1.Sunday at Lymington


2. Monday getting home!


What hapened? Well van was driving perfectly as I slowed to take a left hand turn, then as i accelerated after the turn..awful noise like the exhaust had dropped off or there was a gunfight going on in my cylinder head! It seems that it's only running on 3 cylinders and the recovery guy reckons it's either a dropped valve, faulty injector or that the cam belt has slipped a notch or too. Does this sound about right?
I plan to check the cam belt 1st, then if thats ok, check the injectors. My RAC man neighbour has suggested that I loosen the nut on each injector in turn with engine running to determine which one, if any, is faulty. If engine runs worse when loosening an injector, then that ones ok, but if engine stays the same, then thats the faulty cylinder. I can then swap the injectors around to determine if it is the injector or something within.
If it turns out the injectors and cam belt are ok, then the rocker cover is coming off to check the cambelt and all the gubbins in there...I should be able to see if there's a valve problem from there. If it looks like there is it's a head off job of course.
My question is .....does this seem like a sensible diagnosis route to take, or does anyone have any other suggestions for possible causes of one cylinder not firing....or ideas for a quicker easier diagnosis route?
If I have dropped a valve, what are the chances of pistonor bore damage etc?
I replaced the cylinder head last year, and the only bit I wasn't confident aboutr doing was fitting the valves in the new head, so I paid a cylinder head specialist to do that....consequently I'll be a bit unhappy if it is a valve!
I assume that if the head comes off I have to replace the head gesket and bolts too, even if they have only been running 8 months/ 15K miles?
Any advice/suggestions gratefully received............Rob