Revs Dropping When Cornering Hard

[mainline 2 1 Cars]

Car has almost cut out a couple of times recently when cornering hard to the right around roundabouts. I get total power loss, but after I straighten up the power comes back, with a bit of hesitancy, before normal power delivery resumes. Doesn't do it during 'normal' driving.

 

Any ideas?

[powermandan 0]

Fuel starvation? try it with a full tank and see if it happens

[Tom Fenton 1,547]

Yep fuel starvation, quite common on 205's, only easy solution is to run with more fuel in the tank, otherwise it is an expensive job to fit a swirl pot and second pump etc.

[DrSarty 90 1 Cars]

Fuel starvation? try it with a full tank and see if it happens

 

Or you have a loose connection on something like your coil or ignition amp, possibly even the brackets themselves which means it shifts on hard cornering cutting out.

 

It's one of those two things most likely, although I'd favour fuel too, as the other conditions might show up on bumps and poor road surfaces too.

 

Basically you're losing fuel or ignition based on weight transfer and things moving when cornering.

[Anthony 1,003]

Does the rev counter drop to zero when it happens, or does it still read correctly?

[C_W 3 1 Cars]

Yep another vote for fuel surge/starvation, happens on right handers when fuel is low. Can be really bad on track in pre91(?) 205s - I try and run at least 2/3rds to 3/4s on track to stop it.

[welshpug 1,666]

I don't think age comes into it, its pot luck!

 

I was lapping Llandow for a good ten minutes with my fuel light on without any surge causing issues, and its a mid 89 car.

 

As Anthony said, you need to figure whether its ignition or fuel, looking at the rev counter's behaviour will confirm that its fuel related if it follows engine speed, though if its ignition related it could be as Sarty suggests, loose connection.

[Anthony 1,003]

I don't think age comes into it, its pot luck!

 

I was lapping Llandow for a good ten minutes with my fuel light on without any surge causing issues, and its a mid 89 car.

Agreed - some 205's suffer far worse than others, but I can't see any obvious pattern to it regarding age. I'm wondering if it's something inside the tank that breaks or something related to the pump pickup itself.

 

Certainly my early 89/F 205 doesn't ever seem to suffer fuel stavation even on semi-slicks with less than 10 litres in the tank, and yet a car just a few months older that I was driving at Donington was bad enough that it was suffering cronically with the gauge showing nearly a full tank! It's certainly an odd one, but since my car doesn't seem to be affected, I've never really looked into it....

[Baz 421]

Never had a problem with my '92 Miami until Cadwell last year, where with anything under half a tank it would starve like mad, very worrying knowing the engine is then going to be running very lean.

 

My old '91 Miami Mi used to do it very badly too, so as said i don't think it's an age thing.

 

Might be worth whipping the pump out and having a look in the tank and giving it and the pump pick-up a clean out, 20yrs of crap build up doesn't help. I also found bits of thin plastic and what looked like bits of a latex glove in mine!

 

Much better now.

Edited June 17, 2010 by Baz

[large 33]

My old 306 gti6 was a pig for this. That was when the car was 5 years old.

[jackherer 543]

My old '91 Miami Mi used to do it very badly too, so as said i don't think it's an age thing.

 

My mates Miami was very bad for it too, it must be a colour thing

[pug_ham 245 3 Cars]

Loose engine earth lead?

 

Graham.

[mainline 2 1 Cars]

Almost certain it is fuel starvation - although it was round the quarter full mark - as it did it again on a very steep hill on the way home tonight. Had the earth leads sorted not long back, so don't think it will be them.

 

Plus I have recently swapped the AFM on it and a 'new' fuel pump so it could well be in need of a tune - might be running a bit lean..

 

Will top the tank up and hoon it round a bit

 

Cheers for all the replies.

[C_W 3 1 Cars]

I don't think age comes into it, its pot luck!

 

I was lapping Llandow for a good ten minutes with my fuel light on without any surge causing issues, and its a mid 89 car.

 

Could well be but I thought someone had deduced it was year related but maybe something is failing inside the tank over time. That would make sense as I would say my car got progessively worse to the point I always started track sessions with a near-full fuel tank!

[Tom Fenton 1,547]

I've had an idea about this, going to investigate a possible mod to help. Anyone got a fuel pump that could be sacrificed for the cause, a dead but complete one is fine.

[Carbs4me 45]

I know this sounds very simple but on my old 1.6GTi i had a similar problem.... when i use to corner it hard the oil would move to one side of the engine causing the other half to starve of oil!, and rapidly burns the oil away, which will eventually cause the engine to cease ... it makes sense tho the oil would move to the left hand side of the sump cornering right... seen as the oil pump is on the drivers side... it would be taking it away from the oil pump... check your oil level... and check your oil pressure when cornering it should not drop off when cornering... i did this and ended up dropping 4 vavles!

Edited June 18, 2010 by Carbs4me

[TT205 42]

Think your oil level must have been extremely low then, 8V 1.6's do pretty well in the oil surge stakes

 

The OP's symptoms sound like fuel starvation (highly likely) or electrical to me

[Guest fotis-84]

I don't think age comes into it, its pot luck!

 

I was lapping Llandow for a good ten minutes with my fuel light on without any surge causing issues, and its a mid 89 car.

 

As Anthony said, you need to figure whether its ignition or fuel, looking at the rev counter's behaviour will confirm that its fuel related if it follows engine speed, though if its ignition related it could be as Sarty suggests, loose connection.

 

 

i suffer from missfires too..yestarday i opened my tank to change the pump and i saw tha except the pump it has inside a cylinder plastic which is inside a triangular plastic.this pastic is glued at the tank.

[brumster 135 1 Cars]

I thought (from a previous thread) the little plastic basket in the tank sometimes breaks off where it's "plastic welded' to the tank, thereby making it useless, and this sometimes explains why some cars suffer worse than others?

 

Anyway, I agree, fuel surge - possibly heightened by the aforementioned tank 'baffle' (I use the term lightly) splitting away from the tank.

[Guest fotis-84]

I thought (from a previous thread) the little plastic basket in the tank sometimes breaks off where it's "plastic welded' to the tank, thereby making it useless, and this sometimes explains why some cars suffer worse than others?

 

Anyway, I agree, fuel surge - possibly heightened by the aforementioned tank 'baffle' (I use the term lightly) splitting away from the tank.

 

 

yes,mine is broken .how can i fix it? some special glue?

[brumster 135 1 Cars]

yes,mine is broken .how can i fix it? some special glue?

 

Mmmm, lot of hassle really. You'd have to drain the tank completely and clean it out, and then I'm not sure what glue you'd need to use. Probably easier to just swap the tank for a known good one.

 

Having said that, while that might sort out and road-based fuel surge, I'd still expect you to experience the problem on a track/competition car with decent grip levels