BravoBeastie is very poorly :( Help if you can...

[Dan]

Went to start my car after I'd been to the pub after mitcar, I started it and it once it was on it was trying to stall. When I revved it there was the sound of water rushing through something fast if that makes sense (this could of been fuel though) once I let it idle for 5 mins (so it had warmed up) the fault disappeared...
The next morning (yesterday)...
Went to start my car again and as before...strugglng to idle and water rushing sound...
only this time when I revved it, it sounded very boxer/flat four engine-esque. Like it was firing on 3 cylingders. when I revved it the exhaust note sounded completely different. It sounded nice but not in a good way
Thought maybe its just some crappy fuel so backed her off the drive and took her for a qucik blast...
Under acceleration(load) she was misfiring and occassionally holding back but again...once warmed up she seemed ok-ish again.
This morning started up again. same again, stuttering and sounding different...but for only about 10 seconds and then it was back to normal again. with one or two misfires on the way to work at the start of the journey. Noticed a bit of white smoke on the way though (my work is only 5 miles away) which would signal HG failure but then it might of been because it was cold...

I'm really worried somethings badly gone wrong as I don't have any money to fix her if it is something terminal then she'll have to go...

If anyone has any ideas then let me know below, I shall be taking the plugs out and checking for "shiney" ones either tonight or 2moro depending on when she comes back from the garage after its clutch change.

could this be the end of bravobeastie?!

Dan

Skate2create & Psykee-Lea

 

[Lee]

My 1.4 went through a phase of doing this, it was water sitting on top of the plugs from when it rained.

New plugs and HT leads and lots of kitchen roll down the pots drew the water out and eventually it was fine.

As for the white smoke, it could easily have been condensation from the exhaust.

If its not sorted for Trax and you and Lea want a lift, just gimme a shout mate, your more than welcome.

 

[Andy]

Dan, the rushing water sound will be water running through the heater matrix under the dash, hence why you can hear it very prominantely. the reason you can hear it is probably an air lock or similar, so id suggest bleeding the cooling system and making sure there are no leaks. obv, if it is hg like you possibly suspect then this could cause the airlock, but check out the less disasterious soloutions first mate

the stuttering and missfire could well be down to a ht lead arcing out, mine was doing it and took me a while to diagnose. easiest way to see if a ht is arcing, as im sure you are aware is to run the engine minus cover at night (dark) you will see if you have a lead arcing

hth fella


Andy

there are just some people that screw you up and dont give a damn, unfortunately i seem to have found that one!!!

 

[Dan]

Cheers Lee, I might have to take you up on that offer

...and andy, would the sloshing sound only happen when the car is revved? as thats the only time it happens..
when I undid the expansion tank after it had cooled down there was a lot of pressure (hissing)

Dan

Skate2create & Psykee-Lea

 

[Andy]

yes mate, its when you turn the pump over it moves the water around. all dont through the belts matey hence why its only when you rev

you will more than likely have it on start up aswell, but will be alot less noticeable mate

edit: id expect there to be hissing when you undo the expansion tank after its cooled tbh mate, itll take alot longer to cool than you realise so it will still be pressurised for a fair while to say the very least

Andy

there are just some people that screw you up and dont give a damn, unfortunately i seem to have found that one!!!

 

[Dan]

right, just had someone look at it at work...

No signs of HG failure, coolant not contaminated and no mayo under cap.
Where would the Air-lock of come from if thatst he case?

Skate2create & Psykee-Lea

 

[Lee]

There aren't any cracked/split pipes around the cooling system are there?

 

[Ash]

the cooling system is ment to be under pressure thats what stops the water boiling lol. i would say it needs a new set of ht leads.

dan have you ever thort about saving £100 of your wages each month in a seperate acount just incase anything goes wrong with yor car house etc etc?? it would save you claiming that you have to sell your car every time it coughs or splutters lol

if its not loseing any water then the headgasket should be fine so wouldnt worry about that. water is a waste product of combustion so you will see some normally when its a cold day and your exhaust isnt warm

hold the htleads while it is running if you get a fookin big jult up ur arm off one of erm you have found the dodgy one if the ht's are fine check the plugs if they are fine then its prob the coil pack

also check that the throtle body is clean by removing the induction pipe. then check all the vacume piped for splits etc

 

[Dan]

I'm not mr money bags you know, I only earn minimum wage ffs, nows not the time to take the ****...

Skate2create & Psykee-Lea

 

[Andy]

Dan, chill out dude, dont think Ash meant it as you **** your money up the wall etc, he was just trying to make a suggestion, same as he did to me a while ago

id go and get a set of ht leads, probably set you back around a score and see how things go. to me it does sound like them causing the missfire etc as thsts what i had, and the only way i found out was the way Ash said, giving myself a shock

Andy

there are just some people that screw you up and dont give a damn, unfortunately i seem to have found that one!!!

 

[Lee]

When I bought my HT leads, I asked the guy if they didn't work could I bring them back and he said that was fine. Bought them from Wilko Motosave. Might be an idea to see if you can get somewhere to do the same so if they make no difference you can take them back to save you buying something you don't need.

 

[Skate2create]

ok...

I took each ht lead off 1 by one and started the car.
with ht lead 4 off, it made no difference.

got it home and took the plug out of cylinder 4..its black

tested the ht lead without it plugged in...it sparked but not constantly. hmmm...

So narrowed down to faulty HT Lead or broken valve causing compression loss.



Dan

 

[Tom]

Compression test time!

 

[Ash]

it will be one of three things coil pack dodgy valve or hole in piston.

im gonna go with coil pack if its not sparking every time.

if you can get a compression test done for free then i would suggest checking that b4 splashing cash on a coil pack.

Also swop the ht leads on 3 and 4. as in take the lead off at both ends and swop erm not just the plug end and see if the problem moves to the other cylinder.

I wasn't having a dig earlier. what i was simply saying is you should save a couple of quid each month towards maintaining ur car then you wont have to make yourself so short when it goes wrong.

At the end of the day cars go wrong all the time so putting a bit aside for when the inevitable happens isn't a bad idea.

 

[Anonymous]

cant do it chap as the leads wont reach as they are all different sizes

Dan

 

[Tom]

Its wasted spark so a failed coil pack would affect 2 cyls.

 

[donny lad]

ill tell you now its plugs and leads when i got my first 1.4sx it had the same problem £25 later and new plugs and leads it was fine well untill i blew the flaming head lol but they fixed that prob its a known fault i think

 

[Dan]

yesterday night I put a new (well one of my 6month old ones from my last service) in cylinder 4.
It started up a lot easier but this morning its back to behaving like before.
Also now there is no hot air coming through the vents and the temp gauge seems to shoot up to 3/4 now after about 10 mins...hmmm
Might be worth having the cooling system bled me thinks, the amount of times the expansion tanks been open the last few days may well of let air in

I'm still wondering if its the HT lead, as last night when I turned it over without the lead in there were sparks arching from it into plastic all over the place but not happening all the time. big hmmm...

Dan

Skate2create & Psykee-Lea

 

[KeithR]

All symptoms seem to me to point to an air-lock but that wouldnt explain the poor running/misfiring engine.

Unless the fact that it is running hotter than normal has caused another problem?

What came first, the water sound or misfire?

KeithR

 

[Dan]

misfire I think. well it wasn't so much a misfire at 1st...more of a stutter at start up making me think it was the choke being tempramental.

Dan

Skate2create & Psykee-Lea