[V6-12v] Re: hesitation

[James4ihl at aol.com]

Clive --

Thanks for that, very interesting!

Yes, the 'real time' analysis is exactly what my local garage have suggested 
and the car will undergo this as soon as they take receipt of their brand new 
'real time' analysis computer gadget thingy.

I hope its not the ECU. I hear they're pretty expensive.

I noticed today that the connector on the wire to my coolant temp switch 
(2-pin) has cracked from age. It's only gone on the interior, the actual 'middle' 
bit of plastic inside that separates the two pins. Can you get repair kits for 
those plugs? It looks like it would actually come apart and a new interior 
bit would clip in...

I found an interesting thing today though. Actually I had simply disconnected 
the battery to wipe any extraneous fault codes that I may have caused by 
disconnecting various connectors while attempting diagnosis (that way I know that 
any dumped when the garage hook the computer up are 'genuine' faults and not 
my messing around). Well, I hooked it back up and started the engine with the 
hood up. As I was listening around the engine compartment (I've had a bit of a 
sticky tappet and wanted to try and locate which bank) I noticed a funny 
little 'ticking' noise, though not a tappet. So I listened more carefully and 
narrowed it down and it was coming from the solenoid valve for the active carbon 
canister. In fact I could feel it vibrating if I touched it. Hmm, I thought, but 
then considered that maybe it's supposed to tick all the time. Then, as I 
listened, it stopped for a few seconds. Turns out that it seems to mostly tick, 
but occasionally stop - say every 30 seconds or so on average. Now I did think 
that was weird. I'd expect that valve to either be open or shut pretty much 
continuously while the engine is actually running. However, the manual I have 
doesn't say whether that valve should cycle on and off, or stay in one state 
only while the car is running. Any idea? I've copied this in to the group, just 
in case anyone knows...

Cheers,
James