misfiring Series III petrol

Best things I did to my old S3 was to get decent rubberised plug leads and caps and seal the caps to the leads with silicone. Similarly seal the leads to the distributor cap. Then replace all earth leads and make good the connections, or just add new ones, you can't have too many earths, I found!

Smear some Vaseline over any exposed wiring joints to seal them .. my bulkhead had so many 'odd' connections when I first got it that it just looked like a kids first attempt at bird-nest building .. ;)

A decent sealed fuse box with good internal connections helps a lot, probably as much 'cos it insulates the wiring connections from shorting between themselves!

Best things I did to my old S3 was to get decent rubberised plug leads and caps and seal the caps to the leads with silicone. Similarly seal the leads to the distributor cap. Then replace all earth leads and make good the connections, or just add new ones, you can't have too many earths, I found!

Smear some Vaseline over any exposed wiring joints to seal them .. my bulkhead had so many 'odd' connections when I first got it that it just looked like a kids first attempt at bird-nest building .. ;)

A decent sealed fuse box with good internal connections helps a lot, probably as much 'cos it insulates the wiring connections from shorting between themselves!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

And get some old door seal and seal the edges of the bonnet down either side. The diesel models had bonnet seals to reduce noise but they never put it on the petrol ones, cheapskates.

Run the engine with the bonnet up in the dark and use the visible results to prioritise your areas for treatment.

Plug caps with boots that seal against the insulator are a great help. Try items intended for motorcycle use. NSK make some. There are some pictures at the end of this catalogue:

think that I used LB05Es but it's really too long ago to be sure.Do a proper job of cleaning the insulators before covering them. Clean the distributor cap inside and out. I sprayed mine with WD40 inside and out. Some people don't like using WD inside but it gave me no trouble. It can help to seat the distributor cap on silcone grease to give a seal to the body.

Treat the coil top as the distributor cap.

Don't run HT leads where they can hold water or rest on metal surfaces.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Don't know if they still do it but Halfrauds used to sell Damp Start which removed moisture and sealed the leads.

Mike wrote ..

Almost certainly caused by condensation/damp. Any tips on waterproofing the ignition?

Just remembered, when that happened to me it was the centre sprung bit that contacts the Rotor Arm in the distributor cap that had disappeared, never found it. I've heard of others having the same problem with pattern parts. Found a genuine Lucas Distributor Cap and had no problems after that. The guy that bought it renewed the leads and also the Lucas cap with a pattern one and, guess what, same problem. Easy to check out.

Which reminds me of the only time I've ever been glad to share a vehicle with a smoker.

Middle of nowhere, no spark, missing centre brush. Take some foil out of a cigarette packet, roll it up, insert into the hole. It got us home, and lasted a few days until the new cap arrived....