engine problem

[Dougal devon]

Hi everyone. My 2.1 petrol engine is missfiring intermittently. This only sèms to happen when under load . I have reset the tappets according to the workshop manual. It ran fine for a day then went bad again . The compression readings are 60 60 on the left and 50 0 on the right is this a head issue or is ot tappets ?. Any help would be great. Dougal

[tforturton]

Could be any number of things, but is more likely related to plugs/points/leads than anything else. Another common problem is the metal screens on the plugs. Search Mechanical using 'misfire' - there's loads of threads with more or less the same query. Also use the Wiki - seach under Petrol engine/general faults/misfiring.

[tforturton]

Don't read the Wiki and jump to any outlandish conclusions! These things (misfires) are 99% of the time caused by the most obvious issue (spark), rather than a more unusual problem, and you can waste a lot of time and money chasing shadows. Start at the beginning and work forward.

[Dougal devon]

Changed all the plugs rotor arm leads pionts and dizzy cap. It feels like it is starved of fuel i even cleand the carb jets.

[Oldiebut goodie]

I hope those compression figures have a misprint - 0 on one cylinder?????

[Dougal devon]

No that is what the gauge is reading. This is why i thought it might be the tappets or gasket gone between two barrels.

[itchyfeet]

Check the valve preload again, you may want to use 1.5 turns preload rather than 2 turns, if you still have no comp on one cylinder reduce preload further to 1 or .5 turns, still no comp then probably a bad valve.

always worth remembering some engine remanufacturers fitted solid lifters which need a tapoet gap and not a preload.

http://www.ratwell.com/technical/HydraulicLifters.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

gasket between valves unlikely due to the design of seperate sealing rings onto wet liners, cracked head is a possability though.