KNZ

Hello,

Living in Netherland but bought my car from UK,
I would like to have some advice/opinion.

My car is S2000('00), 130000mile on it,,,, connected with Bosch150 OBD2 diag, 24/7.

The error,,,
The error; "P1399 pending",,,,, flashing,,,, sometimes stays on,,,,,, engine off/on, then check light will be gone.(On diag tool, still appear the pending code though.)
The error happens almost 100% at,,,, 120km/h(approx. 70mile/h) with 3500rpm and advance angle 25deg,,,, and if I push the acceleration pedal more under this condition,,, then it's happening. Also if I push acceleration too much such as entry of highway, sometimes the same error would be up. This error is not happening with stand-still rev up. No knocking sound, no power down as far as I can feel.

Story,,,
One day I was running out of gas, with no choice I stopped at the gas station which is not usual place for me.
Fuel tank was almost zero,,, put 10L(approx. 2.5gallon,,,, 95 TOTAL Excellium out of the 2 choice "95Excellium or Euro95",,,, later I read their website, it says that Excellium is petrol95 E10+engine cleaning additive,,,, kind of fishy by well sounding name.).
Restarted driving on the highway,,,, within 3min, I had the CEL flashing,,,, "P1399 pending"

1. Checked and changed the spark plug(NGK Iridium)
2. Put 30L(approx. 8gallon, petrol98) of gas from my usual place.
3. Checked the tappet,,, not re-adjusted but checked,,,, difficult but I would say, not far away from the spec(even if that is out of spec,,, I used 0.2mm and 0.3mm thickness gauge),,,,, plus no teeth broken anywhere in chain/gear.
4. Consumed all the gas, almost zero in tank,,,, today put 20L(approx. 5gallon, petrol98) of gas,,,, plus Octane Booster Additive.

Still having the same error.

It's an old secondhand car.
Fantastic car,,,, but there are many things to doubt, for example timing chain is making noise and so on...

My agenda for this moment is,,,,
1. More purging fuel
2. ECU reset(I don't want to do that because I want to experiment this error)
3. Tappet re-adjust
4. O2 sensor
5. Air filter/Cam sensor/coil pack
6. Cat/timing chain
***Maybe some of the above, not really makes sense with this error. This to-do is also considered with the maintenance period of mine, and budget priority as well.

For this moment,,,
1. The spring is coming, good weather but seems,,,, the cooling water temp is higher than usual. 10deg+
2. More transparent smoke than usual(looks vapour,,, not really smells bad) at cold start,,,,,,, no smoke while/after I drive
3. Idling problem, last night happened

For me, that is typical bad petrol symptom, however I am concerning in case it's not and I let it blow the engine.
I would like to hear some opinion if you don't mind, please.

Cheers.
Rgds.

GC84

I can confirm the S doesn't like the e10 petrol, I put some in on a trip to Europe and although I didn't get a CEL, the car felt really down on power and a bit rough. We had a lot of miles to do that day and I managed to use the full tank, fill up with something more premium, and all was OK.
Sorry that doesn't help you too much
​

Nick Graves

Try cleaning the spark plugs - check their gap.

Maybe the e10 has left deposits on them.

I very much doubt it has done any bad engine damage. Just don't do it again.

Possibly clean the injectors, too.

General consensus seems to be, keep putting proper fuel into it, until it runs properly, ought to fix it.

Failing that, change the fuel filter. The e10 solvent might have dissolved 17 years' worth of crap and it's now floating around your injectors.

KNZ

Thanks for your advice, GC84/Nick,,, and sorry for a bit late reply, needed to prove under several circumstance(acceleration/long drive/proving time and so on).

The error is fixed.

It was like this,,,,
1. The error start from "0" in the dashboard (Later, I realised even if you see "0" in the dashboard, it still has approx. 5L)
2. 10L of wrong fuel
3. 30L of correct fuel + Octane additive boosted up 102 in octane + ECU reset
4. Used it out ("0" on the dashboard)
5. 45L of correct fuel, full tank + Octane additive boosted up 100 in octane
6. 30L of correct fuel

In 2, the error was coming up in 100km/h, no power loss,,, I saw coolant temp is high or easily gets higher, advance angle is lower than usual.
In 3, the error was coming up in 110km/h, no power loss,,, I saw coolant temp is high or easily gets higher, advance angle is lower than usual(25deg in 120km/h), but felt with my ass the car is powerful by octane,,, diesel type of power feeling on my ass.
In 5, the error was coming up in 120-130km/h, but felt with my ass the car is powerful by octane, I saw advance angle got higher than 1, 2, 3.(35deg in 120km/h)
In 6, the error was gone since then (advance angle; 25deg in 120km/h)

Summary,,,
I guess the error is not really related with octane strength.
More likely the washing substance in TOTAL Excellium95, and it's not going to disappear about 3tank re-fuel.
A lot of vapour and made my Exh exit with a small white stain.

I am not sure that gas station is wrong or TOTAL itself is not ok for S2000.
And it was lucky I have a big radiator with low temp thermostat on it, the engine was not burning out,,, eventually it was only CEL on and 1, 2 times of hic-up(while I am testing it).

It was good study and I would maintenance/repair it accordingly.

Rgds.