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View Full Version : Chasing a power loss - resolution



Keithy P38
31st July 2017, 10:59 AM
Hey guys,

Thought I'd throw up my issue and resolution from a power loss I was chasing for a few months. I thought about it a fair bit before jumping at things or throwing money at parts.

So the short version, last year I had a misfire, jumped on the nanocom and found a few cylinders missing (where did they go!!). The easy option was plugs and leads, which made a small difference, but the miss was still there, so I replaced my (motronic) coil packs with Britpart ones (I know I know). That sorted it good and proper!

Fast forward, Cape York in there somewhere, a few local trips, then we went up to the Daintree! Lovely drive through the Bloomfield a few times and on the way home I took water through my snorkel and soaked the air filter (it was monsoonal rain). Dried the air filter and continued home, albeit a bit down on power. I feared that I'd damaged a valve or something during the water event, although I'd hoped not, so I went hunting again. The transmission was not behaving as usual either, which I didn't like.. The first call was to look at the plugs. Although only 6 months old, they looked ok. I tried replacing the leads again, no change. I had fears that the high quality Britpart coils may have lived up to their reputation, but the pig of a job changing them due to all the LPG gear covering my manifold put me off doing them, so I turned to the nanocom. No misfires showing thank god, so I put the coils down as ok.

After thinking about it a fair bit, keeping in mind the transmission was not behaving as usual, I though perhaps the throttle position sensor may be damaged, but I didn't want to rip it off just yet, and not wanting to open the motor up the next logical step was to clean the MAF. A tin of MAF cleaner in hand, I removed it and gave it a good hit with half a can (then I sprayed it ;-) ). Bingo! Issue sorted! Back to rocket ship mode and the transmission was doing as it should again.

And that's my little story! Perhaps it'll help someone else out if ever chasing an issue where the motor feels sluggish, and fuel consumption high. I went from 15L/100km on 95petrol (and 20L/100km LPG) up to 19L Petrol (23L LPG), and it felt like maintaining 110-120km/h was a chore.

Cheers
Keithy

loanrangie
31st July 2017, 12:14 PM
Gotta love simple ( cheap ) fixes.

prelude
31st July 2017, 05:23 PM
Just goes to show that even our complex beast sometimes just need a bit of TLC :) I never would've thought of the MAF tbh since I never had one fail on a car I owned. The only exception beeing a leased VW golf IV diesel (crappy company car)

Thanks for sharing!

-P

TheTree
1st August 2017, 07:34 AM
Good work Mate

I treat the MAF as a service item to be cleaned at least once a year

Steve

redandy3575
1st August 2017, 01:32 PM
Nothing worse than a dirty MAF!

banarcus
1st August 2017, 07:52 PM
As soon as I started reading this, the MAF was my first thought. Well done

prelude
1st August 2017, 10:33 PM
Since we're on the subject of the MAF, is there anything we can do to prevent it from getting dirty? I myself do plan to install an oil catch can for my PVC to keep my air intake (and engine) clean.

Love nature, but I hate all that environmental stuff choking my engine :(

-P

benji
5th August 2017, 07:52 PM
I have to admit cleaning the maf for the first time the other day, and got an extra 40km out of a task of lpg, and a bit more squirt too.