Help! Stuck in Spain with misfire!

Knobblywobbly · Jan 5, 2009

Hi everyone, and Happy New Year!

I drove my Freelander (1.8 petrol, W-Reg) down to Spain a couple of weeks ago, and while here it has developed a misfire. It´s fine when cold but once warmed up it starts to misfire, with the associated chugging as if it´s running out of fuel. At one point it cut out completely and had to be taken to a local garage on the back of a truck. Once it had cooled down it started up again no problem but once warm the misfire started again.

The garage (non-landrover) have plugged in a diagnostic unit but say it is not reporting any errors at all, and are at a bit of a loss as to where to start looking for the problem.

Does anyone have an idea what might be behind this, or where I (or the garage) should start looking?

Worf · Jan 5, 2009

Knobblywobbly said:
Hi everyone, and Happy New Year!

I drove my Freelander (1.8 petrol, W-Reg) down to Spain a couple of weeks ago, and while here it has developed a misfire. It´s fine when cold but once warmed up it starts to misfire, with the associated chugging as if it´s running out of fuel. At one point it cut out completely and had to be taken to a local garage on the back of a truck. Once it had cooled down it started up again no problem but once warm the misfire started again.

The garage (non-landrover) have plugged in a diagnostic unit but say it is not reporting any errors at all, and are at a bit of a loss as to where to start looking for the problem.

Does anyone have an idea what might be behind this, or where I (or the garage) should start looking?

Has coolant level or oil moved?
Any "mayo" in oil filler cap?

Knobblywobbly · Jan 5, 2009

Nope - oil and coolant levels are the same as when I left the UK, and no gunk under the filler cap.

Bromsgrove Defender · Jan 5, 2009

Knobblywobbly said:
Nope - oil and coolant levels are the same as when I left the UK, and no gunk under the filler cap.

My first thought was the same as Worfs head Gasket Failure however bearing in mind what you said about fluid levels etc what about the simple things.. are you sure its not pre-ignition? is the timing out? points gapped ok? condensor working? coil working?
Jets in carb clear?
Accelerator pump working?
do a compression test to check each cylinder for rings and valves sealing properly.
Also and bizzare this one but do you have loads of keys on your bunch of keys attached to yer ignition key, as I'm led to believe acceleration can break contact in the switch, causing a back fire as it reconnects.

Good luck let us know how you get on

Regards
Steve

Northern Irelander · Jan 5, 2009

Even if it was minor hgf in one cylinder, it should drive, but with lumpy idle,

if your diagnostic was clear then its simple, fuel filter or spark

What year is a w reg?????????

Darmain · Jan 5, 2009

W reg is year 2000.

Are thee sure is under fuelling? Can you smell petrol when its playing up. My thought is coolant temperature sensor such that the engine is over fuelling when hot as it would do when cold. Alternatively the crank position sensor is intermittent when hot so to throw the timing. Whatever it is is not going out of limits to cause an alarm in the ECU but it is out enough to throw then engine control. Check all connectors as these are good sources of failure. Good luck.

Knobblywobbly · Jan 30, 2009

Well it´s fixed and I drove back to the UK without any further problems. It turned out to be the distributor cap/rotor arm (something had fallen out of the cap). They also fitted a new set of spark plugs.

Here´s a tip for you - if you ever go to Spain in your car take a spare set of spark plugs. My friend had told me that spark plugs were expensive in Spain but I didn´t realise just how expensive. €70 for a set of 4........... yes, seventy feckin´euros!!!!!

mysteryman · Jan 30, 2009

I can see a business opportuntiy there.........

Northern Irelander · Jan 30, 2009

Darmain said:
W reg is year 2000.

In that case it has a dizzy cap

Knobblywobbly said:
Well it´s fixed and I drove back to the UK without any further problems. It turned out to be the distributor cap

If we had of known the year sooner, then dizzy cap would have been the first check, saving you 70 euro
a good diagnostic technician will change one component at a time not a shotgun approach. They may well have known the cap was gone, just chanced their arm.

Northern Irelander said:
if your diagnostic was clear then its
simple, fuel filter or spark

give that man a beer

Help! Stuck in Spain with misfire!

Knobblywobbly

New Member

Worf

Member

Knobblywobbly

New Member

Bromsgrove Defender

Well-Known Member

Northern Irelander

Well-Known Member

Darmain

Well-Known Member

Knobblywobbly

New Member

mysteryman

New Member

Northern Irelander

Well-Known Member

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