Yes, very true. I wasn't too sure about what my dad was saying.
Yeah, I don't think it will be the CHG because I've had leaks for 18 months!
Hasn't happened, but it doesn't always happen anyway.
Hasn't happened, and this doesn't always happen either.
Oil level's just under max (after about 4-5 months), most of this will be from the rocker box cover leak though. Plugs are pretty clean, number 2 & 3 were a bit oily around the threads, but that's probably normal.
Coolant is on max.
Probably hasn't happened.
It comes from out the exhaust tail end.
Yeah, I could try that, can't turn the engine off when I get there though because it may stop it spitting.
I went to a garage today to find out what's wrong. They said it's miss-fireing and said I need to get it hooked up to a diagnostics machine. I only showed them the 'spitting' noise. They don't have a diagnostics machine so they gave be a number for a place which does. They said it'll cost me about £45.
I also mentioned the pinking and they said it could be connected. They had a Fiat a while ago which wouldn't run properly with anything other than Fiat plugs, and he suggested that I try some Fiat ones (I've got NGK at the moment, but my car had Fiat ones when I got it).
Before I went I gave the car about 15 miles of thrashing, with some injector cleaner in it for good measure. The pinking didn't go completely like it did in the past though, so I think it may be related.
I may just take it for a diagnostics because I don't think the plugs are that bad because it has only started miss-fireing recently.
I think I've found the problem. There are sparks jumping between the HT leads and at the end of the plugs. This would also cause my pinking. What do you think I should do, get performance leads and plugs? I'm going to try putting my old plugs back in tomorrow.
Err, I can't remember that being said. My leads are new though, the old ones were a bit dodgy and the new ones obviously were. In 5 days time they'll be 6 months old. They shouldn't die completely within 6 months. Performane once should last a lot longer. They're also supposed to make a noticable difference in performance. The main reason though is because they've got a lot of shielding.
Anyway, how do all of my leads go dodgy all at the same time?
btw, I've got some Champion EON plugs now, so I'll probably give them a go. I couldn't find any Magnecor leads though, I may get them off the internet.
The message from petermcmillan snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com (Peter) contains these words:
What makes you think that? They're usually cheap old tat boxed up to look pretty and sold to people who think they're getting something special!
Seriously, put a set of original leads on it, clean out the cap if it's got one, and clean and gap a set of proper plugs instead of some fancy things that claim to be able to set fire to a forest from a 9v battery and drive the damned thing.
You said that you'd got new leads about 10 days previous to your first post IIRC.
You say "should", but a lot of the time, "performance" parts are utter s**te, that gullible people exchange for hard earned cash.
Placebo effect. As others have said, about other "performance" items, car manufacturers plough billions (or at least lots of millions) into engine development. The OEM components are the ones that the engine was specifically designed to work with. If you can get another 5% power output by using Brand X, then chances are that the manufacturer would license the leads from Brand X. But they don't.
And is this actually important?
They were probably not very good in the first place. IIRC, your engine has a wasted spark system, which means that _very_ high voltages are produced, because it has to spark 2 plugs at once.
If you've used "performance" parts that were designed for a 15 year old Vauxhall Nova, with a traditional ignition system, you could have cooked the leads within minutes of putting them on.
I know for a fact that my Mondeo (which has a problem with misfiring on the
2.0 engine) _requires_ Ford plug leads (maybe Bosch ones), because aftermarket ones aren't designed with the very high voltages involved, so any replacement is destroyed very quickly by arcing. You see newsgroup postings from people who've got a misfire under load, replaced the leads, and they've been OK for 30 minutes, and the misfire is back. You have to replace the plugs _and_ leads at the same time with OEM parts.
DON'T!
Just go and buy a fresh set of FIAT leads and FIAT plugs, the ones your engine was designed around. If you do, there'll be a 95% chance you'll come back and say "All my problems have gone".
No. You will probably find you have fitted the leads incorrectly. Are they touching parts of the engine - if so theya re getting very hot and this will bugger them quite quickly. A tiny little engine like that does NOT need performnace leads
Because they have all been exposed to the same conditions and are all the same age.
I've put some bosch leads on now. It has almost completely sorted the pinking and the car is very driveable, but it's still misfireing. It's booked in for a diagnostics on Friday.
Had a shit this morning and my arse hurts. My dad diagnosed the problem as the monsters that live in the toilet cistern biting my bum, but a mechanic reckons there are splinters on the toilter seat that means it needs skimming for £200. How difficult is it to remove a toilet seat? Do I need to switch off the water for the whole town?
To kill the monsters I went to Halfords but they didn't have any monster killer in stock, but the chap there has offered to sell me a bottle he has at home for £250. Is this the right sort of price?
I doubt it's related to the pain, but I had 16 pints of guiness last night and an extra hot vindaloo.
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