Poor idle, emissions light and refusing to start...

[Bluestinger]

Hi,

I've had my 182 just under 3 weeks now and today it decided to play up, die and now wont start

Before i get to what happened today i will mention a few things that now all seem to link up.

When i picked the car up from the dealer on the 3rd December the emissions light came on and stayed as i was driving it home. The car felt fine, idled and pulled smoothly. It had passed it's MOT the previous day and of course passed the emissions test. The Lambda sensor was replaced at this time.
So i popped straight back to the garage and they plugged it in and said it showed the o2 sensor fault. So they cleared the code and ordered another sensor. They said it may have been to be with the car sat for quite a while. WHich i know it had.
Anyway the part wasn't due for a few days and i was too busy to bring it back untill the 14th. So off i went in it again. All was well untill 2 days later the light came on again and stayed that way untill the 13th when, typically, it turned itself off.

So the 14th it had the sensor replaced again. And everything was great untill mid last week i noticed the idle had become a little rough, and the engine seemed to be making a pulsing noise. The rev needle wasn't moving however. Other than that the car pulled cleanly and the 5k kick was still present. If that means anything?

But this morning on the way to work the emissions light came on but this time flashing, and all of a sudden the engine lost all power and was misfiring like mad. I had to keep the revs up to stop it stalling and managed to make it to a car park. I managed to crawl into a space and it just died. It would not restart and there was a real stink of petrol.

So after work i called the recovery guys. When he turned up i tried to start the car and it just spluttered and died so he plugged a reader in, and it showed a misfire on cylinder 2. He changed the coil pack but it made no difference. He suspects plugs or leads. But he didn't want to change the plugs as he said it wasn't a roadside job and he didn't have a spare manifold gasket anyway. So he towed me to the garage where i bought it. I spoke to the garage beforehand and they said they would have a look at whatever is wrong with it. Well now at least they have something to go on. Although obviously they are closed for xmas so my car is just sat there

As you can tell i am not mechanically minded so i hope i explained it well enough.

Do you think it could be plugs or leads? Or could there be a bigger underlining fault? I really love the car but this is the first time i have ever had a car breakdown on me and it's kind of put me off a bit now.

Cheers!

 

[Bluestinger]

Hmm after some searching it seems that it also could be an injector? The flashing emissions light means that it's more than likely that than plugs?

 

[MikeClio172SPT]

If it doesnt start at all...... wont be an injector. you'd have some fuel being injected from the other's so should start & misfire if one injectors gone down. Needs more investigation dude, diagnostics, few test procedures etc.

 

[Bluestinger]

If it doesnt start at all...... wont be an injector. you'd have some fuel being injected from the other's so should start & misfire if one injectors gone down. Needs more investigation dude, diagnostics, few test procedures etc.

Thanks for reply.

Well it wouldn't restart this morning, but it did when the recovery guy turned up. But it just spluttered and stalled again. It did restart but i had to hold the revs up so he could test the battery. It was very noisy, with the sound travelling along the exhaust. If you know what i mean. Soon as i let off it stalled instantly. Strong smell of petrol again. Sorry if i wasn't more clear. Been hectic today with work and last minute xmas stuff. The car didn't help atall ;/

But it's in the garage now, so i guess they will get to the bottom of it, hopefully.

Cheers!

Edit: Forgot to mention that i noticed the exhaust tips were filthy with soot. They were not like that the otherday.

 

[Don]

Not hijacking...but how much roughly is it to replace an injector? (Easy job?)

 

[Bluestinger]

Not hijacking...but how much roughly is it to replace an injector? (Easy job?)

It seems they are £125 from renault but can be had for much less elsewhere. On the plus side it appears to be a very easy job from what i have read. Which if that is the problem with my car i'm thinking the garage may say i buy the parts and they fit them or something. Which isn't what i need right now after shelling out for it, insurance, tax and tyres and xmas this month lol. I guess i will have to wait and see.

 

[MikeClio172SPT]

Strong smell of petrol is where its misfiring, plenty of fuel being injected but not being ignited, hence the smell.

 

[Mar172]

is that £125 for all four ?

 

[Pride07]

If you've had it for 3 weeks then return it and get your money back

 

[Tony Hunter]

Wonder what plugs are in it.

 

[3i_gaz]

Wonder what plugs are in it.

This! Get the plugs out.

Last one I had wit a flashing management light was iffy plugs.

 

[Bluestinger]

is that £125 for all four ?

No, for 1. But that's only what i saw from a quick search on here. I also found that someone got 4 from ebay for £22...

If you've had it for 3 weeks then return it and get your money back

The car has a 6 month warranty, but it only covers certain things going wrong. I would like it fixed though, but wonder what else will crop up because of this. It's a pain i won't even know exactly what's wrong with it for another week.

Wonder what plugs are in it.

This! Get the plugs out.

Last one I had wit a flashing management light was iffy plugs.

I hope it is something this simple. I take it the correct ones i want are NGK PFR6E-10's. I will let them know nothing else will do in that case. But i wonder if any other damage could of occured during this?

Cheers for the replies.

 

[Don]

If you are after Renault parts....give Adam a shout on 01902 439264. Mention CS and he will give you a decent price. He is good bloke and has a 182...so knows his parts.

 

[Bluestinger]

An update. Got the car back an hour ago. This is the garage report of what they did.

Check for running fault, engine light on (It was the emissions light), missfire on no2 cyl recorded. Replaced HT leads fault still there. Removed spark plugs and carry out compression check. No 2 cyl intermittant. Remove Cylinder head and dismantle for inspection. No2 inlet valve spring broken. Remove all valves and springs. Re-grind all valves and reassemble cylinder head. Refit and test. All ok

So that's what they did. The car drives fine now, and the mpg has increased. Although i only drove it for around 45 mins.

However when fully warm it's still really rough at idle. And still making the weird 'pulsing' noise. These both happened a few days before it broke down. Any suggestions?

Cheers.

 

[Bluestinger]

Well it seems the timings out. So a £500 bill incoming. Not paying it and going to try to get a refund on this heap of s**t.

 

[Bluestinger]

Hmm can't edit my own posts? Well i have calmed down a bit now. Doubt i would be able to get my money back now. So i guess i am just going to have to stump up the cash somehow to get the belts done again at some point. Glad Renault did such a good job the last time :dapprove: .

My own fault i guess. Should of checked the belts were done by a specialist. Should of spent a month on this forum before buying a car and not the otherway around lol.

 

[Bluestinger]

Sorry for the treble post but i can't seem to edit my posts?

Anyway i've been thinking, would the timing being slightly out affect the inlet valve springs? To the point that one snaps? I'm trying to work out why one of mine snapped.

Cheers?