Misfire and flashing engine light

Hi there, Took my 2003 C2 out for a blast today and it went great for 30 mins. Engine fully warm and temp and oil pressure normal. Stopped for a paper and it failed to start twice. Finally started third attempt and felt normal. 5 miles later I got it home and thought i'd stop and start it. It started really badly and felt like it was misfiring. Then the engine light started flashing and so I stopped it. Every time I now restart it it has the same problem. RAC has just been and it's got three engine warnings - 0300 (general misfires), 0301 (cylinder 1 misfire), and 0304 (cylinder 4 misfire). I'm hoping it's a coil pack problem, but if anyone else has any ideas I'd be grateful. Cheers

I think you are correct - probably brought to a head by the damp weather. As it is a misfire on one cylinder of each bank you can rule out pretty much everything else.

Latest update - it went into the local indie today and he said it wasn't the coils. When he started it it ran really rough and water/anti-freeze came out of one of the exhausts. Best case he said was it was a head-gasket, but worse case a new engine. He has to remove the engine, but can't do it for a week. I always thought you got white smoke with a head gasket, and yet there's been no smoke at all. I can't believe that I'm hoping it's 'only' a head gasket... Depressed and in mourning... Cheers

Oh man that's awful, really gutted for you. I had the a few misfires on mine a couple of months ago and had the coilpacks and sparks replaced, so good so far but it's always a worry reading a post like yours.

if you have a misfire on 1 and 4 that would indicate both banks with a headgasket fault.. but from what you are saying its just 1 bank..

Hi, Could be a tappet problem, get the codes read agin and see what is in the ecu... We have had numrous tappet problems with 2002 onwards engines. Mike

Hi Mike, It did sound a bit tappety once it had failed - but I guess I ignored it because it was running so rough. The fault codes were P0300, P0301 and P0304. Saw them myself on the RAC man's laptop, and there were only the three. I did think that the gasket failure couldn't have caused a cylinder on each bank to misfire, but then I don't have a clue if that's good news or bad. When you say tappet problems what sort of failures have you seen? Any that would match these symptoms? Sorry, but desperate for some sign of hope. I looked at the Autofarm website for engine prices last night, and once I'd picked myself off the floor had another look. Only upside was they were cheaper than what Porsche were asking. Still waiting for the news from my local indie. Cheers Haig

the codes you give for misfires and cylinder 1 and 4 would either relate to faulty coil packs or as mike suggests the tappets.. you get the multiple misfire as a general fault when misfires occur.. i would be asking to stick 2 coil packs on the 2 faulting ones and see what its like first.. and take it from there..

the codes you give for misfires and cylinder 1 and 4 would either relate to faulty coil packs or as mike suggests the tappets.. you get the multiple misfire as a general fault when misfires occur.. i would be asking to stick 2 coil packs on the 2 faulting ones and see what its like first.. and take it from there..

MAF ?

I think you'll find 4S's are less susceptible to these issues on account of their extra kerb weight and more lifeless steering .. Seriously though I think you'd be right about the white smoke - I always thought that was steam as the water enters the combustion chamber and boils. Blue smoke is oil burning .. Cheers, Marc

try these guys if you need an engine http://www.v-zweeden.com/index.php?cPath=298_27_676

One line I heard today was that it could be a cracked head (apparently the head gaskets rarely go). Interestingly the same specialist said that the cylinder liners hardly ever go on the 3.6 - that was a party-piece of the 3.4. I'm off to visit the car tomorrow morning (may take some flowers!) to get the latest first hand. Marc, as soon as I'm back on the road (because I will be!) I'll let you sample the pure, light-weight, driving pleasure of a C2 - I may even find a nice 6'6" width restriction to drive through! Cheers Haig

Removing the water cap caused more more to come out of the exhaust - does this mean the exhausts are full? It's on the ramp tomorrow so should find out more then. Cheers

Any news? Did they get it on the ramp and take it apart?