Week ago last sunday, car was misfiring on way back home. Stopped to get petrol, and found smoke come out of body work, the catalytic convertor was glowing red! back box was causing the floor of boot to get very hot, and caused the smoke.
We had to get car towed home.
We have changed plugs, and this did not cure misfiring, so changed coil pack, and it fired briefly, but will not start. Engine turns over, but it sounds like there is no compression - we have had this before, and a garage said it was to do with the tappets/values needing to be 'primed', can any one suggests a cure!
Also as catalytic convertor has got very hot, is it likely to be duff, and what is the likely chances of either the catalytic convertor or back box been blocked?
Thanks,
Alan + Dad whos car it is!
Xantia 1.8i 16v - loss of compression?
Moderator: RichardW
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alan_james
- Posts: 2
- Joined: 08 Jan 2004, 03:33
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- My Cars:
cant help completly but the cat gets very hot anyway (upto about 1500 centergrade) if it has gone one thing you can do is to give it a knock to see if it has broken up inside. do the same with the back box.
the smoke you saw, do you know where it was coming from, what coulor did it look like and did it smell, if so what of
the smoke you saw, do you know where it was coming from, what coulor did it look like and did it smell, if so what of
Year & mileage of this Xantia ?
Have you ever noticed any warning lamps coming on in the instrument panel - during drive ?
Has the car allways been serviced to schedule - or "ad hoc" ?
It's known that the rear box can block off allmost totally by debries from a cat breaking up internally - accelerating problems.
Whatever the problem(s) - it's by no means the flick of a test equipment to solve it.
First off - the exhaust must come off to check for blockage - and replacement - which most definately would include the cat.
Then the engine must be compression tested - with plugs out.
Chances are the engine has been run for too long with overrich mixture - which has caused carbonised valves - and definately overloading the cat.
This happens if scheduled service is skipped for economical reasons - or has not been done correctly by the garage.
Have you ever noticed any warning lamps coming on in the instrument panel - during drive ?
Has the car allways been serviced to schedule - or "ad hoc" ?
It's known that the rear box can block off allmost totally by debries from a cat breaking up internally - accelerating problems.
Whatever the problem(s) - it's by no means the flick of a test equipment to solve it.
First off - the exhaust must come off to check for blockage - and replacement - which most definately would include the cat.
Then the engine must be compression tested - with plugs out.
Chances are the engine has been run for too long with overrich mixture - which has caused carbonised valves - and definately overloading the cat.
This happens if scheduled service is skipped for economical reasons - or has not been done correctly by the garage.
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alan_james
- Posts: 2
- Joined: 08 Jan 2004, 03:33
- Location:
- My Cars:
The colour of the smoke was white, I don't think it was from inside the exhaust, the foil heat shield over the back box was the cause of the smoke, it went on for some time after the engine was stopped.
Car is 'n' reg, with about 165000 miles on the clock.
No warning lights on the dash during driving, only misfiring before cat got too hot, and that was over quiet a short distance.
Car was last serviced in September, but would not like to guess if it was always serviced to schedule before we had it.
We were guessing the cat might be u/s, but this is the first car we've had with one, and we are not sure of how they fail. Back box was new early last year from what I remember, so was hoping it would be ok.
Getting the exhaust off might be a bit of a problem due to the car being on a main road with no off road parking, so we were hoping to get it to a local exhaust fitter. Will have to take a look and see what we can do.
Thanks.
Car is 'n' reg, with about 165000 miles on the clock.
No warning lights on the dash during driving, only misfiring before cat got too hot, and that was over quiet a short distance.
Car was last serviced in September, but would not like to guess if it was always serviced to schedule before we had it.
We were guessing the cat might be u/s, but this is the first car we've had with one, and we are not sure of how they fail. Back box was new early last year from what I remember, so was hoping it would be ok.
Getting the exhaust off might be a bit of a problem due to the car being on a main road with no off road parking, so we were hoping to get it to a local exhaust fitter. Will have to take a look and see what we can do.
Thanks.