1.4hdi running on 3

[xsaras4ever]

Hello to all.

Our trusty 1.4hdi xsara has developed a fault.

We drove it to work at 3h30 on Friday, stopped it for about 5 minutes and when we restarted it had no power and felt like it was running on 3 cylinders.

Brought it home on the trailer and removed the air-filter box - started the car and one by one removed the electrical injector connections.

Working from the gearbox end , when we removed no3 connection it made absolutely no difference.

We swapped out the injector (terrible job on this engine as you have to remove the rocker cover and half the timing cover to get at the injectors).

We put number 2 injector into no 3 cylinder and a replacement injector into no 2 - that way we could figure if it was mechanical or electrical - or so we thought.

All back together and started it up - still running on 3 and now showing anti-pollution fault.

Still when you remove the connection to no3 the engine note does not change - all the others cause a stall or a difference.

What sort of resistance should we get across the injection connector ?

Help

[Peter.N.]

I would suspect that you have a wiring fault in the loom that feeds No 3 injector. Compare the resistance with the other three, or if you cant measure the resistance measure the voltage.

Peter

[xsaras4ever]

Hi Peter and thank you for the reply.

Just checked resistance on connections back to ECU plug - same for all 4 injectors on both the pink and black wires.

Suppose a compression test is next..............

[Peter.N.]

It would need to have a mighty loss of compression to stop it firing, probably a major failure of some sort. I will be interested in the outcome. You don't have a valve stuck open?

I would try checking the running voltage as well - with the injector connected, in case you have an ECU fault.

Peter

[xsaras4ever]

Hello again , if a valve was stuck surely the piston would clack it ?

Any , academic for the moment as we unscrewed the glow-plug on number 3 and out it came, leaving the tip still in the head

[Peter.N.]

Of course it would brain only firing on 3 cylinders. Glow plugs are best left alone on modern diesels, most will start fine without them - unless you live in Siberia!. Can't help you with that, never had it happen, I'm sure someone will though.

Peter

[xsaras4ever]

Its a put it in the shed and visit it later. Some time when we have time - which is never.

Then its head off , get glow-plug tip out, re-assemble and then find it still runs on 3.

[Peter.N.]

Did you actually check the voltage on each injector when it was running - anyway, for another time.

Peter

[xsaras4ever]

Apologies to Peter - problem discovered.

Our lovely little 16v engine (1.4hdi) has dropped a valve and we can see the rocker tossed aside.

Why the hell did it do that ?????

[Hell Razor5543]

Because it is French!

[xsaras4ever]

On closer inspection it might be that it has not dropped a valve, but the rocker has fallen away. Therefore both valves remain closed. Not sure as we have not stripped it down yet.

This makes more sense , as it just runs on 3 cylinders and does not clatter atall

[Peter.N.]

That sounds more like it.

Peter

[doctle]

Just curious, I have a misfire at idle on my 1.4 HDi I was told to never remove the connections on the injectors as this could cause major damage. I did 2 leakoff tests all are within a few ml of each other. Car drives well no increase in fuel consumption but that miss is very annoying. What injectors are in your car? Mine are Bosch I'm tempted to disconnect each injector in turn to see if I find the problem
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/aic3jc85sui4 ... fsi3a?dl=0

[xsaras4ever]

Hello , our injectors are BOSCH

[doctle]

Thank you! The injectors are a pig on the 307 last time I changed a seal I cracked the windscreen it was designed by a man that never worked on a car I think