Nissan Touring car Missfire

Interesting one this, missfire complaint on a Nissan Primera.

No big shakes apart from the fact it is a 2000 super tourer.

A 2.5 l 320 BHP N/A engine.

But engines are engines and they all need fuel, spark and compression.

The visual inspection found a bad connector, on one of the eight yes eight injectors.

Once repaired and shaken down on the track all was good.

It is now racing and winning in the Welsh Saloon Car Championship.

For more details check out WRDA.co.uk

ABS trouble

Most ABS faults relate to the wheel speed sensors, the wiring or the physical condition of the system.
This Ford Puma was no exception, the pedal pulsed when driving, the ABS warning light was illuminated, and it was clear the vehicle had sustained some damage recently.
A quick look at live data showed one wheel speed sensor dropping out occasionaly, but why?
No need for scopes here the front left wheel speed sensor wiring had been damaged but not repaired when the panels had been replaced after a minor RTA. New sensors are expensive so a repair to the wiring loom was the option taken by the customer.

Latest cars in the workshop

We looked at a Ford Cosworth Race Car just before it went to Brands Hatch on the trailer to race for the weekend.
Once fired up it was obvious there was something wrong.
Not all the cylinders were firing.
These cars are far from complex and simple time tested methods can work quickly.
Pull off the injector connector for each cylinder in turn, the missing cylinder will have little effect on the engine tone. You may not notice much in the way of a rpm drop as the idle stepper motor will keep the idle speed stable.
But you will notice the difference in engine tone.
Having diagnosed cylinder number 1 as the problem, the next step is to find out why.
You need 3 elements to make an engine run;
fuel.
spark.
compression.

Swopping the injector connector with cyl 2 did not move the problem so a fault within the fuel system could be quickly ruled out.
That left the ign and engine condition.
A quick spark check showed a spark at the end of plug lead. But that isn't the end of the spark test. We need to make sure its not the plug. Simple (on these cars) whip out the plug and see if it sparks when earthed while the engine is running.

While the plug is out carry out a quick compression check, compare results with a running cylinder if the cranking pressure is unkown.
In this case the plug had failed.

Using an automotive scope and amps clamp would of proved the fault much quicker and prevented miss diagnosis.