Hey guys... i been having all sorts drama's with my EA II...

first problem was my guages all stopped working.. cept for the tacho... i fixed that problem by shaking some wires around near the battery in the engine bay.. that fixed it for a good 6 months.. and my alternator died.. so when that was repllaced.. the wiring was disturbed.. and i lost all my guages again... drove like that for about 6 weeks or so.. until last week.. i thought i had fixed it again.. tightened up an engine mount bolt.. and the guages worked.. i was very happy...

then.. 2 days later.. after i'd just driven it.. it didn't want to start.. it had full power.. i turn the key to kick the engine over.. and click.. then all powe was basically gone... and the guages all stopped working.. YET AGAIN!!!... so.. replaced the battery.. car started no problem... and all the guages were working fine.. so thought maybe the battery was the cause for all the problems i was having.. coz it also used to develop a miss after driving it for a while..

all day saturday the car ran fine... come sunday.. and it didn't wanna play ball at all.. ... i started her up.. and she was idleing rough.. went to drive down the shops.. and the whole way.. would miss.. cough and cracking out the exhaust etc... got stuck at an intersection at one point.. finally got it started.. and drove to my mother in law's house... oh.. and all the guages stopped working again over night. i didn't touch anything on the car...

so... my question now is... what is wrong with this bloody thing..

guages don't work.. and the engine misses.. badly.. it is undriveable.. this morning it wasn't too bad.. but once it got warm.. it started to miss..

anyone have ANY idea's.. plz let me know..


Thanks
Trent

Something is lose, or bad earth,check all the earth points,even if they look sound,some times,the earthing looks ok but a build up of crap gets in the way...

vik...unbeliveable but true

yeh
sounds to me like a loose earth connection too.
trace all the wires from both battery terminals, make sure all the earths are in good nick, its probably worth disconnecting the point where they bolt on, and give it a good clean up with some sandpaper.

yeah i'd have to say bad earth if it that inconsistent....
surprising what a bad earth can f**k up :p

Yeah probbably bad earth.
Check out where the neg battery wire bolts to block under exauhst manifold.

Most likely bad earth ( Are the terminals nice and clean) And another culprit may be the coil .. perhaps ?

someone i spoke with today.. has said something about a plug or harness on the distributor being cracked.. and caused a similar problem in his car.. so i might investigate that...

thanks for all your feedback.. will take the connections off and clean them... battery connections are clean.. (new battery).. so will check the earth points i can reach...

im with others bad earth
the connection may be clean.. but are they tight and snug fit it tight and connecting corectly

even adding an extra earth to teh block can help

ok... i replaced the negative connector for the battery... so all the cable ends have been replaced...

so far.. that seems to have fixed the faulty guages... *fingers crossed*..

but.. it still develops a miss... so just gotta sort that.. and i'll be one happy camper...

well
the miss is either fuel related, or spark related.

spark is more likely, so check there is spark at each lead.

if there isnt, check leads / dizzy / coil
leads and coil are the most likely culprits.

if there is, make sure they are seated on the plugs properly
and check plugs too

it's run the last 2 days without a hassle at all...

don't know if it's coz of the cold running temp or what... but.. it runs perfectly for the 20 minute trip to work .. and the same in the afternoon on the way back... so got me knackered... while it's running fine i will enjoy it.... and until it starts missing again.. i can't do any fault finding.. hehe..

thanks to everyone for all your feedback and ideas... muchly appreciated...

Trent

I jump onboard with the Earth being the original cause, without this the reference for the O2 sensor and most other sensors would be incorrect, if the ECU has learnt this when the earth was bad then it will gradually retun to normal. This would explain all your symptoms including the Battery not charging, the only one I am not sure about is the gauges, it could be possible but may be a seperate issue.

i thought maybe the ecu had gotten used to running with the earth problem.. so after i fixed the earth it kept running that way.. and the longer i run it.. the better it gets coz it's learnt how to run properly again.. who knows now.. only time will tell.. need to take it on a decent run.. see what happens...

Are you in the racq.?

haha... no i'm not actually.. i should get onto that.. but.. the car has never totally stopped and left me stranded yet.. cept when i had to replace the battery.. but i just got a jump and all was good..

might see if i can take her for a drive on the weekend...