Misfire but...

[lildevil]

Hi

Again I post about my car with it's lovely over a year old misfire. After reading on another thread about a diesel r75 with a vibration in Neutral it got me thinking....is it possible that I could have the same problem? I can only feel the vibration at a stand still not when driving. I was told by the garage when I had my clutch replaced that I needed a new engine mount so thinking about it could it be this that is causing the vibration?

Back in May the car passed its MOT (with a misfire.) I cannot hear the engine missing as much as before, it does sometimes but otheres you cannot hear it but just feel a vibration What do people think?

Regards
Tom

[Phil]

When you rev the engine does it rev smoothly? Surely any decent mechanic can tell you just by listening to it that its a misfire, if it is. Didn't you go on testbook and get a confirmed fault code relating to a misfire? If I were you, get yourself booked into a reputable ex MGR garage/specialist, and say, spend half an hour to start with having a butchers and see what you can find and then go from there.

[lildevil]

Hi

I booked the car in to what I thought was a reputable ex MGR dealer (Dutton Forshew of Maidstone) however was cold that all the diagnostic equipment was able to tell them is that the car has a misifre. I persume that this is not correct? I am not one for really revving the engine however yes it seems to be ok when I have put my foot down and let it rev right up to about 7 - 8 revs.

You very helpful people must be getting very bored with me now always asking about this misfire.

Regards
Tom

[lildevil]

Hi

I know I have continuously posted about this misfire and you people on here are thinking just take it to a garage why don't you. It wouldn't surprise me if you are starting to get bored if not annoyed with me and my car. However I would just like if you don't mind anybody's thoughts in this thread. And I will follow up any advice given in this forum as soon as money permits me to.

So far I have had replaced the following things:

HT Leads
Spark Plugs
Coil Packs


I did take it to a very helpful and what appears to be a friendly honest garage in Headcorn called Pymans (hope mods do not mind me mentioning name) to have oil changed and the owner of the garage Nigel could tell without even looking that the car had a misfire and found that there was a loose connection on one of the coils so the car was running of 5 cylinders instead of 6. This appeared to fix the misfire however got slightly up the road and back it came, turned around took it back down and was told give it a while for the ECU to adjust and if there is still no improvement to bring it back down and he will have his friend bring down his diagnostic equipment however as the car has already been on diagnostic equipment and I was told that all it was capable of telling the garage is that the car has a misfire I am worried I will be told the same thing my Pymans. After Pymans reconnected the loose connection I was able to drive around with the A/C on without the car stalling as I pulled away, also I could and still can drive it up hills without having to change down gears as much as before.

After my trip down to Somerset back in August which was a lovely smooth drive, I returned home and first went to my Mum & Dads house to pick up my key and to tell them about the holiday, left my Mum & Dads was driving up the road and the clutch went in and wouldn't come back out (with 106000 miles on the clock) called Green Flag and waited about a whole 6 hours for them to turn up once they finally did they confirmed that I needed a new clutch, after ringing around for quotes my car had sat on my Mum & Dads drive for a day I rang up Green Flag again and had the car towed to Dutton Forshaw of Maidstone to have a new clutch.

About a day or two after the car was up there they told me the clutch was done however they wouldn't take the car out for a test drive to make sure everything was ok because I had 90% wear on the rear brake pads and I was then told I needed a new ABS sensor and Engine mount, after being told the clutch would cost £900 I told them to fit new brake pads so they could check everything was fine but to leave the ABS sensor and Engine mount as I just didn't have the money,

So after reading my very long post my questions are:


Except from the things that I have had changed what else could be causing the misfire?
Could one of the things I have had replaced be the wrong type e.g. wrong type of HT Leads?
Should I have the car put onto diagnostic equipment again but make sure that it is Testbook?
As I need a new ABS sensor my ABS light is on will this cause the car to fail its MOT in may?
Could the engine mount be causing the vibration I can feel? As I cannot hear the engine missing nearly as bad as it did at one point.


I do aplogise for continously posting questions about the same thing however I have seen a couple of new members on here who may not be members of the .org forum and could possibly have some useful info. Also as I have answers dotted around everywhere on the .org forum I would like to have a long list of things I can try on this forum (as I visit here much more than I ever visted the .org forum) your more friendly here :lol: :)

Regards
Tom

[Phil]

Hi Tom, if the abs lamp is on, it will fail the MOT, yes.


If the coil pack was disconnected and reconnecting it resolved it temporarily, I take it you have disconnected and reconnected it?
If you have a shot engine mount then you will get a shudder, yes so maybe this is the cause of some of your problem. Driving a car with a shot engine mount will damage other things after a while. I know it sounds stupid but could you post a sound clip of the engine revving up? We may be able to tell if it is misfiring.

[lildevil]

Hi Tom, if the abs lamp is on, it will fail the MOT, yes.


If the coil pack was disconnected and reconnecting it resolved it temporarily, I take it you have disconnected and reconnected it?
If you have a shot engine mount then you will get a shudder, yes so maybe this is the cause of some of your problem. Driving a car with a shot engine mount will damage other things after a while. I know it sounds stupid but could you post a sound clip of the engine revving up? We may be able to tell if it is misfiring.

Hi

Thanks for the info that is what I was afraid of the ABS sensor failling the mot. I know we need MOTs but just because a ABS light is on and it failling the MOT because of that is stupid, how about the cars without ABS they don't failt their MOTs because they don't have ABS. Well thats that rant over.

The coil packs were changed by another garage (very unreliable garage) in Maidstone, I am not allowed to name the garage due to legal reasons, and shortly after the car lost all power I didn't think anything of it because I just thought it was the misfire however when Oil was changed the mechanic picked up the misfire and showed us the connection on the coil pack was off. Power instantly returned to the car and the misfire was temporally gone. However shortly after it came back just as I was driving up the road from the garage as I said before.

What sort of damage can a shot engine mount do?

Christmas and all I just haven't got the money this car needs spending on it but need to drive it and know that it is my fault for not getting it regulary serviced, basically it is waited to die. But I would still like some ideas about what I can try to resolve the misfire.

I will try and get a recording of the engine revving up, however cannot tell you when this will be.

Regards
Tom

[Phil]

It puts extra load on the gearbox, etc. How far are you from Lates? Ask him how much he'd charge you to give you an honest appraisal. Does the car ever make popping noises and shudder when accelerating?
Was the ABS lamp on efore they did the clutch?

[lildevil]

Hi

I live in kent so a very long way from Lates. Car needs cam belts changed and I just haven't got the money at the moment, £500 for cam belts. So I don't think the cam belts would make it to Lates. Yes the car does shudder more so when pulling away and occasionally when changing gear. Yes the ABS light was on before they did the clutch becasue I didn't have cruise control for the drive down to somerset.

Regards
Tom

[Phil]

I'm all out of suggestions. The gearchange shudder would tie in with worn engine mounts, I'd deffo get that changed. I'm sure you realise it but you really are playing with fire if your cambelt is over 16,000 miles overdue.
Would it be out of the question to cut your losses and part exchange it for a younger 75? It seems that you need to spend a bit of cash to get the car back to tip top nick.

[lildevil]

Hi

Thanks Phil for all of your ever so helpful info. However in its present state I doubt it will be worth anything, also I am in the middle of bankrupcy so there is still a chance of any new purchases I make could be taken by the offical receiver. So basically get the engine mount sorted ASAP. Then work from there?

Regards
Tom

[Phil]

Sorry to hear that Tom.

Get the engine mount sorted then go from there. Has the engine lamp been on at any point, ie before the plug was reconnected and it was performing badly? and since.

[lildevil]

Hi

Thats another thing I do not understand, the engine light has not been on what so ever, during all of this it has not come on once. But the engine mount needs to be sorted as soon as possbile?

Regards
Tom

[Phil]

I would have thought if it is missing then the eml would light up as the lambda sensor would be reading high and would not be able to compensate. What MPG are you getting?
Do you know what engine mount is gone? Someone on here may be able to give you an idea of cost. I think its the lower mount that is the most common.

[lildevil]

I would have thought if it is missing then the eml would light up as the lambda sensor would be reading high and would not be able to compensate. What MPG are you getting?
Do you know what engine mount is gone? Someone on here may be able to give you an idea of cost. I think its the lower mount that is the most common.

Hi

I agree that I thought that the eml light would have come on but it hasn't. That smell that I could smell is defiantly my cat its coming from the exhaust, it was so bad yesterday that the smell was still around even after I had pulled up and stopped the car. I am getting 21.9MPG according to the message centre. I managed to do 300 miles on a tank back in August even with a misfire, but that was on a long drive to Somerset.

No sorry I am unable to tell you which engine mount it is. I was quoted roughly £100 for it. £120 for ABS Sensor and about £20 for low brake pad wires that weren't fitted when I had the brake pads done by the not so good garage in Langley, Maidstone.

Regards
Tom