Hi all,

I have a 1997 EL XR8 series 1 with 164 on the clock

I recently bought this car and did a major service including plugs, leads, dizzy cap, rotor, coil, fuel filter, maf clean, injector cleaner additive, K&N air filter, set TPS etc

I also checked the timing and it was set on 30 degrees on the balaner (that is up against the squared off bracket on the drivers side of the motor? i assume thats the timing reference?) and i checked fault codes and got 111, no fault found.

everything was great and the car ran really strong. note: car has extractors and a full twin echaust system. also note: car is driven very nicely, not thrashed whatsoever.

Just recently the car has developed what sounded like an exhaust rattle on medium to light throttle settings (eg 4th gear going up a hill at 2200 rpm). i thought maybe an exhaust weld had fallen in front of the cat although this is not a new exhaust so i doubt it.

i planned to check it out furthur next day off, last night i took off hard from the lights and the sound appeared and when i hit about 3500 it got worse and felt like it surged, tacho flared a little to about 4000 and i backed off. it soudned horrible, my mate behind me said that when i backed off a huge puff of black smoke came out of the exhaust.

now i have time off tomorrow so im going to run a diagnostic again and check the obvious things but i am real keen to get peoples thoughts on what it might be and where to look given past experiences.

thanks heaps in advance

did you replace the cat converters at any stage?? or are they the originals??
an exhaust rattle up front and hesatating surging could be one ore both cat converters are collapsed??

i did, my previous car was an NC fairlane v8 which i had a set of EL GT extractors fitted to, i also has high flow cats ($400 pair) and a twin 2.25 system on it. this was about 10months ago. when i bought the xr8 recently i had the exhausts swapped. would the sound still be apparent in neutral or just load in this case? this seems load based but it did surge in the upper rpm as you said.

i bought a bottle of octane booster and tipped it in (pitty tank was full) i will drive up the same hill today and see if anything has changed, if it has i know where to start

keep the ideas commig though and thanks in advance fordmodders!

hey man i would check that the balancer hasent spun on itself as it has a rubber in the middle and can turn on it, this would make the timing indication on the light wrong and the rattle could very well be pinging.

interesting development guys,

got home and,
checked timing - ok (set at 30)
checked fault codes - all 111 (system pass)
checked air flow meter and plug - ok
checked spark plug lead conenctions - ok

put in bottle of octane boosted then took it for a drive and no fault!

does this mean a bad batch of fuel? i know its only 91 but i have never had a problem before?

also should the timing be set to the point of the timing bracket or against the flat edge?

thoughts?

put the engine up to top dead center, cylinder number 1 and make sure that the timing mark is lining up on the balancer with the timing mark on the bracket. if this isnt correct this could cause the timing mark to show say 30 btdc when because the mark on the outside piece of the ballancer has sliped on the inside piece it could be fifty degrease wich would cause pinging this may sound stupid have a look at your balanser, behind the pulley tha bolts on to the ballancer you will see a small rubber that seperates the inside to the outside this can slip

Lower timing back down to 27 or 28. I've had to do this, especially with bad fuel so I usually use fuel with a decent octance rating. Octane booster would have improved the quality of the fuel you have. When you do have higher octane, you can run higher timings which is why your car didn't ping with the booster.

cheers so with no 1 at TDC should the timing maker/reference line up with 0 degrees on the balancer?

i will check this on monday night

ok hold on a second....

i have just been reading some threads, the timing on my car may not be set correctly.

when the car goes into diagnostic mode should it read 30 degrees when the mode first starts and it revs to 1500 ish or 30 once it has settled down to 1000ish rpm? mine seems to have been set to 30 once it settles back down.

if it should be set when at 1500 does this mean mine is too advanced or retarded?

cheers

30 degrees at 1500rpm. If it's 30 degrees at 1000rpm then it's pretty advanced for iron heads.. If you still have trouble, as mentioned lower to around 28 at 1500rpm.

because when you first start the car it revs right up in diagnostic mode for a few seconds then settles down, you check the timing once it has settle down dont you or when it has first reved up after start?

PS i checked the TDC on cyl no 1 and that is spot on

thanks guys