Hey guys, long time no see.. 8 months infact!!

Anyways, my EL XR8 is running pretty rough and has been doing so for the last couple of months now..

Its mainly only rough on idle, RPM sits around 750-800, although it fluctuates by around 50 to 100 RPM when idling...

Also, whilst in neutral, if i hold the throttle down slightly at a particular RPM, anywhere within say 1000 to 2000 RPM, the revs fluctuate quite bad, im talking like 200 to 300 RPM, you can even hear the revvs dropping on the engine..

The car has new spark plugs, leads, distributor cap, has been serviced, timing is spot on, air filter is new/cleaned, new/ professionally cleaned injectors, perfect compression (around 130 PSI across all 8 cylinders from memory), MAF has been cleaned... Etc.

Although, a diagnostic computer was placed on the car, indicating to check something in regards to some sort of sensor in the EGR - now my mechanic checked it all out and found that someone has inserted a plate, blocking the EGR sensor from getting any readings. Why on earth would someone had placed this there?

My mechanic didnt want to remove it incase someone else had put it there for a reason!!


So those are the two issues that i am currently having, which is kind of a shame, as its turning me off wanting to keep my car!!
1. Rough idle/fluctuating engine RPM on idle
2. The plate covering EGR sensor

Its a manual el xr8, no engine mods apart from underdrives, ss cold air, air filter, and exhaust/extractors, with 126,000kms on the clock.

Any help with regards to this would be greatly appreciated!

Cheers guys.

Mate I am gonna watch this thread coz my EL XR8 is doing the same thing. Only diff is that it is an auto.

make that another to watch this thread as my missus ef xr8 manual is doin the same not so bad when increasing the revs but same s**t at idle as yours mmmmm all happining round the same time (conspiracy theory)

Check and clean ISC [Idle Seed Control] Its on the side of throttle body... I'd remove block in EGR and see if it makes any difference? EGR doesn't work a lot on WOT so its not really a performance limiting device...Actually can help in preventing detonation, especially on EECV equipped motors..
If EGR has been disconnected electronically the EEC wil go into limp mode also....
Check all inlet hoses for leaks.. Check TPS is set correctly?? Under 1v a idle....

Also forgot to mention that the car pings when its cold, for approximately the first 3 to 4 mins after startup, when under load...

And the car loses power once it walms up, maybe due to going into 'limp mode' as EBXR8 stated???

So how can one check to see if EGR has been electronically disconnected??

Mate i was about to post earlier today about that problem you have but because you didn't have pinging or loss of power i didn't post thinking it wasn't the problem i had.
Well i am 99% sure i know what the problem is fellas. After about 6 months of having my car so about august 06 i noticed it starting leaking coolant and overheating including a massive pinging sound when the car was either cold or warm (It started to ping at 80km when warm). After hours of forum searching asking around what the problem was i had a fair idea what it was so.... I went and got it checked out and they went over it said it was 1. The welsh plugs where aroided making the car leak water and coolant causing me to fill it up each day. 2. Timeing was supposibly out. 3. New fuel pump. 4. General service.
All this cost me around $950, So thinking my problem was fixed I continued driving about a week latter it started pinging again, still leaking coolant and overheating as well as GUTLESS when I put my foot down and reving extremely high.. but when I would put down but took my foot back a bit after flooring it would finally correct itself and starting producing power.
Anyway to cut a Long story short i took it back to the guys and told them that nothing has changed, the leaking problem was a water cap so the replaced that without further problems, that stoped the car from leaking coolant and water and over heating. The other pig problem that i had was the pinging, it took them weeks to finally find the problem with the car, Simply put it was the DEVICE BETWEEN THE AIR FILTER (OR POD FILTER) AND THE HOSE THAT RUNS TO THE ENGINE, Its the thing that tells the engine how much petrol to produce depending on how hard you put your foot down and air flow into the car.
Without a doubt this will solve your car issues solve all pinging and power issues.
This device cost me $250 to give you a price range.

Here

 

 

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Hope this seriously Helps you guys because i know for a fact it P^&% me off for a long time.
Good luck guys.

Do you mean the MAF??

Could this also be an issue EBXR? As my MAF has been fiddled with a few times...

And i too had the idling problem where it couldn;t make up its mind what revs to sit on when cold and when warm also when sitting at lights was the same, Not sure about your cars but i found mine also back fired when first started as i take off and was very very clogy when taking off at first.

If that is what the thing is I have pointed out in the photo then yes I would say if your car has all the symptoms I have stated it would be the same problem as mine at the time. Since having that fixed i have had no further issues with the car.

Yeah mine has most of the same issues, apart from the backfiring or leaking coolant/overheating... But a rough idle, pinging when col and guttless once warn are a certainty...

Yep well I say thats your problem right there, The coolant leaking and overheating was due to a welsh plug problem I had aswell as aroided water cap it has nothing to do with the pinging apart from the overheating which I would say contributed to the pinging because the car is overheating ultimately. In sayig that the airflow into the car is cut quite considerbly due to the fact the car isn't getting enough air flow which inturn overheats the car non the less. I would love to know how everyone goes with this problem and let me know if it has fixed the problem. I am certainly not here to waste your money on parts you dont need, I am simply speaking from experience.

could this also explain why when runnin(i know the fuel in the car is stale) but there is a strong smell of unburnt fuel comin from it . so im guessing that because of the lack of air from the mass airflow sensor its not allowing a proper air flow there for not burning all the fuel is this correct