Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Maintenance & Servicing +4 T16 engine hardly starts and turn off when warm

Thank you, John

UPDATE!

I've made progress and it's running again! ;-)
The ECU had a fault and had to be repaired. It was no longer recognizing the engine's flywheel signal. It's a fairly typical problem, according to the expert. He also removed the immobilizer.

Unfortunately, I still have a minor issue.
When it's cold, it runs perfectly now. But when the automatic coldstart swich off and it's only idling at 800 RPM, it suddenly doesn't run smoothly anymore, it's running on only three cylinders or so
What do you think? A sensor? which?

Thanks

Thanks for letting us know your progress.

Are you sure its only running on 3? ( which would mean a fault on the ignition or injector of just that one cylinder)

or is it just low tickover? have you tried resetting the Ecu on the red switch and restarting.

I have this problem in cold damp conditions, Ecu suffers from a fuelling issue, in my case overfueling caused by not firing first go.
Yours might be underfuelling?

My normal tickover is 1000rpm when warm ( a distributor and coil engine)

(your year handbook says 875 +or- 50 rpm a wasted spark engine )

It could also be just two cylinders. I still need to check that.
In any case, it's no longer running smoothly or correctly.
And no, it's not the RPM. That drops, but it's still around 875.
It happens when the cold start system shuts off and the engine warms up.

The red lever doesn't change anything. If it cools down again from sitting, it runs normally again. Strange!

Have you put in a new fuel filter, worth doing even to just eliminate. no Safeway of testing one that I know of, they are cheap. could be partially blocked?

Thanks. I don't have it yet here. It's ordered and I hope it will arrive soon.
It would be strange, though, if it only clogged up when the engine warms up.
But sure, it's a cheap part that you have to try.
I'm thinking more its a sensor or something.
I have already replaced the ignition coils and spark plugs, too

Well my thinking is that if the filter is only letting through a limited amount of fuel to start with, when the ECU senses the engine is warm it reduces the fuel it is supplying and the engine is running leaner than it should be. Just a theory though Sven.

If you apply a few revs at the carb does it settle?

Have the Injectors been tested? even if they are working, a faulty spray pattern can cause running issues

There are some rumours that the Rover M & T series engines don't adopt well to petrol with Ethanol

If the problem aruses when the cold start unit resets, I would be looking specifically at the cold start valve operation not working properly and maybe causing over fuelling..
When it starts to mis fire, is there an increased smell of petrol under the bonnet and black smoke from the exhaust as they are both clues to this issue.
Also backing up Jon M comment above…when E10 was introduced, the 4 cylinder Rover engines were on a list that I seem to recall was going around some of the dealers, and were thought to be incompatible. They didn't say in what way though, so treat it as a red herring in your case as there must be plenty out there that are still behaving fine.