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620R Running Problemsed


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Hi, My 620r since Saturday on the chip shop run has started playing up its new car purchased in November with 800 miles now on the clock, on sat morning when leaving home to travel to Chepstow when I fired it up it sounded a bit splutery and on the journey down I had a couple of splutery moments I put this down to perhaps some dodgy fuel anyway as the day went on it got worse and worse I refuelled twice so pretty sure not the fuel, in the end had to get recovered back homeostasis it was running so bad, I spoke with caterham on Monday and we agreed it was probably the Lambda sensor ( seems there is a issue on the 620 Lambda) and they now do a upgrade Lambda for the 620 including a remap to sort the issue, so I decided to buy a new standard Lambda and new plugs to get it running so I could get it to a dealer to have the upgrade carried out, fitted the new parts yesterday and the car is still running realy rough way to rich coughing and spluttering and won't tick over, the ecu has fault codes,P0120, P2226, P0401, P2022, P2604,  I can read the codes but not delete them as the ecu is locked down, My local dealer can't get it in until 10th June and with the remap etc needed I can see it being off the road for a good few weeks, anyone had similar issues or shed any advice ???,

cheers darren

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From what I've read in other discussions it can help to disconnect the lambda sensor and see if that affects the running.

... and they now do a upgrade Lambda for the 620 including a remap to sort the issue... 

I can't find a reference to that in the archives.

Jonathan

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G'day Darren.

As Johnathon says, disconnect the lambda, hopefully the ECU will default to a pre programmed figure, However after saying that my Zetec motor started playing up, rough running, cooling fan on and not cutting off, really bad smell of over fueling, turned out to be a duff coolant sensor sending incorrect signal to the ECU, and ECU trying to sort it out, fan on, to much fuel, etc.

Have fun, at least you won't have to sort it yourself, but annoying and inconvenient.

Nigel. 

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Problem with the 620 is its to new and most (if not all) are maintained by specialist or CC themselves.   Therefore this community is going to be just guessing at your cars problem.   Jonathan is correct disconnecting a lambda sensor has been used many times to get Sigma cars home, but will that work on a 620?

Even your code reader may or may not me helping.  The normal Caterham Duratec ECU is a MBE 922/9A4 and this doesn't give meaningful OBD codes, even to Caterham.  It does give live data so you can see components working (or not).    So what ECU does a 620 have?    However when I googled the P0120 code and saw TPS sensor I though that is possible, but it went down hill from there, i.e. EGR faults and Inlet heaters faults makes me think this information isn't helping.

From the Caterham Parts web site (not my Lego 620R) the ECU is listed as a MBE 9A4, which means anyone local with Easymap and the MBE Lead can see and record your live data from the ECU.   This will show you if most of the sensors are working or not.   I would also check the obvious still like the plugs to see if the problem is isolated to a single cylinder, and coolants / oil for loss or contamination, just in case.     

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Thanks for your help guys,

I spoke with CC again today and had a long chat with a tech he seems to think it's a TPS issue gone out of calibration or similar causing the over rich running, he also mentioned the fault codes being meaningless I need to find someone who can reset the TPS so I can use the car until it goes to dealer on the 10th june or buy a new unlocked mine ecu and get it remapped to suit that way it would always be unlocked.....

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Surely CC should be sorting this out for you? I know we understand and accept that our cars are not mass produced and come with some foibles but should you have to run around trying to sort out an issue like this on a 6 month old top of the range car?

Have you asked CC what they can do to sort it more urgently so that you are not missing the best part of a months driving time?

Steve

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Can you post a photo of the TPS, its on the throttle body.  Problem is the pictures on the CC parts website are not clear if there is adjustment in the TPS or if its fixed position.   

It looks likes this. 

https://caterhamparts.co.uk/throttle-cables/5792-throttle-body.html?search_query=620&results=160

The TPS is the black bit with the wires coming of it.

On the 420R the ECU is always powered (unless you have a battery isolator switch), one way I have found to reset the ECU throttle site without adjusting the TPS is to disconnect the battery.   A better way is to use CC own software, but that's not an option.   Worth a try, obviously not as easy having the battery in the passenger foot well. 

 

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Im fairly new to the club and dont know how to post pics, i also begged CC today to try to help me out so i dont loose so much time with the car off the road but got no where i,m realy disapointed thought after parting withh £55k was hoping for a bit more of a understanding, The tech told me today the 620 when running in is a PIA as its mapped so rich for lots of WOT work it chokes up a lot but once run in there reliable, i m sure CC would or will sort it just dont want to be caterham less for 4-6 weeks, until last wednesday it only had 300 miles on the clock a trip to Metoer for the sexy Tractives and a spluttery run to Aberdovey added the recent milage.....

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Darren 

Where abouts are you ?

Ive got a 620R , have Easymap on a PC and after spending ages tracking down poor running on my 620 a year or so back i know my way round .I could have a quick look at it for you if you are near .

( I changed coil packs , lambda , engine sub loom etc but eventually my problem was found to be a coil driver in the ecu failing ! Ive now got an unlocked ecu  ) 

My first point of call would be the lambda but if youve changed that then the TPS setting needs checking / adjusting .

In 5 years of running my 620 ive never had an issue with the map BUT it needs setting up correctly  , if the TPS has moved the fueling could be out .

All you need to do this yourself is the lead ( bought from SBD https://www.sbdmotorsport.co.uk/index.php/products/index/2663) and a windows laptop , the Easymap software is free ( on the SBD site ) .

I agree with the comments above about it needing to go back to CC but i also think ( if youve got a degree of interest ) its good to understand these things and , if its an easy fix , do it yourself .

 

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"Jonathan is correct disconnecting a lambda sensor has been used many times to get Sigma cars home, but will that work on a 620? "

It did on mine , but not , for reasons unexplained ,Mike Scotts car .

"one way I have found to reset the ECU throttle site without adjusting the TPS is to disconnect the battery."

I dont think that works on the 620 ,it needs to be mechanically adjusted to the correct value to correspond with load site zero on the map .

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The tech told me today the 620 when running in is a PIA as its mapped so rich for lots of WOT work it chokes up a lot but once run in there reliable, 

 

If it was correctly mapped it would make no difference how you drive it - either flat chat or Miss daisy........ running in or otherwise should have no effect.

If it is as rich as he says I would be concerned about bore wash, on an overfuelled engine and using the out dated running in proceedures CC use....

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Well heres a update, thanks to certain people with involment with caterham it was diagonosed as a faulty Map sensor so new one fitted today and 10 min into the test drive to see if things were sorted the gearbox decided to destroy itself under next to no pressure from me cruising in 6th, real load bang lots of metalic crunching and no drive, also the tech who sorted my car was also very concerned with bore wash as after start up following the new map sensor we were seeing blue smoke from the exhaust my tech one of the top engine builders there is was a tad concerned, The car is now sat in a race shuttle which will be delivered to CC on tue morn... new £55k car with 900 miles on clock hmmmmm   

 

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Hi Darren,

I feel for you in this situation. My SLR which cost more than a years salary to me at the time had a gearbox fail at 1 mile. To Caterhams credit they collected the car from Yorkshire and returned it fixed with much apologising.

I know it will not help to know that you are not alone in bearing pain inflicted by Caterham but hopefully you will emerge from the other side and finally enjoy what is after all a magnificent piece of equipment.

Lots OF Love Malcolm AND Shirley.
LOFLMANDS.

 

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