I've had a quick look, but need to have bit more of a dig about there, I got sidetracked in that area and started sorting some other bits. I considered the prospect that the turbo may have melted something and shorted the wiring, it's got all the proper heat shielding in place but I guess you can never be too sure.

 

my first saph melted a wire with the previous owner, it was trapped behind the turbo heatshield and got melted behind it and shorted.

 

Get a new loom from bespokelooms.co.uk

Steve

 

Its looking that way, the fucking thing is in bits and I still can't find a problem!

 

Right, had a spare moment to peruse the wiring diagrams!

It would seem (and from logical reasoning) that short or issue I am having is possibly related to the purge canister wiring which is also connected to Pin 20 (ecu power +ve).
According to the diagram it looks like the positive from the battery splits and goes into two, one for the fuel pump relay (M10) and the other for the fuel injection relay (M11), they each have their own fuse and only one of them blows.
From logical reasoning it seems the the fault would be AFTER the relay given than there is no issue with the car when ignition is off and therefore the relay is not operating and completing the circuit, as soon as you turn the key the relay operates and the fuse blows.

On the diagram the purge canister is bridged into pin 20, I have not checked the location of this part but I beieve it is somewhere near the turbo on the drivers side of the engine bay.

As always thoughts and inputs appreciated.

 

Hi all,well great to finally meet rog and his lovely ladies (one being a slightly mad cat) tonight and have a good look at the saph cos,cracking motor too.
So we managed to get a good look at this tonight and traced it (so we thought) to a bad ignition amplifier that's housed on the inner wing near the battery.
It showed a dead short from pin 24 to earth which looked wrong in the diagram as it simply terminated at the amp.Tried again with the amp plug off and no blown fuse.put the plug on and tried again,no blown fuse,even tried another one that had been swapped when the fault first came up,no fuse blown.
We've tried wiggling the loom to see if there's any loose connections causing the short but again ok.
Great!!!
Now not so sure?
Tested the other one rog had laying about yet that had the same readings of a near enough dead short between where pin 24 terminates on the amp (think its pin 3) to pin 2 which is the main earth,all wiring resistance values are spot on.
Rog had a look on big turbo.com and after a bit of searching it turns out that it's basically a transistor based amplifier with pin 3 (from 24 in ecu) being a "reference ground".
Now,without wanting to simply diagnose this as a bad component etc which neither of us think is the case I'm wondering if any of the tuners on here/those in the know have any ideas what the resistance values should read between pins on the amp so I can make a good judgement as to whether it's simply bad luck with two dodgy parts etc.
We're gonna bell out all the wiring from the ecu etc to confirm there's no other issues as rog has found a few bits and bobs that aren't ideal and these will be fixed as well but generally the wirings in good order and the components I've tested so far are standing up well to the resistances stated on various websites etc.
So fingers crossed that's all it was but were not 100% convinced yet so let's not close the thread just yet!!!!

 

Good to hear you guys are making some progress on it.

Oh and big LOLZ at Rog's crazy cat - it's seriously mental. Thankfully last time I was round it was locked in its cage (no joke!)

 

Ha ha yeah fair play he did warn me it wasn't a "friendly" moggie which it quickly demonstrated by letting rog walk past then trying to swipe his ankle with its right claw!!!
And that's it's owner!!!
It makes a right evil hiss as well,but to be fair it just seems a bit protective and it calmed down when rog's mrs came in.
Great hospitality too,I was sad too leave!!!
Odd as it sounds I'm hoping the fault comes back on the car so we can fully prove out all the wiring as I'm not sure we really did anything,although there were a few minor issues I noticed like no conductive paste behind the amplifier,pin 1 ecu earth seemed a little loose,the coil suppressor wasn't earthed but none of that would cause any of the symptoms.
We'll wait for a fine day to drag it outside and do a full wiring/component check,I'll even borrow an oscilloscope from work do we can check the injector pulses,waveforms etc.
We've got a vacuum pump somewhere as well which we could test the map sensor with as well so hopefully it'll at least prove everything out.

 

Well first of all a MASSIVE thanks for all your help so far, it was great to finally meet you and have a good bullshit about RS's.
I'm literally just away out the the garage now to see if it does in fact start now that the battery is fully charged, well it has been all weekend but I've had other stuff to do so not gone near it, I'm happy that the fault has appeared to have gone, bt it doesn't really fill me with confidence that it won't reappear at 2 am on a cold night in the middle of the countryside with no phone signal, these lovely thinggs have a habit of picking the best moments!

I'm off to Cameroon on tuesday for a bit, might be two weeks or longer, will know more when I get there, but as soon as I am back maybe we can pull her out and get a bit more diagnosis done, well I won't I'll just stand there and watch!

Not sent the box away yet, looks like it miht be going to Bara now and they have a short turnaround on the boxes so I'm not too worried how long it takes. Diffs should be back this week, not in a major rush to get it all built up but I know it will be great when it's done.

On a random note...F1 and Lee Mackenzie on BBC, she'd get it, tidy as!!!

 

Just got this now,hope it started ok!!!
You were plenty of help fella,it's clear you've got a good idea about how it all works and it's a cracking motor,just looks so right in silver.
As for a timescale aside from the weekend of 10,11,12 of August as that bumboy in "are you being served?" used to say,"I'M FREE!!!!".
Can't believe how old I am!!!

 

Wicked mate, well IF and that's probably a longshot, I'm home then definately up for a bit more faut finding, and a pint!
Regards starting it, no it didn't start, the battery was flat again, which was odd, it was just clicking on the starter, it's back on charge again, battery is only a year old but I do have a drain somewhere I think as it's always been a bugger to start if you leave it for a week or two.
Think I might have to buy some more stack gauges and wire them in before I put it all back together, makes sense!

 

Good stuff mate,you may find there's just a bad connection at the battery earth if it won't fully kick over,or possibly at the starter.
I can trace the current drain for you next time using the ammeter setting on the multimeter and removing fuses etc,I'll shove the booster pack in the van if it's not charging.
A pint would be great fella,enjoyed having a good "exhaust fume" style cossie chat.
Enjoy Cameroon and say hi to Roger Milla if you see him,which in a country of about 80 million people is unlikely!!!

 

Just a thought too,check that the battery terminals aren't cracked on those square type batteries,it's easy to overtighten them and cause it although its easy to convert to a round terminal type using mk5 escort bits which solves the issues,at the loss of being non standard.

 

Thanks, I'll take a closer look at it mate and see what the story is, I'm thinking it's just not been on charge long enough but does seem a little strange as I did leave it for a good while.

Anyway, just bought the rest of the stack gauges I need, I bloomin' love their stuff, so once I put it all back together it'll look tip top inside Even if it still does have a few teething problems it'll certainly look the part.

 

Ok, checked on the car when I went out this AM.....more dodgy shenanigans!
The battery had been left on charge for a good while and it still isn't charged (it is still hooked up to the car), I suspect there is defiately some sort of short thats constantly draining the battery, not had a proper look as I just unplugged it and went to work so i shall have a look when I get home.

 

Gonna say I could charge it in work on the power supply over the weekend if nae joy,you often find those shop ones can't quite put enough ampage in to get it all started and moving plus they break very easily.
Don't want to sound like a scaremongerer but never charge your battery inside the car mate ,I've seen a few short out and burn it to the ground or even just melt the battery,bubble the acid over the top etc,not nice.
I normally don't give a fuck for health and safety but that's one rule I do stick too,the least would be to take the cap off on top to let it breathe but really not worth it.
Sometimes even putting the charge leads on and off can fuck shitty electronics up in the car,usually save able but not always.
Those stack gauges are the dogs danglies too,that's shaping up to be a top saph,right colour,right wheels and proper power under the bonnet.
Clean too.

 

Cheers, yes i was being a lazy c*nt and didn't take it out but you're right, wisest move is to take the battery out and see if it charges without being hooked up to the car, might do that tonight if i remember.
Can't wait to get the box and diffs in, then live mapped it will be awesome.

 

Yeah,sorry if I sounded like the pf mafia a bit,ie don't drive your car on those brake pads below 3mm you WILL DIE A HORRIBLE DEATH but to lose that beast that way would be criminal!!!!

Well,if I can give it the full health check and put your mind at rest it's ok then I may have to demand a go in it (as a passenger of course) after live mapping as payment....











Plus numerous snacks/cakes etc!!!

 

Ok dude, I start travelling back tonight, I will be back in the UK by lunchtime tomorrow, what's your schedule to help get this bloody thing fixed??? Hopefully they'll be some home baking involved and a good yap if you're interested?

 

Ok, I have had a look at this again, and now I have found out the battery is buggered which is pretty strange..... It's quite a new battery and it won't hold charge, I'm now wondering whether something happened inside the battery to cause my fault, or the battery has just given up AFTER all this happened. I have tried to get a shot of one locally but no one seems to have one to try, so now on the hunt for a new one.

 

Sounds hellish but its great to see the support given thats whats its all about when problems like this arise and i,m sure you'll get to the bottom of it eventually . Keep ya chin up rog n co

 

Rog have you checked the voltage from your alternator? could be givining too much voltage or current hence blowing fuses and destroying a battery??

just a thought

 

That's a good point,well worth checking that out as if it's had a power surge through the system that can fry electronic components.
I'd still consider converting it to a round terminal type though Rog,be a lot easier to get a battery in the future etc plus easier to fault find as you can individually remove circuits to test as we can put them onto a terminal post bolted alongside the positive terminal.
Time for bed now after nights!!!