Driving with a misfire?

Duff

Hey guys,

I was on the motorway earlier and went to overtake a truck and my car started juddering and had a slight loss of power. It also threw up the management light. This happened me before a few months ago and it turned out to be one of the coils gone. Thing is though I'm up in my girlfriends place in Dun Laoighre and i've to get home to Dundalk on Saturday so i'm wondering would it be okay to drive that distance with a misfire/possible coil gone?

Cheers.

mathepac

No, you may cause serious damage to the engine.

mathepac

mathepac wrote: »

No, you may cause serious damage to the engine.

More likely you'll (generic you, not actually you) damage the CAT

MetzgerMeister

RoverJames wrote: »

More likely you'll damage the CAT

This! Because the ECU isn't getting the right info it needs, it will think the car is down on power and increase fuel input. Unburnt fuel going into a cat will kill it. Same goes for a bad o2 sensor.

Duff

Feck it anyway! Cheers for the help guys, guess I'll be towing from Dun Laoighre home!

CortezTheKiller

I have to concur with RoverJames. One of my coils went and I left it too long to get it fixed and the CAT was fecked.
Ignition coil probably cost me €75 to replace - CAT was over €800!

Plug

what kind of car is it>?

Duff

It's a 2003 BMW e46 318ci

lifer_sean

In an extreme case the unburnt fuel can cause sufficient heat to set the car on fire. Rare occurrence, but it does happen.

SouperComputer

You can drive it if you have to, just pull the injector connector for the dead cylinder to prevent damage to the cat. The ECU "might" richen the mixture a little as the O2 will detect extra oxygen passing by it (due to the dead cylinder). This wont really do any damage short term, its the raw unburned fuel from that the dead cylinder that will cause real issues if you let it keep sucking in fuel.

Get it fixed ASAP though, vibrations like that are never good. When its fixed give it a good decent thrashing to heat the cat up and clear any carbon that "may" have built up as the result of an overly rich mixture.

If you have the time, get in there and reseat the coil, it may just bee loose or you might have oil seeping from the rocker cover into the plughole.

TDR.ie

SouperComputer wrote: »

You can drive it if you have to, just pull the injector connector for the dead cylinder to prevent damage to the cat. The ECU "might" richen the mixture a little as the O2 will detect extra oxygen passing by it (due to the dead cylinder). This wont really do any damage short term, its the raw unburned fuel from that the dead cylinder that will cause real issues if you let it keep sucking in fuel.

Get it fixed ASAP though, vibrations like that are never good. When its fixed give it a good decent thrashing to heat the cat up and clear any carbon that "may" have built up as the result of an overly rich mixture.

If you have the time, get in there and reseat the coil, it may just bee loose or you might have oil seeping from the rocker cover into the plughole.

You may also add "bore wash" unburn fuel will wash the oil from the cylinder , ruining the bore and rings .Only fix will be an engine rebuild !

geespot

so did it pick up or did it stay down on power

cats.life

same thing happend to our zaffi few months ago. was bringing hubbie to work at 3 am all of a sudden power just went in it, same light went on, just barley made it home , was praying that all the traffic lights stay green so that i wouldnt have to stop, i was so scared it would stop dead on me . hubbies brother took it away to his garage to fix it.

shamwari

The spikes from a defective coil which is arcing internally can blow the ECU. The unburnt fuel in the exhaust will murder the CAT.

A bloke I know drove a Santa Fé with a misfire for around 40 miles. The resultant damage was nearly two thirds the value of the jeep - CAT, ECU and a pair of O2 sensors. :eek:

Nissan doctor

Duff wrote: »

It's a 2003 BMW e46 318ci

Coils for them aren't that exensive spurious, any decent motorfactors could get you one and with basic tools a spannering knowalage you'd change it yourself..