'99 Fiesta 1.4 Zetec 'kangarooing'..

In May, I bought a very nice '99 Fiesta 1.4 Zetec. As the car had done 42k, I changed the spark plugs and leads myself 2 weeks later (and that's about my limit when it comes to maintenance on new cars). Cambelt was changed around the same time. Now on 45k, it had it's 60k service about a month ago, just needed the rear brakes adjusting and antifreeze. I don't cover a huge mileage, but it is 4 years old virtually to the day, so thought better safe than sorry.

Started it this morning, seemed to be very rough idling for a couple of minutes, then as it warmed up, idled OK. Bit of a surprise, normally it idles smoothly pretty much straight away. The car had been sitting for a couple of days, however. On the drive to work, the car 'kangarood' quite violently for about 10 mins, but seemed better as it warmed up. Fuel economy seemed poor though.

A friend suggested the spark plugs or leads were the cause, but as I stated above, they were changed shortly after I bought it. (Champion and Halfords own brand respectively). The leads look OK, still pretty much as new, still clean. However, the spark plugs did appear to have a rather heavy black deposit on the ceramic part of the contact (the bit that's usually a nice 'healthy' brown colour) and around the top of the thread. (I'd suspected previously it was running a little rich, but as it still drove OK I wasn't worried). The actual contacts were pretty clean. Cleaned it off and reset the gaps, doesn't appear to have made a lot of difference, still kangarooing when cold.

Started thinking it could be the ignition coil.

Are they easy/cheap to replace? As I said I'm not an expert, but I don't fancy paying Ford a ridiculous sum of money for half an hour's work if I can do it myself..

TIA

J
Reply to
Jetsonik
Loading thread data ...

I suggest that the first course would be to replace the plugs and leads with the correct ford items. Halfords, Champion and reliability do not belong in the same sentence. Coil pack failure is common on Fords and the best way to test is to substitute. However the first thing to do is to make sure that every sensor is connected firmly.

MrCheerful

Reply to
MrCheerful

Firstly it has to be said that where HT components are concerned and Ford

16v engines that nothing less than OEM is good enough- through experience all the others fail in short order- especially HT leads. The coil packs on these engines are *extremely* powerful and will create an insulation breach in substandard leads in very short order- especially if the plug gaps are wider than ideal. I would take the leads back as faulty and exchange them for the genuine Bosch (from Halfrauds) or motorcraft ones from Ford straight away. Have the plugs out again and regap them to 1.0-1.1mm, not the factory 1.3mm. I assume they are the correct platinum jobbies?

Whilst you have the cover off clean off any oily deposits on the rocker cover surface, and the surface of the coil pack. Cellulose thinners or similar is good. Check also that the plug wells are clean and dry. Everything in this area, even with good leads must be spotless.

This will sort your problem.

Tim..

Reply to
Tim..

Thanks guys, nice to have an honest reply, one of the garages I used to visit suggested it was a faulty clutch plate!!

J
Reply to
Jetsonik

MotorsForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.