LCR AMK starts on 3 cylinders for 10secs then fires all 4 and runs fine on boost??

[Mark27LCR]

Hi all,

i am new to this and i could do with some help , i did abit of research on LCR's before buying and then i recently (3 months ago) bought a Leon Cupra R 03 AMK, i'll write a little bit of history first so the current problem will be near the bottom of this post .i've had a few problems already some of which have been covered by warranty as follows;

September,

Timing belt tensioner making wierd noise's and seemed to be losing about a litre of water a week so had Cambelt & waterpump with metal impellor and tensioner changed, (warranty didn't cover this as the initial problem reported was the tensioner which wasn't listed as covered)

October,

Water leak had gotten worse half a litre a day and by now it had developed a misfire on startup, for a short amount of time then fires on all four and has no problem with boost etc, also by this point exhaust downpipe flex had blown wide open

i Had my friend at the garage check for water leaks and do a service at the same time to try and solve the misfire
there were no fault codes about a misfire but worse still water on the plug and water in the oil so he suspected head gasket so did some sort of compression test and confirmed it.
I got the warranty to agree to change it after they'd sent an inspector out etc that was okay'd so he went ahead, i also ordered a 2nd hand downpipe and had them fit that while the head was off..
I'd also bought a 3" TIP BMC Filter and Heatshield kit and Forge 008 from Bill at Badger5 which looks the biz, had this all put on and the same time,

The whole process meant i was without the car for 3 weeks, because of it being warranty waiting for downpipe waiting for inspector then for the garage to fit it back in as they were "busy" i wern't happy with my mate at this point.

So anyway

November

Now i have the car back seems quicker than ever Cheers for the kit Bill

however the the initial problems of losing water(goes from max to min level in about 5 days i've had it back 8days) and starting on 3 cylinders for 10 seconds seems to be back.

Just so you know the car was completly standard except a Jabbasport Remap including an electronic boost controller done in 2005 which produced

205.4kw (275Bhp from what i can find out??)
181.3kw at the wheels
385.2Nm (284ft/lb again not sure?)

When the the EBC is lowest it's really smooth on build up with hardly any boost and has an agressive kick on boost when on full) Might explain the hole in the downpipe.

i've spoke to a few mechanics not at the same place i had the work done mind, and someone i know whos owned a few a3/ s3 big turbo jobs and i've had the following suggestions

• Coil packs causing the misfire
• possible airlock in water system as i opened the filler a couple of days after picking it up after headgasket,as it was a little above minimum and it went everywhere my bad..
• The map is causing overfueling on startup
• cracked cyclinder head (really hope not)
• Head gasket not done properly? water in the cyclinder as before.

if anyone has any suggestions as to what my next step should be i'd be greatful it's really bugging me now and i have a week left of warranty i think. and they really aren't nice people.

Thanks for reading.

Mark.

 

[BigJase88]

Cut loses and sell / trade

 

[Mark27LCR]

I'd rather see if i can to the bottom of the cause first, do u have any ideas?

 

[ibizacupra]

cracked head..... it does happen?

 

[Mark27LCR]

any way to tell without taking it back off Bill?

also if it is and i'm thinking about getting relentless v3 mani and downpipe + hybrid in the future would it be best to wait till then as its gotta come off for that anyway, can i carry on driving it with a cracked head if i can put up with the odd water topup and misfire on startup,

and would i better off with a BAM head as i've seen the AMK is more common for cracking?

Thanks.

 

[Mark27LCR]

any know of way to diagnose a cracked head without having it taken back off? is it possible?

by the way i borrowed a obd2 lead and used vcds-lite to log 015 & 016 and every single one has had a count 2 being the highest however never seems to be when the startup misfire occurs infact i don't notice the misfires its counting the only noticeable misfires are on startup, which every now and then makes an unhealthy knock noise??

i would really appreciate any help on this guys as i'm stumped as to what i should do next and as for the 2nd post i can't sell it's on finance if theres major problems i'd have to take it up with the finance company according to trading standards.

thanks for reading.

 

[ibizacupra]

obvious but often overlooked... try some fresh std plugs in it?

 

[Mark27LCR]

I have had the compression tested now and cylinder 2 is 1 bar low than the other three and had a gas test done to say that water is mixing with the oil so i'm gonna have to get a new head i think.

i remember reading something about water in the cylinder can cause rods to bend, and also read sometimes you wouldn't even know? how can i check for this because if the head gets replaced i then don't want to find out the bottom might be on its way too?

the place where i bought the car from is getting involved now in the cost to put this right but i just want to be sure nothings missed?

thanks.
Mark

 

[glynnd]

I would speak to the finance company.
I was a business manager in a car dealership for years. If the fault was there on purchase then you may have a case to have it corrected by the garage that sold it to you.
Get in touch with your local trading standards office for advice about possibly rejecting the car if it wont be repaired by the garage. The finance company should help as it must be fit for purpose and fault free unless they are accepted by the seller. Just read your last post too!!

 

[Mark27LCR]

Thanks for your reply i will get in touch with trading standards shortly to see where i stand on the matter and i'll then contact the trader to see how they want to deal with it.

Mark