Public Service Announcement for Caterham Owners

[Woody Harris]

Public Service Announcement for Caterham Owners:

Attention owners of Caterham USA supplied Zetec engines equipped with Pectel T2 engine management systems.

MSI Motorsport has recently been re-mapping several Zetec equipped Caterhams. On more than one of these, we have found that they have been factory equipped with low impedance injectors.
Low impedance injectors will eventually burn out the Pectel T2 ECU, generally sooner rather than later.

If you have a Caterham USA derived Pectel T2 based system, you should immediately identify the injectors in your car. If you cannot do this with part numbers, suitability (electrical, not necessarily flow rate/mapping) can be determined by checking the resistance between the two small harness contacts in the injector. Correct impedance should be in the 16 Ohm range, whereas the incorrect low impedance units will show something in the 2 to 3 Ohm range.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled program.

Cheers,
Woody Harris
MSI Motorsport
742 E. Main St.
Vacaville, CA 95688
707-448-3322
[email protected]

[Roll a 7]

I got my high impedance injectors from Marren Fuel Injection. Tim and Russ are really helpful and know a great deal about FI. The place to go with questions/problems. A websearch will turn up their website. 8)

[Anonymous]

Injector problems with Caterham

I called Caterham USA yesterday about the injectors. Apparently several people have called as well. Cody told me that there are no problems with the injectors and that they have put out over 50 systems and have had no complaints. Cody says that this notice is false and they do not understand the systems. I asked about several cars that have had complaints and he said there was only one that had any complaints and blamed the dealer. I pointed out I have heard of another car back east and he again blamed the dealer there and the tuner. Cody says if you get the system from him they work fine. I then emailed Pectel to see what they had to say. This is the response I received:

You will burn something out if you use the current system, you will need to replace the injectors you have. If you can let me know where you are I may be able to suggest a contact for these if needed?

Regards,

Giles Cooper

I also called Autocourse in Southern California. They indicated they were aware of the problem and had contacted Pectel as well. He indicated that that was just one of the problems with the system and that this was one of the issues in a law suit and he would not comment about details.

Looks to me Woody found a serious problem and Caterham is covering it up. I am getting pretty upset that I have been putting up with a lousy running car and all I get is the run around.