Off Road SHO Posted May 4, 2015 Share Posted May 4, 2015 Just every once in a while. Like once in 400 miles. It's like the engine is switched off for about 100 milliseconds and then continues on like nothing is wrong. Do any of you other 55 owners ever experience this blip? Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveD Posted May 5, 2015 Share Posted May 5, 2015 Tom, I found my wire harness to the back, included the fuel pump wires, was pinched between one of the drive shaft loops and the frame. Mine was shutting off for other reasons. Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Off Road SHO Posted May 5, 2015 Author Share Posted May 5, 2015 Did you have to remove the bottom cover to find that? And is your fuel pump really noisy also? Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coffee break Posted May 6, 2015 Share Posted May 6, 2015 Is it digital or analog? As in ON-OFF-ON, or ON-slow-ON. If it's the first, I'd guess electronic problem. I chased on in a car for 18 months until it stopped cold, than I found a pinched wire. Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Off Road SHO Posted May 6, 2015 Author Share Posted May 6, 2015 Coffee, It's digital. I doublt if it skips more than 1 or 2 cylinder firings, it's that quick. I'm about ready to do a pressure test on my engine compartment since I don't think much air can flow through it with the bottom of the car all closed up. I have a digital Manometer that I hope is sensitive enough to measure whether the is a pressure differential of 2 psi or less. If I get less pressure with the bottom off the car, I will know that I have to open up the bottom louvers more. When I have the bottom plates off, I can check for pinched wires. Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveD Posted May 8, 2015 Share Posted May 8, 2015 Tom, The fuel pump can be accessed by removing the rear fiberglass and aluminum under pans that are screwed on with phillips screws. The pump sits in a clamp on the lower rear of the frame. I had a number of problems with my fuel/electric system. My problems started out with the car starting to lose power while driving. When it happens it starts to run rough and starts losing power. Letting up on the throttle would get it to smooth out, but only for seconds. Then it would start running rough. Repeat this cycle until I could find a place to pull off the road and it would quit running. It only happened now and then and if I let it sit for 15 minutes it would start back up and run fine. Eventually it got to happen too frequently and I no longer trusted it to get me home. Things I noted about it were: 1 it always seemed to happen when it was hot out 2 usually happened after I had been driving at speeds above 40 3 never did this when the tank was close to being full 4 would always restart after it sat for a while 5 the fuel pump made one heck of a noise I had tried to replace my fuel pump with a new one and it made no difference. S1Steve said he had his car shut off and then would restart and he traced it to a pinch in his fuel pump wires where the wire harness ran under one of the drive shaft loops. I ended up pulling the interior center out and found that my wire harness was also pinched going through the drive shaft loop. It did not look like it was pinched bad enough to cause the problem. In the process of the all the work I ended up doing on the car, I discovered that air was being pulled into the fuel line before the fuel pump. I pulled the tank and found the rubber hose clamps in the tank were all loose. Aha! I thought I found the problem. Car gets hot, air gets in fuel pump, pump looses pressure and vapor lock occurs! Let car cool down, vapor lock goes away, restart and keep driving. Unfortunately that was not the solution. It did not happen as often, but it was still happening. I had my trunk out of the car and had taken it to have my fabricator look at building me a roll bar for the car. While there I happen to notice air bubbles in the translucent fuel line I had put on it during all the problems I had been having. So, air was still getting into the fuel line. I pulled the tank inners again and could not figure out how the air was getting in. I even tried replacing the rubber lines and clamps in the tank. I even drew a vacuum on the aluminum tubes and they did not indicate any leakage. I ended up reading in the manual for the car that it was recommended to pull the gas from the bottom of the tank and not run it thru an in-line filter before the fuel pump. This is what I eventually ended up doing to solve the problem of sucking in air bubbles. I also found that the windshield defroster, fuel pump and something else were all chained together in series from 1 hot wire in the back of the fuse box. All the insulation had burned off those wires at the fuse connectors behind the fuse box. I ended up re-wiring these so each had its own 12 volt supply wire. I don't think this had anything to do with the fuel issue, but then wires that get hot enough to burn insulation off, probably are not transmitting full voltage to the components. One being the fuel pump. The experience was no picnic, but I know my car a whole lot better than had I not done this work. I also ended up with the entire interior out so I could install 6 point harnesses to be legal for my local HPDE track days. Now I am trying to figure out exactly what the rear axle is out of so I can order parts for it. Something is coming apart in it and I can't identify a source for looking up parts until I can identify it. The pinion and ring gear look fine. The diff is closed so I have no way of knowing if the problem is internal. I tried the dealer where I bought my 2014 Tacoma from but they are zero help. If anyone can help I would much appreciate it. Thanks, Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Off Road SHO Posted May 8, 2015 Author Share Posted May 8, 2015 Dave, Wow, thanks. I have all 5 of those symptoms to one degree or another. My pump is probably cavitating, causing the excessive noise. I don't think it helps the vapor locking issue having a return fuel system that is always trying to cool off the small cramped engine compartment with fuel. Have you thought about contacting the company that actually built the S-1's for Superformance? I think they are still in business in one form or anther. Hi-Tech, out of South Africa. Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveD Posted May 11, 2015 Share Posted May 11, 2015 I sent an email to Superformance to find out what the rear axle is sourced from. Dave Cope responded that he is looking into it for me. I will post it when I find out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveD Posted May 11, 2015 Share Posted May 11, 2015 [quote=Off Road SHO;9 I'm about ready to do a pressure test on my engine compartment since I don't think much air can flow through it with the bottom of the car all closed up. I have a digital Manometer that I hope is sensitive enough to measure whether the is a pressure differential of 2 psi or less. If I get less pressure with the bottom off the car, I will know that I have to open up the bottom louvers more. When I have the bottom plates off, I can check for pinched wires. Tom Tom, I can tell you based on my research that there is too much pressure building under the hood. At the 2013 USA7s gathering at NJMP I saw my oil temps get as high as 150C. After that I picked up 4 temp probes and a display and I placed them in different spots under the hood. The display was in the car with me. I picked out a course loop with varied driving and made notes as I went. The first loop I did was with the engine pan installed. I removed the pan and did the same thing with in 15 minutes of the first loop and the temps decreased significantly. So at the 2014 USA7s gathering I removed the pan and I did not see temps anywhere near the year before. I will not be using the pan on the track. The car handled just fine with out it. I will use it on the street as it has saved the low hanging sump from bouncing off the ground a couple times. By the way, I fly experimental aircraft and the rule of thumb for cooling is, that you should have at least 2.5 times more exit area that intake area. With the pan installed, I don't believe it is anywhere near that. Plus I discovered that the cowl vents in front of my windshield were actually sucking in outside air rather than helping to vent what was coming in thru the front. Also, the pinch point for the wires is under the tunnel cover where the E brake is. You won't get to it from under the car. Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Off Road SHO Posted May 11, 2015 Author Share Posted May 11, 2015 Dave, I figured as much about the lack of exit area. While I have the digital manometer borrowed I will take some readings with and without the pan. So do you think the side exit ports are in a high pressure area because of the taper of the front of the the car? BTW, My son-in-law designs and builds UAV's for "special purposes" and he pretty much confirmed the ingress/egress ratio also. Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrmustang Posted May 11, 2015 Share Posted May 11, 2015 Just every once in a while. Like once in 400 miles. It's like the engine is switched off for about 100 milliseconds and then continues on like nothing is wrong. Do any of you other 55 owners ever experience this blip? Tom Besides honing in on the fuel pump, I'd be looking at the coil pack arrangement. Had something similar in my first Birkin, thought as others did that it was the fuel pump. Swapped it out and still had the same intermittent issue. Swapped out the coil pack, never had another issue again. Just a little input from the guy thinking outside the box Bill S. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
S1Steve Posted May 12, 2015 Share Posted May 12, 2015 Sorry for being late to the game. The group of wires that run out from the bottom of the dashboard, next to the transmission.A flat on the transmission bolt was hitting two wires, one being the fuel pump wire and I had to remove the seats and tunnel to get to it. Really fun time !!! Dave , I'm going to remove the oilpan skid pan and see how the temps do at NJMP. I'll reinstall it after the event.... Good Luck to all, even you Croc !!!! LOL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supersportsp Posted May 16, 2015 Share Posted May 16, 2015 So, I am interested in what you guys find out here. I have had a similar issue with my Caterham that I don't believe is fully resolved. Gots warm, starts running poorly like it is missing, then basically won't run at all. Let it sit awhile and cool down and it will run fine again. The one thing we really didn't look at was fueling, probably mainly because of the heat related cause. My car is a carb'd Zetec with electronic ignition. We looked at grounding issues, spark etc but I still think there is something going on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blokko Posted May 17, 2015 Share Posted May 17, 2015 So, I am interested in what you guys find out here. I have had a similar issue with my Caterham that I don't believe is fully resolved. Gots warm, starts running poorly like it is missing, then basically won't run at all. Let it sit awhile and cool down and it will run fine again. The one thing we really didn't look at was fueling, probably mainly because of the heat related cause. My car is a carb'd Zetec with electronic ignition. We looked at grounding issues, spark etc but I still think there is something going on. I had this issue on both of my Caterham's (Rover K Series) and it turned out to be HT leads that were breaking down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Off Road SHO Posted May 24, 2015 Author Share Posted May 24, 2015 (edited) Well, my manometer testing didn't give me much to go on. At speed the pressure diferential between closed up engine compartment and cockpit was only .09 psi where at rest it was 0.0. So it is building up pressure but not much. Removed the belly pan and while it was less buildup of pressure, still pressure. Removed the hood and had 0.0 psi and no heating problems. Put the belly pan back on but not the hood and no problems at all. So I do have a lack of pressure differential between the front and rear of the radiator. The fact that my engine is sucking 2 cubic feet of air per second out the area in front of the radiator at 3500 rpm's probably doesn't help the pressure differential much either. So now I have put everything back on but removed the little plate just behind the nose on the bottom. This is behind the radiator so we will see if that creates more negative pressure inside the engine compartment. Edit: Just got back from a quick blat and opening up that little panel didn't help much at all, still ran well above thermostat temp, 220 and above. Maybe I should build a temporary chin spoiler to see if I can cause enough negative pressure behind the radiator to cause more air to go through the radiator. I noticed there is a device right behind the oil cooler that looks like you can put an air hose on it, like the one on top for cabin air. It doesn't have a hose on it and I'm wondering if that opening is allowing the air to bypass my radiator. It might be time for me to design and build a shroud for the radiator with a puller fan. Tom Edited May 24, 2015 by Off Road SHO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coffee break Posted May 25, 2015 Share Posted May 25, 2015 FWIW, Over the winter I removed the engine/tranny for tranny repairs. Since it was apart I did some changes. I was looking to reduce the footbox and tunnel heat. I have had ceramic coating put on the header and wrapped it. Also added aluminized fiberglass on the aluminum panels of the footbox and tunnel. This has improved the temperature conditions for feet and legs. Since I had it apart, I figured it would be a good time to change all the hoses, (all 4 :smilielol5: ) and new coolant. The car only has 7500 miles on it, it was also assembled in 1998 and I would guess this stuff was original to the build. I've installed Caterham/Crossflow specific hoses from Burton, red silicone to match the nose, clams and wings. I have noticed a reduction in operating temperature also, about 5 to 10C. I also deleted a shut-off valve to the heater. This may have improved the internal coolant flow. Good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveD Posted May 25, 2015 Share Posted May 25, 2015 I noticed there is a device right behind the oil cooler that looks like you can put an air hose on it, like the one on top for cabin air. It doesn't have a hose on it and I'm wondering if that opening is allowing the air to bypass my radiator. It might be time for me to design and build a shroud for the radiator with a puller fan. Tom Tom, The collar behind the oil cooler is the pickup for cockpit heat. The one at the top is the pickup for cockpit fresh air. This is what I did to make sure all the air coming in the nose is going through the coolant and oil radiators. I am sure before I did this too much was going around them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Off Road SHO Posted May 7, 2017 Author Share Posted May 7, 2017 Sorry for brining up an old thread but in my neverending search for the reason my S-1 will not run at the termostat temp setting, I have figured out one more thing. Air is by-passing my grill opening. I ran a temporary manual switch to the new puller fan so that in addition to the thermal switch turning on the fan, I could also turn it on from the cockpit. BINGO! On a hot day where my coolant temps would easily hit 220-240 f, with the fan manually switched on, the temp never got above 170-180f. Took her out for a blat today with an ambient of 75 degrees and the needle stayed at 160f, my thermostat setting. I surmise that the thick louvers on the front grill put up just enough resistance to air flow that the air just says, "eh, why bother? It's easier to go around the outside or through the oil cooler passageway into the engine compartment". With the fan on and my new shroud, air is forcibly sucked through the radiator (so much so that the suction will hold a piece of sheet aluminum against half the grill opening) and out the side vents and new hood louvers. My next test will be to re-route the oil cooler's air away from the back side of the radiator to the bottom of the car. Without this "easy way out", maybe the air will go through the radiator on it own, without being forced through. More as it happens. Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
speedwagon Posted May 8, 2017 Share Posted May 8, 2017 some how missed this thread earlier. There are only 54 of us with Focus engines but the heat problem is far worse with a rotary in #22. (a quick side while I still remember -- it runs in my mind that the rear end is from a Ford sierra, whatever that is. mine has a 8 bolt cut down camero) The wiring is the worst thing about these cars, fuse box is a source of eternal problems and all the wires are under sized and run willi-nilly with little or no protection. replace the fuse box and rewire the whole car paying special attention to the fuel and ignition circuits. Since mine had a bovine experience that gave me the opportunity to consider scrapping the nose cone I have tried several options. First tried a 93 rx-7 radiator with a rx-7 oil cooler high behind it and separating the air flow so that they both got clean air. Present configuration (not tested as yet) is similar using an 4 core aftermarket aluminum radiator from a 70s rx-7 that will require just a couple of slight bumps in the nose. Same oil cooler but with an auxiliary oil to water cooler to pre-cool the oil. the inter-cooler will be mounted high and back and receive air "cowl induction". Have not started rebuilding the nose as yet, but have decided to dis pence with the bars and perhaps sharpen the edges to increase frontal opening. Am also considering a "skid pan" just back to the oil pan trying to create a vacuum of sorts under the car. Sorry for rambling but once started just kept going. good luck to all BTW everyone should consider a tank mounted fuel pump for better cooling and longer life. john Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
speedwagon Posted May 8, 2017 Share Posted May 8, 2017 And just one more thing--Small frontal area--- means BIG fan the biggest that will fit and big wire to run the fan. With a fan relay near to the fan with direct wire (large #10 or larger) with both an auto on(by temp) and a switch (on the ignition circuit so you don't forget and leave the fan on manual after parking running the battery down. john Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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