CorsAsh
Member
Registered: 19th Apr 02
Location: Munich
User status: Offline
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Wednesday night, coming home, pulled out to overtake someone and the revs suddenly died, EML came on, then went off, and engine fired again. This repeated 6 or 7 times, but I was able to limp the car home.
Went to it Thursday morning, only just fired up, and idled on cylinders 1 and 4 only.
2 and 3 weren't firing at all, despite all cylinders getting fuel and sparks.
So, having tried replacing dizzy, rotor arm, sparks and HTs, still no different. At this point I assumed that the only thing that could be missing for the cylinders to fire was compression, and that led me to either head gasket failure or piston rings being buggered. As there was no smoke from the exhaust, I was pretty certain that it was head gasket trouble, which was backed up by my local mechanic.
However, taken the head off today and look what I found:
A perfect, 110,000 mile head gasket. Bugger.
So, I'm now stumped, got extensive blackening on the head around 2 and 3 as expected:
Valves and springs are all fine, in very good condition from what I can see:
Cant see any major problems with the block:
so what the hell was the problem??  
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Robin
Premium Member
Registered: 7th Jan 04
Location: Northants Drives: Clio 182 Cup
User status: Offline
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Coil pack*?
leads?
(*or distributor)
edit - I should have read the thread 
[Edited on 21-10-2006 by Robin]
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CorsAsh
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Registered: 19th Apr 02
Location: Munich
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Yes Robin, you should have. First things I checked.
[Edited on 21-10-2006 by CorsAsh]
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Gregor
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Registered: 28th Nov 03
Location: Paisley, Renfrewshire
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I think you may have treated this as being more serious than it actually is
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CorsAsh
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Registered: 19th Apr 02
Location: Munich
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Treatment overkill? Nah,
Middle two cylinders not firing despite getting everything they needed to do so... what would you have thought it was?
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Robin
Premium Member
Registered: 7th Jan 04
Location: Northants Drives: Clio 182 Cup
User status: Offline
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has it been hot?
just thinking the symptoms are similar to mine were, all down to the engine getting VERY hot
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CorsAsh
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Registered: 19th Apr 02
Location: Munich
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Hasn't been getting particularly hot, no. Water seemed to leak somewhere, but that could have just been a leaky hose. No mixture of oil and water, no mayo.
Heard the rushing water behind the dash noise too.
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Gregor
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Registered: 28th Nov 03
Location: Paisley, Renfrewshire
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The reason for mine doing it , was that a fuel pipe on the fuel pump had come loose therefore yes the engine was getting fuel but not enough to fire all cylinders it seemed
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Robin
Premium Member
Registered: 7th Jan 04
Location: Northants Drives: Clio 182 Cup
User status: Offline
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was there water in it? edit - or had it ALL leaked out, from the dodgy hose?
I'm clutching at straws tbph
[Edited on 21-10-2006 by Robin]
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CorsAsh
Member
Registered: 19th Apr 02
Location: Munich
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The water level was perfect when this happened.
It's getting plenty of fuel through, could smell it being pumped out of the exhaust. It was also backfiring into the throttle body.
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Gregor
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Registered: 28th Nov 03
Location: Paisley, Renfrewshire
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Yes mine was doing the exact same !
Exhaust was popping and banging like mad but still the car would not start.
Last thing I thought of was fuel pipes at fuel pump , and hey presto
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Robin
Premium Member
Registered: 7th Jan 04
Location: Northants Drives: Clio 182 Cup
User status: Offline
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and it was sparking after you replaced the bits?
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CorsAsh
Member
Registered: 19th Apr 02
Location: Munich
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It starts and idles on 1 and 4 though...
If you open the throttle, revs come up on them fine too, if there wasnt enough fuel coming through, surely it'd just die?
[Edited on 21-10-2006 by CorsAsh]
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CorsAsh
Member
Registered: 19th Apr 02
Location: Munich
User status: Offline
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quote:
Originally posted by Robin
and it was sparking after you replaced the bits?
Yeah, sparking fine.
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Gregor
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Registered: 28th Nov 03
Location: Paisley, Renfrewshire
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I don't know enough to say mate , but thats the way it was with me .
Just something you could try really
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CorsAsh
Member
Registered: 19th Apr 02
Location: Munich
User status: Offline
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Yeah, thanks for that, I'll put it on the checklist. Have to rebuild this fucking mess now.
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Gregor
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Registered: 28th Nov 03
Location: Paisley, Renfrewshire
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It will be something very very simple.
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CorsAsh
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Registered: 19th Apr 02
Location: Munich
User status: Offline
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I hope it's nothing more complicated than what I've already done
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Gregor
Member
Registered: 28th Nov 03
Location: Paisley, Renfrewshire
User status: Offline
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Surely something more complicated than that would be noticeable though.
At least now your going to have a nice new head gasket and timing belt 
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CorsAsh
Member
Registered: 19th Apr 02
Location: Munich
User status: Offline
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Well yeah, cambelt was last done 60k ago, so it's kinda due... 
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EarlofBarnet
Member
Registered: 26th Mar 04
Location: West Cumbria
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Could it be air in the coolant system making the engine get really hot? Really am stumped with it, you've done everything I would have tried, lol!
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ed
Member
Registered: 10th Sep 03
User status: Offline
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Well, it's getting fuel into 2 and 3. Can see the blackening on the valves to say that, but it's not burning fully... Did you do a compression test before taking the head off?
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CorsAsh
Member
Registered: 19th Apr 02
Location: Munich
User status: Offline
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No, dont have a tester. Plus everyone I asked said head gasket, and it was a logical thing to try.
I'm starting to think I've been stupidly unlucky and got duff new leads or sparks.
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ed
Member
Registered: 10th Sep 03
User status: Offline
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Yea, from the pics I cant see any problems, it all looks normal
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CorsAsh
Member
Registered: 19th Apr 02
Location: Munich
User status: Offline
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I know Soon as I took the head off and saw it 
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