Ownership Verified: That time FinalGear bought a Munich Roadster (MX-5) to drive from Germany to Finland

Check if temp sensor behind engine is working, ECU gets it information from it. I've had it broken and it started to act weird when engine was warm every so often and alot, coughing, not reving and running rich. Just unplug it and drive around to see if unpluging it effects anything.
 
samulis said:
Check if temp sensor behind engine is working, ECU gets it information from it. I've had it broken and it started to act weird when engine was warm every so often and alot, coughing, not reving and running rich. Just unplug it and drive around to see if unpluging it effects anything.
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What will happen if it is left unplugged?
 
loose_unit said:
What will happen if it is left unplugged?
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If it is broken, nothing, it keeps couching etc. If it works, you will notice the difference.
public, yes that is the correct sensor, bit pita to get to, but cheap fix. There is hard to open clips that hold it on, check any other plug in connect easier place in enginebay to see where to press to open it. Not sure anymore if it lives in engine coolant, might be worth googling before opening it that do you have to partly empty the cooling system.

edit Just by looking the picture, yes you will need to empty, at least some of the coolant. There's a plastic philips head screw in bottom of the radiator.
 
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loose_unit said:
I will drop the car off to Beni on Tuesday and we will pull the catalytic converter and get rid of what is left of the insides of it in the hope that helps.
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I believe doing that will make it unregisterable in Finland because it won't pass the smog test of the initial inspection. (Unless it's planned to install a new cat before that, ofc.)
 
I will order a replacement from UK along with a bunch of other stuff. The car needs to be made to run reliably enough so it won't crap out in the middle of the long drive here.
 
Jupix said:
I believe doing that will make it unregisterable in Finland because it won't pass the smog test of the initial inspection. (Unless it's planned to install a new cat before that, ofc.)
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public said:
I will order a replacement from UK along with a bunch of other stuff. The car needs to be made to run reliably enough so it won't crap out in the middle of the long drive here.
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As Public said, this is about getting the car to Finland, so quick fixes are what's needed where it can work :)
 
Cat bypass sections are available no prob. But as the antti roll bar drop links are not good it won't pass inspection before repairs anyway. Those are 10 GBP and change, cat is 80 GBP, and I can throw in some more stuff and shipping before it's the price of an OEM ashtray from Wetteri...
 
My e30 also had engine coughing issues, and after replacing all sensors and removing the cat, the final culprit was a defective ecu.
 
Ok, can I get info on that last one? MX5parts one is 130 eur shipped.
 
Cambelt set ordered at 81 eur, water pump 55 eur. Not the cheapest but I will have them for the meet.
 
CrzRsn said:
Fuck that thing. I spent all too long trying to replace that.
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Any advice, given we will have to do it in an hour or two that we have including pulling the cat apart and possibly swapping the coils over?
 
So, I dropped off the Mazda to Beni earlier today, we pulled the cat off to check inside, it looked quite okay. Unfortunately one of the bolts sheered off as we were taking it apart.

We decided to take it to a do it yourself place to get it on a lift and fixed. This meant driving through the centre of the town with the exhaust disconnected which was ... Loud. We only found out when we got there that it was closed for Carnival. Shit.

We drove it back to Beni's and bodged it back together with some exhaust sealant stuff, as there was nothing left of the gasket, and a small tack weld.

Started the car and no extreme noise any more, success! We drove to Frankfurt where Beni dropped off his Subaru. At which point I said goodbye to the car and Beni. I have heard they stopped for fuel somewhere, so I guess the car is running still!
 
I will be getting the cambelt supplies tomorrow. Should I ask for a temp sensor while I'm there?
 
Okay, made it to Berlin and Dr Grip's. Car is running well enough. We started off slowly but later picked up a lot of speed to make up some time that was lost fiddling around with the car so we could still spend some time with Dr Grip, who kindly lets us sleep in his spare room.

Fuel consumptive wasn't really completely out of the ordinary, around 9 liters for driving between 120 and 140 with pop ups out, a bit more even later when traffic cleared.

The coughing problem hasn't vanished, it happens mostly when using the gas pedal abruptly in either direction and in neutral after autobahn runs. It's a nuisance but still manageable so far.

I didn't experience this when driving the car from Munich to Frankfurt, but absurdly though the car is running worse now in a way it also feels stronger and more revvy at the same time probably due to the changed parts.
 
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