(G) help save my cinq !!! valve problem

ah didnt think of the service thing how long has it been since a service? as if its a old spark plug or something like that could lead towards it

change the sparkers and the air filter and run redex in the car for few tanks full also change MT leads

shouldnt cost no more then £30 for all the above and cheap fix if thats the problem

or buy my 899cc engine for £30 and ill charge you £70 to fit it providing you come up here

wouldnt spend £300 on a 899cc engine cars not even worth that lol

fiat are doing a winter service for £59.99 atm on cars over 3 years old

Thank you for all your help, I am gonna' find my local fiat garage. They won't laugh when I say I have cinqy will they ???!!! Everyone else seems to !!!

I'm pretty sure the garage I took it to was a reputable one, the guy I bought my cinqy off had loads of work there, still he may of knew someone that worked there ? (They serviced it for me back in April, would this problem not have been apparent back then I wonder?) They did seem to look very busy though, or am I just being too sinical now ?!

Gazzaman, that sounds like a GREAT idea, however I don't think my beloved blue beast would make it that far at the mo ! lol...

I will let you all know how I get on. Thanks again guys, fingers crossed x

Apart from the service, chuck some Redex in the fuel, and fill it with some super as well for a tank. Wilko's have 100% extra free Redex at the mo as well

Could just be dirty injectors. Service it and then Redex/supe unleaded it, and give it a bit of stick once its warmed, a fair bit of high rev driving too get things cleaned and flowing again, bet it'll be fine then.

How many miles has it done? Should give a good indication of wether the valves are sticking/worn.

Kristian

Fuel filter and plugs stopped my slight missing sensation at low revs. On the 1108cc engine, but all the same, dirty plugs/filter will do that on any engine.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4_stroke shows what's in a car engine, showing the valves and pistons. The cylinder head is the metal top to the cylinders. It contains the valves and the spark plugs, but not the pistons. The pistons are in the cylinder block. The join between the block and the cylinder head is level with the top of the pistons at the highest point that they reach. The join is sealed with the cylinder head gasket (or head gasket).

I have had a valve fail on a Cinquecento. It caused it to tickover badly.

It is usually the exhaust valves that fail, as they run much hotter than the inlet valves. The valves spend most of their time closed, and much of the cooling comes from the contact of the rim of the valve with the valve seat. If the contact is lost, the valve overheats and burns away.

A failed valve will often be worse at low revs, because there is more time for the gasses to leak through the gap where the valve isn't closing.

The valves themselves are very cheap. I think the one that I changed was 7 pounds. The problem is the labour, as the cylinder head has to come off to change them.

Diagnosing a valve does not need to cost a lot. A "compression test" will show most valve problems. There have been some threads here on how to do a compression test, but basically all the spark plugs are taken out. Then a compression tester is pushed into a spark plug hole. A compression tester is a pressure guage that records the maximum pressure. The engine is turned with the started motor, and as the air in the cylinder is compressed, the compression tester records the maximum pressure.

The test has to be done on each cylinder. If one cylinder is low, it is often a faulty valve that causes it. A compression test should take less than an hour. I think that the garage should have offered a compression test to confirm that it is a valve problem.