Engine problem

[gareth h]

Morning guys, Pulled into work this morning and the idle became very erratic, went for a spin round the block and the engine light came on, it appears to be misfiring and I thought I could smell exhaust fumes in the car (although could have been wrong).
Anybody have any ideas what could be causing it? The car is going to picador next week to see if they can get to the bottom of a water ingress problem, but I've got a few trips planned this week.

[wayne marsh]

Have you been to Tesco's or Morrisons? Dodgy fuel?

[o.versteer]

Dodgy fuel, as per the recent well-publicised Tesco/Morrisons etc. problems? Easy to rule out if you don't fill up at supermarkets I suppose.

[gareth h]

I did wonder, filled up at a shell garage and have done 25 miles since, do you think that could be a possibility?

[uk hsv]

Plug lead off/broken.........sounds a good bet?

[Le Sarthe]

I would go with Paul.

Had several HT leads go and the symptons you describe are bang on the money.

Wait for the engine to cool unless you have teh mother of all oven mits and with the engine running simply unclip each lead off the top of the engine in turn and see if the engine changes. If it does not then there is a fair chance that the lead is either broken or not connected onto the spark plug.

[gareth h]

Thanks, I'll check that first, just had a thermal imaging camera delivered and been looking for something to practice/play on, I guess I should be able to see the cold cylinder.

[gareth h]

Turned out to be the hose from the air meter which had come loose.