Does this sound like a misfire?

charlie792 · 25 January 2020 at 7:22AM

Hi All,

Have low mileage 2012 plate Corsa SRI.

About 3 months ago I ended up getting well and truly stuck on a very wet Welsh hillside (long story) but only way to free the car was to absolutely floor it

. Freed the car but burnt the clutch in the process. Smelt of burnt clutch for the rest of the journey, and after about 15 miles started getting problems after gear change. At the time the engine management light flashed on a few times.

Subsequent journeys over the coming few weeks were ok so put it down to burning the clutch at the time, but every so often I get a judder normally just after a gear change which to me feels like the clutch slipping. it usually passed after a second or two and continues fine and no EM light ever comes on.

Recently I've done a long journey and after about 100 miles started getting this 'slip' really badly after initial gear change but it wasn't clearing (30 seconds or more) and then EM light flashes on. Happening on both up and downshift.

Subsequent journey ok apart from one small judder on upshift.

I've taken it to a garage and they've said the clutch is fine - I mentioned the EM light had come on and tell me that it's a misfire but it will cost me £50 to hook the car up to tell me if it is a misfire??? Go figure?

So anyway before I spend money on something they already apparently know does this sound possible - seems odd to me that the problems only started after I had my incident with my clutch. To me it doesn't really feel like a misfire it definitely feels like something clutch/belt is slipping. Engine itself seems to be running fine, doesn't sound any different etc.

Browntoa · 25 January 2020 at 8:13AM

Judder , management lights

Lambda sensor , coil pack , ECU , all need diagnostic tool which costs garage between £40-50 a go to use.

AdrianC · 25 January 2020 at 9:12AM

charlie792 wrote: »

About 3 months ago I ended up getting well and truly stuck on a very wet Welsh hillside (long story) but only way to free the car was to absolutely floor it . Freed the car but burnt the clutch in the process.

Flooring it won't burn the clutch. Flooring it while slipping the clutch will burn the clutch.

Subsequent journeys over the coming few weeks were ok so put it down to burning the clutch at the time, but every so often I get a judder normally just after a gear change which to me feels like the clutch slipping. it usually passed after a second or two and continues fine and no EM light ever comes on.

Recently I've done a long journey and after about 100 miles started getting this 'slip' really badly after initial gear change but it wasn't clearing (30 seconds or more) and then EM light flashes on. Happening on both up and downshift.

Subsequent journey ok apart from one small judder on upshift.

It sounds as if you've cooked the clutch fairly well, and it's slipping when hot. The friction faces may also be a bit burnt and coated, which could well lead to judder.

I've taken it to a garage and they've said the clutch is fine

Well, you know it only does it occasionally, so it clearly didn't while they were looking at it.

The question is - can you live with it for the time being? If it's relatively minor and easily driven-round, keep going until it's worse. The end result will be the same as now - you'll need a new clutch and possibly the flywheel refaced.

I mentioned the EM light had come on and tell me that it's a misfire but it will cost me £50 to hook the car up to tell me if it is a misfire??? Go figure?

The £50 will be to read the fault codes and see if there's any cause logged.

For less than £50 you could buy an OBD reader and do the same.

Aylesbury_Duck · 25 January 2020 at 11:03AM

Garage wants modest sum to spend time checking a customer's faulty car and diagnosing the problem? Shocking.

charlie792 · 25 January 2020 at 11:30AM

Aylesbury_Duck wrote: »

Garage wants modest sum to spend time checking a customer's faulty car and diagnosing the problem? Shocking.

This is MSE isn't?

My point is the garage were incredibly insistent it was a misfire and told me that 100% I was going to damage my engine driving it home with it misfiring. Except they haven't apparently put it on the diagnostics so how could they say with any degree of certainty it is misfiring. Having never had a car misfire before I don't know what symptoms of it are and I don't want to be ripped off. being. money saving site logically it makes sense to ask for other people's experiences/advice.

Having just driven it for 150 miles just now with limited issues I'll put up with it for the time being. It's pretty certain it is the clutch regardless of what the garage said because it was only doing it at very specific points on gear change.

I've found Europarts have the diagnostics scanner for £20 so I'll probably buy that and depending on what that says I'll take it to a local garage in due course

AdrianC · 25 January 2020 at 11:37AM

charlie792 wrote: »

My point is the garage were incredibly insistent it was a misfire and told me that 100% I was going to damage my engine driving it home with it misfiring. Except they haven't apparently put it on the diagnostics so how could they say with any degree of certainty it is misfiring.

You can hear and feel misfiring.
Reading the fault codes will point you in the direction of why it's misfiring.

Having never had a car misfire before I don't know what symptoms of it are

What it says on the tin. One or more cylinders isn't firing properly...

Aylesbury_Duck · 25 January 2020 at 11:53AM

charlie792 wrote: »

This is MSE isn't?

My point is the garage were incredibly insistent it was a misfire and told me that 100% I was going to damage my engine driving it home with it misfiring. Except they haven't apparently put it on the diagnostics so how could they say with any degree of certainty it is misfiring. Having never had a car misfire before I don't know what symptoms of it are and I don't want to be ripped off. being. money saving site logically it makes sense to ask for other people's experiences/advice.

Having just driven it for 150 miles just now with limited issues I'll put up with it for the time being. It's pretty certain it is the clutch regardless of what the garage said because it was only doing it at very specific points on gear change.

I've found Europarts have the diagnostics scanner for £20 so I'll probably buy that and depending on what that says I'll take it to a local garage in due course

Yes, it's MoneySavingExpert, not FalseEconomyExpert. These forums are littered with people who've paid basement prices for products or services, or aren't prepared to pay professional fees when things get behind their level of skill or knowledge, and who then need help with the consequences.

You may be lucky and be able to carry on driving with only occasional trouble. Or you may find it terminally shuts down on you at an inconvenient time and place because you're insistent on driving around in it when there's evidently a problem rather than having someone who knows what they're talking about taking a look at it.

Mercdriver · 25 January 2020 at 12:16PM

charlie792 wrote: »

This is MSE isn't?

My point is the garage were incredibly insistent it was a misfire and told me that 100% I was going to damage my engine driving it home with it misfiring. Except they haven't apparently put it on the diagnostics so how could they say with any degree of certainty it is misfiring. Having never had a car misfire before I don't know what symptoms of it are and I don't want to be ripped off. being. money saving site logically it makes sense to ask for other people's experiences/advice.

Having just driven it for 150 miles just now with limited issues I'll put up with it for the time being. It's pretty certain it is the clutch regardless of what the garage said because it was only doing it at very specific points on gear change.

I've found Europarts have the diagnostics scanner for £20 so I'll probably buy that and depending on what that says I'll take it to a local garage in due course

You can get a scanner for £20 but what about the knowledge about what to do, how to interpret etc...

arcon5 · 25 January 2020 at 11:01PM

Clutch burning out wont bring EML on.... if some water has found it's way in to induction pipe its possible the spark plugs need replacing causing a misfire.

daveyjp · 25 January 2020 at 11:52PM

Corsas are known for eating coil packs. This will cause an intermittent misfire, until it fails completely.

rawhammered · 26 January 2020 at 8:25AM

Does sound like a coil pack going. £50 to replace

Does this sound like a misfire?

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