Car not firing on all cylinders?

[sycko]

Car not firing on all cylinders?
Hi everyone im new here, well basically my Saxo has been a right pain recently but to get to the point im having trouble with the performance,
Im new to cars and have limited experience but ive been trying to sort this problem out with the help of a friend, it started a few weeks ago i started the car 1st thing in the morning and it didn’t sound right, it sounded clunky and burbly if that makes sense u set of and straight away it stalled on my then I tried again and I had to use loads of revs to prevent it from stalling and it had no power or pull at all and sounded really loud and rumbly and no power at all, I really had to smash it on 3rd gear just to get it over 30mph I could even use 4th and 5th gear bcos when I selected the gears the car was rattling and struglin to much I had to knock It back down, I drove it to work (14miles away) then back and same thing, I asked a few guys about it and one said its not firing on all 4 cylinders and to check spark plugs so I bought new and changed them but still the same, another said coil pack so I bought a second hand one from scrappers fitted it but still the same, then someone said injector rack so I removed the injectors while still connect to rack and got a friend to turn the engine over and number 1 injector was firing fuel so I thought bingo that’s my problem, so I got another one from scrap yard from a 1.6vtr and plugged it in and all 4 were firing so I though problem solved, only when I have connect all parts back up and fired the car its still really sluggish and struggling to accelerate also still vibrating a lot,
Can anyone suggest something ive missed or have had this problem before?
Thanks in advance

Jon

[iSlayeR]

Any service history with the car?

Try a new air filter, clean the throttle body and ICV

Also worth taking off the throttle cable and cleaning it.

And do you have to only smash it into 3rd gear? could be gear linkages for that problem.

[nash_sax]

have changed all the things you have, i would pretty much put all my money on it being the Head Gasket - dont panic, it's only blown between 2 cylinders.

I had exactly the same probelm on a Clio a while ago, same symptoms, same attempted fixes ....all failed.

I then did a pressure test on the head and sure enough the middle 2 cylinders were low on compression - i stripped the head down to find that the Head Gasket had blown between the middle 2 cylinders.

fitted a new head gasket and the car was back to normal.

Get a Compression test done.:y:

[sycko]

Hi Guys and thanxs for the repies,
service history well lol, ive recently had a 2nd had gearbox fitted and new clutch had head gasket replaced last july/august time
the car did over heat around christmas time when we had the realy bad frost and snow, my coolany pump froze and i got warning lights come on when driving on the motorway but because i was the next junction off i drove home still as it wasnt far off.
the problem started randomly like it would drive fine for 5 mns then start playing up for 10mns then have a spurt where is was fine again then its all the time now so im guessing its more engine related than gearbox/linkages.
im kinda hoping its not another head gasket job :(
oh the cars a westcoast 1.4i btw its a t plate around 99 so its over 10yrls old, and has 66k miles on the clock
thanx again

Jon

[nash_sax]

getting a compression test done will rule out possibly the most complex fix to this problem - it's a 10 minute job to do a compression test.

was the head skimmed when you had the head gasket done the first time? if not then it could be warped slightly and now the gasses are escaping into other cylinders...

[sycko]

great! car seemed to be runnin fine last night, then drove to work this morning and it ran fine, but on the way home it started to cut out, the revs would drop right off then cut out, cut out 5 times on way home which is roughly a 14mile drive
any ideas?
guna try to do compression check at weekend

[stevo67]

Is the engine management light on at all?

Steve.

[sycko]

no m8, all the dashboard lights come on when it stalls but then when i turn the ignition again and re start the engine, none are on well other than lights

[bunkerstevo]

definetly sounds like head gasket gone between cylinders (as said) see wat ur compression test comes back like then go from their

[sycko]

Stevo67
the engine management light came on this morning?

[stevo67]

Stevo67
the engine management light came on this morning?

Yes but should go out once the car is started:y:


Steve:drink:

[sycko]

Hi Stevo, sorry was in a bit of a rush when posted earlier and wasnt very clear doh!
We are part exing the Saxo bcos i work quite a while away and need a reliable car and altho this has been great to me it is nos staring to cause problems, so i was cleaning it when i got in from work last night and had the headlights on and interier lights but not engine running, only took about half to an hour but wasnt paying attention to the time, anyway i finished turned all lights off and went in for the night, came to start it this morn and battery was flat would turn over at all, luckily it was on the drive so i managed to bump start it in reverse, she fired up fine and drove fine but then after 20ms driving the management light came on and has stayed on. ive checked for lose connections ect ect but of all days its going to the garage at 7 tonight for a part ex, this is the 1st time the managment lights has come on. and of all days!! think shes trying to tell me something :D

[stevo67]

Your either going to have to be up front & tell the guy your part-ex the car with that the eml has just come on or hope he doesn`t notice it.

Steve.