Newbie help please!

Liam_Irl_NA · Post by **Liam_Irl_NA** » Fri Mar 15, 2013 1:55 pm

Hi all,

Firstly I'd like to say hello to all my fellow MX5 owners! Recently bought my first MX(on tuesday!) Been an active member on Alfa Romeo forums the last 5 years but thought it was time to get into something that will put an even bigger smile on my face!

Stupidly on the way to work yesterday morning I missed the last turn off to stop at a gas station and by the time I got to work I knew I would need petrol ASAP when leaving town but to my miss0fortune tha damage may have been done already possibly running the motor too low on fuel(even with dodgy electrics my fuel warning lights never failed on my Alfa's so this is the first time this has happened to me!

When I started the car up I noticed it sounded a bit lumpy and once I started driving I noticed it was missfiring all through the rev range so after putting fuel in it I drove home slowly..

The car in question is a '91 1.6 running a "wasted spark plug set-up" as I was told it is very unlikely the plugs would fail with this set-up? Could it possibly be my fuel filter? If so are you able to clean these out and if not what would be my best option to start looking at?

Cheers

Liam

13r · Post by **13r** » Fri Mar 15, 2013 2:06 pm

haha, oh yea, the early MX5s don't have fuel lights...

I learned that the hard way too.

Can't help too much with the missing though sorry.

Mine had the same problems when it was low/ran out of gas.
But once I filled her up she was fine.

Liam_Irl_NA · Post by **Liam_Irl_NA** » Fri Mar 15, 2013 2:12 pm

13r wrote:haha, oh yea, the early MX5s don't have fuel lights...

I learned that the hard way too.

Can't help too much with the missing though sorry.

Mine had the same problems when it was low/ran out of gas.
But once I filled her up she was fine.

Cheers for the reply mate.

Well I only put 20 dollars fuel in once I realised it was missfiring thinking I may need to drain the tank.. I guess filling her up may be worth a try?!

13r · Post by **13r** » Fri Mar 15, 2013 2:20 pm

hmm, I only put around $20 into mine and it ran fine.

You may have sucked up gunk from the bottom of tank?
(I don't really know what I'm on about here sorry)

Liam_Irl_NA · Post by **Liam_Irl_NA** » Fri Mar 15, 2013 2:23 pm

Ye that's what I think it may be.

I wonder if anyone knows any alternate ways of cleaning the fuel filter? Rather than replacing of course, if not I better order one!

warrior · Post by **warrior** » Fri Mar 15, 2013 3:16 pm

Sorry to hear that mate, you cant clean the fuel filter it will need to be replaced, it proberly needs doing anyway. They are very easy and very cheap to replace so just grab a new one. When you replace it let the tank run dry and it should get rid of any crap in there then fill the thing up.

Growler · Post by **Growler** » Fri Mar 15, 2013 4:03 pm

Liam_Irl_NA wrote:The car in question is a '91 1.6 running a "wasted spark plug set-up" as I was told it is very unlikely the plugs would fail with this set-up? Could it possibly be my fuel filter? If so are you able to clean these out and if not what would be my best option to start looking at?

I'm not too sure what this statement means but it doesn't make sence.

The easiest thing to do is to change the fuel filter. If nothing else it is preventative maintenance. They are very easy to change and are located near the chassis rail close to the rear right wheel.
The filters are quite fine though and usually do a good job in collecting all of the crap from the tank. If that doesn’t work you could look at the injectors as being partially blocked – maybe.
This is assuming it is fuel. There could be a plug lead breaking down that has decided to play up at the same time you filled the tank! (Stranger things have happened!)

Snapfrozen · Post by **Snapfrozen** » Fri Mar 15, 2013 5:23 pm

Get your plugs out and check the condition of them. Replace the fuel filter. Wasted spark is arse imo, are you sure the gas you put in is correct if it is tuned? Probably sucked up some crap and blocking the filter. Happened in my old race car and I drained the tank, changed filter and was fine

Skilfil · Post by **Skilfil** » Fri Mar 15, 2013 5:40 pm

Growler wrote:There could be a plug lead breaking down that has decided to play up at the same time you filled the tank! (Stranger things have happened!)

I had something similar once... Filled my VR6 up with BP 98 one night instead of Mobil, it ran like shit. I swore that BP was absolute crap, problem didn't go away.. Replaced the #11 relay and hey it worked fine again..

Just one of those really strange coincidences, not always what you think.

Liam_Irl_NA · Post by **Liam_Irl_NA** » Wed Mar 27, 2013 1:39 pm

Sorry for the late reply people..

Appreciate all the help, as it turned out cyclinder #3 had some water sitting in it and the plug had become eroded. My thoughts are that before I bought it someone didnt plug the plugs back into the cylinder correctly and it possibly had a steam clean causing the water and corrossion as I know the car sat undriven for a few weeks? Since i removed the plug and cleaned up it has been running smooth and no sign of any water in the cylinder and had a compression test just incase it was the head which it wasn't! As a result I have all new filters which I'll be fitting this weekend, preventative maintanence is better than no maintanence!

Thanks again

Liam

MrGrey · Post by **MrGrey** » Wed Mar 27, 2013 3:18 pm

Good to hear and enjoy driving your new toy! (I class MX5's as toys because they are too fun to be labeled mere transportation)

chris · Post by **chris** » Wed Mar 27, 2013 3:24 pm

MrGrey wrote:Good to hear and enjoy driving your new toy! (I class MX5's as toys because they are too fun to be labeled mere transportation)

Plus they are small. Like toys.

Plus because of MrGrey I now think of them like fucking jellybeans.

MrGrey · Post by **MrGrey** » Wed Mar 27, 2013 4:03 pm

I know, it sucks doesn't it?
at least I can console myself that at least my jellybean is blood and hellfire flavor.... it could be much worse, it could be something terrible like vanilla ice flavor!

chris · Post by **chris** » Wed Mar 27, 2013 4:05 pm

Mines worse.

Strawberry Vanilla.

Skilfil · Post by **Skilfil** » Wed Mar 27, 2013 4:14 pm

Erh, insanity blue?

authentic · Post by **authentic** » Wed Mar 27, 2013 5:49 pm

The black jellybean.

I fill you with disappointment when you pull me out of the jar.

Liam_Irl_NA · Post by **Liam_Irl_NA** » Thu Mar 28, 2013 9:44 am

Definately a toy, no 'transportaion' could put the same grin on my face as my NA.. Hence why I havn't used my metlink monthly pass since picking her up!

chris · Post by **chris** » Thu Mar 28, 2013 9:52 am

Liam_Irl_NA wrote:Definately a toy, no 'transportaion' could put the same grin on my face as my NA.. Hence why I havn't used my metlink monthly pass since picking her up!

Where are you from? Auckland? Northland?

Liam_Irl_NA · Post by **Liam_Irl_NA** » Thu Mar 28, 2013 9:59 am

I'm living in Wellington at the moment, originally from Ireland though. Nice little collection of tail happy cars you have there mate!

chris · Post by **chris** » Thu Mar 28, 2013 10:03 am

Liam_Irl_NA wrote:I'm living in Wellington at the moment, originally from Ireland though. Nice little collection of tail happy cars you have there mate!

Ahh well welcome to the forum

Haha the primera was fwd and a piece of crap. I then got a rwd and fell in love

Liam_Irl_NA · Post by **Liam_Irl_NA** » Thu Mar 28, 2013 10:17 am

Cheers

I definately agree with that! Luckily for me my FWD experience was mainly in my Alfa's which I love and still do.. But holly s**t my MX is a lot more fun!

Kieran · Post by **Kieran** » Thu Mar 28, 2013 11:24 am

Liam_Irl_NA wrote:I'm living in Wellington at the moment, originally from Ireland though. Nice little collection of tail happy cars you have there mate!

Whereabouts in Ireland are you from?
Im from Cork

chris · Post by **chris** » Thu Mar 28, 2013 11:26 am

Kieran wrote:
Liam_Irl_NA wrote:I'm living in Wellington at the moment, originally from Ireland though. Nice little collection of tail happy cars you have there mate!
Whereabouts in Ireland are you from?
Im from Cork

You are a cork!

Kieran · Post by **Kieran** » Thu Mar 28, 2013 11:28 am

Don't start it Chris you already got trolled out of your own troll thread

chris · Post by **chris** » Thu Mar 28, 2013 11:36 am

Kieran wrote:Don't start it Chris you already got trolled out of your own troll thread

Cork says what?

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