|
 Lancia, all models 1993 - 2004 onwards
Emission Failures -
High CO & low lamna reading. common causes of rich running faults are the lamna sensor or the ECU (engine control unit) both of these parts are relatively simple to check, to check the sensor strip back the insulation on the signal wire from the lamna sensor, this wire is usually black. Then hold the bare wire between your finger and thumb then touch your other hand on to the battery positive the internal resistance of your body will give 1volt at your finger tips which is what the sensor would give out when the engine runs rich, if the emissions come down then you have a faulty lamna sensor or wiring but if the emissions remain the same then the ECU is a possible fault. For more information on ECU testing click on ECU
|
|
|
Evening post/motoring article
by Roger Bagg, Peacock & Purvey
Well what a strange week, two Lancia Turbos in the same week, These cars are not exactly thick on the ground - the owner of the first one reckoned that there was only about another 30 in England and was resigned to having to take the car down to London to get it fixed. The car was taken to repair to a Main Dealer after it had stopped running, but they gave up on trying to fix it and passed it on to us after we told them we could fix anything. Their initial diagnosis was that the air flow meter needed renewal but this unit is not particularly cheap so they were loathe to renew it. Our first checks were therefore on the air flow meter (AFM)- this measures the quantity of air that the engine sucks in. Sure enough it wasn’t registering any air at all sucked in when the engine was cranking. We have to be 100 % sure though before condeming it so we checked the AFM using a known test source of air flowing through it, and it checked out OK. The fault then was not with the AFM but with the engine not sucking in any air through the AFM. Stripping down the Induction system revealed the cause - a Turbo Intercooler with a big leak at a damaged flange. The price of this part though was worse than for the AFM - over £400, so the Italian owner wanted to go back to Italy to buy the part where they are cheaper.
In the event though we made a good repair on the Intercooler , put the car back together , and went on roadtest. Absolutely brilliant - went like brown coloured stuff off a shovel. In fact too brilliant as it transpires - after 3 miles an enormous bang and the car coasted to a standstill. The Intercooler had burst again. We towed the car back to the workshop, repaired the intercooler again, and checked the Turbo Boost Pressure. As we suspected , full Turbo Boost all the time , it should be limited to about 11 psi., but was going totally demented at 20 psi on full bore. Good for performance ,good for blowing up Intercoolers, and very bad for engine life.
This was the original fault that first caused the car to breakdown, but until it was roadtested again after the intercooler repair it couldn’t be found. The cause was found to be due to a jammed Turbo Wastegate - often this fault needs a new Turbo to fix it , our Italian customer ought to change his name to lucky Luciano because a new Turbo is more money than the Intercooler but we repaired this as well. After fixing these faults we had some other faults to fix , an electric cooling fan for the radiator , and an electric aerial that didn’t work. Fortunately no new units needed here either, the cooling fan fault was caused by a relay with bad contacts and a poor earth on the wiring loom, and the electric aerial needed a new connector block and telescopic section repair. Our second problem Lancia Turbo has only just arrived , this one may have a faulty ECU caused by a clutch change according to it’s owner, we will see, more news on this Italian Stallion soon.
|
