Bad News but how to fix it?

Car was running lumpy yesterday, and today it got really bad until it conked out. Big problems starting it until something gave and it started but something must have broken. Lots of rattling and cutting out until the rattling stopped. Now my poor thing is running but only on 3 cylinders maybe....what has happened?
Is it the cam belt tensioner or is it a valve problem?
Any suggestions?

It`s hard to say, it could be something very serious but may be as simple as the distributor coming loose and the timing gradually worsening untiul it could no longer run. (If you have one that is, otherwise it could be a blocked fuel filter, a bad coil or.....)
You should start by having the AA take a look at it.

The AA will diagnose it as HGF probably.

If the noises point to damage I would take the timing belt cover off and turn the engine by hand with a socket on the crank (take plugs out) and check the timing marks.

If that checks out, do a compression check. This should show if you have bent any valves or have damage to the piston, rings or liner.

Fingers crossed that it is something simple mate.

Sorry to hear of your troubles, to run well we need a spark, fuel and timing, lets see what we can do.

Running lumpy could, as David said, be ignition related, coil, distributor, HT leads, plugs

If you're not running smoothly things can shake and rattle, making a noise, unfortunately you are the only one amongst us who hear the sound.

Next I'd be looking at fuel and air supply. Blocked fuel filter, fuel pump not working properly, injector not working.

Really a case of trying to eliminate things one at a time. Do I have a spark on each cylinder, is fuel getting through, etc

If the sound is more than just a bit of a rattle because it's running rough then get is seen to by a mechanic if you are not confident of identifying it, that's what I do.

Let us know what you find, perhaps we can whittle it down together :thumbsup:

Where are you based? Not Ohio, I bet! I'm guessing Wales.

It would be worth contacting either Russell or Jon Norris depending on your location.

What engine and management system do you have? eg 1.8 mems3.
The car's age will tell us the mems type.

Well the rattling started when it really stopped working. But now it doesn't rattle so I guess the broken bit have dropped below the moving parts now. It start a bit slowly but has very little power and sounds like it's only running on 3 cylinders, and is struggling a lot until it gets to higher revs. Sounds like a bloody VW camper )))))

I'm down in Devon. I have a local mechanic who's going to find the problem tomorrow morning. If I had the time and luxury I'd sort it myself but this is a bit beyond my means. My mech is a good man, loves to fix engines and the like. It will cost but he will fix it. Just hope its only something minor

Thanks lads you are gems

dogmai wrote: Well the rattling started when it really stopped working. But now it doesn't rattle so I guess the broken bit have dropped below the moving parts now. It start a bit slowly but has very little power and sounds like it's only running on 3 cylinders, and is struggling a lot until it gets to higher revs. Sounds like a bloody VW camper )))))

I'm down in Devon. I have a local mechanic who's going to find the problem tomorrow morning. If I had the time and luxury I'd sort it myself but this is a bit beyond my means. My mech is a good man, loves to fix engines and the like. It will cost but he will fix it. Just hope its only something minor

Thanks lads you are gems

Is it a 1.8 VVC or a MPi ? ~ a friend's MGF sounded simmilar lots of rattly noises from the top and rumbling knocking noises low down, gone when restarted after leaving for a while. turned out to be the oil pick up strainer in the sump was completely blocked with a tarry like sludge, in fact it was so thick that the sump would not drain when the drain plug was removed. the top end rattling was the cam followers being starved of oil, lumpy running because the valves were not opening properley and the low down noise was a dry oil pump!!!. was cured by removing sump cleaning out sludge, flushing through with fresh oil & draining, new filter and refill with semi synthetic oil. engine has done 96,000 miles and had been serviced every year by a MG dealer. Cause was considered to be the result of mixing fully synthetic and semi-synthetic oils and unleaded petrol.

Please let us know what your mechanic finds :yesnod:

AND WELCOME TO THE FORUM :woohoo:

Well it cost me £50 including the new spark plug, the end of which had been destroyed by the piece of cheap metal which had gotten into one cylinder.
The piece, I deduced was three of the wings from an 'air turbine' fan device bought from ebay and inserted in-between the air box and the TB. I have now removed the 'turbine' and will be claiming recompense from that company. And telling everyone NOT to put one of those things in your car!!!!!!!!!
:oops:

The rest of the wings, god knows where they are but Mike the mechanic reckons they managed to get out of the cylinder and are possibly now stuck in the cat, or have even gone out the exhaust. He also told me I must be the luckiest b*****d alive to have only lost a spark plug and not the whole engine! I think he's right

:omg: You are lucky :dry: :lol:

Please take a look at What Not to Fit to Your MGF/TF :thumbsup:

dogmai wrote: Well it cost me £50 including the new spark plug, the end of which had been destroyed by the piece of cheap metal which had gotten into one cylinder.
The piece, I deduced was three of the wings from an 'air turbine' fan device bought from ebay and inserted in-between the air box and the TB. I have now removed the 'turbine' and will be claiming recompense from that company. And telling everyone NOT to put one of those things in your car!!!!!!!!!
:oops:

The rest of the wings, god knows where they are but Mike the mechanic reckons they managed to get out of the cylinder and are possibly now stuck in the cat, or have even gone out the exhaust. He also told me I must be the luckiest b*****d alive to have only lost a spark plug and not the whole engine! I think he's right

:omg: The mechanic's right. :yesnod: You've been very lucky.
So I was wrong about those air turbine thingies. I always said they did nothing,but now we know they could potentially fubar your engine! :omg: :omg:

Take heed, all readers! Consign these miracle turbine thingies to the same BIN as the 'Boost chip' resistor in a box! :yesnod:

dogmai wrote: I have now removed the 'turbine' and will be claiming recompense from that company.

I'll be [strike]amazed[/strike] interested to see any response from the company involved. :yesnod:

So let me get this straight......

You had bits of SHRAPNEL travel all the way through your engine and only broke a spark plug :omg:

Get on the lottery at once

Great news and a lesson learnt as well :yesnod: