(G) Alex...She ain't well.....

After a very careful hose-off and inspect mission, I found that the little stub
that connects the turbo to the IC metal pipeduct had blown a neat
hole (it was the only silicon hose on the car also !!!).

After a short test it was still definately dropping a cyclinder in all of the mid range, although the boost was behaving properly.....under normal boost.

The ignition is all running ok, but I have some suspicions about the Bosch LE-2, after swapping the rail...dodgy to one of the cyclinders, made worse by the induction leak.......
She ain't well...puffing some white smoke at exhaust manifold (and through exhaust)..and I have spotted some oil leakage on the top of the exhaust
manifold gasket join...don't know where it's comin from exactly yet.
Avanti tuners (Fiat specialists) who are nearish, have suggested a burnt valve
or piston may be the main problem....
any thoughts ???
looks like I have to take the head off....as if i needed that !

mike

I presume that's addressed to me!

Goodness me, well there are so many issues in there... where to start? I didn't realise that you were "dropping a cylinder", so that is probably not the induction leak. Well done on finding the leak anyway; isn't it just typical that the 'best' hose is the one that gives problems...

Test the compression on all cylinders with a gauge that fits in the spark plug holes. That would show if you have a burned valve or melted piston, hopefully an unlikely scenario.

White smoke at the exhaust manifold has me puzzled. Is it steam or is it burning oil (from the leak you mentioned?) The inlet manifold (directly above it, of course) blocks off water passages in the head (I think, it does on the other SOHC engines anyway) so perhaps there is a coolant leak at the gasket, which could then take out a cylinder as well.

But there is another component in the exhaust system that has water running through it, and I'm sure you can guess what it is.

The oil leak (at a guess) would be from the cambox where it bolts onto the head, if it has been refitted without care, the thin paper gasket can wrinkle. Give the area a scrub with engine degreaser, and a good hose off, and watch closely to see where that oil is coming from.

Then before you take the head off, do a compression test, and if it checks out even, check the gaskets on the manifolds for water leaks (presumably you'd notice the coolant level going down - so keep a close eye on this).

Perhaps a good explanation would be that the cylinder head gasket has failed (at least that's easier to fix than the turbo...) since this would account for three-cylinder running and also the water leaks.

Those are just my thoughts, hopefully someone else will have some others. Let us know how the compression test goes (and sorry for the timezone difference making this a slow response!)

-Alex