My '98 Diablo SV is only running on the right bank of 6 cylinders. I can tell by the obvious lack of power, the Left Check Engine Light, and the fact that the left side exhaust tips expel only cool puffs of air.

What on earth could cause this? Before you answer, I should inform everyone what event lead up to this. I just got the car back from a clutch job and noticed that the brake lights weren't working. I checked the 5 amp brake light fuse and, sure enough, it was blown. I then replaced with a 5 amp only to have that one immediately blow. I searched, but was unable to find a 5 amp, so I replaced it with a 7.5 amp. I'm happy to announce that with that, it didn't blow the fuse, but this is also around the time that the car refused to run properly. Could be a coincident, but I seem to think everyone out there will think otherwise.

Any ideas are welcome... just don't tell me that the ECU is blown.

Try swapping ECU's and see if the problem moves to the other side.

Hi,

I don't wish to contradict the last suggestion (afterall we are all gratefull for all advice given on here).
But please beware!
If you have an electrical concern (which has blown your ECU), by swapping ECU's could result in blowing another ECU.

What I'm sure was being suggested - is to try the already "suspect" ECU on a "known good" bank of cylinders.

I hope this helps

Regards

Ian

1. Is your car running hot?
2. Do you know the CE Code? How many flashes.

Stand at the rear of the car. On the extreme right hand side, forward of the air box you will see 2 plastic boxes the size of a cigarette pack. Unplug them and momentarily start the car and see if both banks are operating normally.

Those white colored plastic boxes read your cat temp. If hot, they trigger a CE light. If you ignore CE and the cats get even hotter, the CE will blink and you will hear a "beeping" in the cockpit. If you still ignore CE and the cats even get hotter (dangerous now) the box sends a signal to the ecu to shut down the offending bank.

These boxes are prone to failure. There is one for each bank. I suspect you are getting a false signal from the box, or one of your cats is bad and getting very very hot. Probablly the box...

Have you looked at the Phase sensors? Check the wires to make sure you dont have a broken wire... You can swap them over to see if this problem to the other side..

The other thing.. Has the car got wet... maybe with a hose pipe

No, the car didn't overheat at all. It was running just fine up until the brake light fuse issue. I do, though, have a check engine light that's always on that lists it's error as O2 sensor related.

I'm not sure what you're referring to Carlo. Can you be specific as to where it is located under the hood? And no, the engine wasn't wet since I brought it home from the repair shop. I started it up this morning and it does the same thing. So I'm guessing if there was moisture it should have cleared up by now.

Frank meant your cats might be overheating not your engine.

__________________
Sean S.
Hi Tech Exotic Racing
1-888-4656-0437

No, there was no time for them to have overheated really. I pulled the car in the garage after a 30 minute scoot around town that was uneventful, besides someone notifying me that I had no brake lights. Once in the garage I started it up a few times trying to figure out the reason for brake light failure. Once I replaced the 5 amp with a 7.5 amp, and it didn't blow, I tried to take it out for a spin. That's when I noticed the issue. So point is that there was no time for cats to heat up and cause an issue... or I don't believe so anyway.

I have a picture but it wont upload to the site.. Ive PM you so you can mail me on my email address and i will send it to you..

Thanks Carlo, but it looks like my problem is solved. Frustrated, I decided to treat this car as if it were any old American carburated passenger car. I simply checked for spark and fuel. Pulled one plug from the non-firing bank to see that was indeed spark. I then disconnected the fuel hoses from the regulator, turned on the key and nothing happened. I then removed the cover underneath the car which hides the fuel pumps. Using a mechanic's stethescope I listened to both pumps. The pump supplying fuel to the non-firing bank was in fact not running. Using a screwdriver I tapped on the (2 month old) fuel pump and it started to whirl. The car now runs as it should.

Now I know that by no means fixed the issue. The problem will likely return while turning is likely to return. The fuel pumps are under warranty, so I'm gonna return the car to the place that performed the swap. I hate to think of it, but I'm guessing the pumps were never bad, but there is most likely a bad power wire. Oh well, at least I know where the problem lies now. Thanks to everyone for their help.