Hi, I wonder if anyone can shed any light on this: I was on a track day at brans hatch last week and on one lap I noticed at about 4500rpm the car started stutering and the engine check light came on, almost like a fuel/air issue, it did it twice over 4 laps, then on my next go out it would only rev to 4500rpm, regardless of gear and sounded and felt as though i was hitting the rev limiter, it does the same no matter what gear and when stationary so i dont think its a fuel issue, i thought it could be a coil pack, but am not sure, also if it is should i change all 4, and is it worth an upgrade or just stick to subaru parts, thanks. also only just got into scoobies, can anyone recomend any decent meets or clubs for track days in surrey/sussex

 

i presume it is an early model classic, if so the coil packs are a common fault. also i dont know how you do it but you can change to later version coilpacks

 

it is an early one '96'. im almost cerain its coil pack, but dont want to do my money to find out im wrong! cant see what else it would be, aside from maybe a lead breaking down but i wouldnt of expected that to be so instantanious

 

96 should have leads look at these & spark plugs first. MAF may also be suspect.

 

How much fuel did you have in your tank and when did the spluttering happen? (ie straight line acc or cornering)

 

car was over 3/4 full on high grade (tesco- first time ive used it, allways used optimax)fuel, made no difference as to wether i was on the straight or cornering, and it still does it on the flat when stationary , if a i pick the revs it up it sounds perfect then at just over 4500rpm it it sounds as though its missing- or has now fuel and a no power, as soon as drop back down the revs its fine, very similar noise to rev limiter which is at about 6500rpm. Sorry about my ignorence but what is a 'MAF'?
does anyone know if it was a plug or lead which one it be that far up the rev range and which coil plug it would be, maybe easy to swap them round to rule out prehaps, cheers guys.

 

maf is a mass air flow sensor, it measures the air going into the engine, its a box on a plastic pipe connected to the airbox.

it does sound a bit strange for coilpacks usually the car runs rough either/or hot or cold but i wouldnt rule them out

 

cheers bud, i will have a look at the MAF and check it over and clean it up, mind due if this was playing up i would of thought that it would be through more of the rev range when the car is under load, i presume it measures the airflow and determines the fuel etc?similar to an air flow meter, ive seen that as problem on a lot of vauxhalls and they seem to run flat through the a wide rev range when under load. easier to check the MAF though as a first port of call than plugs and leads, thanks