Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Maintenance & Servicing My continuing GDI saga, and its not good news.

I've been spannering since the age of seventeen. Back then it was crude spannering. But I have never been beaten, until now. OK, fancy management systems are right up there and I'm a lot happier with a pair of SUs, and a timing light.

Morgan, in their wisdom have locked out the GDI ECU. Even my Son in Law, with cutting edge fault readers can't get in.

So into the story.................................................................................................

In a post to match and even exceed those of Luddite..............

In the spring of 2024, we did a Highlands road trip in our GDI, covering over 1,000 miles in 8 days and it was as it has always been, without any problems. It was eight years old . The MoT from 2019, at three years old, was always close on emissions at 2.500rp, against the clock, but my tester at the village garage was patient. Sometimes taking a few goes to get it under the limit. The tailpipe was black from new and the throttle was hair trigger. In the autumn of 2019 I fitted the AR manifold and exhaust, and the factory added the AR flash to the ECU. The throttle response steadied down, and the tailpipe improved somewhat.

In the autimn of 2024, without a lot of use after Scotland, on an early morning run, I encountered the story I have already related on TM. After about ten miles, the power went down like a slider control to just tickover, and nothing more. The engine started normally and idled normally, but would not rev at all. After a lot of throttle flooring, and sporatic sudden high revs, it cleared, and we ran normally to the filling station and I filled the tank. On the run home it repeated this about five times, but we made it home, and as I put it into the garage, the problem vanished. I later discovered that a couple of other GDI owners have had similar faults in hot weather, which appeared and vanished suddenly. One could manage a slow speed until it cleared.

Cars don’t heal up. I told MrsW that without finding out what was the cause, it would inevitably return. I changed the relays, checked the earths. Checked the MAF, and that was it. By the summer of 2025, my village tester had retired, and I had also been off the road for a while after my TIA stroke. I concluded it best to use my nearest dealer, but MrsW had to drive there. Sadly it failed dismally on emissions. I was beginning to suspect the catalyst was at fault, and so I commissioned a replacement, although finding an exhaust specialist interested in doing this was a challenge.

In October 2025, we returned to the dealer with an upgraded catalyst and new O2 sensors, and it failed dismally. The rich mixture was off the scale at 2,500rpm. After discussing options, we concluded that the dealer should replace the AR flash with the standard one, although I could not restore the AR flash without paying again. This last throw of the dice worked, and it passed the emissions. But the hair trigger throttle was back and so was the black tailpipe.

A few weeks ago, we were out on an early morning run. After about twenty miles, I, and MrsW, sensed a hesitation when revving, and as we turned for home, it got progressively worse, but thankfully the traffic lights were kind, and we managed to get home. Back on the drive, the tickover sounded super rich. A very regular pulse, of brum-brum-brum-brum, although the revcounter was reasonably steady, and the engine sounded reasonably steady when listening under the bonnet. After about a minute, the tickover returned to normal, but it would not rev cleanly at all. It was very similar to what happened the first time.

I expected that the plugs would be a wet mess. They were bone dry and clean. First job was new plugs. I didn’t expect new plugs to make any difference, and they didn’t. Then new coil packs, from Autodoc. These are fancy Bosch coil packs but when fitted, it would not start or even attempt to fire. I have heard that if the fuel pressure doesn’t fall within parameters, the plugs don’t fire, but this was unexpected. So I got a cheap set of unbranded coil packs off E Bay, and it would start but no change to how it ran.

Now it starts to get difficult without being able to look for fault codes, but of course MMC locked off the GDI ECU to dealers only. So I’m a long way from any dealer with an undriveable GDI. I decided to try one final thing. BHM have had a couple of GDIs with fuel pump issues. I ordered a fuel pump. BHM didn’t have one and neither did Morgan, so that took a couple of weeks to arrive. Fitting a fuel pump into a GDI is a challenge. This will vary across models because the tanks changed shape. But the problem with mine, is the the tank unit is tall, and clearance is not. Over the top of the pump is an ash crossbrace. So either that comes out, or you drop the tank. Such fun. The ash crossbrace thankfully is not glued, but has two crosshead screws at each end, buried under the slope of the cockpit rear panel, and the edges are covered by the trim panels which are glued in place. The only way, is to use an offset screwdriver in the confined space and take each screw out, basically at a quarter turn a time. Under the spare wheel aperture, is about six wood screws. Then peel back the trim, and attempt to free off the ash crossbrace. It eventually gave way. The pump is complex and includes the sensor, but only has a single electrical connection and the output pipe, which is held in place by a sneaky and rather fancy ‘C’ clip. After freeing off the rather large plastic ring fastener, and freeing off the rather fancy rubber seal, the pump then lifts out with a pint of petrol going everywhere. Obviously before any of this happened, I disconnected the battery. The new pump then slots in, noting the correct position, and I lubricated the seal with a smear of vaseline, because it is ribbed and a rather tight fit. A torch inspection of inside the tank showed nothing unusual. No contamination of junk, and no trace of water globules.

After re-assembly, I was rather disappointed that on starting, there was no change, and I began to realise that it was time for the experts. Finally, I tried a new relay, the one which resides under the spare wheel, and that made no difference. So here’s the thing. The fuel pump in the tank is a conventional low pressure pump. It’s a bit fancy because there is a solenoid in there, but it’s not the high pressure delivery which the GDI needs. The high pressure pump is mechanical and is driven off the offside camshaft. From the high pressure pump, there is a steel fuel pipe which feeds the fuel rail on the nearside of the engine and this is where the injectors are. The high pressure pump has a bleed return to the tank, controlled by a solenoid on the pump. This solenoid is controlled by signals from the crank sensor, the cam sensors, and the ECU, which will be compiling a load of data I guess, about speed, throttle position and O2 sensor readings, and probably more. Something in that system is faulty. It might be the connection between the accelerator and the throttle body, but without looking at the error codes, I could end up changing everything and still not find out what’s going on.

So today, BHM picked up my GDI, which could barely reverse up the drive. I will post pics soon. Darren Church, who runs 468 Logistics does all the movements for BHM and their brand is on his truck. Its a very fancy carrier, a covered box van with a side door. I was totally impressed. Darren is a multi Morgan owner. Why 468? I asked...........It's obvious. Morgan 4 wheeler engines.

Now I wait. It's a new experience for me. I can't say that I like failing, but knowing your limits is also important.

You didn’t fail Dave. You’ve already accomplished a huge amount of mechanical work on your Morgan’s, far more than most of us on this forum, myself included……good luck in getting it fixed soon

Thanks Craig......

Fuel pump details










"Access"


When the frame crossmember is removed - just enough wiggle room.


And................

Dave you mention no fault codes or even the presence of an EML. I can understand the ECU being locked although you suggest it's been flashed then flashed back again. In any case it's inconceivable that OBD2 codes can't be read giving strong clues as a minimum to the root cause of your issue.

BTW I'm aware of low fuel pressure fuel sensor and high pressure fuel pump connections on GDI engine loom. I guess the latter could be some form of pump control but read it as electric fuel pump feed

They just don't connect Richard. I tried all mine. Son in Law has a laptop loaded with tech which works on most things but the GDI only responds to the Morgan Dealer package.

Unless it proves to be a random bad connection .... Will you get to the point where an aftermarket ecu might be the cheaper option! ? ... and the code access would be restored going forward.


K

I don't even know if an alternative ECU would work. You know how Morgan piece together bits from various places and make it work. It's beyond a random thing now, it's a thing! So it might take some figuring out without changing a lot of components. All I know is its not plugs or coil packs, and its not the fuel pump, or the fancy relay at the back.

That doesn't make sense to me Dave and likely illegal to deprive GDI owners of basic OBD2 fault information available on every other modern car on the road. Are you suggesting engine management lights (engine or spanner icon) don't appear either?

Note AI response to my query:

Completely blocking access to standard OBD2 fault codes is generally illegal in the UK and EU. Under Regulation (EU) 2018/858 (which continues to apply in the UK), carmakers must provide independent operators and owners with unrestricted, standardized, and non-discriminatory access to vehicle OBD and diagnostic information.However, many modern manufacturers now use Secure Gateways (SGW). While these firewalls do not block owners from reading basic diagnostic codes, they prevent third-party tools from clearing codes or writing data unless the user pays a subscription or registers for authorized access.The legality of these "secure gateway" blocks remains a complex, evolving legal battleground:European Court of Justice (ECJ): The court ruled in Case C-296/22 that manufacturers cannot impose restrictive conditions, such as forcing independent operators to use manufacturer-specific internet servers or registration systems to access OBD data. The court struck down manufacturer arguments that cybersecurity regulations (UN Regulation 155) justified limiting access for repairs.Emerging Regulations: Phased implementations (like the EU's extended Regulation 2026/699) are currently being rolled out to enforce fully standardized access protocols and prevent manufacturers from using cybersecurity as a loophole to control the repair market.Global Context: In the US, independent automotive groups and consumer advocates continue to lobby for broad legislation like the REPAIR Act, as digital locks and telematics data remain contentious

We tried mine too, 3 different brands and they wouldn't read either

Really sorry to hear your ingoing saga, could your GDI be going into some form of 'limp home' mode! Hopefully, Brands Hatch will be able to resolve the issues for you.If worse case scenario an aftermarket ecu maybe the better way forward, so they can get the engine setup just the way you want it, rather than reliant on a locked system.

One of the issues I'm becoming increasing aware of with some manufacturers is that updated/reflashs of the software can create problems with previously perfectly functioning sensors etc. problems that didn't exist pre the update/reflash. For example with Mercedes I try to avoid any software updates as they are well known to cause O2 and NOX sensors to malfunction shortly afterwards.Thats why I use a Mercedes independent engineer, who avoids updates where ever possible, because of the problems from experience he finds they can bring on older models, whether it's Mercedes increasing thru its updates, the built in obsolence of their older cars, who knows for certain.

RIchard, your posting on access to software was interesting. I thought that Euro 7 compliance requirements require a locked ecu, so that eg emission settings, safety systems cannot be tampered with. Of course it different scenario being able to read the codes as opposed to change the software.