Misfire??

[Tim Type-R]

I wonder if anybody could offer me some advice? I am a pen pusher and lack technical knowledge but here goes - my DC5 has started running really rough on tickover when the engine is both cold and warm.

The car is jerky and is refusing to rev freely. I always keep my eye on the oil levels and they are fine.

I had a pal bring over an portable OBDII diagnostic machine but no fault codes came up!

The real problem is when I put the car under load. If I put the car in 6th at 45mph ish and accelerate hard, the car judders and literally sounds like a scooby flat 4, refusing to accelerate.

I had a similar problem a couple of months back and traced it back to a damaged spark plug. I've changed the plugs and they all seem fine.

Am I right in thinking that I could have a problem with one of the coil packs? I think the problem is electrical as opposed to mechanical. Pretty sure its not a fuelling issue.

My car is standard apart from a HKS Hyper Muffler & Injen CAI.

Any help would be really appreciated.

Cheers,

Tim.

 

[mikegsi]

i have the same mods and mine is similar to yours on cold sartup, i put this down to the cai.

the others though, i would start by checking connections, spark plugs etc, check the condition of each one, may even be wortwhile doing compression tests, is there any mixing of oil/water?

how old is your teg and what mileage?

 

[Tim Type-R]

My Teg is a 2001 model and has covered 29K.

When you say mixing of oil/water, could it be a head gasket?

Cheers Mike - i'll do some investigating.

 

[mikegsi]

When you say mixing of oil/water, could it be a head gasket?

thats what im thinking, hopefully it isnt, but you have to check everything to find the cause of the problem

 

[jay.dee]

Bit of a long shot, but check the valve clearances...

 

[truffs]

what fuel you using 95,97,98?????

if you are using a lower RON could be a mucky fuel hose casuing a slight blockage. Try using some SDP for vlave and injector clearing. My old ATR did this and after this was fine :lol:

 

[mikegsi]

that would be a better problem than any of the others!

 

[Tim Type-R]

I only ever use Optimax and never really let the fuel get too low.

I did go to Brindley Honda (Halesowen) on Saturday and the technician there seemed to think the problem is electrical. The car is going in on Wednesday - wish me luck!

Cheers guys, I'll let you know the outcome in due course.

Tim.

 

[mikegsi]

nice one mate, keep us posted!

 

[andyd]

When you say mixing of oil/water, could it be a head gasket?

thats what im thinking, hopefully it isnt, but you have to check everything to find the cause of the problem

Your exhaust smoke colour should be a give away to that.

Andy

 

[mikegsi]

When you say mixing of oil/water, could it be a head gasket?

thats what im thinking, hopefully it isnt, but you have to check everything to find the cause of the problem

Your exhaust smoke colour should be a give away to that.

Andy

you would expect it too, and most of the time it deffo does, but ive had the head go on two cars with none of the main tell tale signs, hopefully we'll find out later what the problem has been

 

[truffs]

When you say mixing of oil/water, could it be a head gasket?

thats what im thinking, hopefully it isnt, but you have to check everything to find the cause of the problem

Your exhaust smoke colour should be a give away to that.

Andy

you would expect it too, and most of the time it deffo does, but ive had the head go on two cars with none of the main tell tale signs, hopefully we'll find out later what the problem has been

When the head gasket went on my MGF (dont take the mick ) boy did i know about it; it jumped like a kangaroo, black smoke out of its bottom + when i pulled the dip stick out there was a grey mess of a liquid which transpired to be where the oil had mixed with the water or vice versa :evil:

 

[mikegsi]

when it went on three seperate vauxhalls of mine there was no tell tale signs, on two of them it there wasnt even any signs of mixing

 

[Wootty]

I think another head gasket failure give away is small air bubbles in your radiator expansion tank. Happened on my civic after a bout of overheating - can be easier to spot when you rev the engine.

 

[Tim Type-R]

Picked the car up last night. The technicians carried out compression tests and checked that the valve clearances were ok - everything seemed as normal.

They did pick up a slight misfire on cylinders 2 & 4 but (and this is no word of a lie) after they had completed the diagnostic test, the car rectified itself.

The car is now idling smoothly and pulls properly. I can still notice a slight reluctance to accelerate under load in a high gear, but it is so much better than before.

The technicians still believe that a coil may be breaking down and may need to be replaced at some stage in the future.

I'm so relieved that it wasn't a head gasket or warped cylinder head! (When I had a Series 2 106 Rallye I did the head gasket and it cost me a small fortune to put right).

Top marks to Brindley Honda though, they run a really smooth operation there and I received my car back fully cleaned inside and out with a bill of just £30.

 

[mikegsi]

thats a good price for that, some places charge an absolute fortune for fault finding.

glad its nowt serious

 

[truffs]

tell me abuot it. A certain 'London' Honda dealership charged me nearly £160 to diagnose my faulty HID light :shock: :shock: