buying a clio 182 with a misfire in cylinder 1 cheap , good or bad idea?

[danielbarton94]

iam about to buy a clio 182 and the guy selling it has told me the following : EML (engine management light) has recently begun flashing intermittently when car is on idle. The idle is also a bit lumpy/bumpy since this. I dont know whats caused it but a friend of mine plugged in a hand held diagnostics kit which showed up something along the lines of a miss-fire in cylinder one (not personally very mechanically minded im sorry).

i was thinking could it be as easy as changing the plugs/injectors/coil pack? or is it more likely to be the head gasket?

any info would help

regards daniel

 

[Bluebeard]

It's more likely to be the plugs/coilpack/leads than a headgasket.

It's definitely worth a gamble! (Providing it's cheap enough and the rest of the cars ok)

 

[danielbarton94]

the car is in good condition with only 60,000 miles on it mate , yeah i think its worth a punt if im honest , just wanted someone else's opinion.

 

[Bluebeard]

Headgaskets are very rare to fail on the F4R.

I've never known of one myself.

 

[danielbarton94]

thanks for that! its possible for it to be the lambda sensor also?

 

[Poopensharten]

Possible for the following;

Coil pack
HT Lead
Injector
Lambda
Spark Plug

I can almost guarantee it will not be a HG failure, ask any specialist on here and as Dan has said, they are simply unknown to HG failure.

 

[danielbarton94]

thought so , thank you all for the help.

 

[Michael Woodford MST]

The amount of 182 Clios I've seen recently with cracked pistons is unbelievable.

Do a compression test before you hand over the cash to be sure.

 

[Michael Woodford MST]

HG NEVER fail.

 

[Poopensharten]

What do you thinks behind the cracked pistons mate? On standard engines or fettled?

 

[Ray Gin]

I've heard dodgy fuel can affect piston life?

 

[danielbarton94]

its only done 60,000 miles so i cant see it being the piston, its got fsh and looks like its been looked after! its even got a ktec exhaust on it

 

[Dan519]

50p says it's an injector

 

[Michael Woodford MST]

I've changed pistons on 40k cars, so just keep your eyes out. Although I agree with Dan. Most likely cause in an injector.

 

[Ray Gin]

What would be the most common symptom of a failed injector?

 

[Michael Woodford MST]

Knackered injectors can kill pistons very easily. It's always the ringlands that go! From the top the piston will look mint!

 

[Michael Woodford MST]

They don't normally suffer too much with compression loss like this either! This particular piston was still reading 170psi!

 

[MikeClio172SPT]

Any damage to the cylinder bore from that?

 

[Mr Plums]

I have come from corsa vxrs to avoid piston failure

 

[Poopensharten]

No chance thats standard practice. I'm on my third Clio Renault Sport, plenty of abuse and 150k later, no such drama.

 

[Mr Plums]

This was out my corsa vxr...

Sh!7e pistons!

 

[MikeClio172SPT]

No chance thats standard practice. I'm on my third Clio Renault Sport, plenty of abuse and 150k later, no such drama.

Yup.....F4R very strong engine.

 

[Mr Plums]

Yup.....F4R very strong engine.

Nice to hear

 

[MikeClio172SPT]

Nice to hear

There not known to go bang dude, unless really abused.... like lack of oil for instance, or cambelt failure. There built for high revving to. so enjoy

 

[Mr Plums]

There not known to go bang dude, unless really abused.... like lack of oil for instance, or cambelt failure. There built for high revving to. so enjoy

Lovely jubley.

 

[Michael Woodford MST]

This was out my corsa vxr...

Sh!7e pistons!

Is say that's s**t map not s**t piston!!!

 

[Michael Woodford MST]

Yup.....F4R very strong engine.

Have you ever pushed the pistons out and looked! They run spot on like that. (Only drop by about 20/30psi on a comp test) You only normally know there's an issue when you try and get more power out of them.

Never any bore damage tho!

 

[Michael Woodford MST]

There not known to go bang dude, unless really abused.... like lack of oil for instance, or cambelt failure. There built for high revving to. so enjoy

They not actually. They only rev well because of the cams. They rod ratio is crap for hi revving.

 

[DannyR]

I've just seen the car your on about and become shocked at 182 prices aswell!

It's at £1320 on eBay at the moment and got a couple of other niggly problems, and its not cup packed either.

If it went over £1800 I personally wouldn't bother as your only looking at about £2-2200 for it.

 

[mitch1503]

had the same problem pop up on mine with the EML flashing and as Dan at 519 said injector.. as he fixed mine lol

 

[MikeClio172SPT]

They not actually. They only rev well because of the cams. They rod ratio is crap for hi revving.

Mines coming apart soon.... so we shall see what my piston rings are like...........

 

[Michael Woodford MST]

Mines coming apart soon.... so we shall see what my piston rings are like...........

I have no doubt that they will be totally fine! But when buying a car with a misfire it's always worth a quick compression test to rule this out! Here's another one I found recently.

 

[danielbarton94]

its only got a misfire on tickover and the guy just done a 100 mile trip with no troubles , so i wouldn't of thought it was the piston because it would run like s**t if there was a broken ring etc?

 

[OiNK]

Did you check the oil/dipstick to make sure there is no coolant mixing with it? That is also a sign of a HG or cracked head etc...

Is the lumpy idle always there when idling or does it go away after it idles for a moment?

Also check the coolant reservoir for signs of oil.

As already suggested get a compression check done and if all of the above are clear it should hopefully be something simple enough to sort out going by my limited car knowledge

 

[Michael Woodford MST]

its only got a misfire on tickover and the guy just done a 100 mile trip with no troubles , so i wouldn't of thought it was the piston because it would run like s**t if there was a broken ring etc?

No mate! In the engine with the piston with one bit missing, it idled very very slightly lumpy and drive spot on! No smoke nothing! It was just slightly down on power!

 

[Dan519]

I've seen a number of pistons with cracked ringlands. Every one of them has also had evidence of detonation on the crown of the piston right above the broken piece. It's crap maps causing issues

 

[Chip-mk1]

It's a lottery with the pistons, they have imperfections and if you are unlucky and that imperfection is on the ring land (small air bubble) its much much more likely to fail.
Bad map seals the deal for sure but isn't always the reason, they do sometimes just go.

as mike says they still drive mint, just slightly down on power, that first piston he put a picture of was from porkies old engine. He tracked it a week before we pulled it apart and it drove mint but was down on power a little, made 185bhp on Surrey rolling road in the morning, then we pulled it apart in the afternoon to find that piston.

most likely cause for OP though is injector, I've seen loads with the same symptoms that have been injectors, but keep driving it like mentioned on this car and you really risk the ring lands as it will make it run lean, in the case of porkies engine it had done an injector on that cylinder only a couple of months before. No co incidence it was same one that failed!