Hey folks. I had Dragon running in August to have its windscreen replaced. No problems indicated or hinted, just needed to be jumped. I have family visiting so I'm trying to get a second car on the road, but when I went to get Dragon out of its garage, it has refused to start.
Now I've been here before and this time I've checked I have power - there is battery voltage to all the EFI and ECU fuses, and according to my ignition tester, there is spark, so this isn't the relay issue I had before. The rest of the symptoms are the same - cranks but won't fire, smell of fuel in the exhaust.
I pulled the spark plugs and all 6 were in bad shape. They're Bosch Super 4s, which have 4 electrodes and should in theory be good for 48k miles, but they showed white deposits and the centre electrodes were worn down by about half. They've been in the engine for about 30k miles. There was also some yellow substance on the plugs - sulphur?
In any case, white deposits means the car has been running hot, so that means running lean. However, I've always thought Dragon runs rich - there's a lot of after-firing after letting off the throttle, and the emissions results showed that hydrocarbons were a little higher than permitted on the latest Euro 4 specs (which Dragon doesn't need to adhere to), and since running rich is better than running lean, I've left it. But seeing the state of the plugs, I clearly need to do something.
Whilst I can smell fuel, I can't tell if the fuel pump is running. I bridged the check connector and put my ear to the tank, but I can't hear anything distinct. There's 12V at the pump connector. I'm wondering if the fuel pump could have been failing over time and has finally died. That said, Dragon has been responsive and still very driveable. I know about the MK2 pumps having a dead-spot issue and my dad says it's been replaced with a MK3 pump instead (Dragon has an in-tank pump). I have spare MK2 pumps but I don't know if they work, though I could hook them up to a battery to test. There are a few kilo-ohms of resistance on the pump terminals in the tank, though I know that's not indicative that the motor works.
Dropping the fuel tank is tedious and I'd like to avoid it. Is there anything else I've missed?
Thanks!
Now I've been here before and this time I've checked I have power - there is battery voltage to all the EFI and ECU fuses, and according to my ignition tester, there is spark, so this isn't the relay issue I had before. The rest of the symptoms are the same - cranks but won't fire, smell of fuel in the exhaust.
I pulled the spark plugs and all 6 were in bad shape. They're Bosch Super 4s, which have 4 electrodes and should in theory be good for 48k miles, but they showed white deposits and the centre electrodes were worn down by about half. They've been in the engine for about 30k miles. There was also some yellow substance on the plugs - sulphur?
In any case, white deposits means the car has been running hot, so that means running lean. However, I've always thought Dragon runs rich - there's a lot of after-firing after letting off the throttle, and the emissions results showed that hydrocarbons were a little higher than permitted on the latest Euro 4 specs (which Dragon doesn't need to adhere to), and since running rich is better than running lean, I've left it. But seeing the state of the plugs, I clearly need to do something.
Whilst I can smell fuel, I can't tell if the fuel pump is running. I bridged the check connector and put my ear to the tank, but I can't hear anything distinct. There's 12V at the pump connector. I'm wondering if the fuel pump could have been failing over time and has finally died. That said, Dragon has been responsive and still very driveable. I know about the MK2 pumps having a dead-spot issue and my dad says it's been replaced with a MK3 pump instead (Dragon has an in-tank pump). I have spare MK2 pumps but I don't know if they work, though I could hook them up to a battery to test. There are a few kilo-ohms of resistance on the pump terminals in the tank, though I know that's not indicative that the motor works.
Dropping the fuel tank is tedious and I'd like to avoid it. Is there anything else I've missed?
Thanks!