Thrustyjust said:
Replaced the rocker cover gasket this afternoon. Was a bit of a mare getting it unstuck. The gasket stayed stuck to the head when the cover eventually came off. Found the cam sensor and plug had a slight bit of oil in the bottom, so cleaned and dried with contact cleaner and an airline. Refitted it and put all back together. Fired up after doing 2 ignition resets and on cold start with the faster idle was smooth. When it settled, it seemed to be a little lumpy. Found I hadn't screwed the oil cap on properly , so screwed tight. I had the engine cover off for leaks ,hence the loose cap. Saw no leaks , so refitted the cover. Engine back on cold start and runs well. Then a little lumpy but only ran in garage. Runs turbine smooth with a few revs. Hoping its the eccentric motor needing a run down the road to sort itself out ? Otherwise if seems OK but any ideas on the idle. Only ran for about 3 mins.
If the cam sensor (eccentric shaft sensor) had oil on the connector, I’d put money on the sensor being bad and your engine throwing out codes on eccentric shaft plausibility. Only fix is a new sensor.
The reason the car is running slightly rough is that without the eccentric shaft sensor, valvetronic is disabled (the valvetronic motor turns 180 degrees to leave the valves at maximum lift). The engine reverts to a usually redundant butterfly valve for air/fuel mixture.
Other tell tales are the revs increasing when depressing the clutch doing low speed manoeuvres, and a general lack of urgency when putting your foot down especially at lower rpm (since valves are stuck at full lift) and poor fuel economy (valvetronic supposed to reduce consumption by 15-20%).
Loughborough
