S4s rolling restoration project

[tomcattom]

@Gibbie while the car is still on stands and not driveable I have just been out and plugged in Espritmon and spun the wheel and the new sensor is reading a valid speed and no ABS warning light has come back on so the signs look promising for the replacement part.

Based on the parts list the car has three different sensors:

• Front Left = C082M6485F (The part I removed was an Intellek 10456153)
• Front Right = C082M6484F
• Rear (both sides) = C082M6483F

From what I can see cross referencing the various parts the sensors are all identical in terms of how the magnetic pick-up is aligned relative to the connector socket, the only difference on the three sensors appears to be how the mounting bolt position is aligned relative to the plug. That being the case the Daewoo derived sensor I've used can be used to replace any of the above sensors subject to the metal mount bracket being orientated correctly.

The link below is the specific part I bought and used on mine; a Daewoo 10456154, which is the same sensor but the bolt hole is clocked incorrectly for any of the existing sensors on the Esprit. However, because the clamp is a separate metal part to the sensor - unlike the fully moulded OE part - with a bit of care you can remove the metal clamping bracket, open the jaws ever so slightly and then re-clock it to mount it in the Esprit.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/222742396165?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649

Disclaimer: While I've tested this on Espritmon I've not yet driven the car with the new sensor to be 100% sure its correct, but signs do look promising.

[sailorbob]

Do you know what resistance the Daewoo sensors are? The OE sensors are about 1100 ohms.

[tomcattom]

Yup, they are the same @sailorbob 👍

[sailorbob]

Thanks 🙂

[tomcattom]

Well that's annoying. Postie delivered the power steering fluid first thing this morning so at lunchtime I excitedly went out and filled the system back up, cranked it over with the fuel pump disabled as per the instructions to "bleed" the system. Then I came to start the car and... it won't

I can hear the new fuel pump priming, battery is healthy and it turns over fine but it just won't start - doesn't even sound like its trying to. I've checked the the inertia switch (not falling for that one twice!) and all the obvious connections but still nothing. I've obviously unplugged or disturbed something while replacing the tanks, just need to work out what now 🙄

[Barrykearley]

You have got the crank sensor plugged in

[Gibbie]

Thanks Tom!

will give them a try!

kind regards

Paul

[tomcattom]

15 hours ago, Barrykearley said:

You have got the crank sensor plugged in

Don't know. I certainly didn't intentionally unplug it while doing any of this work, but given the nature of the symptoms it has all the hallmarks of an electronics issue. I'll certainly be checking that to make sure it's not been disconnected or damaged.

[Escape]

Also check the earth for the ECU, it's on one of the bellhousing bolts. I forgot to reconnect it when I did the clutch, took some searching!

[tomcattom]

Okay, so its not an electrical fault actually. Sensors all seem to check out and no fault codes reporting from any sensors. Given the only thing I've really touched is the fuelling system I turned my attention there and decided to crack off one of the fuel filter unions and not a drop came out. Evidently the 2 second prime of the pump that the ECU does when you turn the ignition on is not enough to get the motion potion up to the fuel rail for a completely dry system.

Plan now is to consult the electrical diagrams and work out what relay(s) I need to "jump" temporarily to run the pump for longer then two seconds to see if that will get the fuel pumped up to where it needs to be for it to start 🤞

[sailorbob]

Pins 30 and 87A on the fuel pump & injector relay (relay 'D' in the relay box on the RHR wheel arch)

[tomcattom]

Beat me to it @sailorbob. Shorted those two pins with a little jumper wire and the fuel pump whirrs merrily away in the tank but still no signs of fuel getting up to the filter 😕

Just to check I haven't completely lost my marbles I chucked the bore scope down into the RH tank and there is definitely fuel in there.

[tomcattom]

So I've now gone back as far as disconnecting the fuel line where it exits the plate on top of the pump in the tank and with the pump whirring away, still no fuel emerges. I've even got desperate enough to temporarily cutoff the LH tank, remove the fuel from it and chuck it all in the RH tank in case what little fuel I had in the tank wasn't enough for the pump, but still no change in symptom. I've also checked back at my photos and checked the polarity of the wiring from when I assembled it all and measured the polarity on the connector on the loom that powers the pump and that all seems to be correct too.

Looks like I'll be taking the pump out at the weekend to inspect further. Really not sure what else can be at fault now other that the new pump itself being DOA.

[Chillidoggy]

Sounds very odd. Even when I’ve had an empty fuel rail, a couple of on/offs of the ignition key has been enough to provide fuel to start the engine.

Is it the standard GM pump?

 

[tomcattom]

No, its a Sytec pump, which appears to have been used by others on here before. Intention was to replace the ~25 year old original pump with something new as a preventative measure while the tanks were out of the car. Looks like that has backfired

[RobinB5]

Tom, backfiring would at least be a step forward in your situation!

[Escape]

If you take the pump out, check the connection to the fuel line. A couple of years ago I couldn't get flow from a newly bought pump (not in a Lotus, in a Jeep). Took it out again and disassembled and found a transparent cover still plugging the output with the fuel line pushed over it...

[tomcattom]

I guess it's a possibility, but a pretty slim one I would have thought. There were bright red bungs on each end of the pump which were both definitely removed because I have them in the box here.

Either way the next step is to take the pump out again and if necessary it's going to be replaced by the manufacturer. Sadly didn't have any time to work on the car this weekend, beyond draining the tanks in readiness to remove the pump.

[tomcattom]

The whole family has had the lurgi of the non-Covid variety for the past week or so, so I've not really felt up to doing much on the car, but I have good news, the car does now run 😌

After speaking to the pump manufacturer they advised that running the pump reverse polarity for a short period won't do it any harm, just as a means of testing if my previous assertion that all the wiring was as it should be was correct. Once again no fuel at the outlet on the tank plate.

The other thing they suggested, before we went down the RMA route was to remove the pump from the cradle and submerge is in a tub of paraffin and run it directly off a battery to test it off the car. I decided before going that far I would just try and run the pump assembled in its cradle in the bucket before completely stripping it all down again. Here is my little test assembly:

Upon powering up the pump I initially got some cavitation in the paraffin around the pickup strainer and after a couple of seconds a good flow of paraffin was seen coming from the hose I'd attached to the pump outlet. I repeated it a few more times, draining the pump between each run and it seemed to work reliably. So having nothing to lose I decided to try refitting it to the car. On the first attempt at starting I got nothing and on the second just as I let go of the key from the starter position thinking it wasn't going to start it suddenly couged and spluttered into life and seems to be starting reliably every time now.

I'm at a loss to explain what is different, but the only thing I did notice was when pouring the paraffin back into the container was a really tiny (couple of mm square) fragment of tissue in the paraffin. It was a brand new bucket and spotlessly clean before I started. I don't know if that was stuck in the pipework from when I was assembling it the first time (I don't remember needing to use any tissue though) or it could just as easily have fallen in while I was doing the testing because I did have some tissue on hand. Either way, its working so I'm happy. Will test it again over the next few days to build some confidence before fully reassembline that side of the engine bay.

I've also noticed that the poxy low fuel warning light has stopped working again 😠

[tomcattom]

New fuel level sensor was delivered this morning and is now fitted to the car and the low fuel warning light and gauge appears to be working reliably now 😌

According to the sellers website description the two wires in the sender harness plug would need swapping, but that wasn't the case for mine. Not sure if that means my car has already had the sender replaced once before in the past or what. Either way it works

Tank board had to be removed to get to all the bolts. Not sure if that's because the Axminster tank sender hole isn't quite in the right place or the hole in the board was cut wrong. No major issue though and once that and all the rest of the panelling on that side of the engine bay is back in place the car will be ready to drive again - at last

[fjmuurling]

Hi Tom,

where did you get the fuel level sender?

[tomcattom]

I got mine from SWLC (A082N4041F) @fjmuurling, but I believe SJ have the same part in stock too looking at the photos on their site.

Looking at the part number stamped on the sender SWLC supplied (TB9022-000) it appears to be a Smiths part.

https://www.smiths-instruments.co.uk/tank-senders

[tomcattom]

Just been for a first shakedown with the car this evening and got some motion potion to test the fuel level sensor. For the first time in nearly four years of ownership, this gauge is actually doing something

 

My ABS fault appears to have been cleared successfully with the new Daewoo source wheel sensor, so that's another thing chalked off the list. Although my speedo appears to have developed its case of Tourettes again, so the new wheel speed sensor obviously didn't solve that; the last run out in it with the new sensor was a fluke clearly

Gratuitous shot of it at the petrol station - will splash some water over it tomorrow morning if the weather is good and then go for a blast in it.

[tomcattom]

I noticed when up at the petrol station last week that the oil temperature gauage I fitted was fogging up for some reason. So while the binnacle cover is off I decided to take it apart to try and work out what was up.

While its apart I then got to thinking about whether I could make a new dial face myself to better match the VDO gauge to the rest of the CAI instruments in the car. Having done some research it looks like its a fairly straightforward job to do with a bit of patience, but first off I need some vector artwork to try with. I've completed my first iteration of the vector artwork to see what my interpretation of a CAI oil termperature gauge would look like based on the other dials. The original VDO dial face is just rested on the paper for comparison. The red needs a little tweaking but otherwise I'm hopeful this will be successful 🤞

 

Here are the existing oil pressure and water temperature gauges I modelled my take on for comparison.

 

Next step is to source some materials to make it into a proper dial face I can actually fit into the gauge.

[fjmuurling]

About 10 minutes in, might give you some ideas