frizille

Hey Dave, good idea. I did some reading and think you may be right (or very close). There are two things that lead me to that conclusion: 1) I've had a tiny bit of oil seeping out between the oil pan and the block. I resealed the oil pan once myself and paid a mechanic to reseal it the second time. It was fine for a while, but now seems to be seeping again. From what I've read, if the pressure in the crankcase goes too high it could push the seal out and let oil seep through. That seems to fit with what the engine is doing now. 2) Way back when I did the build I had a crate engine shipped to me from Ford. It came fully dressed and the PCV valve had this black plastic tube over it. I tried like hell to get it loose - finally got it off - but not after I yanked on it with a pair of vice grips. Hindsight being 20/20, I suspect while I was fighting to get the tube off I may have damaged the valve. 3) The oil pressure gauge fluctuates up and down just a tiny bit at idle. I suspect the oil pressure is going up and down as the crankcase gets overly pressurized, then unpressurized to a normal state, then back to being overly pressurized, and so on. I've got a PCV valve on order from Ford, but won't be here until Friday which is (of course) the day I can't go pick it up. Chances are I won't get to put it on until next week sometime. I've also got the SBD USB-CAN cable on the way. It was supposed to be here on Friday last week but the tracking website updated Saturday morning saying it was still in the UK. Tracking now says it's out for delivery today, but it's almost 7:30pm and suspect it isn't coming today either. I'm not overly impressed with DHL. Dan

Thanks, Tom. Dumb question - where's the O2 sensor? There's the TPS near the intake, then there's the MAP (MAF?) sensor in the plastic plenum, but that's all I know of... Dan

Captured a quick video of how it sounds last night in the event that helps...

Hi all - thanks for all the suggestions so far! Here's a quick update on progress. - I got the new BR7EFS plugs and a gap measurement tool in the mail today from Amazon. I put those in tonight, .026 gap on all of them. No significant difference I can tell... because I did an oops. - The coil pack on one of the cylinders wasn't seated all the way (despite me pushing all the way down on it and it being torqued to 10 NM per spec) so when I fired it up after changing the plugs there was a LOT of fuel leaking from the exhaust. I didn't see it at first cause I was on the other side of the car, but then started to smell it. When I looked over I had a holy crap moment and the car stalled right before I made it to the ignition to shut it down. - To figure it out, I took the temp with my IR thermometer on all the exhaust headers and #3 was 20 degrees less. I re-attached the coil pack for #3, torqued it down to spec again, and fired it back up. No leaking fuel this time... - However, it will run ok for a minute or two then the pulsing starts and ultimately will stall shortly after. Not sure if that's because of the extra fuel now being in there, or what. I'm really starting to think this is an ECU issue. Ever since I've had the car the idle has been very difficult to get right and it's been tempermental when it runs. There's always a slight pulse in the oil gauge and you can hear the engine note pulsing a bit. Unfortunately, the MBE 992 ECU is locked from Caterham and can't adjust it. The SBD CAN cable will be here tomorrow according to DHL's tracking website so I can attach a PC to it tomorrow and see what the measurements are. Will post more once I get the PC on it.... Thanks again for all the help. I'm still very much in learning mode about a lot of this stuff.

I don't have a way (or don't know how) to go about checking fuel pressure. Will have to Google that tonight when I'm in the garage putting the new plugs in. The motor has always popped a little bit, but just assumed that was normal. I'm suddenly wondering if maybe it shouldn't be normal. On Sunday when I was driving to C&O it felt a lot like a cylinder shutting down so think you're onto something. My general line of reasoning has been fuel, air, or spark. 1) Air I think is fine - I worked through some TPS issues before and that made things better and none of that has magically changed. 2) Spark - the plugs I had in there were 5's and I'm moving 2 rungs colder to 7's. Caterham recommends a 6 on the heat index, but folks reported better starting characteristics with the 5's. And the TR6-AP's were impossible to find, even on Amazon. I didn't think plugs made that big of a difference, but guess I'm learning something through this process. 3) Fuel - the car sat with a half full tank for 2 months, but the gas wasn't cheap unleaded. Given the motor has 500 miles on it I'd be surprised if it's built up some kind of blockage. Think it's worth dumping in a bottle of fuel cleaner into the tank and letting it run? Dan

Hi everyone - The Caterham has been sitting in the garage the last 2 months due to summer travel and work. Since we had a cool weekend over Labor Day, I elected to get it out and take it for a drive which I've been eager to do, despite having a lot of other priorities. Sometimes you just need a drive you know? Anyway, the start up was fine - it's been on a battery tender - and ran ok the first 5 miles or so. After that it started sputtering, backfiring, was down on power, and felt like it was on the edge of stalling. I got into a parking lot, turned the car off, and popped the bonnet. All looked fine. No smoking, no fluids spraying everywhere, looked totally normal. It started right back up so drove another couple miles to the local Caffeine and Octane. I spent about 2 hours there then left to get brunch. After leaving, about 3-4 miles down the road, the same thing - could barely keep it running. Ate brunch, then on the way home, same thing. It seems to start a death gurgle and will stall once it gets warmed up. When it stalls it doesn't want to start right away. If you turn off ignition and then turn the key back on it will start up right away. I was able to replicate the stall in the driveway just by mashing the throttle a bunch - it seems to stall out when the RPMs are falling after you give it some throttle. I took out the lambda sensor, looks fine. I took out the spark plugs, all look fine. The fuel level was about 50% but filled it up with fresh Chevron 93 octane (best I can get) and still the same issue. I've unplugged the ECU from the loom, let it sit for 5 minutes, then re-plugged it in which is supposed to reset it, but got the same poor running/stalling result. The plugs in it are ITR5F13 which I think came with the motor when I got it (crate motor). The motor is a Duratec 2L using the stock MBE 992 ECU from Caterham. Standard 180hp build with stock Caterham parts, nothing fancy. Any ideas? I've ordered a new set of plugs, the BR7EFS which seems to be a common choice and plan to try those when they arrive on Wednesday. I also ordered the MBE CAN cable, which I don't have, so I can connect my laptop to get some data. My hunch is the 992 ECU needs to go and I need to get a better ECU solution, maybe the 9A4, with SBD's Duratec map. It's weird this started suddenly - it's only got 500 miles on it and the last time I drove it was running pretty well, minus the normal surging/poor idle I've always had. Dan

I'm the Lotus guy with the Caterham. I'm planning to be there but developed some engine issues with the Caterham over the weekend. If the Caterham doesn't make it I'll be in the ice white Exige.

Speedo fix was a bad speedo sensor - by moving the wire a bit you could get the LED to short out. Replaced the sensor from Caterham and everything is functional again.

Posting here in case it helps others - to fix the idle issue I ended up doing a TPS reset by turning the ignition from off (position 0) to position II, but not actually starting it,. Do that 10+ times (I did 30 just to be certain) repeatedly and it will reset itself. Idle was much more smooth immediately after doing the reset. Now I just need to re-adjust the idle back to the normal range now that the TPS is reading accurately and I'm not trying to counter balance its bad reading.

To close this one out, I elected to pay someone with more experience and better shop facilities to fix it for me. Took it to Buckingham Automotive up in Cumming GA, about 35 miles from me. Jeremy (owner) was incredibly helpful and was able to get it fixed easily. He resealed the pan but also remachined the lip a tiny bit to get rid of a few small machining marks in the pan originally. 300 miles since and it's been rock solid, no drips or issues.

No go - started leaking again the other day. Not as bad, but still enough to warrant another drop and reseal. I've decided I dislike RTV.

Thanks all for the suggestions. I've figured out the brake issue and happily report it's resolved. It turned out to be the bolts which hold the caliper to the DeDion ears. During the build I couldn't find the spacers needed between the caliper and the ears so left them loose, found the spacers later on, attached them... but must never went back to torque the bolts because they were not marked with my paint pen. While the car is on the ground or e-brake applied everything looked tight and normal, no extra play, so thought they were fine. But when I got the car in the air on jack stands, climbed underneath, and had my girlfriend spin the wheels I noticed a double clunk - first clunk from the play in the diff which was normal, but a second clunk of the caliper moving back and forth 3-4mm. Very quickly afterward found the culprit, torqued to 47NM, and this time marked with the paint pen. However... the engine idle issue still remains. I've tinkered with the idle position screw on the throttle body without much success although the car now idles better in the 1300-1700 range. Occasionally it will calm down and idle perfect - just haven't figured out what makes it do so yet. Have not found any vacuum leaks either and been over everywhere I can think of. I'm thinking maybe electrical - my gas gauge and speedo are both on the fritz and work on and off.

Good news! I got it fixed without having to take the timing cover off. The Caterham chassis + Duratec bellhousing leaves enough room to get the bolts in and out with no problems, however, the fitment is VERY tight between the timing cover and the bellhousing. The trick to reassembly, with the Raceline oil pan (Caterham OEM one), is to get the small extension on the back of the pan where it seals to the engine just below the pressure plate / driveshaft / clutch assembly into the bellhousing lip first, then push up and the pan will smoothly slide right into place with the help of a few light taps with your trusty friend Mr. Rubber Mallet. Once you get it into place work your way around the oil pan tapping it lightly into position, get a couple bolts in, then in a star fashion slowly work the pan straight up tightening each bolt one at a time. I torqued to 10, 15, then 18 ft lbs per the Haynes manual using Permatex Right Stuff (black). I put 50 miles on it since putting it back together and filling with 6 qts of Mobile 1 5w30 and no leaks.

I went with KAR120C since I've got a BRG w/ yellow 7. Nobody has asked about it yet; I think most just assume I can't spell.

Oops, sorry, that would have been helpful to mention - Ford Duratec 2L (Roadsport 175).

Has anyone been successful removing the oil pan then resealing it with RTV without having to take the timing cover off? I got the pan off ok, but it's really tight between the timing cover and the bellhousing so not sure if I'll be able to get it back on while still getting a good seal between the timing cover and the oil pan. Anyone successful?

Thanks, Mike, for the info - yes, it's a SBD cable. I spent some time reading on OBD this weekend and had arrived at the same conviction; not sure it will help. No idea why Caterham doesn't use just a standard OBD supported ECU(?) - it seems much more helpful than the MBE one. There's at least 1 US car that was a EU CSR175 Duratec build and has an Italian ECU which does support OBD, so I know there's a possibility out there to support them from Caterham. Anyway, not material to me figuring out my car so I digress. As to the noise - the e-brake cable looks fine, no rubbing, and tried pushing, pulling, jumping around on the car to watch the suspension flex a bit and no rubbing that I can see. I took the car out for 30 minutes on Sunday when it was prime heat of the day (~95F) and it was silent for the first 5-10 minutes. However, after doing a few easy stops coming up to stop signs and stop lights, it began doing it. It seems heat related and/or usage related - more stops = more noise. I also noticed if someone pushes on the pedal you can hear a faint "PFFTTTT" from the caliper. There's no fluid leaking though and it's been bled three times; no air is coming out of the nipple. The engine idle is slightly better, but mostly the same as prior. It seems putting a zip tie around the MAP sensor and making sure it was screwed in tight to the intake (it's slightly stripped out) didn't improve anything. The car did start doing 2 new things though, which may or may not be related. The first thing is the brake warning light on the little LCD bar in the speedo flickered on after making a right turn. I've got a hunch that's the fluid just sloshing around in the brake reservoir. The level is between the min and max about half way - I assume topping that up will resolve it and will do that once I order some fluid. The second thing it started doing is the car gets VERY jerky at slow speeds in 1st or 2nd gear. While driving through a parking at ~10mph the car started jerking back and forth and immediately pushed in the clutch. Jerking ceased. Putting it back into 2nd gear rather than 1st and it was still jerky, just less so. That's the first time it's done that with ~50 miles on it. Driving at normal speed and acceleration/braking it feels fine, no jerking. It reminded me of learning to drive a manual transmission 20 years ago with my dad - it was that same jerking motion when you screw up getting the car moving in 1st. Taking the odd engine idle, odd brake noise, new-found jerkiness, and fluid warning light all together what are the chances there's a problem with the brake / clutch lines? Everything has been bled so I know fluid is getting to the right bits, but it seems like the only commonality between them. Maybe more air is trapped in there or air is getting into the lines somehow? Any ideas what to check next?

Apparently the MBE ECU doesn't speak OBD, but does have an OBD port to talk CAN over. I've got to order the right USB to OBD dongle from MBE to read codes apparently. In other news though, I did find the MAP sensor screw had backed out (stripped apparently) and wasn't even finger tight - there was a bit of a gap between the MAP sensor and the intake. A large zip tie over the intake and sensor fixed that and the engine seems to be idling better but still has an odd bobble to it. Will post back up once the cable arrives and I can read the codes. Still investigating the rear end noise.

Regarding members going, I'll be there by way of the British Speed caravan in an ice white Exige - the Caterham isn't quite ready for a cross country trip yet. Looking forward to meeting a few folks in person.

They look far enough apart when the suspension is under load that they wouldn't... but will definitely double check.

Good idea; just tried it and my OBD bluetooth thing won't connect. Apparently I've got an Android only one and no longer have an Android phone. Amazon will have a replacement here in 2 days - will check it when it shows up Wed.

Hi everyone, looking for some ideas to troubleshoot two post-build kinks. The car has about 30 miles on it so far and has developed two oddities. A video of them can be found at https://youtu.be/XS8f_hLe3QA. 1) The first issue is what sounds like metal-on-metal grinding noise from the rear of the car. It's there when driving, although hard to hear over the wind + engine noise. It's very pronounced at slow speed though and you can hear it very clearly at 1:44-1:47 as I come up to the stop light. It doesn't always do it though and alternating light vs heavy brake pressure doesn't seem to trigger it more or less. It's kind of random so far or at least I haven't figured out the condition to reproduce it yet. The brakes feel fine - we did some aggressive test stops from 40mph on a flat stretch of road (with nobody around us) and the car stopped great with no issues. 2) The second issue is a weird idle which I've been troubleshooting since the first time we started it. At first, the idle seemed very low and would stall out. I fixed that by adjusting the idle screw on the throttle body. I've got it set now for somewhere between 1500-2000 RPM but seems to want to continuously hunt back and forth pretty freely. You can hear the motor hunt back and forth when we're stopped between 1:48 and 3:25. It actually settles down to about 1500 RPM for a few seconds and sounds stable, then starts back hunting between 1500 and 2000 right after without the car moving. Any ideas?

Excellent, glad it's normal. Will wipe it up and move on. As for the diff, it's a ZF limited slip based on the info here: http://www.mycaterham.com/66828/117416.html. Thanks for the help!

I've got 16 miles on my Caterham Roadsport built and am in the process of fixing a few issues that have cropped up post-build. While trying to discern where a metal-on-metal thunk noise is coming from when I turn (which I think is coming from the rear), I noticed both the front and rear U joints on the drive shaft are seeping a lot of greenish grease which is being flung against the transmission tunnel walls. Is that normal? High rez pic is here: http://i2.wp.com/danielfrye.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/2015-07-07-21.20.26.jpg As for the metal-on-metal thunk noise, I've got the BMW diff with LSD and the rear anti-roll bar is in place. From what I've read the noise I'm hearing, which isn't all that loud, could just be normal for that setup. The rear bolts all seem to be tight based off my paint marks on the bolts but will check those once I fix the intermittent speedo issue - which is probably the grounding issue others have reported. Daniel

Hi all, been lurking for a while and realized I should probably post up a link to my build blog in the event other folks are starting their build. I ordered my Caterham S3 back in August 2013, it arrived in August 2014, and have been slowly making my way through the build process. I'm getting closer to being done, maybe another few weeks, but have been trying to document the progress to date at the link below. http://danielfrye.com Hope the blog helps others as the few build blogs I've been using have been invaluable during the process... the Caterham manual is not quite current and there's not much in the way of Duratec engine documentation specific to the Caterham. Dan