Great balls of fire...

[poohbah]

Great to hear its now all hunky dory John. I trust you also purchased and fitted a fire extinguisher, just in case?

[johnl]

Forgot to buy a fire extinguisher, but taking more care...

I'm still amazed to have had the same rare failure twice within the space of a few weeks, feeling just a bit unlucky...

Regards,
John.

[johnl]

With now two 'new' injectors, the engine feels significantly better than it ever has since I bought the car. Looking at the original vs the 'new' injectors, the 'new' ones look a lot cleaner externally (more orange, less stained), so I'm assuming are not unlikely to be from a much lower mileage car. On the strength of this I'm going to swap the remaining 'old' for the other two 'new'. Maybe the old ones are a bit clagged up compared to the 'new'...?

I'll see if it makes any further difference, and fingers crossed, they might just improve economy a bit, perhaps...

Regards,
John.

[poohbah]

I know this thread has been dormant for 8 years - but thought worth adding my experience to it, as I've just experienced the very same issue as JohnL on my '02 GTA.

Three weeks ago, at just under 269,000km I was sure I had killed the best car I've ever owned.

I had just refuelled, when the Engine Control Failure warning came on, car started running rough and then smoke began pouring out the exhaust. Thinking it was maybe just dirty fuel sending ECU haywire, pulled over, shut down then tried to restart.

Crank, then Clunk, then ... nothing. Dead.

Fearing the timing belt (not due for another year or so) had failed, and had then taken out the valve train and seized the engine, I peeked through the gap in the cover and could see the belt was completely intact. Then my fear became maybe it's big end failure.

Had the car trucked to the workshop, and asked them to give me the bad news when they'd had time to investigate. Initial thoughts were maybe it had dropped a valve. I was completely devastated. Either way, it had to be bad news: full or partial rebuild, or source a replacement engine. Lots of time and lots of money.

Til Monday, when I dropped by the workshop to see if anything had progressed. Car was no longer outside - which could be good or bad. Workshop owner saw me and waved me inside - the car is running!

Long story short - no dropped valve or big end failure. Injector on rear bank failed and dumped a ton of fuel into one cylinder, which caused everything that followed. Luckily no signs of any collateral damage or fuel in oil or sump.

They replaced the injector and three rear coil packs (one was a bit dicky), and the car is now home and running beautifully again.

So relieved - I had been in presumptive mourning for nearly three weeks - during which I had to press the old girl ('81 GTV) back into daily service. Credit to her, she managed peak hour traffic with relative ease - apart from the one night it poured, and my dicky wipers went on the blink. So happy to have the GTA back, and let the GTV have a well earned rest. Phew...