Help,she's Finally Died!

[The-Acre]

Greetings all,

A bit of urgent help needed. We were out in the old LS today and as usual it was running as smooth as silk. I pulled onto a dual carriageway and put my foot down (not very hard) and suddenly the car started to feel like it was cutting out. I pulled over and it was still idling but it was like it was running on 2 rather than 8. There was just enough power to turn around but with the acceleration of a push bike. When I managed to get back, and it was only half a mile, I stopped the engine and popped the bonnet. Everything towards the rear of the engine seemed hot, in fact there was a small amount of smoke which I think was just old oil/grease that had got hotter than usual. The exhausts were making the usual noises as they cooled down but much, much more than usual. The water temp seemed OK but something towards the back of the engine down by the exhaust seemed very, very hot.

Any ideas?

I've had over 4 years of trouble free motoring so if it's terminal (by that I mean too expensive to repair) I can't complain.

It's a 93 with 129K and there were no warning lights showing.

Cheers

Phil

Just a PS on this. I turned it over this morning from cold and it fired up but was rough and still with no power. It sounds like an old American V8 from the 70's, just chugging over.

[ROYT]

Greetings all,

A bit of urgent help needed. We were out in the old LS today and as usual it was running as smooth as silk. I pulled onto a dual carriageway and put my foot down (not very hard) and suddenly the car started to feel like it was cutting out. I pulled over and it was still idling but it was like it was running on 2 rather than 8. There was just enough power to turn around but with the acceleration of a push bike. When I managed to get back, and it was only half a mile, I stopped the engine and popped the bonnet. Everything towards the rear of the engine seemed hot, in fact there was a small amount of smoke which I think was just old oil/grease that had got hotter than usual. The exhausts were making the usual noises as they cooled down but much, much more than usual. The water temp seemed OK but something towards the back of the engine down by the exhaust seemed very, very hot.

Any ideas?

I've had over 4 years of trouble free motoring so if it's terminal (by that I mean too expensive to repair) I can't complain.

It's a 93 with 129K and there were no warning lights showing.

Cheers

Phil

Wild guess at loss power as described ---- 1 coil failure

[The-Acre]

Greetings all,

A bit of urgent help needed. We were out in the old LS today and as usual it was running as smooth as silk. I pulled onto a dual carriageway and put my foot down (not very hard) and suddenly the car started to feel like it was cutting out. I pulled over and it was still idling but it was like it was running on 2 rather than 8. There was just enough power to turn around but with the acceleration of a push bike. When I managed to get back, and it was only half a mile, I stopped the engine and popped the bonnet. Everything towards the rear of the engine seemed hot, in fact there was a small amount of smoke which I think was just old oil/grease that had got hotter than usual. The exhausts were making the usual noises as they cooled down but much, much more than usual. The water temp seemed OK but something towards the back of the engine down by the exhaust seemed very, very hot.

Any ideas?

I've had over 4 years of trouble free motoring so if it's terminal (by that I mean too expensive to repair) I can't complain.

It's a 93 with 129K and there were no warning lights showing.

Cheers

Phil

Wild guess at loss power as described ---- 1 coil failure

Would that cause high temperatures? Is there an easy test for coil failure?

[The-Acre]

Greetings all,

A bit of urgent help needed. We were out in the old LS today and as usual it was running as smooth as silk. I pulled onto a dual carriageway and put my foot down (not very hard) and suddenly the car started to feel like it was cutting out. I pulled over and it was still idling but it was like it was running on 2 rather than 8. There was just enough power to turn around but with the acceleration of a push bike. When I managed to get back, and it was only half a mile, I stopped the engine and popped the bonnet. Everything towards the rear of the engine seemed hot, in fact there was a small amount of smoke which I think was just old oil/grease that had got hotter than usual. The exhausts were making the usual noises as they cooled down but much, much more than usual. The water temp seemed OK but something towards the back of the engine down by the exhaust seemed very, very hot.

Any ideas?

I've had over 4 years of trouble free motoring so if it's terminal (by that I mean too expensive to repair) I can't complain.

It's a 93 with 129K and there were no warning lights showing.

Cheers

Phil

Just a PS on this. I turned it over this morning from cold and it fired up but was rough and still with no power. It sounds like an old American V8 from the 70's, just chugging over.

[ROYT]

Greetings all,

A bit of urgent help needed. We were out in the old LS today and as usual it was running as smooth as silk. I pulled onto a dual carriageway and put my foot down (not very hard) and suddenly the car started to feel like it was cutting out. I pulled over and it was still idling but it was like it was running on 2 rather than 8. There was just enough power to turn around but with the acceleration of a push bike. When I managed to get back, and it was only half a mile, I stopped the engine and popped the bonnet. Everything towards the rear of the engine seemed hot, in fact there was a small amount of smoke which I think was just old oil/grease that had got hotter than usual. The exhausts were making the usual noises as they cooled down but much, much more than usual. The water temp seemed OK but something towards the back of the engine down by the exhaust seemed very, very hot.

Any ideas?

I've had over 4 years of trouble free motoring so if it's terminal (by that I mean too expensive to repair) I can't complain.

It's a 93 with 129K and there were no warning lights showing.

Cheers

Phil

Just a PS on this. I turned it over this morning from cold and it fired up but was rough and still with no power. It sounds like an old American V8 from the 70's, just chugging over.

If half the cylinders get no spark unburnt fuel will heat up the cats[and ruin them if it continues]

Check for a spark on every cylinder, easiest quick check if this is the problem[guessing] would be to swap each coil in turn for a known good one..

[The-Acre]

Thanks for the info. I'll start on this in the next couple of days and see what happens. If only the coils and plugs etc were as easy to get to as most cars!!

[steve2006]

Passenger side coil opposite the batery tray or the HT lead from here to the distributor not correctly routed and chafed through.

If you remove the plastic covers and get to the distributor leads, pull out the centre coil connection and with insulated pliers place the copper conductor close but not touching the chassis/engine block,have some one crank over the car and look for a spark jumping across the gap,if no spark highly likely to be the coil pack.Test the passenger side one 1st as it is the usual culprit.

Another test is to fire up the engine when dark and look for arcing around the coils and leads,you will also find the cats glow red after running for a while due as mentioned above unburnt fuel entering them which can cause damge long term.

These guys do the Nippon Denso replacements at around £15.00!!!!!!

http://www.suttonautofactors.co.uk/buy-online.php

Can't post the direct link but the coils are listed as follows

Part Number : INT12652

Cost : £14.22 + vat

Ignition Coil

Model:

LS 400 4.0

Year range:

12/89-07/00

Extra info:

Nippon Denso

Saloon

[The-Acre]

Passenger side coil opposite the batery tray or the HT lead from here to the distributor not correctly routed and chafed through.

If you remove the plastic covers and get to the distributor leads, pull out the centre coil connection and with insulated pliers place the copper conductor close but not touching the chassis/engine block,have some one crank over the car and look for a spark jumping across the gap,if no spark highly likely to be the coil pack.Test the passenger side one 1st as it is the usual culprit.

Another test is to fire up the engine when dark and look for arcing around the coils and leads,you will also find the cats glow red after running for a while due as mentioned above unburnt fuel entering them which can cause damge long term.

These guys do the Nippon Denso replacements at around £15.00!!!!!!

http://www.suttonautofactors.co.uk/buy-online.php

Can't post the direct link but the coils are listed as follows

Part Number : INT12652

Cost : £14.22 + vat

Ignition Coil

Model:

LS 400 4.0

Year range:

12/89-07/00

Extra info:

Nippon Denso

Saloon

Thanks also to you Steve.

I'll let you know if this is the problem.

[The-Acre]

Just another quick question.

It seems the passenger side coil pack is the possible culprit so it looks like I have to remove the Battery and maybe Battery tray to get to it. Is it simply a case of disconnecting and reconnecting or is there a precedure like the later ones? I seem to remember when I did the dash problem I had to leave it for 3 mins after re connecting.

[itarumaa]

If you are wondering about Battery reconnection, I have done it many times without any issues. Only thing to do is that after you start the car, you have to wait maybe 15secs in Park(and press the brake pedal same time just for sure) because otherwise the vsc light might not go off.

[The-Acre]

If you are wondering about battery reconnection, I have done it many times without any issues. Only thing to do is that after you start the car, you have to wait maybe 15secs in Park(and press the brake pedal same time just for sure) because otherwise the vsc light might not go off.

Thanks for that, and sorry yes, I should have said the Battery!

[The-Acre]

Just an update for those interested. The new ignition coil came today (only took a week!) but at £26 inc delivery I'm not complaining. It was of course the coil pack on the passengers side but I did manage to stay calm, even though it took 40 mins to get the rear bolt in (now I know why God made Japanese people so small)

Anyway, everything back together and she fired up on the button! There does however seem to be a very, very slight change in the exhaust note so I'm assuming that when it got really hot maybe a joint has opened slightly.

Great to get it back on the road at such a small cost, and still got all my knuckles1

Thanks to ROYT and Steve for your advice etc, it's all much appreciated, especially as I thought it might be the end of the road.

Phil

[ACLex]

Just an update for those interested. The new ignition coil came today (only took a week!) but at £26 inc delivery I'm not complaining. It was of course the coil pack on the passengers side but I did manage to stay calm, even though it took 40 mins to get the rear bolt in (now I know why God made Japanese people so small)

Anyway, everything back together and she fired up on the button! There does however seem to be a very, very slight change in the exhaust note so I'm assuming that when it got really hot maybe a joint has opened slightly.

Great to get it back on the road at such a small cost, and still got all my knuckles1

Thanks to ROYT and Steve for your advice etc, it's all much appreciated, especially as I thought it might be the end of the road.

Phil

Glad to hear she is back from the dead B) enjoy :winky:

Andy