Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[clived]

Good morning.  I am a newbie but as I want to post a problem thought I'd leap straight in here.  I think I may be spending a lot of time here .
Have owned a 2001 2.2 petrol estate for about 6 months.  For the last 2 or 3 I've had on-going issues mainly varying degrees of misfiring.
On first inspection found loads of oil in plug holes so replaced cam cover gasket, dis pack and plugs -made no difference in fact ran worse.
Then I cleaned all the breather tubes.  Made no difference.  Running by this time had become very erratic and down on power.
Decided to take it to the garage and let the trained professionals loose.  They changed the MAF.  I took it for an 80 mile spin the next day and seemed to be fixed.  Took it out 2 days later and after about 5 miles started mis-firing again.  And similarly on subsequent trips.
I blanked off the EGR but this has made things no better.
Car starts fine, first time, whether hot or cold, and drives as it should for about 10 minutes/5 miles and then starts misfiring and well down on power.
Any help would be appreciated as funds are running low, as is patience, and I need a car I can rely on to go when I need it.

[RobG]

Any dash warning lights coming on :question

[clived]

Sorry it took so long to get back.  No.  No warning lights.

[TheBoy]

Where is your location? If near me, pop it over, we'll see if we can see whats what

[mrgreen]

sounds like leads or wiring breaking down as it gets warm check for chaffing on the loom around the maf sensor because if that was moved and all was good for a couple of days it could be around there somewhere

[clived]

Thanks for the kind offer TheBoy but I'm in Cambridgeshire and I think you're probably a bit far away, especially with the way it's running.

I will follow up MrGreen's suggestion first to see if there are any chafed wires anywhere that might be breaking down.

Thanks to both for your responses.

[clived]

I can find no obvious fraying or cracking.  I took it out after dark and had a look under the bonnet for any signs of sparking or tracking but could see nothing.  On this occasion it only took about 1/2 a mile before the engine felt as if it wanted to break loose.  It was misfiring while I carried out the checks.
I read in a trade paper that this model was affected by ECU connector cracking.
Is this true? Where is the ECU/Connector located? How difficult/expensive a fix would it be?

[davethediver]

Do the warning lights come on when ignition switched to position two or has some tinker robbed the bulbs? Sounds unlikely given the problems that you describe to have NO warning lights.

Has the car been on a code reader?? Sounds like it could be a CAM sensor fault given that yours is a fourpot difficult to tell without having the codes

[Dishevelled Den]

I would think trying to sort this without the car being read will simply continue to try your patience Clive.

[mark.adams]

Clive,
I am in Cambridgeshire, PM me i have an "My Naff Code Reader" code reader and can read your codes for you.

Mark.

[clived]

Well - it looks like it was the EGR valve or its wiring.  After a few more trials, tribulations and embarrassments I took Mark's advice and started returning everything to original in reverse order.  Although I'd previously cleaned the EGR I decided to give it a GOOD clean before I put it back.  This included white spirit, cotton buds, wire brushing and finally a good dousing inside with WD40 and all connectors.  Following morning start up was greeted by a big disconcerting puff of black smoke but its now driven fine for the last 3 days.
Fingers are now firmly crossed.

[mark.adams]

Well that sounds like a result..
Still working okay Clive?