Engine blown On my Y-reg car!!!

[theICEman]

Was out driving this evening when suddenly I lost power and my car started running incredibly rough. The sound I could only describe as being like an old Beetle or a Hillman Imp with a chug-chug kind of noise, but much louder!!! Ive checked all the plugs and HT leads cos Im fairly sure its not running on all cylinders (Id be surprised if its even running on three at the moment!), but they seem ok. Have I got a f***ed piston? Or could it be cylinder head blown? Car still runs but its a struggle, runs like a bag of nails, the whole car shakes violently with the chugging! Feels like little compression is there. Any suggestions?

Oh yeah, also the engine warning light was flashing on the dash.

 

[Tom]

sh*t im next i bet ya £10

 

[BenR]

if you blew and engine you would know it....there is a reason teh word blown is associated with it! haha

think along the lines of a huge noise, massive metal on metal noisess and a plume of white smoke from your exhaust so large that people ram into the back of you.

 

[timrud]

Might sound daft, but whats your oil level? Could be more siezed than blown?

Tim

 

[theICEman]

Ok ok Mr Smartie pants Ben!.. If it aint blown, what u reckon might be wrong with it?? I didnt mean literally that Id blown up the engine, I could have blown head gasket maybe??

Whatever it is, my engines knackered and Im not very happy!!

 

[theICEman]

As far as Im aware, oils fine. Still got all my circles on the oil display and it says oil ok. Had a look at it and the oil looks alright as well.

BUT... now that I think about it, I do know that Reno quite significantly over-filled my oil when I got them to an oil change at 10K... level was way above Max on the dipstick... could this be to blame?? am I looking at piston dmage if it is??

 

[BenR]

well, i cant diagnose from here can i!

All you can do is check, compression test, which is a 5 min affair, or check which cylinder is playing up. Run it and one by one unplug a cylinder, if tis runnig on 3 cylinders and its a spark problem then one of teh leads you take off wont make a diff to the rough running,the rest will make it run rougher.

Once you know which cylinder it is you can test it.

but it sounds like a fueling probelm to me. Check compression, if all is ok, sparks are ok then its fuel. Nobody can just tell you the problem from the off.

 

[theICEman]

Cheers for the suggestions. Thats all I was looking for was some ideas of what might be the problem.

If its a dodgy/clogged fuel injector is that a major repair job?

 

[Tom]

nah!! just a new injector

its proably £6,000,000 quid tho

 

[theICEman]

Lol tom, youre probably right! Especially based on the prices of replacement Halogen bulbs for the 172s!!!! Just trying to figure out whether I need to set my car back to standard (exhaust, etc) so I wont have a warranty fight! Couldnt afford a new engine (probably not even a new spark plug!!! lol!) if they said I wasnt covered!

 

[Tom]

im willing to swap exhausts with you as i have no warranty until may

 

[theICEman]

No warranty until May? How come? You might like my scorpion exhaust, it gives a pretty nice sound! Only thing is to swap exhausts one of us would probably have to drive a good few hundred miles I would think, as Im up near Glasgow!! Now I really regret not keeping my OE exhaust when they took it off, as Ill now have to buy a replacement one to put the car standard again. I might just have to chance it and hope the mechanics are decent about the mods!

 

[Tom]

it gets sorted out next month

i think ill pass sorry

 

[BenR]

BTW mate, it twas a jest, light humour.....just saying ti wasnt a blown engine, which is a good thing! lol

 

[theICEman]

Its cool, I know that! But I just felt a little silly about my thread title!!

 

[RobFenn]

You need some new spark plugs. Stop driving the car, its in limp home mode.

 

[KDF]

Quote: Originally posted by tomclio1.2 on 08 April 2003


nah!! just a new injector

its proably £6,000,000 quid tho

wow.. cheap..

Why does renault get its reputation for expensive parts ?

 

[RobFenn]

Because theyre expensive.

 

[KDF]

didnt someone say a complete exhaust for a clio inc. manifold was somthing like 1400 quid ??

 

[theICEman]

(gulp) Ill be praying the manifold hasnt gone then!!! Spark plugs and HT leads seem ok, tested them last night, it seems more like piston damage. I take it the timings all electronic and theres no distributor cap in new Clios??

 

[RobFenn]

Can you elaborate on this chug chug noise?

Does it feel like youre in a diesel truck, gearstick rattling about and very slow take off?

 

[theICEman]

Yes, its like a slow chug, ignition turns over ok, but can feel the whole car shaking, its loud and makes the car sound like something with a V8, throttle bodies, carbs and open induction all at the same time!! Only much much slower!!!!! The only time it doesnt chug is on the over-run, it almost sounds ok. Theres not much chugging when the enines not under load (eg. not accelerating, downhill etc.). The chugging isnt as loud on idle but the car still shakes about a lot and the exhaust is coughing a little but not backfiring.

Plus the engine warning light is flashing on the dash.

 

[RobFenn]

Which light?

So were from a hillman imp to a big V8!?

 

[theICEman]

Well, its got a deeper grumble than the Hillman Imp but that same raspier chugginess!

The light thats flashing is the orange one on the left of the display, I think its the warnign light for engine problems - it looks like a crude picture of an engine!!! But the Stop light, oil light, service light and ignition coil light, etc. dont come on, just this one light flashing.

 

[theICEman]

Oh yeah, theres also a little blue-black smoke out the exhaust when I press on the throttle.

 

[Tom]

feck it gets worse

 

[RobFenn]

Ok..well drive it to your dealership, walk into the service department and say that light is off and it will need a diagnostic check pronto!

Dont forget the crucial 6 words..

"i want a 172 courtesy car"

 

[Bryan]

piston rings?? well thats the only thing i can relate to a blue smoke

 

[Tom]

thats 5 words

 

[theICEman]

Ive got it booked in for tomorrow (they were originally saying I would have to wait as there was a 10-day backlog, but when I mentioned the engine warning light flashing they said they could book it in tomorrow morning!!!) I forgot to ask about a 172 courtesy car! Damn!!! Ill just have to try asking for one when I take it in. Theyll probably not give me a car though.

 

[RobFenn]

Tom- shutup. And you havent replied to my PM you rude man?

I just drop my car in and say it i want it back by 5! They always say " you could try the blackheath branch" but my reply is always "ermm, na!" Demand a courtesy car its under warranty!

 

[Ren16v]

Sounds like the same trouble i had with mine does it clear when you switch the engine off and then switch it on? or is it constantly doing it

 

[theICEman]

No its the same roughness all the time. It sometimes takes a minute or so for the dash light to start flashing after I first switch the engine on though.

What was wrong with your car? was it an easy problem to fix? i syours the same model as mine, the 2001 Sport 16v with the twin headlights, fogs and came with 5-spoke Poimpol alloys?

 

[Ren16v]

yeah mate its the same the problem with mine was the trottle body housing so reno said had it back twice with the same problem would be driving along then the revs would drop and just go hay wire with no power at all then a couple off weeks ago had it back the sensor had gone that tells the engine to idle kept stalling me cars been in reno more than ive drove it!!!!!!!!!!!Ste .

 

[CraigM]

Has the engine got separate coils on it? If it has I bet one of them has failed.

It sounds like it has the same problem mine had when one of the four coils failed - I believe when one of them fails it runs on 2 cylinders which makes it rough and sound a bit like a lawnmower.

 

[BenR]

good point, is the 1.2 coil on plug?

 

[Tom]

coil dudes my coil pack has exploded once already

 

[Stubod]

I dont think the 1.2 16v is coil on plug, it has a pack instead. Had the first coil go on me this week and it drove and sounded like a tractor. Just waiting now for the other three to go because apparently they have a habbit of going around the same time.

Cant complain though, car hasnt missed a beat in 25k

stu

 

[RobFenn]

I got to drive my car yesterday, it maybe because i havent been in the car for a while but everytime i change gear it feels like it doesnt want to go anywhere fast, it feels very sluggish but then once it clears its throat its fine in the upper rev range. Any ideas?

 

[theICEman]

Got my car back today, turned out it was a spark plug after all. It looked ok, bt it was apparently faulty. Anyway, they didnt charge me anything, even though I thought the plugs werent covered under 2nd/3rd year dealer warranty as consumables?? Which was just as well, cos otherwise Id have gone apesh*t at finding they had put over 20 extra miles on my clock, with them having taken 9 hours to tell me my car was ready after I dropped it off! Also, I had left the CD player switched off, with volume at 0, but with a CD put in at the very beginning, and when I got in my car the volume was up loud and the CD was about 5 tracks in, so it seems like they muct have had a nic elittle test drive! They couldnt even have heard the engine anyway with the subs up so loud! b******s!