Couple of weeks ago my engine went pop (again!). Its a fully forged engine with 550's, Headers, VF-34 etc etc. Basically a pretty safe motor?!?!? ......One would think!

Anyhoo after inspection I was told that it seems it was under fuelled. Possibly MAF failure?

So I am now having an after market ECU (to rid me of MAF) and also a paralell fuel rail for safety and Knock and Lambda Link to go with my Mass of Defi Gauges.

Damage this time seems to be a couple of pistons starting to melt and a melted exhaust valve.

Quite a worrying thing happened though. As I popped in to see my car last saturday morning and drop of some stuff. Results came back from my fuel in the Tank.

Now I always fill up at my local Esso station. Its quite a big one on a very busy road so you would think it would be used regulary. I ALWAYS use 97 and ALWAYS an entire can of Pro Boost purely for safety.

The result that came back made my heart sink. The fuel in my tank was a sickening 97.2!!!

Not only do I look like a complete.....ahem as it seems as if I have not fuelled my car correctly but maybe it contributed to my motor going bang?

Who knows but im starting to get a bit fed up of it all. I may actually go to that station and buy some 97 and 95 and have it tested.

Just though you should know as I've had a pretty rubbish experience and I would not wish it on anyone!

Cheers

 

the octane rating of optimax has been proven to drop after time so after a few weeks the fuel in you tank may have done the same. bare this in mind

 

What the hell are you doing to the thing? I can't help but think that YOU are killing your car, not the damn petrol.

 

well so the argument goes that optimax is not refined at 98RON but merely 95RON boosted , which is why i know of people who have tested it after a long time.

which would also tie in with esso sul being 97.2 after a few weeks as the booster would of dropped off and returning to its REFINED state for which esso is refined at 97

 

im always sayin this man, these cars take punishment but not stupid punishment, i dont understand how sooo many probs occur here every day...this site wud so put anyone off buying a scoob! tut tut

 

my mate is on his third engine your lucky.usually faulty maf ,****e oil ,faulty fuel pump and bad fuel are the common causes.and more ... if i remember number 3 piston seems to go quite often someone on here will know why.

 

The problem with SUL pumps is they are used nowhere near as much as NUL pumps. Petrol does indeed go off

...any avid 2 stroker will tell you after a lay up over winter - next time you come to use it, the engine is down on power and is a pig to start (even my leaf blower!) - even when using pre-mixed fuel kept in a sealed jerry tank...drain and add fresh fuel and its back to normal. I guess the same applies to petrol station tanks too.

Then there is issue of overall quality, I have had the unpleasent experience of a tank of optimax petrol containing too much water - well, enough to randomly cause the engine to cut out and causing surging at held revs. Something I have never seen or heard of before, but if it happened once it can happen again. (although excessive water in petrol may be handy if your running lean...water injection )

There is a fair deal of info on a few american sites about petrol quality which I did once find via google...but I don't have any links handy though - sorry. But with a few choice keywords I'm sure you can find it yourself

All I can say is always map the ECU conservatively - especially with JDM imports or with mods.

 

i agree with the ****e batches of fuel you get with optimax. i normally get 2 ****e batches a month. it really annoys me . your cars running great then after half an hour of your fuel fill your cars running ****e.infact i can remember my first scoob would suffer badly.i took it down to merve at power engineering to find out what was wrong with it.he advised me it was bad fuel .to be honest i thought he was talking out his ****. but he was right i waited until the car was empty used another garage and the car was fine.£95 for the tune was what really annoyed me.

 

Oh really? Why is that? Please elaborate!

 

Not correct, according to shell its a refined fuel at no less than 98.6 ron, ie normally above that figure, then they add the additives.

Tony

 

i agree with above.i have an expensive 2 stroke strimmer and the manufacturer advises that after non use for only a few weeks even,the old fuel should be drained and a fresh mix added.i fuel up 3 times a week at the same petrol station from the same pump if possible.at least i know that its being used regularly.

 

hi luke, how are you mate. your not having much luck with your scoob recently. I know the esso garage(hathern) u use and ive used it in the past and not had any probs.Hope you get your scoob sorted,pm me your number,we have to meet up.


dave

 

I think it could be MAF too, but i did have an uprated fuel pump on my first build for safety.

I think its Number 2 piston that is common as apparently it is last on the fuel rail. Hence me getting a different fuel rail.

I still think the fuel could be poo

 

Hiya Mate ill PM you! How are you anyway? Are you back down here again or are you still in Newcastle?

 

Knocklink definately needed, along with a lamba link i think....

Tony

 

Most certainly my next step!

 

the classic jdm scoob its a farce to be honest .to think that you need octane booster,knock link,and lamba link just to drive it makes me laugh.love the cars but thats just to much really ,the good old maestro turbo did not require this much to keep on on the road

 

wow you had a 'stro too my mate would love you , well i love you LOL stro's rule sooooooo fast and sooooooooo **** but cool looking in a maestro with a tickford bodykit way.

 

back in the day the meastro was the turbo to have until the cosworth came along and took the micheal.But hey, trouble free motoring.And god dam ugly cars too .can you remember the company ZEEMAX . i remember a freind pulling up and just had is meastro ZEEMAXED i wet myself laughing it looked like a squashed ice cream van on milk crates.

 

why the **** would u want to change the maestro turbos look the bodykit was part of the allure ,

anyway theres some nutty ones out there, andy nichols 11.3sec beast is just mental

 

well i just started to think it was a con this booster lark anyways - i mean how does a 1/3 of a bottle up 50 l by 2/3%...

I guess i was lucky with my sti -didnt modfy beyond bigger downpipe ( even this was a worry)..........just goe to prove the only sure way is to remap for english regular fuel.


oh,... an ive started a 2 stoke outboard on mixed 5 month old fuel with no problems....

 

i had 2 renault 5 turbos .one for me and ex battle axe.i loved that car. although they where supossed to have overheating problems. we had no problems with ours .we added devil exhausts and superchipped them. they went like poo off a shovel.

 

Well, mine's on 102,000 miles and doesn't look remotely in danger of going pop.

And you're on your second engine rebuild.

 

Try starting a 1948 scott on the stuff ...trust me...it won't want to know

 

i just come from 4 years of r5 ownership so i know all about them and mine never overheated or blew headgaskets as it was setup properly

btw when you say superchipped do u mean bleed valve as you cannot superchip a r5 in the strictist sense, superchip kits for the 5 consisted of a bleed valve and rejet if your lucky!

 

Ha ha... Scoobynet at it's best.. I see a 6 or 7 pager here.

 

What RON were you expecting? At 97.2 it was fine for the fuel only but I guess you were looking for around 99 with the Pro-boost? How good IS ProBoost? I used it once and found no difference in the Knocklink activity. Admittedly I only used half a tin. Millers Octane plus works fine though!
JohnD

 

luke c, im good thanks mate. im up newcastle now but come down your way every weekend to give gf a good seeing to . i'l pop in and see u this weekend if u fancy it ? pm me mate.



dave

 

Luke C, I'm surprised that you modified your engine but didn't add a knocklink or Lambda link as a minimum. A forged bottom end won't save you if your fuel is bad or lean obviously. It may well have been your MAF. Who mapped the car, are you using an induction kit and what other mods did you have?

F

 

Hi Floyd,

Im not running an induction kit just a green panel filter. In hindsight yes I should have used a Knocklink and Lambda link really.

It may have been the MAF which is why im having an aftermarket ECU too.


Anything else you recon from a safety point of view I could add?