Hiace running on 3 cylinders

[Nicolai Hansen]

We are two Danish backpackers, we own a 95 LWB Hiace. We have just recieved the horrible news, that the car is only running on 3 cylinders. A repair by a proper mechanic would cost us 3000 AUD. 

As I see it we have 3 options 1. Sell the car, but what is it worth? It has done 390,000 km. 2. Gamble and keep the car, and hope that it's gonna start. Problems is the the fuel efficiency, is pretty bad and it is taking forever to get it on 80 km/hour. 3. Fix the car drive it for the rest of our trip (3.5 months) and then sell it. 

Any suggestions? Any Hiace owners who have tried the same thing? 

Thank you for helping! 

 

[trentmeyer23]

I'd probably try and offload it; and put the money towards a cheap car to last your trip.

[Hiro]

If you have basic tools I'd rule out the easiest possibilities first - asusming it's petrol, check spark plugs to see which cylinder isn't firing and swap leads around to see if it changes the cylinder that drops out.  If it's always the same cylinder then it is fuel- or valve-related and likely too expensive to fix yourself, if the miss moves then it is spark-plug/lead/dizzy-cap related, and all 3 are easy and cheap fixes.