Hi All,

You may remember me from such topics as 'Lumpy Start' or 'Faulty Speedo' and I'm here today to tell you all about my new problem.

Saturday afternoon we were driving home when the engine started to misfire. It was definitely running mostly on 3 cylinders, but the 4th seemed to be intermittent. FFIL (future father-in-law) told me to drop a couple of gears and give it some revs, not sure what that did other than confirm that yes, it was definitely misfiring. I think he may have been looking for great clouds of black exhaust, but they didn't come. We also tried turning off most of the electrics and restarting the car in case it was a voltage or computer issue.

Anyway, here's the sound we were treated to when we got home. It sounded a lot like there was blowing or puffing, but soapy water revealed no bubbles. From all of this, FFIL deduced cam follower - as a layman I have no idea why - and advised I took it to a garage.

The garage first suspected injector but diagnostics suggested no problems and they called me last night to advise that they think it is something internal most likely including but not limited to cam shaft, cam follower/s and obviously a new belt. They won't know exactly what is involved until they get in and strip it down.

Does anybody have any input? I've been told to be careful not to spend too much repairing it but we reckon perhaps sub £200 for the parts and seals, at least based on EuroCarParts. I would be very interested to know what can cause this problem and whether it could have been avoided.

It's not unknown for PD Diesel engines (particularly, but not limited to, 130 & 150 models) to fail camshafts/followers due to **** castings.. search chocolate camshaft golf on google.. you'll find loads

Although I would expect it to be smoking like feck.

Any chance the timing belt could have slipped a tooth causing it to miss?

Edited 29 August, 201213 yr by Lew_VRS

Did you check the coil packs mate. That seems to be a regular fault and they don't always throw an eml.

Sorry mate didn't know it was a diesel disregard the coil pack comment.

Edited 29 August, 201213 yr by Lofty8

dont think this guys is a pd, i imagine its an alh like mine.

Could be a number of things from pump failure to sticking injector, however this would likely cause smoke

Cam lobes could be worn but this would manifest some noise

something is telling me its crank sensor (engine speed) it has been known

It could have, as been said, slipped the timing. As a rule diesels dont misfire unless - fuel is wrong - compression is wrong - timing is wrong

When was the fuel filter last changed???

Other than that dont know. Have you scanned it for codes?

Edited 29 August, 201213 yr by Lofty79

I'll have to ask what codes came up because they did scan it but didn't mention outcome.

To confirm, it's not a PD, and the engine code is (if I remember rightly) ASV.

They've clarified it's a broken cam lobe. Obviously similar to what Lew said about the PDs. However I did get caught in the crazy Newcastle floods a few months ago. Water would definitely give it a fight that could do damage.

Your are lucky that the cam lobe broke. I was with with a mate when we went through some flood water quite slowly in his new Mondeo diesel. The engine stopped and we pushed the car out of the floods and left it a while before turning the engine over. Eventually he tried starting it and all cylinders came on line one by one with a lot of spluttering.

He dropped me off at home and then carried on, but the engine sounded a bit rough. After about 50 miles a piston rod came through the side of the engine. The experts said the water had caused a hydraulic lock above one piston and bent the rod.

At least you don't need a new engine.

glad you got it diagnosed mate, new cam and valve train now then? and cambelt tensioner and water pump? Nothing to worry about for a while then

They've clarified it's a broken cam lobe. Obviously similar to what Lew said about the PDs. However I did get caught in the crazy Newcastle floods a few months ago. Water would definitely give it a fight that could do damage.

They've clarified it's a broken cam lobe. Obviously similar to what Lew said about the PDs. However I did get caught in the crazy Newcastle floods a few months ago. Water would definitely give it a fight that could do damage.

Well least it's not fatal.. :think: Get the work done and as said, cambelt/waterpump etc at the same time and you'll be laughing for years!

Some people have reported slight increase in fuel economy after having the cams changed (I'm guessing due the to higher lift than the broken lobes letting more fuel in maybe?) so it might be worth looking into!

Let us know how you get on with it

Sorry, it's been ages since this post. I've been driving around for almost as long with the old cam shaft in the boot. Got rid of it the other day and remembered I should report back. One lobe was badly worn and it had put a nice neat hole in the tappet. Replaced and everything running smooth so far.