Alrighty, bear with me guys, picked up my first 1st gen tonight, a 1990 TP SE Wagon with a few slight problems.

Most major one is that whenever I rev past 1800rpm (Auto gearbox) the revs drop and rise back up, and continually do this until I drop my foot off below 1800rpm. I think the term for this may be "misfiring" - not too sure as I've never experienced it before. The guy who sold it to me said his mechanic stated it needed a new ignition coil/barrel (can't remember...) as it was an electrical fault. Does this sound correct? If not, what should I do to fix and/or test for the problem?

Central locking isn't working. Where should I be looking to fix this?

Rear brake lights are a bit dodgy - any specific area to check with a known problem/fault that could cause failures in the brake lights? Obviously ill check the globes first. :)


Any other helpful info for a 1st gen virgin would be muchly appreciated. :D

Fist off, welcome to the first gen division. Secondly I recommend u buy a haynes or gregorys they are like a bible. Lol

central locking I havnt owned one that had it stock but I'm guess the would be some kind of control unit for it. I'm sure if u do a search you will find where it could be located. Or u could follow the wires that lead from the doors.

if it's misfiring could be the ignition coil, leads, dizzy cap or spark plugs.

hahah yeah I'm in desperate need of one of the manuals, dont really wanna pay $60 though :( ill keep an eye on ebay

i guess ill just rip apart the door panels and see if the central locking is disconnected.. i'd also assume there's a fuse for it under the hood?

and with the ignition coil, which is what i was told needed replacing, is that hard to get to? i.e. could i do it myself? pretty keen to head over to u-pull-it, take a 2nd hand out myself (with multimeter in hand of course) and fit it into mine...

hahah yeah I'm in desperate need of one of the manuals, dont really wanna pay $60 though :( ill keep an eye on ebay
i guess ill just rip apart the door panels and see if the central locking is disconnected.. i'd also assume there's a fuse for it under the hood?

and with the ignition coil, which is what i was told needed replacing, is that hard to get to? i.e. could i do it myself? pretty keen to head over to u-pull-it, take a 2nd hand out myself (with multimeter in hand of course) and fit it into mine...

i got one if you want......used to own a White SE TN Manual Wagon as well...........:eek2:

overdive to be off below 70 kmk/h
the ECU/TCU units have two shift patterns economy and power

the injectors might need a clean

how many kms has your wagon done

i got one if you want......used to own a White SE TN Manual Wagon as well...........:eek2:
ill take it off your hands! how much do you want for it?


overdive to be off below 70 kmk/h
the ECU/TCU units have two shift patterns economy and power

the injectors might need a clean

how many kms has your wagon done

have a read through this link
http://www.aussiemagna.com/forums/showthread.php?t=40090

would the overdrive being on cause misfires though? as soon as im over 1800rpm the car will steadily misfire until i go back down... ill try to take a video if im not making sense

how do i clean the injectors? anything specific to magnas or could i find the info online?

wagon has done about 250000kms, pretty hektik hey :D

EDIT: and yeah, i skim-read that thread before i posted this, a lot of useful info!

the misfire could be
the air flow meter in the air filter container it has four functions
the Throttle position sensor
plugs or leads or a crack in the dissy cap
Injector cleaner in the tank -
change the fuel filter if it looks old

brake lights - may be the switch attached to the brake pedal.

Is it EFI or carburettor? The carb is known for keeping the auto choke on in its old age. If it is EFI it might be plugs and leads.

Hmm yeah I'd check your dizzy cap/rotor button/spark plug leads. Check there is no damage on the cap or rotor button at all. Also, check if there is any moisture in the cap and give it a light spray with some WD40 (Or similar) and stick it back. I have some spark plug leads lying around somewhere that you can have for a few bucks, but you can get em fair cheap at wreckers anyway (about $10 I think). Also if. your dizzy cap/rotor button are shagged, I have these too lol.

Dunno about central locking, have you checked the fuse? There is a box under the bonnet, and also under the dash on the drivers side, you remove a panel and voila. I forget which one it is in tho :)

Brakes, prob not too big a problem I hope. Maybe just a loose connection or blown bulbs.

Also, if you don't end up getting Mikes manual, I have a haynes manual too. Very used :) came in very very useful over the years, especially with the engine swap :P

Ok, so after my car broke down turns out a pin came out of the distributor. Put back in and is up and running again, but continues to misfire. Step-dad's mechanic friend has seemingly narrowed it down to the ECU. Does that sound right, that the ECU gets to 1800rpm in any gear and thinks "WTF do I do!" Gonna buy an ECU off of Blazin if he has one and see if it does any good

There are a number of tests you can do to try and determine what is wrong with the ECU IIRC... but I may bbe wrong. I think you needed a voltmeter if you have one... If you have a manual, check in there it should say :)

Reply to my msg damn you!! hahaha :)

Little update (more of a clarification), was told that the car isn't actually misfiring above 1800rpm, it's just cutting the fuel off or something similar to that... apparently different to misfiring... essentially puts it in neutral as soon as I go over 1800rpm, but like it's in neutral but my foot isn't on the accellerator at all. Mechanic suggested my ECU is faulty (as I mentioned a couple of posts ago)

heeeeeelp please :) hillclimbs suck atm haha

lmao, its a first gen, hill climbs are gonna suck no matter what :)

lmao, its a first gen, hill climbs are gonna suck no matter what :)

If I remember correctly on our photoshoot I kept up with Dans 380 perfectly fine in my first gen up the hills thank you very much! :P And this is before we got stuck behind that yellow turd of a Mercedes!! :tired:

hillclimbs are bad in any car that can't go past 1800rpm in any gear :D

btw if you're not gonna help me, log off of amc thanks adam!

alright.. i have had a look in my book but havnt been able to find much yet.

so whats the deal. your having troubles at 1800rpms right? what exactly is happening? is the car changing gears properly?

alright.. i have had a look in my book but havnt been able to find much yet.

so whats the deal. your having troubles at 1800rpms right? what exactly is happening? is the car changing gears properly?

car is changing gears flawlessly, goes straight through from 1st to second. problem is that when the car is warmed up (ie after driving for 5 mins or so), if i push the rpm past 1800 the revs will cut out and i lose power, but it immediately goes back to the rpm i pushed the engine, then immediately cuts out. this process continues until i manually drop the revs back down to below 1800rpm. does that make sense?

Hmm, what does it idle at? Does it run rough at idle? If the car is cold does it run normally? What happens if u put your foot flat to the floor?

Just a stab....blocked/dirty fuel filter ?????

check yr cam timing - 1 tooth jump with a worn chain will do that

Hmm, what does it idle at? Does it run rough at idle? If the car is cold does it run normally? What happens if u put your foot flat to the floor?
Idles fairly low, about 500rpm. Fairly rough in drive at standstill, neutral is a lot better. When car is cold it runs great, doesn't miss at all, I can floor it and it'll rev out the gears. When it's warm and I put my foot down, the cars revs drop and stay dropped as if I don't even have my foot on the accellerator

Just a stab....blocked/dirty fuel filter ?????
I'll check that but I'm fairly certain it was only
recently changed at a service

check yr cam timing - 1 tooth jump with a worn chain will do that
sounds promising.. How do I check that?

Just a thought? Air intake leak maybe. My car acted similar to this when I had an intake leak. If there is air coming in that isn't dected by the afm the ecu chucks a skitz.

if its efi get an led and pop it in the test port count the flashes 5 short for ok on all sensors ignore the 02 sensor if it gives an error from exp they need to get hot before giving a proper reading, if surging at 1800 rpm i would have to put my money on unmetered air getting into the intake or the AFM is stuffed, could also be fuel regulator not keeping rail psi, here is what i would do

check for error codes
check for vacume leaks on the plenum connecting hoses
replace that dizzi cap if its spat the pin inside once
clean the pcv valve
dissconnect battery for 10 min to reset ecu
bottle of enjector cleaner
inspect air flow meter is pluged in
change fuel filter

really need a service manual to do most of that stuff haha, im clueless

its easy enough to check for intake leaks. just check that the hose is properly connected to the filter and the plenum

i have a manual you can have for 10 bucks if you are gonna pick up the ecu tomorrow? Send me an sms as I won't be on this all day tomorrow haha.

this sounds like what happened to my tp before it died (was doing this for 2 months before it poped, miss firing past 1700rpm once warm). replaced the isc (idle speed control motor) motor and all was fixed. 135 latter from repco. try reseting the tps like in the manual and see if it makes an improvement. food for thought anyways:beer: