Misfire

johncam · Post by **johncam** » Thu Mar 19, 2009 11:29 pm

Got our car back today after a month and a half in the body shop (another story for another thread!!). Driving fine for about 15 miles until I took the slip road onto the M8 at Fifty Pitches Rd - put the power down to get up to motorway speed but couldn't give it the beans due to traffic ahead on the slip road. It got to about 3500 rpm in 3rd gear when the power cut and the engine started making a heck of a noise with lots of vibration. I eased up on the power and changed up to fourth to drop the revs but the car continued to lose power. The MIL light came on (solid), but by this time I'm coasting as the engine has chucked it altogether. I managed to roll onto the hard shoulder at the entrance to the sliproad of Junction 25a (Braehead Westbound). I tried to restart the car, the starter motor was firing fine but the engine would not turn over. At that point I stuck on the hazards, jumped the barrier and phoned the AA. The AA lady said they would have a truck with me within an hour as I was a priority on the motorway.

but 911 Recovery (sub-contract) were with me in less than 10 minutes

The guy quickly got the car onto the low loader and drove me round to Makro in Hillington. He had been on his way to another call in Erskine when he got my job. His colleague was rerouted to meet us at Makro. He got the car off the transporter in the car park. The second truck arrived in minutes. He got me to try starting it while he operated the throttle from the engine bay. It eventually started, the MIL light was still on but it would not idle and continually stalled. Sounded like a Group B rally car by this point and he said it was 'misfiring like a b@st@rd'. It was 6pm by this point so the guy suggested that he take me and the car home. They are coming in the morning to take the car to SLS in Edinburgh - providing Ali can take it. The mechanic suggested it may be a failed coil pack and had pretty much ruled out HGF as coolant level was fine and engine temp was normal at the time it happened.

Anyone have any ideas?

dezzy · Post by **dezzy** » Thu Mar 19, 2009 11:58 pm

No ideas I'm afraid John (non-technical faction!) but just wanted to say I hope you get it sorted soon without too much trouble or cost. Hope to see you on a run again soon

Gimme a shout if you want to pop over for a cuppa/catch-up after work one evening.

D

johncam · Post by **johncam** » Fri Mar 20, 2009 12:50 am

Thanks Dezzy. I will give you a shout in the coming week. Long overdue a catch up as you say.

Had planned to post up pictures of the car following its respray, which I will still do but I end up posting photos of it of it on the back of a tow truck on the hard shoulder of the M8. Typical.

Car was washed twice today by the body shop. It got covered in dust first time and looked like a doughnut apparently!! Any chance it could be jet-hosed water getting in somewhere it shouldn't be that's caused the problem? Would have thought problems would have shown up earlier though, not 15 miles into the journey.

Cheers,

John

tenkfeet · Post by **tenkfeet** » Fri Mar 20, 2009 3:25 am

If you could get a fault code reader and post up the codes someone may know . If you want to try a coil pack of my car give me a shout .

Hope you get it sorted .

AH

Post by **Shug** » Fri Mar 20, 2009 10:01 am

Sounds very much like a coil pack - Shugmobile (on a twin-pack VVC setup - a lot like the S2 twin coil packs) has an intermittent bad connection to one of the packs - produces exactly these symptoms. Also possible it's a blocked injector (like mine did at Cadwell) but much less likely IMO.

johncam · Post by **johncam** » Fri Mar 20, 2009 10:51 am

Thanks for the offer Alan. Ali is full today but the AA are now going to pick it up and take it to him tomorrow.

Shug - I'm hoping that's all it is. Was producing a really evil smell also!!

Cheers,

John

johncam · Post by **johncam** » Sat Mar 21, 2009 7:46 pm

Just had a call from Ali as SLS. Car has a snapped Cam-shaft. I'm taking it that's not good...

tenkfeet · Post by **tenkfeet** » Sat Mar 21, 2009 7:57 pm

johncam wrote:Just had a call from Ali as SLS. Car has a snapped Cam-shaft. I'm taking it that's not good...

F**k

johncam · Post by **johncam** » Sat Mar 21, 2009 8:14 pm

tenkfeet wrote:
johncam wrote:Just had a call from Ali as SLS. Car has a snapped Cam-shaft. I'm taking it that's not good...
F**k

Thanks for that Alan - I feel so much better

Should I be looking at this bad boy??

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/901161.htm

tenkfeet · Post by **tenkfeet** » Sat Mar 21, 2009 9:11 pm

johncam wrote:
tenkfeet wrote:
johncam wrote:Just had a call from Ali as SLS. Car has a snapped Cam-shaft. I'm taking it that's not good...
F**k

Thanks for that Alan - I feel so much better

Should I be looking at this bad boy??

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/901161.htm

Sorry , that was my initial reaction , I am sure someone who knows about K's will be along shortly to give a more educated response . Has the car had a c service recently ?

That engine appears expensive when you could get a second hand one for far less . If bottom end is ok a DVA head would be a good use for the cash .

There is a VVC engine and box in the seloc classifieds for offers, its done 56k http://forums.seloc.org/classified.php? ... d&id=10473 If you could get your car to sinclaires they could do the swap and get the engine fully serviced , belts etc ,it has noisy cam followers which would lead to a discount. With your old engine break it for spares and recoup some cash . Get your calculator out . Borrow a trailer and when you bring it back up put someone's Exige with Katanna on it . Jobs a carrot .

Hope you get it fixed soon .

kenny · Post by **kenny** » Sat Mar 21, 2009 10:09 pm

Seen your car at Ali's today John, looking very clean, shame about the broken engine though. On the bright side it's a good excuse to Honda it

robin · Post by **robin** » Sat Mar 21, 2009 11:34 pm

I'm assuming it snapped the cam belt rather than a cam shaft ...

If there wasn't anything else wrong with your engine before hand chances are it'll just have bent a couple of valves. I would suspect stripping the head off and getting some new valves and replacing the valve guides (some will be split) will be a better use of the money ... if you want to get it fettled at the same time, great - either DVA or Kiwirog will replace the valves/valve stem seals and get some more ponies out of the head for a lot less than a new engine.

The only risk you have is a damaged piston or con rod, but plenty of engines have had valve to piston contact and survived ... in any case, piston failure would likely be evident on removal of the cylinder head. If you wanted to be absolutely sure you could spend the extra bucks on removing the sump, crank, etc., and have all the rods, caps and shells inspected.

Cheers,
Robin

johncam · Post by **johncam** » Sun Mar 22, 2009 10:24 am

robin wrote:I'm assuming it snapped the cam belt rather than a cam shaft ...

Sadly, it IS a snapped cam shaft Robin. Ali is preparing a list of parts that will need replacing... if that list starts 1. New Engine then joking aside Kenny, I will obviously need to carefully consider all options including the Honda one.
Alan, the car had a C-Service done last August. Its done 6000 trouble free miles since. Cheers John

robin · Post by **robin** » Sun Mar 22, 2009 3:06 pm

Crikey - I wonder if that is subsequent to some sort of belt problem - the VVC mechanism is supposed to be fragile, but even so.

Cheers,
Robin

meatball · Post by **meatball** » Sun Mar 22, 2009 4:38 pm

Nightmare....hope its all sorted soon.

Scottish Elises

Misfire

Misfire

Re: Misfire

Re: Misfire

Re: Misfire

Re: Misfire

Re: Misfire

Re: Misfire

Re: Misfire

Re: Misfire

Re: Misfire

Re: Misfire

Re: Misfire

Re: Misfire

Re: Misfire

Re: Misfire