2 cylinders down? anyone help? track day in 6 days!

[ash2512]

after not using the car for a while it has develioped a misfire a mile into a drive, not the first time this has happened but last time i went to diagnose it it the problem disapeared?

changed leads plugs, (although for bosh not ngk so this could be the problem?)changed coil, cleaned tdc sensor(couldnt get new on a sunday) and still no result. I eventually tried removing the fuel injection rail with injectors to make sure they were all squirting properly, and have snapped a plug on one of them so now need to get a new injector as well! the rest squirted ok so i dont think it will end up being one of those.

The engine management light is on and flashes a minute or so after firing up, and i understand from reading a few threads that this is a fuel problem, hence looking at the injectors. I think now that it could just be the cheaper plugs not firing too well on top of some tesco fuel.

only seems to be runing on cylinders 1, 2,and 3, 4 have not improved in doing all the wk i have done so far


it would be good to see if anyone has any ideas, im going to get a new tdc sensor tomorrow, get some new ngk plugs and see if i can find a cheap injector somewhere in glos

 

[sbridgey]

NGK plugs definetly required for these engines, designed to specifically to work with them iirc.

 

[Russ_16v]

Get rid of those plugs - its does require NGK PFR6e-10 only.

Id lay a bet that will be your problem, but it is also very easy to pinch a ht lead when re fitting the inlet manifold, so check them too.

Mine flashed the engine light when i had a plug go down

 

[ash2512]

iirc?

i ran the bosch plugs on a track day the last time i took it out and it didnt have any problems, but maybe that used the life out of them? put some fresh ones of the same make in yesterday, as i happened to have some knocking about in the garage, and nothing changed, still only firing on the two cylinders.

i will get the good ngk ones tomorrow to rule this out though

 

[ash2512]

checked the leads to see if they were caught and all free, plus i would be unlucky to catch the same leads to the cylinders that were down before i started so i ruled this out

 

[Russ_16v]

cool mate, just thinking out loud really

It wont be crank sensor as if that was faulty it wouldnt run, it could be coil pack

 

[ash2512]

appreciate the quick advice, got to start with the simple stuff!

changed coil pack and same issue, not to say the coil pack i borrowed to try wasnt faulty though but it did have the same 2 cylinders down and there is a good spark coming from the coil pack on these 2 cylinders... so good spark on coil, new leads, unburnt fuel,... pointing towards those plugs again!!

 

[Russ_16v]

Yup, definately try them first dude

 

[DannyR]

I'm guessing you did gap the plugs?

 

[ash2512]

i didnt because they were new so i thought they would come correct? what should they be?

 

[mark123]

I've never gapped mine on the clio, that won't be it.

 

[MartinR]

definatly plugs

 

[mark123]

Have you had a fault reader on it?

How do you know it is running on 2 cylinders?

Lambda would be next on my list. Last time mine flashed the EM light it had no faults on the ECU and just had one plug hole full of water from driving through puddles. So it is not necessarily fuel.

 

[ash2512]

havent plugged into fault reader yet as mine is broken, will get on one this week if i can blag one of a friend.

i know its on two cylinders because when i disconect 2 leads it makes no difference to engine rpm

no water in the plug holes

would lambda kill just 2 cylinders? id have thought it would just over/under fuel or affect timing etc

 

[Russ_16v]

lambda wouldnt make it run on 2 cylinders.

Go back to basics, if its getting fuel and air then its electrical - so start with plugs by putting the right ones in then go from there dude

 

[Russ_16v]

where abouts are you?

 

[ash2512]

will do, i'll be getting the plugs tomorrow morning, live in gloucester

 

[Russ_16v]

Im in malmesbury mate, if you get in trouble your welcome to limp it over and il look - i work in cirencester too - though id not recommend driving on two cylinders, if it gets better or cuts from two to four then i can look at it

 

[ash2512]

cheers for the offer and your help bud, i'll see how i get on tomorrow and report back!

 

[Russ_16v]

Ok mate

 

[TimR26]

I've got leads and a coilpack that I know work, yours for £25 posted.

 

[sideways danny]

have you done a compression test yet?

 

[ash2512]

not done compression test yet, will change the plugs tonight and do it while im changing them since the inlet is off anyway, but the problem came and went before so i dont think its compression?? could be wrong so like i say i will check!

 

[ash2512]

right so i have it up and running again! and the problem was..... both injectors on cylinders 3 and 4 had dodgy conections on the socket on the injector itself. When i took the rail off to check this yesterday i thought i had done the damage to the injector removing it, but looking into it i think the socket on the injector must have taken a knock previously causing a bad circuit on the injector. I came to this conclusion for 2 reasons, 1, because the last injector i removed on cylinder 4 had similar signs of damage to the socket, (Cracking around where the socket mounts to the injector, which should normally be a solid piece where the plastic goes into the metal housing) and 2, when i took the plugs out to replace for the NGK's the two that it was missing on were as clean as when i put them in, and the two that were firing were so black they looked like they had been up a chimney for a night with the burner on full blast!(overfueling on the two cylinders because it wasnt getting any fuel to the other 2?)

anyway thank you all for your help especially russ_16v ,and paulya610 and aide who i have been pilfering parts off!

cheers guys

:approve:

 

[Russ_16v]

Glad to here its all sorted mate, if the connection goes dodgy again you're welcome to borrow my injectors and fuel rail for your track day as my clio isn't getting much use at the moment

 

[dorian]

Hello all, to share my expirience with my Clio 172 that could not get sorted out by 3 mechanics( no dealership because we all know the are sh**)
At idle the rpm´s drop to almost stalling but all of the sudden it picks up again by itself or by me pressing the gas pedal Some times while driving I start getting a power loss , sometimes it misfires and I get a flashing MIL so what I have to do is shut the engine off and it goes to normal operation for a little while before it acts up again and feel like im missing one cylinder possibly 2!
Sometimes the power loss comes and goes pretty quick for example at WOT I feel the pull of the engine then for a fraction of a second it is interrupted but the rpms dont drop then all of the sudden you feel the engine pulling again.
This problem has me puzzled ! the only thing that I did know from this guy is that the only code he had was for a bad lambda sensor which was replaced(pre-cat the important one!) and the ignition coil pack was replaced as well but the problem is was still there but not to the extent it was before replacing metioned parts.
Well with this being said, I proceded to run direct lines from the pcm to coil pack, removed the throttle body to be cleaned with a bit of alcohol then sprayed a bit of WD-40 where the butterfly joins the TB finaly, got new spark-plugs because the old ones had black powdery residue virtue of the fact of running rich mixture because of the bad 02 sensor.
I hope this helps to all yall having misfire issues, once again im happy with my car , two days ago I was thinking in terms of a new Audi A1 s-line but I prefer saving the money!!!World wide resession sucks!