Hi guys,

I was driving along a short while ago when the car lost nearly all it's power and the injector light came on. The car sounds terrible and there is some kind of awful burning smoke/smell coming from under the engine (possibly the CAT area). Does anyone know what this might be? Is it the catalytic converter?

BTW, the car is a '96 Cinq Sporting.

Ta!

map sensor may be duff mine used to do it

gazzaman2k said:

map sensor may be duff mine used to do it

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Would the map sensor cause the smoke and the burning smell? Forgot to mention this in my last post, but the entire exhaust was much hotter than normal!

It sounds like you have a plug not firing. It is sending unburnt fuel down the exhaust hence the extra heat and the management light on.

Run the engine in the dark with the bonnet open and look for unwanted/unexpexted sparks.

Cheers

D

rallycinq said:

It sounds like you have a plug not firing. It is sending unburnt fuel down the exhaust hence the extra heat and the management light on.

Run the engine in the dark with the bonnet open and look for unwanted/unexpexted sparks.

Cheers

D

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Might give that a look, ta.....although in a way I hope it's not that as non-firing plug suggests to me a valve issue....

Not likely to be an issue with the CAT then?

ZappBrannigan said:

Might give that a look, ta.....although in a way I hope it's not that as non-firing plug suggests to me a valve issue....

Not likely to be an issue with the CAT then?

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A non firing plug (or 2!) suggests an ignition issue. Were it a valve, you'd have other symptoms.

The CAT probably wasn't the cause. It may be an effect. Try rallycinq's suggestion and go from there.

If you have a shorting ignition lead the spark will go to earth on the block/head/dipstick rather than through the spark plug.

Cheers

D

Well, I hope it's not a valve anyway! Would be nice to know, IF I could get a plug out! Didn't realize the damn plugs on this car use a small socket!....which I don't have! And I have no car to drive down to Halfords in to buy one! Grrr!!!!

On a second note, is this actually a CAT, 'cos it doesn't look like one?

looks the same as my cat

Yes. That's the cat.

Never seen a CAT look like that before! Cheers for confirming it!

ZappBrannigan said:

Well, I hope it's not a valve anyway! Would be nice to know, IF I could get a plug out! Didn't realize the damn plugs on this car use a small socket!....which I don't have! ]

Click to expand...

You don't need a plug out to check for shorts.

Cheers

D

rallycinq said:

You don't need a plug out to check for shorts.

Cheers

D

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Yes. Just darkness and an open bonnet.

rallycinq said:

You don't need a plug out to check for shorts.

Cheers

D

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You need a plug out to check if you've got a burnt out valve!!!

It's pretty unlikely to be a burnt out valve. Do as the man says.

OK...I've checked everything now and there's no visible earthing. To be sure the electrics are tip-top I've replaced the plugs and HT leads. I'm pleased to report there's no oil-fouling of the plugs, so the valves are still good. BUT, no improvement....engine still runs like pooh and stinks of unburnt fuel. Something is causing the mixture to be too rich by the sounds of it. Whether it could be the MAP sensor or Lambda sensor, I don't know (although I would think it more likely to be the lambda though I've never heard of one just suddenly dying). If the car had a carburetter and contact-breaker ignition I'd have fixed it yesterday! Bloody modern cars!

OK. If it does it hot and cold, rule out the lambda.
Possible culprits --

Ignition coil going down
MAP sensor (often the piping to the MAP rather than the MAP itself, or the tube blocked)
Slipped timing

and so on.

fingers99 said:

OK. If it does it hot and cold, rule out the lambda.
Possible culprits --

Ignition coil going down
MAP sensor (often the piping to the MAP rather than the MAP itself, or the tube blocked)
Slipped timing

and so on.

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It does it at all temperatures. I checked the MAP tube earlier and it's free from blockage and it's not split in anyway...what's next?

As it happened suddenly, I'd check the timing next: it doesn't rule the other stuff out though.

fingers99 said:

As it happened suddenly, I'd check the timing next: it doesn't rule the other stuff out though.

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Ignition timing or cam timing (although I've never heard of a toothed cambelt slipping!)? Incidently I just ran the engine and pulled off the MAP sensor tube (sensor end pulled off) and placed my finger over the top to compensate for the induction leak and this made absolutely no difference! Is it safe to check that the plugs are all firing the old fashioned way by pulling off the HT leads, or is that dangerous on a modern car (apologies if that's a daft question as I spend 90% off my time working on classic cars that are much easier to diagnose problems on!)?