Urgent Advice Needed

October 13, 2007

Hi. :)

Today, I've had the chargecooler off... and replaced the plugs, leads, dissy and rotor arm... and whilst doing so, have come across an unplugged connector. I'm just wondering if anybody can give me some info on it, whilst I've still got the car in bits untill I put it together again tomorrow. :)

The connector is a small square one, which plugs into something which goes into the underneath of the inlet manifold? The part which it looks like it plugs into, has one vacuum pipe coming off it, which goes through into the cabin?

Is this meant to be unplugged, as I can't physically see how it could have come unplugged itself... or is it one of the 'deactivated' parts, as mine is a WRC model. :)

Also, whilst trying to find the water leak into my dash... I found a reasonably large (About twice as big as a screenwash pipe) pipe which is transparent running along the edge of the car on the drivers side, underneath the carpet. I pulled towards the back end of it, and it wasn't connected to anything... but the front end seems to go through the hole underneath the dash which goes into the front drivers wing? Is this another deactivated part on the WRC cars, like the pipe for water injection? :)

Also, I've noticed my car seems to have a slight top end tap when fully warmed up at around 1000rpm (Or at least that's the only RPM I can hear it at due to the exhaust and engine noise). It does it if you blip the throttle too... but it's only reasonably slight, and is intermittent. The cars on 90,000 miles at the moment, and the oil pressure is spot on at cold idle, hot idle, cruise speed... and under boost. :) Is this a common occurence on the ST205's? Maybe it could be pinking? I'm running the car on V-Power, but have put in the odd £10 of 95 ron twice since I bought it as a fresh import 3 weeks ago. I've also been running the car low on fuel, as I can't back it up into my drive when the tank is too full... so could this be causing pinking? :( Could I just carry on running it on V-Power, and hope that it goes away... or should I invest in some fuel additive?

Many thanks for any advice. B)

October 14, 2007

could you post a pic off the plug, even if its one off of a camera phone, every little helps.

the pipe you've found does sound like it could be the water injection, if it goes into a bottle under the washer bottle then it alomst certanly is.

water leak into your dash? is it on the passenger side? possible heater matrix failure if it is.

top end tap, does it sound like a quieter version of an old ford? could mean your shims are worn, not a major issue. i can almost 100% say it's not pinking, there would need to be something major wrong with the car for it to pink at 1000rpm, you are quite right to be paranoid as it could save your engine one day.

it's fine to run it on V-Power if it's hardly modified, it's only when it's got the boost turned up and the engine starts running that little bit warmer due to higher boosty and giving it beans that you really need to worry. if you like, do a ECU reset by pulling the ECU fuse leaving it for 5 or 10 minutes then plug it back in and go for a drive the way you normally drive and the ECU will self learn and adjust how it runs to suit wether it's easy paced or hard just make sure your engine is warm first if you going to go out and give it beans

October 14, 2007

Thanks for the reply. :)

I think it is definitely for the water injection, as I've found a pic of the same part on Kris' GTFour website:

The water leak is on the drivers side. :) I think I've found a poor fitting gromet which could be the culprit, so shall refit it and see if it stops. :D

The top end tap/rattle is very,very intermittent. Sometimes it does it, and sometimes it doesn't... and it only seems to happen when the car is fully warmed up. It sounds like it's coming from the drivers side/cambelt area... and does it upon blipping the throttle, although it did start doing it at idle as soon as I started the car up from idle yesterday.

I'll have a check for loose heatshields around the area today, but I'm pretty sure it's from the top end. Could possibly be a cambelt pulley bearing I suppose. :unsure:

Thanks for the advice. :thumbsup:

October 14, 2007

when was the cam belt last replaced?

mines was intermittent too when i had a wrong sized shim in place after a re-build, do you know how to check the valve clearences? might be an idea if you've got the time

October 14, 2007

I'm not too sure when the cambelt was replaced, as I'm the first uk owner. The car has done 90000 miles though, so will be getting it changed soon with all new tensioner bearings etc...

I have noticed that when looking down at the PAS belt, I can see small little silver marks on the belt ribs. I'm thinking that this could be causing the noise when the belt's getting hot due to it being worn? I can't see any signs of cracking, but can see the little shiny bits in the grooves though. :unsure:

I'll check the valve clearences when I take the chargecooler off next weekend to clean it out. :)

Also, I did notice that when doing the dissy cap and rotor arm... that the rotor arm itself was in very bad shape. I'd definitely say that it has been on since new, as the plug leads had 1994 stamped on them... whereas my new one's have 2007 on them. The rotor arm end was very,very pitted... and the plastic had various crack marks in it too. :o Can defintely tell a huge improvement after replacing them though. B)

Cheers,

October 15, 2007

sounds like you need to give it a major service and see where you stand after that mate, replace all belts etc.

October 15, 2007

Thanks for the advice matey, you've been a big help. B)

I have noticed today, that the noise isn't as loud when you open the bonnet. The soundproofing has been removed from under the bonnet, and due to the bonnet being aluminium.... I'm thinking it's amplifying the sound a lot more? When you rev the engine with the throttle pully/butterfly in the engine bay... you can hear it, but it doesn't sound loud at all. :huh:

Hmm... think I'll just leave it be for the time being. The car runs spot on, with a recent reading on the emissions machine (Before I changed the dissy etc) of air to fuel ratio- 14.68:1.. and lambda was around 1.009. Oil pressure is also spot on throughout the rev range at both hot and cold, so is looking like it's just me getting too paranoid about the noise. :lol: