dandare131
Member
Hi everyone,
Apologies in advance for the long post, TLDR at the end.
Last year I bought a 2003 1.4 BBY Petrol A2 (<60k miles on the clock) from a fellow a2oc member here. Although I haven't had the chance to drive it much, the car has grown on me and I find it ideal for my needs; I don't want to give up on it yet, but here's the problem:
When I bought it, the previous owner said a new coil pack was in place, which apparently solved the engine light on the dash that had been on for a while.
Soon after I got it, while stationary at a red light, the idle dropped and car started running rough, with engine light flashing. I pulled over, stopped the car, waited a little bit, then re-started the engine. All seemed normal again, but with the engine light still on (not flashing at least). I need to add that this happened with the A/C off, i.e. idle already lower than 'normal'.
Next day I booked the car for a health check at a reputable VAG garage near Cambridge, plus a full service and cambelt/water pump change.
The error thrown at the time was 'cylinder 3 misfire'. Well, that was replaced as well, I collected the car, all seemed fine for a little while until... same issue happened again.
Took the car back in, the error code was the same. After more investigation, this is the outcome of the review:
'Ran diagnostics cylinder 3 misfire, checked live/feed and signal wires to the coil packs ok, checked signals to the injector ok, inspected the wiring, found moving injector wiring caused misfire, replaced injector wiring terminals, tested still developed misfire, removed coils and spark plugs, carried out a cylinder leakage test, cylinder 3 leakage excessive, sounds like air is passing the piston rings, engine strip would be required.'
I really don't want to throw good money after bad, but as I was saying, I am not ready to give up on the little A2 just yet.
As I see it, the options that I have are:
- have an engine rebuild (not sure that's even possible with BBY engines).
- have an engine replacement
- something else?
I am reaching out hoping for some guidance and advice here - would you know anyone who sells a refurbished BBY engine, or a BBY engine in good health, clean with good service history? Also, would anyone have any recommendations for a decent garage who would be able to do the swap for a reasonable fee? Would you have a rough idea of how much I should expect to pay for all this exercise? I am willing to travel a bit to the right garage.
Thank you for reading all this, any help would be really appreciated!
TLDR: might need a refurbed BBY 1.4 petrol engine, do you know anyone selling one of these in good order, and a garage that won't cost the earth to do a swap, not too far from Cambridgeshire?
Apologies in advance for the long post, TLDR at the end.
Last year I bought a 2003 1.4 BBY Petrol A2 (<60k miles on the clock) from a fellow a2oc member here. Although I haven't had the chance to drive it much, the car has grown on me and I find it ideal for my needs; I don't want to give up on it yet, but here's the problem:
When I bought it, the previous owner said a new coil pack was in place, which apparently solved the engine light on the dash that had been on for a while.
Soon after I got it, while stationary at a red light, the idle dropped and car started running rough, with engine light flashing. I pulled over, stopped the car, waited a little bit, then re-started the engine. All seemed normal again, but with the engine light still on (not flashing at least). I need to add that this happened with the A/C off, i.e. idle already lower than 'normal'.
Next day I booked the car for a health check at a reputable VAG garage near Cambridge, plus a full service and cambelt/water pump change.
The error thrown at the time was 'cylinder 3 misfire'. Well, that was replaced as well, I collected the car, all seemed fine for a little while until... same issue happened again.
Took the car back in, the error code was the same. After more investigation, this is the outcome of the review:
'Ran diagnostics cylinder 3 misfire, checked live/feed and signal wires to the coil packs ok, checked signals to the injector ok, inspected the wiring, found moving injector wiring caused misfire, replaced injector wiring terminals, tested still developed misfire, removed coils and spark plugs, carried out a cylinder leakage test, cylinder 3 leakage excessive, sounds like air is passing the piston rings, engine strip would be required.'
I really don't want to throw good money after bad, but as I was saying, I am not ready to give up on the little A2 just yet.
As I see it, the options that I have are:
- have an engine rebuild (not sure that's even possible with BBY engines).
- have an engine replacement
- something else?
I am reaching out hoping for some guidance and advice here - would you know anyone who sells a refurbished BBY engine, or a BBY engine in good health, clean with good service history? Also, would anyone have any recommendations for a decent garage who would be able to do the swap for a reasonable fee? Would you have a rough idea of how much I should expect to pay for all this exercise? I am willing to travel a bit to the right garage.
Thank you for reading all this, any help would be really appreciated!
TLDR: might need a refurbed BBY 1.4 petrol engine, do you know anyone selling one of these in good order, and a garage that won't cost the earth to do a swap, not too far from Cambridgeshire?