Flashing engine light and misfire

[Dom67]

Hi guys.... picked up my 182 on saturday and already i've had a problem!!

I've driven around 200 miles on it since i got it and on monday it developed this misfire with the flashing engine light and popping and banging from the exhaust at low engine speeds and after de-clutching. Turns out it was a misfire on cylinder 2 and the problem has been temporally solved... I simply removed the inlet mani and cleaned up all the plugs (cylinder 2 plug was very coked up as expected). I also moved the plugs from cylinders 2 and 3 to 1 and 4 to rule out a bad plug. Obviously this is temporary but it should keep me going for a while.

My main concern was a residue on the HT lead on the section that goes down and onto the plug... hard to describe and i don't have any photos of it but it was a white, powdery substance with no real smell to it. I've spoken to the previous owner as i know he had a similar problem (also cylinder 2 misfire) and in diagnosing it he replaced the coil pack, HT leads and plugs (which eventually did solve it) and he also found the residue on the same section of the HT lead. There was no moisture on any of the HT leads when i got them out.

Has anyone else found this kind of deposit on their HT leads or have any idea what it is? I suppose is it possible that there is a very slight leak from the head gasket (or is it?) but i know this engine rarely experiences head gasket problems.

The previous owner said that when he was swapping the plugs for new ones he turned the engine over and noticed the injector was a bit drippy compared to the ones in cylinders 1, 3 and 4 which would explain the misfire and coking on the plug i suppose, despite the fact that the problem hasn't recurred for 10 months since he had it.

Any help or advice would be very much appreciated- I don't want my car to die already haha! Thanks in advance chaps.

 

[Dom67]

bump

 

[Harbinger]

It's just corrosion, most HT leads get this after a while as they are not strictly out of the elements, just change them and should sort the problem I've had this issue, they start to go brittle and die, can get a decent set on fleabay for £35 from someone called Mattxyz racing or something, 8MM silicone ones. Head gasket failures on this lump are very very uncommon.

For the injectors, get the engine running with the misfire going, pull the clip out of them ( not the injector for obvious reasons ) and see if it changes, if it stays the same that's the dead injector ( there are guides on these things if you use search Bar ). Welcome to Clio 182 Owner ship lol mines done a Grand+ in two months just on servicing, belts and countless parts I've had to buy.

 

[Dom67]

Nice one cheers for the reply mate. I was only a bit worried because the leads are only a few thousand miles old and this residue had only built up on the one lead on the section that goes down to the plug. With regard the injector I'll have to wait for the miss to resurface before I cant start looking into it properly but cheers for the reply, puts my mind a bit more at ease about the head gasket haha!

 

[The Fatty]

sounds to me like you have a faulty injector which is causing to much petrol to enter that chamber. I would be swapping it out asap as it could cause bore wash.

 

[maudy]

sounds to me like you have a faulty injector which is causing to much petrol to enter that chamber. I would be swapping it out asap as it could cause bore wash.

^^THIS,

same issues i've solved on 2 of my friends 182, usually the dirty plug is liked to the bad injector, very noticeable in colour difference, as you said 2 was coked up, i think thats prob the injector. If it gets bad enough the code reader will tell you the problem injector

 

[mad in general]

I had a similar issue, One of my leads had this white mark on it. The lead was breaking down and arcing out to the head. New set of leads and hasn't misfired in 1 year!

 

[Carlv8415]

Flashing engine management light usually means whatever is happening is causing damage to the CAT. Had a similar issue not so long ago, changed leads and plugs what fixed the problem.

 

[Dom67]

^^THIS,

same issues i've solved on 2 of my friends 182, usually the dirty plug is liked to the bad injector, very noticeable in colour difference, as you said 2 was coked up, i think thats prob the injector. If it gets bad enough the code reader will tell you the problem injector

The fault just came up as a misfire on cylinder 2, no injector fault reported, maybe its a very slight issue that over time will cause the misfire to develop over time as the plug gradually looses spa. I'll probably put in a new injector and hopefully this will solve the issue long-term although as i said, the misfire hasn't resurfaced since the previous owner fixed it september last year.

 

[Dom67]

Flashing engine management light usually means whatever is happening is causing damage to the CAT. Had a similar issue not so long ago, changed leads and plugs what fixed the problem.

I have a spare set of leads so will also put these on when i change injector.

As for the flashing engine light warning of CAT damage.... it would make sense as the miss would cause unburnt fuel to combust in the cat, i hardly drove it on the miss, maybe 1 mile so hopefully any damage caused is very limited! Definitely dont want to have to fork out for a new cat already!!

 

[1uk3m4n]

Just had the same fault on a 182 was over fueling ended up being the map sensor unplug it see if the engine smooths out.

 

[The Fatty]

Flashing engine management light usually means whatever is happening is causing damage to the CAT. Had a similar issue not so long ago, changed leads and plugs what fixed the problem.

yep, all that excess un-burnt fuel being pumped into the cat then being ignited.

 

[Carlv8415]

I have heard that apparently flashing EML is 95% of the time is injector. But as I said changed plugs and leads solved it for me.

I not sure on what the time scale would be to do major damage. I had to drive mine 20 miles with a flashing EML and it was ok. Just would drive it if you can help it.

 

[Carlv8415]

Just had the same fault on a 182 was over fueling ended up being the map sensor unplug it see if the engine smooths out.

Another common one, ECU doesn't know how much air is entering the engine so dumps a load of fuel in to compensate ...

 

[1uk3m4n]

Yeah pretty much what this was doing was a very lumpy idle and would cut out. And pretty much neat fuel out the exhaust