alanrichey

I read that to say that the 12V supply is permanent and the heating element inside the sensor sorts itself out internally. Hence there are only 2 wires and no extra monitoring wire back to the ECU. Having said that, we have seen that after a couple of minutes the mere presence of exhaust gases will keep the sensor element heated up. So maybe the ECU turns off the heater supply after a couple of minutes ? Don't know.

Unfortunately the ECU turns on the Fuel Pump for 2-3 seconds when you turn the ignition on and then turns it on when you start to crank, even if she doesn't start. I guess a few seconds for the sensor heater without any gases passing over it wouldn't do any harm, don't actually know how sensitive they are.

Thanks for the offer but please don't, you might ruin it. We know for a fact the lambda sensor heater relay is a separate yellow relay that comes together with the fuel pump relay and the ECU relay. It is on the wiring diagram and I have actually seen it on 2 part-built Superspecs so I know it exists. We just cannot find where our builders have put it, However, we might have a solution. Now we can communicate with the ECU we can instruct it to cycle the relay. Hopefully we can follow the clicks ...

And even more good progress, turns out the sensor heater is only getting a 2V feed rather than 12V. So now we know the sensor is OK and the fault is probably in the relay. The only problem is that we cant find the relay And I can't help as I have been looking for mine for 2 years and haven't managed to track it down. I suspect it is hidden deep inside the back of the dash. I did wonder about wiring up another relay in parallel with a decent 12V supply but unfortunately the 'trigger' 12V is sent by the ECU when the engine starts. And I can't thing of any other system that receives a 12V trigger when the engine starts that we could tap into. However we have at least identified the problem and I am very grateful for all the help offered here. What could have taken us days was sorted in hours. I love this Club !!

Well done Nigel, I think you win the prize Andy did 2 runs today, the first from cold and the second after a 5 min stop so the engine was hot. Standard behaviour on the first run but on the second run everything was perfect So the problem must be that the lambda heater is not working properly. So all we need to do now is find out if the sensor is at fault or the relay. And at least we can eliminate the ECU as a culprit, which is a load off our minds.

VERY good point. The start point is when the ignition is turned on and the lambda sensor doesn't start until the engine starts up. I need to revisit the graphs and see what the gap is from engine start to going Open Loop. Later: Well picked up. When I checked all the runs for time between engine start and the ECU giving up it is pretty constant at about 40 seconds. So apologies to Brumster, you were right. The ECU must have a hard-wired time while it looks for activity from the sensor.

We thought that as well, as the status flipped at 48 seconds on his first two runs, but on the 3rd run it waited until 1:06 before it flipped. And when I look at mine, although my sensor tends to start 'stirring' after 40-50 seconds on one occasion it took 1:30 mins before anything happened and my ECU happily sat waiting. What fun

I actually have a working spare we can use when we get together

it's a narrow band sensor that generates 0.1V for too lean up to 0.9V for too rich and yes everything is built into the ECU and not user-adjustable. And no external controllers. And the only wires are the heater, signal and ground. I'm beginning to think it is just that Andy's sensor is just a bit lazy. Maybe it has been contaminated with silicone in the past ? Shan't be opening the ECU, as we think it is all on EEPROM and no-one knows anything about it. But I do have a spare ECU from jez, so if a new sensor doesn't help we can try that.

I know I'm supposed be the expert on the Rover MEMS system but this one has me stumped. So appealing for anyone who understands the basic principles of ECUs AndyW has recently purchased a Superspec and joined the Club, so the first thing we did was run my MEMSAnalyser software on the car. This is what we see on my car: All working as expected, the ECU waits patiently (green line shows Status is flagged as Good) while the sensor warms up and then after 1:30 min it all settles down, engine runs in Closed Loop for the rest of the trip with the mixture being controlled. But this is what we are seeing on Andy's car His sensor seems to be doing the same as mine, although maybe not as efficiently, but you can see from the Green Line that after about a minute the ECU decides the sensor is not working properly and switches the Status flag to OFF for the rest of the trip so he is running Open Loop in the default 'Limp Home' mode. We have done all the obvious wiring checks and rebooted the ECU, and obviously the next step will be to try a different sensor, but meanwhile does anyone know what the ECU is checking for ? And why it would switch the sensor out after 1 minute before it has a decent chance to warm up.? Al

As I have said before in this thread the Temperature is coming from the ECU. I have no idea if it accurate but again, as I have already stated, that doesn't actually matter. Provided the engine is running fairly hot and not boiling over and the temperature gauge is staying within the Normal range then I really don't care what absolute temperature the engine is actually running at. However I DO care what the ECU thinks the temperature is, as that figure is being used to set all sorts of other things, idle speed, ignition advance, fuel/air mixture...... So I like having the ECU think it is running at 88C rather than 70C as that is a nice hot temperature that means all the other parameters will be around the normal. If it is a bit inaccurate and the temperature is actually 92C, who cares ? Maybe when I started this thread I should not have used actual values I should have used 'flipping cold. 'nicely normal' and bl...y hot' But I don't really want to repeat all the points that have already been made in this thread as the other members of the forum must be absolutely bored to death with the subject. That is why I said I was closing it off Bye Al

Just to close off this thread, having now run under my new system for 2 months I can confirm the old-school solution works (thanks for reminding me Mick). Even though I have also fitted a mesh behind the grid to go with my highly technical temperature velcro-controlled grill masking system I took her to Rutland Water yesterday on the hottest day of the year and she sat rock-solid at 88C all the way there and back and I didn't have to resort to turning the fan on. I have to withdraw all the negative comments I made about the Superspec cooling system, once it is fixed, it's actually superb

A small but very select band braved the heat and humidity and had a lovely picnic near the water. Thanks to those that came. And no my number plate is not right-wing low, it's the camera angle

Happy to do that. I guess somewhere just West of Leicester would be about an hour's drive for about 5 of us ? Let me know when you have yours back on the road.

You will love it. I have a list of Superspec owners and I will add you to it. I'm going through an update of the list at the moment and waiting for some replies, but as of now I think there are about 20 owners who are current on the forum, there seem to be only about 6 cars actually on the road, but there are at least another 6 undergoing modifications and should be out and about soon. So plenty of expertise around. No doubt you have already done a Forum Search on 'Supespec' and found lots of posts. I would recommend reading them all. They were a great deal of help to me 3 years ago when I started out and they answered questions I didn't even know I should have asked. As I said in my PM to you, quite happy to drive over one day so you can see what a completed one looks like. Welcome Al

Sounds good. There seem to be quite a few Rover reservoirs around very cheap, probably best to use one of them.

The Rover T16 engine that RH fitted to the Superspec comes with a Power Steering Pump which is, of course, not used. Unfortunately it is integral with the water pump so cannot simply be removed. On my Superspec the original owner simply joined the IN & OUT connections with a hose, and I assume he pre-filled the system with fluid. Although she is now 8 years old and still going strong I am aware this is a weak point as if she developed a leak I would never know and the pump would run dry and probably self destruct. I know other Superspec owners have added a reservoir so they can visually confirm there is fluid in the system, so I am thinking of doing that as a safety measure. Is it as simple as just having a bottle with 2 hose connectors at the bottom ? Or do I need valves or a dummy load somewhere in the system ?

Actually the risk of thunderstorms seems to have disappeared. Weather could not be better. See you there.

I have a spare Rover MEMS 1.6 ECU from a Superspec, but as you can't remap it I guess you won't be interested ? (Sorry, just couldn't resist it )

Although it's only been a week since Stoneleigh, we can't waste the glorious weather we are going to get this Sunday. I know there is a 5% of a thunderstorm of biblical proportions but what is life without a bit of a risk I'm going to take a picnic lunch to Rutland Water about 12:00 so if anyone fancies joining me come along for a chat and a wander around. We always use the Sykes Lane Car Park, (North East corner of the reservoir - https://goo.gl/maps/7ZHSW2pYdwx),so make sure you go to the right Car Park (it's the one with the signpost to the Tourist Information Centre), and make sure you drive right around the loop to find me as I can't predict how busy it will be and where the spaces will be. Last time we adopted a nice grassy hill near the exit, so I might try and get that again. Cheers Al

Now Stoneleigh is over it's time to look at the rest of May. This month we have 'Horsepower at the Hall' on Sunday 22 May 14 ( at Doddington Hall (LN6 4RU). It's 14:00 to 17:00 so we will probably meet up at the pub for lunch first. I'll post a reminder with details nearer the date. And some of us may be going to the Moira Canal Festival (http://www.rhocar.org/index.php?showtopic=43321&hl=moira&page=1) on the same weekend. If you are going on the Saturday you can do both Otherwise I will do my usual weather watch for the W/E 14/15 and 28/29. I fancy another picnic lunch at Rutland Water. And an advanced date for June for your diaries. The annual Midsummer Fair at Castle Bytham (http://www.midsummerfair.co.uk/) is on Sunday 19 June. A lovely village show with all the usual things you would expect. Two years ago we pitched up with 10 cars and were made very welcome and I think everyone enjoyed it. Last year I was away so no-one went. This year I am back so let's try for a full turn out again Al

Any further news on this ? Do we need to contact the organisers directly or has that already been done ?

I would reply and select the "cannot come" option. I think that means you stay on the database and will get an invite next year.

I think that was because you were the one that took Dave's entry. Try registering now as a new entry, that way you will get on the database for future years. Let me know if you have problems as I also have a spare registration code.

Not you Dave, as I recall we had early notice of yours and we gave it to someone else ? But that raises a valid point that is worth re-iterating. Please read the reply carefully. Dave was one of a couple who were rejected for the run out, and thought that meant the whole thing. But being rejected for the run out does NOT mean you are rejected for the Show. 500 Cars allowed in the Show but only 30 are allowed on the run out.