Not Laughing Now

[ukkid35]

Previous trip to the Ring one of the coil packs fails, so I miss the track day.

I've now replaced both coil packs for brand new items, admittedly not premium brands.

Now at Calais en route to the Ring again, and as I arrive at the motel the car stars to misfire, exactly the same symptoms as when it ran on 7 cylinders when one coil pack failed earlier in the month.

I do have a spare Sagen (from a breakers yard Saxo) that I fitted to get me home a few weeks earlier, but I can't believe that one of the brand new coil packs has failed within a month.

Not amused at all.

[ukkid35]

Driven 350 miles today over several hours, including a quick stop at Spa where we nearly got stuck in a snow storm, and no misfire at all.

No idea what caused the issue last night, maybe I was too quick to assume it was a coil pack. Anyway the spare Sagem is still in the boot ready for the inevitable emergency.

TBH unlikely to be doing much driving tomorrow as the weather forecast is very poor.

[ukkid35]

FarmyardPants said:

That said my leads were quite old.

Thanks, could well be useful to others. My leads are less than 12 months old. In fact that is the underlying cause of my intense frustration: all the parts that may well be the underlying cause of various issues are 'brand new': Brake Disks, Suspension Bushes, HT leads, Coil packs, Spark Plugs.

How many parts do have have to replace TWICE to rule them out?

[ukkid35]

Car still working, weather far better than expected, just waiting for frost to burn off for the track to open, could end up being a good day after all.

[ukkid35]

[ukkid35]

Mr Cerbera said:

It is well known that I am an idiot but side-by-side comparison is my way of confirming probs. I'm in Lux and have ordered some new Bosch coil packs arriving by UPS today (theoretically) so if you wanna waste some time, contact me on (00 352) 621 497 325....

Thanks for the offer, much appreciated. I think I'm just going to have to order some branded coil packs and change them out again.

Car behaved well until 2:30pm, then started misfiring while on a lap with a passenger. We were chatting in the car park and ended up flipping a coin to see which car we would go out in. He was otherwise very impressed, not expected anything quite as raw. He was in an 02 Carrera 4 which I didn't go out in because I tried to diagnose the misfire. After reseating HT leads the issue vanished, and I did another couple of laps without any problems. Who knows whether that was anything to do with it!

[ukkid35]

Jhonno said:

So it is when it gets hot? Sounds like weakness in the ignition system..

Exactly - seems to happen after the engine's been running for a few hours, but still fairly intermittent.

[ukkid35]

Just to finish off here are some great photos from Jochen and co at Frozenspeed

[ukkid35]

Hesitated fitting it for some time, checked with others about their experience and was reassured, but always carry the full size plate with me just in case. Must help with airflow and cooling.

[ukkid35]

tofts said:

Also, what size is that plate, a 3/4? It does look better!

It's 12 x 3, not sure whether that is the same as 3/4, perhaps not.

[ukkid35]

Before and After