My engine has just died, symptoms inside! Help

[ClioGav]

Alright lads, hoping you can help a little...

Car: L reg 1.4 RT 100k

Been snowing here most of the day, I popped out for a drive at about 9.30pm and after driving through a snow covered carpark my car began to splutter. So i thought it was either just because of the cold or i had got a bit of water in my engine; usually clears itself.
Came to a set of traffic lights and the car stalled, i then started it and had a bit of trouble but managed to get away.
The next lights i came to i managed to keep it running, however the lights after that it stalled. I tried to start the car but it gave out the biggest backfire i've ever heard pulled over with hazards on, gave it a couple of mins and tried again, BANG again!
I then rang a mate and got him to tow me back, now the car wont start at all and has lost at least half of its water from the header tank.

Is it f**ked? if so...i was planning on dropping a valver or Rsi engine in there this summer anyhow...

Thanks, Gav

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Update:

- Checked under oil cap today no mayo.
- No coolant, puddles of it allover the gearbox etc, looks like a hose may have split
- Cant start the car as the battery has died due to trying to start it last night and leaving lights on for about an hour Will get leads on it later

Thanks, Gav

[bbracer16valver]

-No coolant, puddles of it allover the gearbox etc, looks like a hose may have split-

mid winter no anti-freeze!

does i sound like its running on lees than all the 4 cylinders?

[ClioGav]

I had given the car a full coolant replacement about 2 months since and when i checked the other day it was fine.
Last night before the car broke down it did sound like it was only running on 2 or 3 cylinders when accellerating..

If the damage is going to cost £100+ then i will just source a new engine

[Luke1916v]

^^ Source a 5 turbo engine man! Hahaha.

[ClioGav]

Found where its leaking, a hose coming from the header tank to the right angle piece attached to the engine? Sorry i'm not sure what it's called.
Just started it, had to hold revs at around 2500 to keep it running, it was running on all cylinders with a bit of white smoke coming from the exhaust. It seemed to be running as normal Confused
I then let it tick over itself and it cut out.

When i tried starting again a couple of mins later it wouldnt start, after 10-15 secs of trying it backfired again, very loud! Tried again and again it backfired so i've left it for now.

I'm going to remove the plugs now and check those, i'm not sure what it's called but on the left shocker strut there is a block with about 6 wires going into it, that is wet. Could that be anything to do with it? Oil level is normal also


Thanks for any help

[sparky33]

without a pic it's dificult to say, although Chris apparently knows Renaults inside and out, so he will be able to answer better.

But a back fire indicates the ignition timing is out, this can also be caused by an electrical misfire which that wet box could cause (if it is indeed ignition related).

Whit smoke is an indicator of water in the cylinders, so when you dropped the water, you may have blown the head gasket.

Sorry I can't be more pecise.

[ClioGav]

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I checked the spark plugs and they were black, but dry.

[sparky33]

the pic of the black box is your distributer (even though it's a DIS system) distributer is a simple description, and the wires are your ignition leads, remove them and make sure the connections are dry, give them a shot of WD40, only do them one at a time so you don't mix them up though.

Black just means you have been doing short journeys.

[ClioGav]

What is this part called and what does it do?



am i right in thinking this is the distributer?



Thanks for your help sparky, i'll do that tomorrow

[Gentle Ben]

Top pic is your ignition coil, it's basically a transformer that steps the ingoing 12v up to several thousand volts and sends it to the distributor cap (bottom pic) and from there the spark is relayed to the four spark plugs/cylinders with the firing order 1-3-4-2, where number 1 is the spark plug nearest the distributor cap.

If you've been playing about with the leads it might be worth checking you've replaced them in the correct order as the wrong order can give misfire-like symptoms.

[ClioGav]

Thankyou ben, I've not touched the leads so it cant be that(only the caps on the spark plugs today). Would it be worth taking apart the ecu, ignition coil and distributer and checking for any water?

What are all the possibilities that could have caused to the timing to be out?

[Gentle Ben]

It depends whether the timing out is the problem or an apparent symptom.

Timing issues are usually caused by a poorly fitted cambelt kit, leading to the belt not being tensioned up tight enough thus allowing it to slip a few teeth.

Leave the ECU alone, it's rarely the cause of anything.

Ignition coil doesn't come apart as such; besides if the car is actually firing then the coil itself is working as it should, the only thing it could be that's connected to the coil is the 12v feed from the crank sensor that instructs the coil when it has to deliver power to the distribution system. It might be worth tracing out the wires and just checking that the one coming from the crank is connected properly and has decent continuity.

As for the distribution system it's defintely worth changing the plugs, leads, distributor cap and rotor arm, especially if you don't know when they were last done.

If you're getting backfire then you ought to sort the problem quickly because you don't want any undue stress being placed on the cambelt and pulleys. If the backfire is actually popping from the exhaust then unburnt fuel is getting into the exhaust which is down to a lack of/incomplet combustion.

[sparky33]

Originally Posted by Gentle Ben

As for the distribution system it's defintely worth changing the plugs, leads, distributor cap and rotor arm, especially if you don't know when they were last done.

It doesn't have a cap or arm, it's a DIS (Distributorless Ignition System)

When you say you removed the caps off the plugs, they are the ends of your ignition leads, and have to go back in the same order they came off.

[Gentle Ben]

How is it distibutorless? It's got a distributor and rotor arm!

[bbracer16valver]

anit

[sparky33]

Originally Posted by Gentle Ben

How is it distibutorless? It's got a distributor and rotor arm!

No it hasn't, look at it, it's square

[Gentle Ben]

The fact is square is irrelevant, lots of distributor caps are square and use a rotor arm.

He's put that it's an L-reg RT, meaning it's got an E7J 1.4 Energy E-type engine which Renault used a carburettor version of in the Phase 1 19's starting in 1989, which pre-dates any kind of advanced distributorless system. I've got two Phase 1 19's with these engines in. Trust me it's NOT distributorless. I'll bet if he pulls that cap off there's a cam-actuated rotor arm under there.

[Gentle Ben]

If it was distributorless there would be no separate ignition coil either nor would there be a king lead. Also how would you suggest the power gets from the centre lead in the cap to each of the four HT leads to the cylinders then?