DB7 Vantage Surging

[dorian]

I bought a 2002 DB7 Vantage in Texas two days ago, and am now stopped in Colorado en route to Seattle wondering what to do about its intermittent surging problem and check engine light.

Two ODBII scanners found at an auto supply store in Oklahoma could not connect using either port under the passenger-side (right) dash.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

[Josh@ECS]

Is the CEL flashing? If so that indicates a "misfire".

The two easiest ways to solve that is to drain and fill up with a fresh tank of premium fuel, and to replace the spark plugs.

[Squid]

For the age of the car I'd say it's far more likely to be one or more of the coil packs..

These should be replaced every 6 yrs or every 40,000 miles.

Plugs should be changed as a matter of course during this process as it would be stupid not to as you have to remove the inlet manifolds etc to access the coils and or plugs.

It would also be false economy to only replace the faulty coils/plugs as it won't be long before the others fail.

It takes approx 8 hours to do the job so it's best being done all in one go.

Just google for DB7 Coil failure.. I'm sure something will show up to back-up my ramblings.. hehe

(just checked and it does show some info in google)

[dorian]

Thanks, guys! The car is in good hands in Denver right now, at Sill-Terhar Motors. The main cause appears to be fuel pump failure. Both pumps are being replaced. They're also sorting some minor issues I noticed on the drive from Texas.

I'm thinking about flying down when it's ready and driving it back instead of shipping it home.

Are there any owners in Salt Lake City, Boise, or Denver who'll let me buy them a meal on my drive home and compare ownership notes?

[Squid]

Fuel pumps can be a problem in the DB7, not as common as the coils but they still occur.

The root cause is driving the car with a low amount of fuel in the tank as the pump are situated vertically and can overheat when not fully immersed.

It's best to keep it above 1/4 tank at all times to ensure the pumps are bathed in cool fuel.


On a side note it does sound a bit worrying that we use Fuel to cool electric pumps.. hehe but it works.

I imagine that they are going to rinse the tank out at the same time just in case any water or other deposits are at the bottom.

Another problem with the fuel system on DB7's is the filler cap bowl has a breather on the side which vents the carbon canisters, although the US federal system differs slightly from the rest of the DB7's water can still find it's way into the tank through this system if water get's down the breather or a hose pipe is used within the fuel filler flap area.

The cannisters need to come out to remove the fuel tank anyway so best to have them check these for any signs of water ingress.

[66toaster]

Yes, the placement of the fuel flap is not great. Too easy for water to get in.