Hoopster 0 2 Cars Posted January 31, 2007 Hi Ive got a 205 gti with a 2l s16 engine fitted, with the original plastic inlet manifold in place. I was driving along today, i pulled up to a junction behind a van and was waiting to pull out onto the main road when i heard an very loud bang, the bonnet lifted with the force of it, (so loud was the bang, that the guy in the van infront got out to see what it was!) smoke started to plume out of the engine bay and the car stalled. I lifted the bonnet to see what was going on and couldn't see anything wrong, then i seen a small piece of black plastic, on further inspection by putting my hand down the back of the inlet and most of its missing! Its blown the underside of it right off! So really, my question is has anyone else ever had this happen to them, is it a common problem?? what should i do now, get another S16 inlet, or convert to a gti6 one, if going for a gti6 one what parts other than the inlet is needed, is it a straight conversion. Any help would be appreciated!! Cheers Dave Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Edd-XS 0 Posted January 31, 2007 Christ! my mates just about to fit a s16 but he doesnt lik the plastic manifold! Ill tell him this has happened and to try source a GTi-6 one maybe. Be interesting to hear the results? Edd Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TB_205GTI 1 Posted January 31, 2007 If it's not on boost - then the engine has backfired severely.. Normally the plastic manifold doesn't explode on people, afterall there is no pressure in the manifold under normal conditions. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Hoopster 0 2 Cars Posted January 31, 2007 No, its not my turbo engine, its my 2lt S16 205, so no boost present!! Its the plastic inlet manifold with the variable inlet tracts, and vac system. The car has had a missfire at low revs, perhaps that was the cause? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
johnrobertgordon 0 Posted January 31, 2007 I dont see why an inlet manifold should explode though, aint it just there to direct airflow to the ports, there should be no pressure buildup in there. could it be caused by an inlet valve not seating properly and blowing back? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bales 1 Posted January 31, 2007 I think that it is pretty likely to be caused by a backfire, on our formula student car when i was at uni we had a little blow off cap on the manifold as it kept shooting off as we had a bad misfire when we were mapping it so it is more than possible. I did read in one of my books about what causes a backfire back through the inlet and what causes it through the exhaust but unfortunately I have forgotten what the cause actaully was. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Miles 331 1 Cars Posted January 31, 2007 I had this on my S16 when I bought it, The inlet looked fine from the front and not until it was taken off you could see the hole in the back of it, I;d say a back fire too Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Hoopster 0 2 Cars Posted January 31, 2007 Does anyone know what is involved in fitting a Gti6 inlet? Is it straight forward? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Alastairh 47 Posted January 31, 2007 Try a search mate, Miles did it and wacked a thread up ages ago. Something i've got to do in the next 2 months on my brothers S16 205. Gonna do a before and after runs just for intrest. Alastair Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
pugrallye 0 Posted February 1, 2007 it is possible to blow the inlet manifold up through a very advanced igniton or by running car up on easy start normally charataristic by popping/ flames shooting out the throttle body, must have happened over a period of time though Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Hilgie 16 2 Cars Posted February 1, 2007 I bought a car (cheap!) which has had exactly the same problem. Now fitted a new manifold, but I guess I could better put a GTi6 or Mi manifold on. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
s16 Peggy 0 Posted February 1, 2007 No, its not my turbo engine, its my 2lt S16 205, so no boost present!! Its the plastic inlet manifold with the variable inlet tracts, and vac system. The car has had a missfire at low revs, perhaps that was the cause? I have one for sale if you are interested? Nigel Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Hoopster 0 2 Cars Posted February 2, 2007 I have one for sale if you are interested? Nigel Pm sent! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Rippthrough 98 Posted February 2, 2007 As said, one good backfire will do it when the throttle is virtually shut the pressure has no-where to go. My Tu used to backfire occasionally when the tps was on the way out once, at low rpm at night you'd see the rim of the bonnet light up is it came out of the tb inlet on the single point. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
skeggyrik 3 Posted February 2, 2007 i always understood this only happend when the timing was way off as mentioned earlier. The plastic manifold is not the cause, so you might want to sort the reason it happend as well as the manifold. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Hoopster 0 2 Cars Posted February 2, 2007 Cheers for all the suggestions guys, the car was on idle with the thottle fully shut off when it went bang, so a bad backfire must have been the cause, the car had been missing and popping for a day or two, if i'd known this might happen i would of tried sorting it alot sooner!! Oh well you live and learn! Whilst ive got it in bits fitting the new manifold i'll try and track the cause of the fault down at the same time! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
VisaGTi16v 1 Posted February 21, 2007 heh my mate just told me that his dad had "blown up the zx 16v", I asked him to explain that statement and its the same as yours doh! "Well if you must........... The inlet manifold is in small pieces.....Dad was going to run the car up in order to get it ready for the MOT. I told him to charge the battery beforehand.................he forgot.................. and when the engine fired it popped back through the inlet............BANG! Que plastic inlet manifold in tiny pieces on the floor, one scared yelping Snauzer(sp?) dog, an angry Mum ' cos of the dog, lots of house and car alarms going off and a Dad with ringing ears! Ha! when he phoned me at work to tell me, he sounded like a puppy sitting next to a pile of Poo!......."Erm.......mate? I've killed your Citroen" Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ahl 4 Posted February 21, 2007 lol! Sorry, but I find this tale of exploding fanimolds quite amusing! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jim21070 2 Posted February 28, 2007 lol @ VisaGTi16v So that will be why they won't do LPG conversions on cars fitted with plastic manifolds then. Apparantly an LPG motor is quite prone to inlet backfires. If it is anything like the XU10J2CTE item it looks as weak as Watneys, I'm surprised it doesn't collapse under manifold vacuum. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Hoopster 0 2 Cars Posted March 3, 2007 (edited) Hi, just a quick update on this, i got a new inlet manifold (cheers Nigel-aka s16peggy!) Whilst fitting the new maniflod i changed the ecu temp sensor as thought that may be causing the missfire which blew the inlet up in the first place, (there a bugger to get to with the manifold in place!) Fired up the car, and still missing like a B@tch! so checked all the coil packs, they were fine! fitted new plugs, not them either, but they were really coked up which suggests overfueling, was really begining to think i was beat! my next course of action was to strip the engine down untill i found something that wasn't right!! Luckily for me i found the problem quite quickly it turned out to be the vac pipe that goes to the map sensor inside the ecu had perished! a new piece of vac pipe and 5mins later the car was running like a dream! Just thought id post up the cause so others can check this if their car develops problems like mine did! its worth checkin, may save you some pennys! cheers Dave Edited March 3, 2007 by Hoopster Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
