intermittent running on 3 cylinders.

[krd656]

Bought a 2001 1.8lx 406 a couple of weeks ago and its just spent 2 weeks in the garage getting brake pipes etc done and a nice new MOT.

One thing it failed its first MOT on was it decided to develope a missfire just as it was doing its emmisions test, so obviously it failed that. Garage fitted new spark plugs which they say sorted the missfire and it passed its emmisions test.

I noticed no sign of any missfire when i bought it or when i drove it to the garage.

Anyway i got it back last thursday and today i road taxed it as its the 1st of the month today. Took it on my first real drive in it and it was fine for about 10 miles. I parked it up for about 2 hours then when i came back out to it and started it it was only running on 3 cylinders with engine management light on and a beeping and a warning in the display saying anti pollution error or something like that. I switched it off then started it again and it was ok again back to running on 4 again. It drove the 10miles home fine.

Went out to it this evening it started fine and i took it out again, i got about half a mile and it started running on 3 again. I thought it will clear any second so i kept going. It didnt clear until about 3 miles later (not good for my cat i know) but once it did it was fine again.

I have 2 theorys as to what may be causing this so looking for your opinion. I do not have peugeot planet and the nearest forum member who does is about 30-40min drive away and i dont want to drive that far incase it switches back to running on 3 again.

Option 1: my coil pack is dying

Option2: maybe a blockage in one of the injectors.

I say possibly a blockage in one of the injectors because i was out sorting my auto wiper sensor etc yesterday in the drive and thought i would start the car up rather than drain the battery..............It ran out of petrol in my drive after only running for about 30 seconds so i was very lucky to even get home with it from the MOT garage. Could i possibly have sucked rubish through the system and into an injector.

I think the most probable cause is the coil pack but i would appreciate peoples opinions who know peugeots better than me.

Only had 1 peugeot before this one and that was years ago when i had a little 1.3 peugeot 309 and i managed to drop the valves and blow the pistons in it Had lead in my boots and forgot to change out of 2nd lol.....it was an expensive lead right foot

[krd656]

11 days on and I am still no further forward.

checked everything I can think of at least 20 times and can find nothing wrong.

Fitted new coil pack...still running on 3 cylinders.

Going to do a compresion test on Monday and at least that way ill find out if there is anything wrong inside the engine or if I am daft as i think I am and im missing something obvious.

Have worked out what cylinder is not firing, was very obvious with all the unburnt fuel still on the plug and the noticible difference in the look of it compared with the rest of them.

Im about to park it in the river forth

Forgot to mention its constantly running on 3 now.........and i think its reduced me to running on only the one brain cell.

[krd656]

checked the compression today which was fine so at least that may spare the car from getting some swimming lessons.

At a complete loss now as to what may be causing it, going to give it another couple of days of standing looking at it and scratching my head and if that does not cure it its off to the garage for it which will probably end up costing me more than the cars worth.

[NMKustoms]

sounds like you have a sticky injector mate.had the same problem this year with my 206 GTI.run fine for a while than jumped to 3 cylinders.then would run fine again,sometimes would last for miles than jumped back to 3.
Also had the same problem with 2 other pugs that iv owned.seems to be a common problem.sticky injectors.can cost anywhere between £15-£160. depends on model and size of engine.
Im pretty sure its an injector problem
best way to find out is to start the car and pull injectors out 1 at a time.if the car stalls.that injector is fine.a car cant run on 2 cylinders so whch ever one comes out and the car stays running than thats the one that is nackerd

[krd656]

Thanks for the reply..
Was thinking along the lines of a sticky injector too for a while, even went as far as finding a guy who was going to sell me all 4 and the rail for £15 including postage but i then changed my mind a decided it probably wasnt that. It is also constantly running on 3 now.

Came to that conclusion because i know exactly what cylinder is not firing and when i pull the plug out it is absolutely soaked in petrol so there is petrol getting in there.....whether its getting sprayed in in a nice fan shape like it should be i have no idea.

New garage opened up in the village i stay a few months ago, gave them a phone today and they said yeah we can plug your can in and do diagnostics for the pricey sum of £25 so its booked in tomorrow morning.....Hopefully they can tell me..

It could of course be an injector, i just got fed up scratching the head and taking a half educated guess so garage it is for it......if its something simple ill sort it myself if not then they can have the pleasure.....Never changed an injector before (looks easy) but somehow i have the feeling it would be a pig due to the pressure in the fuel lines Maybe im wrong though and its as easy as it looks like it would be.

[krd656]

Ok local garage plugged the car in today (not peugeot diagnostics though) and it gave 2 codes.

P0200
P0300

He said they meant multiple cylinder missfires and open circuit in the injectors.

He pulled the injector plug from the cylinder i thought was not firing and the car ran just the same, he then plugged it back in and pulled one of the other ones and the car nearly stalled (not quite though).

He thinks its a dodgy injector but he was not sure if i had it replaced if it would need programmed to the car.........anyone know?

[danthevan]

Don't quote me on this as i'm not familiar with the more modern french stuff, but the injectors shouldn't need programming on a petrol model. If it's a 2 wire injector, then it should just be an 'open or closed' scenario.
Try swapping the duff injector with one of the know working ones and do the plug pull when it is running. This will tell you if it is definately injector that is causing grief, or whether it's wiring.

[krd656]

thanks danthevan

Took it to my normal garage (that i use when im stuck ) today after i had been for the diagnostics and told him what the diagnostics had revealed and that i could get all 4 injectors and the rail for £15, he basically told me to bite the guys hand off and to buy them and he will fit them for me (i have no idea how to and i dont fancy an expensive bonfire if i do it wrong)........hopefully that will cure it, if not as you said it could be the wiring somewhere that has a fault.

[danthevan]

Should be about a 20 minute job to do (if you can get to the rail that is, not sure how much of the car is built around it!). Rail will be on a quick release hose, and usually a couple of bolts hold the rail on. Only thing to watch for is the rail will be under pressure, so depressurise the system (look the other way ) before you pop off the hose.

[krd656]

lol im good at looking the other way infact i should probably borrow my aunts guide dog.

Ok serious me says yeah i had a look at it and it does look real easy, the only thing that is stopping me is i dont fancy an under bonnet petrol leak as those tend to get ugly pretty quickly