3 Cylinders! Misfire Help

[Hoppo1979]

OK so I now remember how much fun old french cars are! lol! OK drove to work today, no issue. Tried to go out for lunch, started car up and sensed it drop onto 3 cylinders twice for a short spell, accelerated through t no worries. After 400 yards its permanently on 3 cylinders, smelling a bit rich!

On 2 occasions from cold the cars felt.... lethargic is the best way of describing it, not misfiring but just struggling to get power up and I stalled it one until I gave it a loa of gas, then it was fine. But after 30 seconds, absolutely fine, goes like a rocket, no knocking, rattling etc completely normal.

HT leads look quite fresh, but as I am at work I cant give you a list of what I can test etc. Are the coil packs problematic on these cars? Any pointers and advice greatly received.

Also where is the diagnostics port on these cars?

[turbominicooper]

ive just gone through this dilema, i changed the following:

coil pack - £43
ht leads (magnecor) - £28 second hand
rotor arm & cap - £26

[Wobba]

And check the spark plug wells for oil as well, camcover gaskets leak oil into the spark area and cause misfires.

[turbominicooper]

And check the spark plug wells for oil as well, camcover gaskets leak oil into the spark area and cause misfires.

had that too, £10 for replacement gasket (easy to fit).

diagnostics port is inside the car under the glove box

[Hoppo1979]

ive just gone through this dilema, i changed the following:

coil pack - £43
ht leads (magnecor) - £28 second hand
rotor arm & cap - £26

Thanks for the responses guys. Please dont think I am trying to be funny, but are you referring to these items on a Williams as your username is turbominicooper. Reason I ask is that I am pretty sure mine doesnt have a rotor arm and cap, and I have priced up the coil pack and its £177!!

Gonna bring the tool kit to work tomorrow and have a play around, I think its an ignition thing so will be targeting that area.

One thig I forgot to mention, I degreased and cleaned the engine bay on Saturday. I dried it off with a microfibre towel, had covered electrics but do you think I could have dampened something? It drove 24 miles to work fine and just developed this problem at lunch? Also in the relay housing on the far right hand side there are two spare electrical connectors that look to be missing relays. Is that normal? Ill take a picture before I leave tonight.

[turbominicooper]

haha yes definitely clio williams (mk1) - dont let the name fool u lol

take a look these parts:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2210509471...84.m1497.l2649
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1906937357...84.m1497.l2649
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2907496204...84.m1497.l2649
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/4004113738...84.m1497.l2649

[stevie_b]

Reason I ask is that I am pretty sure mine doesnt have a rotor arm and cap, and I have priced up the coil pack and its £177!!

Yes, a photo would probably be useful. Do you have the standard ignition system? If so then you should have a distributor on the end of the cam cover that looks like item number 2 in the post above and a coil pack like shown in item 3 with a single HT lead coming from it?
If you have a coil pack with four HT leads coming from it directly to each spark plug then that would be unusual (but possible as that's the setup I have on my track car, but it is not standard!)? Depending on which system you confirm you have the fault finding method could be slightly different.

[Hoppo1979]

haha yes definitely clio williams (mk1) - dont let the name fool u lol

take a look these parts:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2210509471...84.m1497.l2649
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1906937357...84.m1497.l2649
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2907496204...84.m1497.l2649
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/4004113738...84.m1497.l2649

Youre a gent, although I with that coil pack looked like mine but it doesn't. Mines a Willy 3 and the coil pack looks nothing like that. Mine looks like a Bremi unit at 177 on euro car parts.

Funnily enough I went out and fired it up after work and it seemed ok, no misfire. Anyhow I'll be taking the tools and having a quick explore on my lunch tomorrow.

[Hoppo1979]

Right guys, bit of an update. Just been fiddling, removed all spark plugs and they are very oiled up, but also moisture in there too which is I suspect me cleaning the engine bay.

Stevieb You're not far off, there is a black looking dizzy cap on the end of the camshaft cover with the 4 spark plug leads attached, from that there is 1 ignition lead to the coil pack which is situated on the rear right of the bulkhead as you're facing the car. Started to Pee it down so had to bail out, but cleaned all plugs and leads with brake cleaner, and quickly fired it up and it seemed better.

One slight issue I found though is where the fuel lines connect to the injector bar. There seems to be a plastic protector that the fuel lines clip to that stops them rubbing on the aux belt, but its failed and sat rubbing on the belt with the fuel lines attached! Managed a temp repair but that could have proven to be a disaster so good job it started spluttering or I could have gone up in flames!

I think I will replace the gasket as recommended by Turbominicooper, a more thorough clean up and see how we go.

[stevie_b]

Since you now know you have a dizzy take it off and check inside for wear on any of the four contacts and on the rotor arm. They are cheap to replace so worth changing if any real wear is apparent and see if your problem goes away.