Mhh I had a lack of compression on the 2 nearside cylinders....
I was having a bit of fun with a clio 172.... when I suddenly lost all power and engine cut out.. pulled over to the side of the road and could not get it started, very embarrased..
Towed it home and next day run my compression tester on each cylinder. There was no compression on the nearside 2 cylinders [:'(][:'(]. Took the timing belt off and the exhaust cam had jumped 3-6 teeth on the belt.
Took the engine out and removed the head, the 4 exhaust valves were all bent [:'(]
600 quid on gasket sets, 4 valves, timing belt and the crucial tensioner ! later (and 2 weekends) she was back up and running [H]
Apparently the tensioners are prone to go on my 1998 uk model... or it wasnt tightened up / adjusted properly, but dont quote me on it. Check the cambelt timing before it goes to Sanspeed if you can. There are a load of PDF manuals available for download on the net.