Technical My Brava 1242 engine is poorly please help

[nivlac]

last week i was driving my brava with no probs, then a funny noise come from the engine(like air blowing against papper hard) and the engine lost power like it was fireing on 2 cyclinders,

then the orange engine light started flasing, anyway it went for a few more mile and i turned it off thinking it may of over heated and left it for about an hour, came back started it,it strated stright away but still no power,

i drove it about another 300 yards and it cut out, now it wont start, it turns over but does not start, sometimes it will try to fire but thats it,

i been told it could be head gaskget but there are none of the usual signs of this,

i pretty good with diy mechanics as have worked on a lot of cars but this one has baffeled me any help or anyone thats had a similar problem please let me know i would really apprciate it, thanks

 

[ilsonemo]

Re: my brava is poorly please help

what engine ???

 

[nivlac]

Re: my brava is poorly please help

sorry silly me 1242 sx 80 2001

 

[Adrian Bravo]

Re: my brava is poorly please help

Welcome to the forum. When you try and start does the engine management light stay on?

I think you should check the crank sensor is still attached, check the air filter is still in one piece and if your hand with tools have a look behind the cambelt cover. If its a flapping noise perhaps the belt tensioner has come loose, then if it skipped teeth it would loose power, if it skipped a few more teeth then valves would bend and it needs rebuilding.

What was the milage and service history?

You can see the crank sensor here in bold and arrowed;

 

[nivlac]

Re: my brava is poorly please help

hi, thanks for your help,have checked the cam belt already this was fine,i will check crank sensor tomorrow, i had the spark plugs out earlier and the top of the piston on cycliner 4 looks very wet poss oil (not sure) would this be from keep turning the engine over when it was not firing? thanks again

 

[Adrian Bravo]

Re: my brava is poorly please help

It might just be petrol.

If you have a multimeter you can do a test on the coil pack, which may explain a missfire. Unplug everything from the pack to get true readings.
A compresion test will tell you if the gasket is ok or not. Im trying to think what this sound could be, can you add anymore detail about the sound. There are lots of members with good experience of that engine hopefully someone will have the answer. I will edit your thread title to attract them.

 

[nivlac]

the only thing i can add is as the revs got higer the noise got less or slightly went away but still loss of power, how would i carry out a compresion test? thanks and thank for editing the title.

 

[ilsonemo]

You will need a Compresion tester: click here

But as Adrian said check the basic first, Coil Pack and HT leads.

I have had many problems in the past with this engine and HT leads.

 

[nivlac]

now if i dont have a multimeter surley if i check each ht lead is providing a spark at the spark plug this would tell me if the ht leads or coil pack are faulty, now is there i way there i can check for compresion with out a compresion kit as the aa man said there was no compresion but all he did was look in the water bottle so i dont understand how he would know there was no compresion,!! but again there was no signs, no oil in water or water in oil,no gunky cream on the oil cap, no smell of the type of smell you get from a blown head gasket,

 

[nivlac]

i have notice this breather pipe that comes off the air filter are goiong to the injection unit and conects to the top right of the engine and a smaller diameter pipe that conects to the plastic part of the fuel system, is snapped would this cause a miss fire or non start

 

[ilsonemo]

is it a vacuum pipe ? is so it could be causing the problem

 

[nivlac]

i not sure if its a vacum pipe how would i know? it was held on with jublie clips,

 

[nivlac]

i will put some photos up

 

[nivlac]

below are some photos of the part and my bodged atempt of trying to fix it as it is a very hard part to get hold of, 3 cars in local breakers all with the part or engine gone 1 with every part on the engine still there EXCEPT this part :bang: on order from dealer 2 weeks so got to wait this long b4 thinking of striping the engine!!! 10 breakers on web no part :bang: and dont do at auto factors

 

[maximoke]

I did have this happen to mine. (same car only slightly older - V reg) the AA man might have filled up your expansion tank and then turned the car over, if the water was ejected out the top quite violently then the head has gone between cylinder and water way, this will not give emulsifying effect (creamy mess). This is what was wrong with mine, and your initial symptoms also were the same as mine. Fill the tank up and turn it over (leave the cap off). Cheers

 

[nivlac]

hi thanks tried that no water shooting out of the expansion tank, thanks anyway i will keep tring differnt thing