Apologies to any genuine Italians out there but the title above is UK vernacular for taking the car for what I might call 'a good, brisk drive.'

The XKR convertible comes out of hibernation every May and this year was not happy about being woken up. I had a misfire on cylinder one (P0301) and various other DTC issues, mainly centred around the IAT sensors. At the same time I was getting the restricted performance message. This has a knock-on effect in that it affects the transmission too.

I knew pretty much what the problem was. The car is kept on a four post ramp throughout winter but has to be moved fairly regularly to allow access for lesser vehicles to be worked on. The engine is always allowed to warm up thoroughly before turning off, but such a sedentary lifestyle will probably cause more problems with plug fouling and minor gremlins than if I had just left the thing to sleep for four months.

The solution was to drive 20 miles at a fairly sedate pace (i.e: within UK National limits) until all the error messages and warning lights extinguished themselves. A quick check on OBD2 showed no DTCs pending, so another 30 miles were covered slightly more 'briskly' than the local Plod might like.

I shall whip the plugs out tomorrow to have a look and have a new set of plugs just in case. The originals should not really be permanently affected. Although the car is six years old it has only covered 5,000 miles and none of this mileage was particularly sedate! Nevertheless I know a spark plug can deteriorate and even fail for no apparent reason - as can a lambda sensor for that matter.

Roll on the summer!!

 

Excellent work, Mate! Let's all roll..........

 

The less an engine is started during storage the better.

 

Absolutely. In passing I was pleased to discover no flat spots developed on the tyres over winter, almost certainly because the car had been moved a couple of times a month. The Astra Twintop in my car list is kept in France for 10 months of the year and this had been standing idle in a much warmer climate between September 2015 and March this year. When I started to drive it back to the UK for its annual service it felt as if I was rolling on square wheels.
It is worth mentioning that the 300 mile trip along highway / motorway roads improved the situation quite noticeably but it took a good old fashioned blast around the twisty country lanes here at home before the tyres got back to normal.
So what did I learn? Three things: (1) to store any vehicle on specialist tyre wheel saver ramps (similar to a Flatstopper) , and (2) highway driving does not flex the tyre wall sufficiently to effect a cure - if a cure can indeed be effected! And the third learning point? An Italian tune-up can sort out some tyre woes too!

 

My Italian tune up in my 1977 308 GTB was required as it was a 3 liter 4 weber carb car. The process was to let it warm up and then wind out 1st , 2nd and 3rd gear to 7500 rpm. Being a non-cat car it would blow out the pipes and clean the exhaust. I don't think it would be the same feeling with the XKR

 

If my Pantera sat for more than 2 weeks, it would not start without dumping gasoline straight into the secondaries of the Holly carburator. I have finally gotten so fed up, it is having fuel injection fitted to it now.

Enjoy the nice weather and your car.

 

Yeah it's tough, I have to crank, crank, and crank my Vespa, when it sets over the winter......

 

When I was a kid we called that a "firewall" tune up. The local Jag indie taught me that expression. He said many owners did not drive "briskly" enough, and the plugs got cruddy. Just blow them out!! I followed that advice too aggressively and spun a bearing. Had fun along the way.

 

I recommend most strongly, removing the oil cap and spraying few squirts of motor oil on the visible chain. Dry starts on this chain have been most taxing. Due to the enormous load of new fuel injector pump.

 

I recall first hearing of an "Italian Tuneup" back in the 50s. I had a MGTD and an Austin Healey; and my mechanic friend recommended an Italian Tuneup. It consisted of running to redline in first gear. It it missed then holding in gear until the miss cleared. Then doing the same in second and third gears. There usually was not enough clear highway for fourth gear. If this didn't clear a miss, then a plug change was in order. That was about it. This also worked for motorcycles.
Otherwise, we tried to balance the carbs and clean/change points.
Today's cars run much leaner with much better spark plugs, so the problems of excessive carbon is not so great.

 

I some times get the eml light if I move the car in and out of the garage a couple times without going anywhere. A decent drive and it clears.