Hey guys and gals,

Been having some dramas with my TF sports the last few days...

Went to start her up on friday mornin and she was runnin like a dog (which is very unusual, but not the first time - see history/rant below). It felt like the timing was out or similar, so I turned around and came home, kept it runnin and checked the exhaust, to which i noticed puffs of white/grey smoke chuffin out the back. Quickly turned it off, and began to ponder :doubt:

Now, i'll go over the history, which i think has somethin to do with it (sorry about lengthy rant):

I had a very major drama with a mechanic about 12 months ago now, to which I went in wanting to get a major service, and walked out $2000 poorer and with a car that now chews up more fuel than it ever did :rant: . This is what he did:

- Oil change, oil filter, check fluids
- 38 Point and Computerised diagnostic check
- Bendix Ceramic front pads (which squeel and are worse than previous pads)
- Caliper slide and rubber boot kit
- Cam Belt & Tensioner Kit
- 6x injectors from 3.5L (which I never asked for, but he had em lying around and he said will make it go faster/harder, but all it's done is made it chew more fuel by the looks)
- Beru "Performance" spark plugs

So that was the first little visit, which was the "major service" which totalled $1486...

So.. drove it to brissy the next day to a mate's place, driving up a hill and it starts running like crap, like it's doin again (mentioned above). Got RACQ out, they had no idea, so had to get it towed back to this mechanic on the gold coast, and he slugs me another $373 to replace my airflow meter with a 2nd hand one cause he said it stuffed up... Mind you, before all this, since I had the car I've driven it ~20,000kms without any drama whatsoever. He said cause the AFM was stuffed, it was pumpin heaps of fuel into the engine bay, which mixed with the oil, and had to be drained again...

So, after that it ran OK again, although it's using more fuel (gettin about 450-520kms to a tank when I used to get 600kms a tank before I took it to this bloke).

ANYway... Now it's doin this same thing again, and I'm guessin it might be the fact that he sold me a dodgy airflow meter which has now buggered up, or could it be somethin else?

It was due for an oil change anyway, so I went out there tonight and drained the oil and could smell the fuel in it... So it's even doin the thing where it's dumpin fuel into the engine...

I also cleaned out the air filter, and all the air intake area, checked fluids, put new oil in it, went to start her up and it didn't turn over, so I thought it was a flat battery but it's brand new so it shouldn't... then could hear the injectors pumpin fuel into the engine bay... took off the oil cap and could smell it in there.... so looks like my fresh new $35 oil has been contaimated :(

Anyway, I'm gonna book it in to our family mechanic on monday... He's mostly a commodore man but... He still works on the TF but he refused to do the major service cause he reckons it's too fidgity (and he's an old bloke workin part-time, but he's such a top bloke and real honest too). Just a shame I had to pick one 12 months back who was willing to do the service but looks like he's taken me and my wallet for a ride.

/rant

Sorry my plea for help turned into a major rant... maybe cause it's 1:45am and it's the lack of sleep that's makin me do it :P

Anyway guys, some ideas/advice as to what it could be would be greatly appreciated :) I just wish I had a spare AFM lyin around so I could just swap it and say yay or nay hehe

Cheers... Bozza.

Sounds like maybe the mechanic you used 12 months ago put in injectors that are too large. The stock ones are like 250cc I think. If you put in anything over 300cc without upgrading the rest of the system (fuel lines/ecu/block/intakes) then that could cause whats happening. The white puff however sounds like oil is leaking into the fuel somewhere. Normally when oil burns it chucks out smoke, but the colour is never the same.

BTW I couldn't help you with which oil is leaking (transmission fluid, engine oil, brake oil or engine grease) or maybe something you washed the filter in?!?

When everyone else wakes up, they'll probably tell you exactly whats up.

Zedd

I would have to agree with the above poster. Put the correct injectors back into it. There was probably nothing wrong with the AFM in the first place.
Good luck with sorting it.

Regards

i wouldve thought ur afm was the problem. i was gettin the same symptoms, i changed the afm and that fixed it all. make sure ur injectors are in properly too! :cool:
hows it running now?

OK, well I'll be hopefully taking it to the family mechanic tomorrow or tuesday for him to check things over, and then replace whatever he needs to replace. Will tell him the history so he doesn't sit there for 4 hours scratchin his head with no idea.

I'll let you know the outcome.

Cheers ;)

well the 3.5L injectors are defs bigger than the 3L, it'll just make your car run rich and use much more fuel.

Fuel in the oil shouldn't happen...

I reckon there's definately fuel in the oil but... I can clearly smell it. I've done oil changes on heaps of cars and used oil all smells the same, but as soon as I released the bolt on the sump I just got this waft of fuel, must've been ****loads in there :( And that instantly reminded me of what the mechanic told me originally - how the AFM was stuffed and forced air (which forced fuel) into the engine bay

Ok well... Mechanic came round to mine to inspect it all, and checked the injectors, and is saying that there's either one or several injectors that are flooding the system, and dumping out excess fuel which is just burnin out the exhaust or entering the oil.

I then told him that I had 3.5L injectors, to which he said that that's most likely the cause, or one of the causes, of the problem, because they flow at different rates... I checked on this forum, and found that to be the case... Apparently the orange injectors (275cc) are for the 3.5L and the yellow ones (210cc) are for the 3.0L... And I have the orange ones in my 3.0L.

So.... he's left saying I should get em replaced, but he couldn't do it cause he's too busy to do em right now cause of christmas and stuff. So... thinking I might have a crack at replacing the injectors myself... Might do the plugs while I'm at it. Probably the hardest thing would be to take of the plenum I'm guessin.

Also - I found these injectors which are apparently suited to the 3.0L:

http://www.rpw.com.au/shop/index.php?option=com_virtuemart&page=shop.product_details&flypage=shop.flypage&Itemid=31&category_id=92&product_id=438

Whadda you guys think? Worth a shot? Is that a decent price?

Might buy em soon... Will call around tomorrow and check with some other spare parts places.

orange ones are form the 3.0ltr and the yellow ones are from the 3.5ltr

Ah ha! So they are...

Which leaves me thinkin it could still be the AFM...

But maybe I should get the injectors replaced still... I mean, $45 from RPW for an injector ain't bad, and at least I know I've covered that and can move on to determining what else it might be...

Whadda ya reckon?