S1 111s Ignition Problem
Discussion
Hi all. Having a bit of a nightmare with the ignition system on my 111s at the moment. Brief history, got the car in November and its normally been fine. Recently it started misfiring when accelerating hard. This gradually got worse (probably due to the car spending a few nights out in the rain) until yesterday I decided to do something about it. So I took all the leads out and cleaned them up with WD40 and dropped some kitchen towel down the spark plug bores to try and get any moisture out. That didn't seem to do the trick so I decided to nip out to Halfords and get some new spark plugs. They only had Champion ones, so I got a set of them. I popped them in today. Gapped correctly (I beleive at 0.9mm). All seemed great, misfire gone altogether and the engine generally felt far smoother. So I was a happy bunny until a little later on when giving the car a few beans the MIL light started flashing. I backed off but the MIL light then came on permanently and the car sounded like it was running on 3 cylinders, possibly in "safe mode." Switched off the ignition and restarted and all was well again. Set off back home sedately and all was good again. Thought I'd see if it happened again and sure enough, as soon as you've been at high revs for a little while, it does the same thing.
Unfortunately, I've got a 200 mile journey on Monday and don't fancy doing it on the back of an AA truck so what can I try next?
Proper (NGK I think) plugs?
Clean old plugs and put them back in as the lesser of two evils?
Some sort of ECU reset?
By pass MIL (this sounds dangerous)?
Any other ideas?
Unfortunately, I've got a 200 mile journey on Monday and don't fancy doing it on the back of an AA truck so what can I try next?
Proper (NGK I think) plugs?
Clean old plugs and put them back in as the lesser of two evils?
Some sort of ECU reset?
By pass MIL (this sounds dangerous)?
Any other ideas?
Sounds like the wrong sort of plugs. I tried a temporary fix with non-titanium tipped plugs (Bosch - MGF spec) while on tour this year and, while they worked for a short while, the misfire soon returned. I'm told the VVC engine in particular is very sensitive to having the right plugs. Also, isn't the correct gap 0.3mm?
Gruffy said:
Sounds like the wrong sort of plugs. I tried a temporary fix with non-titanium tipped plugs (Bosch - MGF spec) while on tour this year and, while they worked for a short while, the misfire soon returned. I'm told the VVC engine in particular is very sensitive to having the right plugs. Also, isn't the correct gap 0.3mm?
Oddly enough, the car isn't misfiring at all now, in fact its running better than ever in general but the MIL obviously doesn't think so. Any idea where I could get hold of the correct spec plugs around Birmingham on a Sunday? Worst case scenario, I'll put the old ones back in. A misifiring car is preferable to one that'll resort to limp mode as soon as I'm at motorway speeds.Not sure about the gap, I read 0.9mm, which handily, is what the plugs were at out of the packet. Anyone know the definitive answer? If they are out by 0.6mm I'm sure that would be more than enough to confuse the MIL.
If the engine detects a misfire it will revert to limp mode and you're down to two cylinders. Any length of time like that and you'll fry the coil packs too. My advice would be to drop a post on SELOC for help in finding local plugs. If anybody can help you they're most likely to be on SELOC. If you can't get them in time then I'd rather rather drop £30 on Easycar than risk further damage and the arse-ache of a breakdown 200 miles from home.
Gruffy said:
If the engine detects a misfire it will revert to limp mode and you're down to two cylinders. Any length of time like that and you'll fry the coil packs too. My advice would be to drop a post on SELOC for help in finding local plugs. If anybody can help you they're most likely to be on SELOC. If you can't get them in time then I'd rather rather drop £30 on Easycar than risk further damage and the arse-ache of a breakdown 200 miles from home.
Cheers for your help. I actually posted this same question on Seloc at the same time but I haven't had any replies. I know of one large car parts place that should be open today so I'll have a look there before doing anything else.Re: driving the car. With the old plugs, I could drive around the misfire by avoiding full throttle, so I'd not be too concerned about using them for a long trip. Unfortunately, my 200 mile trip is to return home to Newcastle so the car will have to come with me one way or another.
Cheers mate. Quick update. Whipped the new plugs out and cleaned up the old ones and put them back in. I also took the liberty of cleaning up any connectors I could get my hands on whilst I was there. Just been for a quick blast and 
All is well with the world again. When I'm back in Newcastle I'll get hold of some replacement NGK plugs as a precaution. One thing I did notice, when I took the plugs out for the first time, one was very loose in its housing. I wonder if that was causing a problem, otherwise I'll put it down to moisture. I'll get the plug cover sealed up ASAP.
Cheers again.
All is well with the world again. When I'm back in Newcastle I'll get hold of some replacement NGK plugs as a precaution. One thing I did notice, when I took the plugs out for the first time, one was very loose in its housing. I wonder if that was causing a problem, otherwise I'll put it down to moisture. I'll get the plug cover sealed up ASAP.Cheers again.
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