Glowing Manifold - G60

[P3rks 11]

Today I tried to cure my poor idle so I removed the throttle body and gave it a clean along with renewing the vacuum lines and making sure they were good etc. I also re-newed the seal in the idle screw and cleaned out the ISV.

 

At the same time I put on a new Bosch dizzy which I've had lying about for ages (the rest of the ignition system is brand new, so why not I thought.)

 

Anyway started the car and as it was idling to get it to temp I noticed the exhaust manifold glowing cherry red. Not good. Played about with the ignition timing for a little I couldn't get it right so swapped back to my old dizzy. Still the same problem.

 

I can't actually time the car up properly as the manifold glows bright red before I can get the car up to temp and time it. Eeeek.

 

The cam/crank timing are spot on and I haven't touched them. Any ideas? Could it be a massive vacuum leak causing this or is my ignition timing massively out? What do I do!!? :scratch:

[steveo29 0]

time up the cam belt marks , then fit the dizzy so the rotor lines up with the notch in the casing, that should be near enough to run and then use a strobe light

[P3rks 11]

Yep, done that and still the same which is what baffled me.. :sad:

 

Saying that, the centre of the rotor or at the start/end? I wouldn't have thought it made a difference.

[SIMONG 0]

yu've got a stainless manifold? they heat will discolour the manifold anyway but i wouldnt of thought it would gl;ow red though?

[steveo29 0]

line it up to the center of the rotor when the timing marks are all set up

[P3rks 11]

Well It didn't do it before at all. Well the first time I timed it up after the headgasket.

 

But actually thinking; the car's idle has been playing up recently as of late and I have noticed the car's oil running a little hotter than normal over the past few days. Whether it's the same thing and I'm only just noticing now or I'm being over paranoid. Who knows?

 

I'm hoping it's nothing serious like the crank pulley.

 

Edit: Stevo.. I will make sure, but I think that's what I did.

 

---------- Post added at 08:05 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:44 PM ----------

 

Just a thought, if the crank pulley had sheared would my static timing still be ok? Surely it would be out?

Edited September 2, 2011 by P3rks

[Harrier 1]

You may have a partially blocked cat (assuming you have one fitted) ,worth checking

[P3rks 11]

I have a supersprint 4-1 stainless manifold and G-Werks exhaust system. So no cat.

[mimjed 0]

My four branch used to glow red as does every one thats fitted to a forced induction engine in my experience.

 

One of the reasons people go for heat wrapping on them. Never had a reason to wrap mine though, didnt cause any issues.

[P3rks 11]

Yeah, maybe. But not after a few mins of idle from cold. It never did it before and it's glowing really red, almost see through!

 

I could imagine after a good tanning it starting to glow. Just not this quickly.

 

:(

 

Today I'm going back to basics, removing the TB again to see if I missed anything; checking the timing and maybe even the crank pulley. Anything else I should check?

Edited September 3, 2011 by P3rks

[steveo29 0]

dunno if it would cause it , but make sure the vac hose is on the right nipple on the tbh

[Yandards 0]

Sounds like your timing is 180 degrees out to me.

 

Check your at TDC on no 1 the only way you should on a G60 at the flywheel end, look for the 0 deg mark.

 

Or have a read of my (just)stickied definitive G60 timing thread which goes through the various options of g60 timing and why you need to do it a certain way - it also explains that getting the dizzy pulley bang on is not essential as you need to check the timing dynamically. link is here.

 

Hope that helps and I got a glowing manifold when I had the dizzy 180 degrees out so I am going to go for that - it does drive ok though!

[P3rks 11]

dunno if it would cause it , but make sure the vac hose is on the right nipple on the tbh

 

Well looking at the front of the car/engine the ecu vacuum hose goes to the upper left nipple. I.e furthest away from the passenger side. Which is correct I think?

[dannyboy 0]

your fueling is off,usually caused by a g60 leaning out ,which would also explain the higher oil temp.Prob due to too much timing advance

 

But stainless downpipes will glow quite a bit,just other problem is amplifing it

[P3rks 11]

All fixed!

 

Got to the car this morning, double checked the timing and it was all spot on.. I just advanced the timing a tiny bit and got it to idle. No more glowing manifold, managed to set the timing and idle.

 

She now purrs like a kitten and idles spot on.

 

It's weird how sometimes just letting a car settle overnight can fix things.. Strange how it happened though. Whether something was in the ECU's memory or a vacuum pipe was leaking or even the new dizzy gave a strange signal to the ECU which had gone by the morning? It's like the car settled overnight not being used.

 

At least my car's got character! :dance:

[steveo29 0]

could it be the crank keyway going? timing going in and out of ajustment

[P3rks 11]

could it be the crank keyway going? timing going in and out of ajustment

 

This is my concern.

 

Other than physically removing the pulley how else can I check?

 

Surly if the pulley had play it would be apparent in the crank/cam/flywheel timing marks?

[steveo29 0]

dunno really , the pulley often wobbles and the car will be fine one minute and ropey the next

 

i cant think of anything else that would make a manifold glow then self fix itself overnight

[dannyboy 0]

All fixed!

 

Got to the car this morning, double checked the timing and it was all spot on.. I just advanced the timing a tiny bit and got it to idle. No more glowing manifold, managed to set the timing and idle.

 

She now purrs like a kitten and idles spot on.

 

It's weird how sometimes just letting a car settle overnight can fix things.. Strange how it happened though. Whether something was in the ECU's memory or a vacuum pipe was leaking or even the new dizzy gave a strange signal to the ECU which had gone by the morning? It's like the car settled overnight not being used.

 

At least my car's got character! :dance:

 

I just call my G60 my second wife,shes unpredictable like my 'normal' wife.I swear she has moody days bit like PMT. :lol: