MPI high emissions

[keith]

posting this for a friend who's not yet joined the forum:
year 00 cooper (mpi) failing its NCT on emissions; from the printout i saw its idle amounts are good but fast idle (2500rpm) has high lambda and high nox.
He's had it looked at by a couple of well known people but no cure is forthcoming. I heard the car run and id have to say its lumpy enough at tickover.
The history is unknown , so *could* have a hotter cam in it, but that's not evident from the very good CO numbers at low idle.
I'm assuming the guy(s) he paid to check it out did replace the airfilter and put in new plugs etc..

any ideas? any suggestions?
Its his first mini, and i'd hate to see him pack it in over this.

[StanO'Toole]

I wouldn't be able to tell you the problem but a bit of engine cleaner does wonders for the emmissions test.

StanO'Toole

[keith]

injector cleaner? or gunk?

[StanO'Toole]

It was something cleaner. I was told to put it in my Nan's petrol tank and it seemed to pass. As far as I remember it actully said on the bottle that it lowers your emmissions!

StanO'Toole

[The Marcos Graveyard]

I doubt it's Gunk Keith.

[macker]

you could try putting some Diptane into it, its available from most motorfactors

[The Marcos Graveyard]

Not to be confused with Dithane 945.

[TONY R]

Lumpy idol sounds like hotter than standard cam . Dont know much about injections but
had this problem on my carb car. No chance on the NCT, pulled out the 286 and stuck
in a swifttune sw5 made a huge differance to the way the car drove and had no problems
on the test. But its a big job to do it .

[woody]

A dial gauge on the rockers would give a good indication of what cam was fitted. What condition is the cat in?

[gareth]

High Idle problem with high lamda can be a pin hole in the exhaust. I know it sounds strange but trust me it's true. Causes a vacum on higher revs drawing air through the hole rather than leaking. Cheack for any holes including at manafold gasket.

[keith]

im going to try Diptane.

the car is in pretty good shape as far as i can tell: im taking it in hand for a few days while karl's away and ill be able to take a good look at it. I have a colourtune kit i will use on it (glass spark plug to look at burn!)

I'm thinking it does not have a hot cam in it but ill check with a dial guage.

the pin-hole idea is intriguing! ill go take a look at it on the ramp. Also dribbling oil round the manifold gasket.

Ideally the loan of a portable gas analyser would be ideal...

[TONY R]

I have a gas meter if u want to ring me on 0876154540 i am in leopardstown

[Deadly Dave]

I have a colourtune kit i will use on it (glass spark plug to look at burn!)

I think that if the engine is burning the slightest amount of oil then you will get wrong readings with colourtune.

Ideally the loan of a portable gas analyser would be ideal...

Thats the best way to do it.

[keith]

took a look at it this morning: looks like a stage something kit was added:

whats not shown in the pic is the mild steel LCB. The rover fuel regulator on the fuel rail has been by-passed by the after market regulator top right of picture.

the engine is very "tapety".. the rocker gap is .90mm on exhaust and over 1mm on intake! (??) any know what the valve clearances should be with roller tip 1.5:1 rockers ?

[The Marcos Graveyard]

Clearance should be about 14 thou, I think that's 0.035mm

[keith]

[quote="TONY R"]I have a gas meter if u want to ring me on 0876154540 i am in leopardstown [/quote]

thanks tony... i'll take you up on your kind offer... . i've re-set the valve clearances to .35mm (thanks Neill) im hoping that has fixed it.
Its running a lot better. crisp and with a nice surge of power from 3500rpm on.

[keith]

Not to be confused with Dithane 945.

i think you want Dithane Rainshield...

quote:
Dithane® Rainshield® turf and ornamental specialty fungicide is a broad spectrum ornamental contact fungicide for preventative control of rust, scab and other key diseases.


Finally, a cure for rust... !

[Dylan8660]

I would normally say take out and clean all of the sensors and hoses around the inlet manifold, refresh electrical connections. Clean or replace the temp sensor but you have one of those damned fuel pressure thingys. My personnel view of those things are that they are the biggest waste of time and money you could add to an mpi and if you can put it back to standard do so as they're a doodoo to set up and cause no end of fueling problems and THE MPI DOESN'T NEED IT. they have the same ecu, injectors and fuel pressure as the 820 turbo but it's 1275cc with a rev limit of 6500, seriously those injectors are 480cc, thats like a hose pipe, complete overkill and the ecu justs cuts the duration as soon as it senses the extra fuel anyway. Rant over, I doubt its the cam as there are so few options for injection cars and those that do exist are mild.

[TONY R]

You are most probably right about about the cam so . But i did say a knew bugger all about
injection cars so thats me told and back in me box !! I like carbs you just put a bigger one on it to get it to go faster , cool !!!

[Deadly Dave]

Did you get this sorted Keith ??

[keith]

thanks to everyone for your help and advice. thanks also to TonyR for the loan of his CO meter which confirmed that the car was running close to spec now that i re-set the valve clearances to .35mm
it drives really well now, and high speed idle CO readings are much lower. within the margin of error for the tester.
Its going to NCT next tuesday so im feeling good about it.
oh yes i put some Dipthane in it too....
I'd not driven an MPi before and the low ratio on the diff is quite noticeable. As close to a motorway cruiser as ever id felt in a mini.
also the steering is different and although lighter to park, turning circle is a deal bigger.



Karl, the owner, spent a lot of money recently getting this looked at by a couple of well known names. I'm sorry he had no joy getting it sorted.

[DaveC]

Good work Keith

[keith]

Good work Keith

sadly not.. the damn thing failed again today.... i haven't seen the printout but i'm led to believe the CO was 0.6.... . should be .03.

[Merlin]

Keith I would put a pound to a pinch of salt your problem is the fuel injectors,

I have just sent you a PM outlining the problem,
regards,
Paul.

[keith]

and replied!