Lifters replaced, now no power

[Anonymous]

I wimped out this week and got the mechanic to replace the lifters in my l'il gl EB.

Before the change, she was a little rough and so on, but she still had plenty of poke when it was needed. Now... well, I need to put the foot flat to the floor to get her moving. Once its in motion there's 50/50 chance it will go when I put the foot down; otherwise the engine revs up but there's no power. Most worrying: it now sounds like a helicopter unless its idling.

So what the hell have they done? Have they played with something somewhere else hoping I'll go back to get it fixed? Or have they just botched the job? I've given them cash enough to cover the parts so far, but at this point they won't see a red cent for labour until it's running smoothly.

Best of all, I'm going away on holiday tomorrow and I need the car to get where I'm going, so its going to be a week of unreliable driving far from home before I can go back to get it sorted...

Thanks in advance for any advice guys!

 

[addo]

Sounds like the cam timing is rogered.

 

[Anonymous]

Bugger. Not much I can do about it right now either :\

Thanks as usual for the quick reply

 

[Anonymous]

That said, if there's anyone here on the north side of bne who could fix it over breakfast tomorrow they cuold pretty much name their price at this point... I gotta be in northern nsw by tomorrow arvo

 

[DYNOED250]

They didnt need to touch the cam timing or ignition timing to change the lifters... Simple rip the rocker gear of and pop the lifters out, unless they fitted doble shims or somthing and its riding the valves or somthing like that..

 

[Anonymous]

God only knows what they've done. I got the front shockies replaced and they squeak like bastards and when I went to top up the oil (came back a half a litre shy of what I sent it in with) there was blue sealing gunk floating around in there... less than impressed :\

I've paid them for the parts, but they'll be fixing it properly before they see any money for the labour.

 

[Anonymous]

Update: Only realised today that they've removed the PCV valve and connected the hose directly to the rocker cover... might explain the litre of oil it's gone through since I put it in :\

How bad is it? Should I start catching the train for a bit?

 

[DYNOED250]

thatsw just stuffed up crap.. u sure they were mechanics?

 

[Anonymous]

Mostly they're great - except for one guy who probably could be good but doesn't seem to care any more.

See how we go tomorrow; taking it back bright and early :\

 

[Anonymous]

Connecting it they way they did is causing a huge vacuum leak, I'm sure you know that.

 

[Anonymous]

Further update: they made it all good Turns out I was horribly, horribly wrong - thank gud!

Replacement ECU and MAP sensor later, and she's still not perfect but much, much better

 

[DYNOED250]

How do u end up needing an ECU and map sensor, when it was all running fine before the lifters were changed.. Still sounds like they have sticked u up. EB ecu's dont die all the time like EF ones there pretty reliable. THe map sensor is a posibilty and do shit them selfs now and then but it was prob just the map sensor signal hose that runs from the manifold to the map sensor, these can get damaged easly.. How much did they end up charging u

 

[Anonymous]

Wasn't running fine, otherwise I wouldn't have had the lifters done But aside from the drive away from there, it got worse, quickly. I had lifters and front struts replaced, cost around $400 for parts and they charged ~$300 for labour. Seems like a fair enough price.

As for the ECU and MAP replacement, they've been good enough to accept IT services in return

Car's got a lot of issues, and every time one gets fixed a whole new bunch appears. Today's drama: it no longer wants to be in 1st or 4th gear. Its possible the ECU was from an EA - didn't they have 3 speed gearboxes? That would explain the lack of 4th and the different gear ranges, but not the refusal to take off in first. I just want the bloody thing to work and not go through $10 worth of petrol for every 30km I drive (which is the trip to and from work).

 

[wagon]

EB 2 onwards (6 cylinder type) had the trans control in the engine ecu. EA and EB 1 had an external trans controller. PLEASE put the correct ecu in or you WILL stuff your transmission. The ecu is most likely OK, as said by dynoed250 - get it tested if you must. The map sensor hose had probably fallen off or maybe the map sensor was stuffed. It is highly unlikely to have a sick ecu AND a sick map sensor! Unfortunately many mechanics and such just throw parts at a problem until it is fixed ; in the process they waste piles of good parts and cost the customer $$$. Have the basics been checked?? Spark plugs + leads, fuel pressure and flow, power / ground circuits etc. etc. Did they check for fault codes?

Good luck.

Kendall.

 

[Anonymous]

Yeah, it was all checked in order. MAP was the first thing I figured was wrong, and the last they thought it was

On the day, they swapped out the MAP, noticed improvment, swapped out ECU, noticed improvement, swapped out both and noticed it was much better.. but I'm still not sure wtf is happening with the trans. Reason they swapped out the ECU is because it looked like an EBII ecu and I'm driving an EBI.. oh how I wish for a nice, shiny, EBII xr6 or even an s-pack... Old ECU gave up 1 1 every time, even when it was missing or mixing too rich...

 

[Anonymous]

Once its other issues are sorted, for the economy side of things 2 things to check that are often overlooked is the thermostat, make sure it closes down tight when cold & opens at 90degs or whatever it is. A bypassing thermostat is a monty for running an engine below closed loop temp without the problem being detected. The other is the oxygen sensor, If you have never had it replaced or its getting on towards 100,000ks since it was replaced through it, no questioned asked. They choke up over time & will not show a fault code because it still thinks its ok. Both of these have a drastic effect on fuel economy in these engines.

 

[Anonymous]

Will do Once I figure out how to put her into diag mode I'll do the timing as well.


Or I could go back to riding a bicycle... very cheap to run