HPI engine info, anyone, anything ? and in return...

[Black Pearl]

Hi all,

Pretty much new to this site and so damn thankful for coming across it, so nice to see so many fans of such an overlooked underrated machine. I was just wondering if anyone had anysort of info reguarding the 2.0l HPI engine ?, At present i own a 2002 onyx black 406 executive fitted with usual pretty bits 17" wolfrace streetracer wheels, dvd player, and a subtle modification of an induction filter ( does sound nice and improves acceleration a fair bit ), if anyone needs any advice on fitting anything like that then by all means let me know an ill do me best from experinces ive had with doing so Ive only been able to find bits and pieces of information on the net, and general tea an spanner banter about the engine. Being an engineer i like to know how things work or just in general, ignorance is bliss to those who live without the scary knocks and rattles of life all im aware is that mitsubishi had some sort of dealing with the basic technology but other than that getting weird looks off people when i fill it up with unleaded with it sounding like a diesel, and so easily making the peugeot technican look slightly worried about working on my car

many thanks all.

[DaiRees]

At last..... another HPi owner. Welcome to the site, and also welcome to the more exclusive 406 HPi owners club, you can be member #2

Right as far as how it works, there was a thread ages ago when I asked the question and some of the [s]smart arses [/s]more knowledgable members tried to enlighten me. I'll try to find it.....

So how many miles has she done and how is she behaving? Mine's on 41K, got a very slight, very occasional misfire that's been there for about a year or so, then again I've been promising it a service for about that long. Other than that I'm very happy with it, the only thing that's gone wrong in the 5 years I've had it is the EGR valve. Needs a bit of TLC at the moment but a weekend's attention and she'll be fine again.

[Black Pearl]

Lol there even scarce on owners club listings then eh ? thanks for the friendly welcome mate, dman nice to be here

would be helpful if ya could find the thread about it out for me, no problem if ya cant, it'd save me scouring the net for old press releases and motoring reviews that just dont tell you everything, unfortunatley

the good old black pearl has done up to yet 88k, and the engine itself is behaving quite well, it does share the occasional misfire as yours, particularly in the mornings, though ive found if you drive it a little quicker than normal pottering speed for about 200 ft or so, not a long distance at all then it clears itself up. looking to be an injector problem moreso than a spark problem i havent come to the bottom of the problem really because it dont bother me that much lol. though the sqeaking power steering belt in the morning is getting on me t*ts a bit, ive tried turning lock to lock and its still there, its only when the engine warms up and the belt becomes a bit more supple it dies completley away, yet to find a solution to this one and having time to do it lol. its recently had its big service ( being the timing belt one ) the poor mechanic working on it didnt know what he was looking at, though they done a cracking job and it runs like a kitten, if a dieselish sounding one.

recently ive been hearing a knocking coming from the back of the car if i ( trying my best to explain the type of bumps, holes ) go over a sudden drop in the road, like say a sunken manhole or pot hole, something sudden with a sheer drop to it, i hear a knocking, i have checked the thread on the knocking and im yet to follow it up on my own car to see if that is the problem, the anti roll bar bush nearest the wheels, hopefully that will cure it.

the general condition of her is spotless being black its gotta shine or not at all, ive put a custom chrome mesh grille over the original as there was a hole in the original grille when i bought it and wanted anything but a standard one to put back on, ive chromed the slats on the under bumper grille as well, shadow chrome exhaust tip, i know its lame but i wasnt to sure on what a custom backbox would do to the running condition of our hpi's engine, 17" wolfrace streetracer alloys, induction filter. the interior is full black leather and, again shiny ( i like shiny lol ) dvd player under the passenger seat with the screen in the glovebox, with a secret on switch located by the headlight height switch under the steering wheel ( i used the end auxilliary switch plate cover off a mk1 406 using the switch body of the hazard lights off the same car ) if i dont say anything to anyone no one knows its there im really happy with it, ive owned a 1.8 p-reg 406 prior to this one, liked it so much i bought the one i own now.

thanks for the reply mate, and a friendly welcome, its reassuring to know theres at least one other person out there with the same rare as hell engine as me, things aint as daunting no more

[DaiRees]

I too had a mk1 1.8lx before I bought my current one, seems like a common path to enlightenment .

Here's mine....







Funny you should say that about changing the exhaust, I've got a full custom built stainless system from the cat back, and I too had worries about whether it would affect the way the engine runs. The guys al Longlife assured me it would be fine but I often wonder if that's the cause of the misfire.


The misfire's a funny one, only seems to do it under light throttle, and particularly when you just feed the powerback on after coasting. I've also noticed it when I use the cruise buttons to accelerate, say at the end of a roadworks. Been constantly bimbling along at 50 for a few miles, press plus to co up to 70 and she misses the odd beat or too. As you say it isn't enough to annoy, some days it doesn't do it at all, but it is definately getting more frequent and more pronounced.

Knocking from the back is almost certainly an ARB bush or a droplink.

Mine was also spotless until recently, but it had a bad week around the summer holiday period and now it's got a crumpled back wing and a ripple in the tailgate....

Good to have you around dude.

[jameslxdt]

all HPi's do sound very rough, the technology has nothing to do with mitsubishi, though they did atempt the idea originally called the GDi or gasoline direct injection, and it was a disaster, the peugeot system is miles better by far, the main weak spot though is the high pressure fuel pump, the entire system works almost indentical to that of a common rail diesel

[Black Pearl]

ah i have read about the costly fuel pumps our hpi engines run with, touch wood and all the other good luck techniques it dont fail me lol, thanks loads for the info on the knockin on the back end, there nothing worse in my mind than a knock ya dont know where to find or to narrow down quick enough for whatever it is knocking drops off, ( previous experience of building a mini from scratch has taught me a thing or two ). Thats a tidy looking 406 ya got there dairees, and indeed the path of enlightenment is bigger, faster and fully loaded until the nirvana of, for me a 3.0 v6 if ya dont mind me asking what is the chin spoiler off you have fitted ? ive seen, on the net anyway, a few 406's with this chin spoiler, i have heard that a 1996 - 2003 renault espace's chin spoiler supposed to fit quite well, dunno if this bull or not, ive heard of worse lol.

With the misfiring thing, have you thought of replacing the coil pack ? my old 1.8 used to go down the road like a kangaroo with misfiring, till i replaced the coil pack, an uprated the sparkplugs ( as we both know the sparkplug idea is out the window lol ) but the replacing of the coil pack sorted it out. im pretty sure the stainless setup you have wouldnt effect it any as anything different to our cars from a normal 2.0l is that pre catalyst unit, but like you say you have a cat back system.

bit of a swine to hear about the back quarter panel and ya tailgate mate, to the bodyshop we go with a fortune ?

an its good to be around mate

[DaiRees]

The spoiler's off a Mk1 Laguna. The Espace ones are very similar but are about another inch deeper, although they're alot rarer than the laguna ones and subsequently a lot more expensive. I paid a fiver for mine from the local scrappy, it's had a hard life but a bit of auto glym bumper care and it cleaned up nicely Mine already scrapes on all but the lowest curbs and the occasional speed bump (not that it matters, it's very bendy ) but I'd give the Espace one a miss I think.

Yeah I have considered the coil pack but I'm gonna give it a good service first and see if that helps.

nah I don't thing it's worth getting the dents done (can think of better things to spend my cash on), I had a good go at them myself and now the wing just looks like a really nasty car park dent , and the tailgate, well I don't thing the untrained eye would even see it if it wasn't pointed out.

[Welly]

At last..... another HPi owner.

thanks for the reply mate, and a friendly welcome

Good to have you around dude.

an its good to be around mate

*changes the dinner table seating plan so that DaiRees and Black Pearl sit next to each other at the 406 christmas party

[darrenwall]

*changes the dinner table seating plan so that DaiRees and Black Pearl sit next to each other at the 406 christmas party

pmsl

[Black Pearl]

nice one welton, as long as i get the hippo shaped bottle opener out the cracker i dont mind, broke me last one.

a mk1 laguna, hmm me uncles got one of them.... nah that'd stealing, thanks for the info on that mate.

[DaiRees]

Don't be bitter just 'cos you ain't in the elite club Welly

[mjb]

The spoiler's off a Mk1 Laguna.

Oh crap i just looked at it... it's probably bent now sorry

[Black Pearl]

it does take some doing to be in the elite club, such a rarity is hpi though im just happy enough that a site like this exists specially with all the info on the niggling problems we all get with our 6's.

mjb i cant follow whats bent ? i assume, and hope its the hippo bottle opener

bit more of a serious note, well more of one that sqeaks when warm and then fades away when moving, its on the drivers side rear wheel, when i brake when ive been driving a while and go to move off i hear a sqeak, not all the time, like a high spot on the disc maybe or a sticking handbrake pad or sumot ? would anyone else out there have a similar problem or have had dealings with this squeaking gremlin that lives in 406 rear wheels ?

many thanks for the support all, and a big thankyou for welly for reserving me a special seat at the 406oc christmas table good on ya mate

[mbell666]

i had problems with sticking rear brake cliaper, caused by rusty piston. I just jack it up and check the wheel is free with the brakes off, if so stick a bit of copper slip on the back of the pads.

[Black Pearl]

Cheers for that mate, specially with the weather dawning on the time when its crap to crapper, didnt really fancy fault finding all day when more precious time could be spent in many a drinking establishment, or eyeing up some more shiny bits for the black pearl