Was leaving work last night and was driving down the road when the engine just died , still had lights on dash etc...

pulled car over to the side of the road , and found that it would turn over but not fire/start...

seemed to turn over quite quickly ... could the cambelt have slipped ? checked this morning and it had not snapped ?

i have heard if the cambelt slips it will bend valves etc ... but would i have heard that happening ? as i did not hear any metal hitting noises when the engine stopped ?

any ideas ?

thanks

Matt

sorry , will give you more details , its a Brava 1.6sx (reg : 98)

Matt

daft question but did u have any petrol in it?

you have got me thinking now ..... will check tonight .. i am sure i had.

Matt

it has petrol ...

Matt

sorry... another petrol related question... is the guage accurate... in your opinion, is there as much petrol in the tank as the guage is telling you? Have you tried putting more petrol in?

Were there any noises, lights errors, symptons prior to your engin stopping. Does the car burn engine oil? have you done a compression test? Is there a spark when the engine cranks? Perhaps try and see if there is an error code in the ECU.

Hi and welcome to the forum

How's your engine? If you rule out cam belts and mechanical failures then sudden failures are rarely serious.

Can you hear the fuel pump when you turn the ignition on? Check the ignition fuse as well.

Don't forget to check what Alex said.

Good luck, let us know how you are getting on.

hi guys ,, got bloody wet today trying to fix it , really need this on the road ASAP as its wife car and have kids etc.....

what did i find out today , 0 compression , worried i did it wrong.... but ...
took cambelt off .. looked like the timing was out (slipped on bottom pully) as the two cams where lined up on the marks in the inspection panel... but the bottom pully was not on its marks.... couple of teeth out i guess..

once cambelt was off , found that the idler pully bearing case had broke .. so the balls where all over the place (common ?)

got new belt on ... but i am now having trouble getting the tensioner tensioned .... do not have the tool .. and the bloody haynes manual are building there engine on the bench !!! cheaters !!

but i thought i got it tight enough to try and start ... but it did not start ??? i think i can hear a tapping sound when turning over so did not try for long ... engine does turn over using the crank pully .. as i did a 2 -3 rotations and it did not stop.

any ideas by morning would be good .. as it will have to go to main dealers on monday if i cant fix it soon .. (and i what my car on the road as well .. cant be dealing with wifes car as well)

thanks again for the nice welcome

Matt

ps .. yes i can hear the fuel pump ...

Q : would the bearing cage breaking cause the belt to slip .. to be honest its done nearly 70 k now .. and i dont think the belts been changed

Matt

16vmini said:

Q : would the bearing cage breaking cause the belt to slip .. to be honest its done nearly 70 k now .. and i dont think the belts been changed
Matt

Click to expand...

Possible if you lost a ball and it lost tension on the belt. If you are putting a new belt on then you need to change the tensioner as well. They both need changing every 50k.

No compression plus tapping would suggest valve damage, esp if cam belt had slipped. If you have fuel and a spark, then the next thing would be a head off job. Might be lucky if only a couple of teeth slipped.

maybe the cankshaft sensor, I had similar symptoms and it turned out to be this, you'd probably need a fiat diagnostic machine to tell though..

ok .. local fiat garage can't look at the car untill next tuesday .. so might as well try and take it apart myself..

status : cambelts on and all lined up .. two marks on the top wheels line up with the two marks on the cambelt cover ... and the bottom pully marks line up as well... but the car will not fire .. and i can hear a faint tapping sound when it turns over ...

will do a compression test tonight on all 4 cylinders .. if they all read low then will try and take the head off.

any tips on taking the head off ? will it need checking for cracks/warped etc if it goes back on ?

thanks

Matt

When taking the head off there is a set procedure for undoing the screws... As a rule of thumb, start at the top left, and do the oposite bolt on the bottom right, bottom left and then top right. Once you have the head off, inspect the block and head for cracks these will sometimes ocur between cylinders, check valves for signs of ware also check the tops of the pistins for signs that they hace come in to contact with the valves, check bottom of the valves for the same.

Once you've done all that you'll need to have the head skimmed, take it to an engineering shop where they can do this, they will also be able to tell you if it has warped, and if its not gone far the skimming will be able rectify this.

You'll need to fit a new head gasket when you put the whole lot back together, you may also need a new rocker cover gasket.

It might be an idea to drain the coolant also to dismantle the engine as once you separate the block you'll flood the cylinders with water, and clearing that up is much more hastle than its worth.

so the head HAS to be skimmed then ?

Matt

I believe so... Mine was when I replaced my head gasket (done by a garage), and if you look in the cinq/punto sections, everybody there seems to have done the same...

EDIT: But having said that... I did my XR3 myself, and didn't get the head skimmed, but it never seemd right after that, and eventually when to the knackers yard.

cheers alex , as i said the car does not have to go to the garage untill friday .. so i might as well atempt it !!

will find out what it looks like and report back ... i guess if 1 valve in each cylinder was bent it would not fire at all ??

Matt

Are you getting a spark at all? Have you tested this? If the valve wasn't sealing correctly depending on the gap left open, you should still get some compression. However the engine may not be able to keep going under it's own power. If you're not getting any spark then perhaps the problem may be that the coil is dead... check this before you take the whole thing appart!

Yeah....my 1242cc's valves arent sealing right (I just threw the head together using valves from either of the heads I have, and didnt lap them in :bang: )

It runs, but sounds like a bag of spanners!

But, I did the head and that hasnt been skimmed cos I wasnt planning on keeping it on the engine long- so thatr may attribute to the noise.

But more to the point, I have a feeling the 1.6 engine may be an interference engine - so if the timing has gone tits up, it may have eaten a valve on its way out, but I understand the sound a bent valve makes is fairly pronounced

Hi Guys , thanks for all the help so far ,

update : got the head off tonight .. and found 4 bent exhaust valves ...
so the head is off to the engine shop tommorow for sorting out.

well pleased when i took the head off and saw them ! , would have felt cr*p if they where all fine

will let you knwo costs etc.. when i know.

so what do i need to buy next ? top end gasket set ?

also i broke a sensor ...its one that goes into the thermostat housing , there are two there , one with a plug on it , i broke the one without a plug on it !! , why did they not put a plug on it ? anyone know what it is ? so i can buy a new one ?

thanks

Matt

ps wheres the engine number ??

Matt