filter underneath oin drivers side. If you are running old pipes, a small split will drop pressure and make that smell, plus horrid economy. Check in engine bay for signs of fuel leakage on the drivers side, front of the suspension turret and behind the headlight there.

[turbominicooper]

Which sensor did you change around? Was it the brown one or the white one you need to press to release (single wire I think?) The brown one is knock sensor and the other is oil level, maybe a third oil temperature as well. Won't change much tbh...knock sensor can retard ignition though and reduce performance, but it's a simple piece of kit and rarely goes wrong! Or do you mean the air temp sensor in the inlet manifold?

Bashing the exhaust will unlikely cause such a drop in performance, unless you cracked the manifold. You'll be able to tell by sound and smells of exhaust gases in the cabin.

Does it hit a kind of rev limit and start to bog down?

Could be the coil.

Open the oil cap and check for mayonnaise type substance, and see if the filter has a load of it on it from the camcover pipe which leads back to it.

Other things to check are the fuel lines and fuel filter underneath oin drivers side. If you are running old pipes, a small split will drop pressure and make that smell, plus horrid economy. Check in engine bay for signs of fuel leakage on the drivers side, front of the suspension turret and behind the headlight there.

it was the brown one, the harness had actually broken off so i wired a new one in - the sensor has not been changed itself. u mention about the timing retarding so i could have put the new harness on the wrong way round??

the exhaust sounds ok, theres a bit more popping then usual but could that be the excess fuelling if thats the case with the fuel smell etc?

rev limit is where it normally is, it just feels like its taking longer to hit it.

the coil may be the case cause when i was checking the plugs/leads there was a misfire on the 1st cylinder but after a plug clean and putting all the leads back in the problem seemed to disappear but may have returned after a few miles... ill check tomo

no mayo but i am super paranoid of this being the case - really cant b arsed changing the hg

fuel lines have been changed in the past but may be worth a look at again and ill check the fuel filter.

the only leak which is prob irrelevant is the power steering fluid is always all over the place after a drive

[Danno]

Im no expert but personally I'd put the standard airbox back on, and secondly as stupid as it sounds, are letting the engine get warmed up before you give it some ? I only ask because my old W3 was a different car once it'd warmed up, but when cold was a pile of s**t, and did pretty much what yours is doing now.

[turbominicooper]

Im no expert but personally I'd put the standard airbox back on, and secondly as stupid as it sounds, are letting the engine get warmed up before you give it some ? I only ask because my old W3 was a different car once it'd warmed up, but when cold was a pile of s**t, and did pretty much what yours is doing now.

its irrelevent what airfilter is on it i think cause the ecu should match the air taken in with the right amount of fuel - plus when i first drove it with the airfilter currently fitted it drove awesome.

and of course always warm the engine up first and thats where the problems lie... when its warmed up

quick note though based on what you said the smell of fuel only happens when i try to boot it so it could be the filter needs replacing as its not mathcing the air to fuel ratio or it could be a sensor thats nackered

[turbominicooper]

k so looking at engine today u can see the yellow sensor is held on with chicken wire??


out of the 3 main sensors to the block which is which?

Brown one in picture - ?
Yello one in picture?
Brown one at front of block under injectors?

thanks

[MatBrown]

Does it still have the cat fitted? Could have broke down when you banged exhaust.

[turbominicooper]

Does it still have the cat fitted? Could have broke down when you banged exhaust.

yes still fitted but plus side is i have a decat pipe so could get round to fitting that asap... good thinking mate ;)

[Wobba]

k so looking at engine today u can see the yellow sensor is held on with chicken wire??


out of the 3 main sensors to the block which is which?

Brown one in picture - ?
Yello one in picture?
Brown one at front of block under injectors?

thanks

Brown one in picture: Temperature sender to the dash display.
Yellow one in picture: It is actually white normally. It is the coolant temperature sensor for ECU.
Brown one at front of block under injectors: Knock sensor

Yea, good thinking Mat. Could be due to blocked exhaust.

[turbominicooper]

the brown one in the picture has become more interesting to me cause my temp gauge in the car is constantly on 50 degrees... any ideas there??