Missfire
Author
Discussion

si_swain

Original Poster:

8 posts

261 months

Tuesday 24th August 2004
quotequote all
Has anybody else had problems recently with there car miss firing really badly. I was sort of putting it down to the huge amount of rain we had last couple of days. However, even after 1/2 hour drive it still misses when revs are below 3-4K....any ideas?
Did have exhaust replaced last week and havn't had problems till today!

rfoster

1,482 posts

278 months

Wednesday 25th August 2004
quotequote all
Mine was misfiring recently and the cause was water in one of the spark plug wells. So take the cover off and pull each plug out in turn and check for water. Doesn't cost anything to do!

tom_burnley

163 posts

268 months

Wednesday 25th August 2004
quotequote all
Yep - seconded...

Water in Spark plug wells....

Try vaseline around the seal of the spark plug cover!

:-)

gadgeroonie

5,362 posts

260 months

Wednesday 25th August 2004
quotequote all
pull the plug leads off one at a time and give them a good dose of WD40 - should stop any problems

si_swain

Original Poster:

8 posts

261 months

Wednesday 25th August 2004
quotequote all
Cheers guys, i did suspect that! Just seemed little strange that after 1/2 hour it was still doing it. Drove in to work this morning, no probs at all. Suppose it just had time to dry out a little.

tucan

3 posts

260 months

Thursday 26th August 2004
quotequote all
Help
I've taken the plastic cover off the top of the engine and am trying to get at the plugs? Do the lead caps just pull off or do they screw off?
Thanks

pjevo

70 posts

278 months

Thursday 26th August 2004
quotequote all
Yep - get it all the time after rain and mastered the art of fixing it.
What you do is get the engine to 80C and then switch off for a minute or so (remove key).When you switch back on and restart - bingo!
I think the engine diagnostics pick up on misfire, maybe knock sensor and goes into strange mode. Resetting it solves problem .
This is of course not the solution to fixing the problem which I should image means providing some protection to water ingress in electrics!

GaryDVO

432 posts

262 months

Friday 27th August 2004
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Same here.
I used to leave a rubber car mat over the engine when left out in the rain.

What ever you do don’t forget about it and drive off. When you stop it slips onto the manifold and smokes like Dot Cotton.

Thanks for the tips on prevention. One tub of Vaseline, WD40 and bye bye to the rubber mat


>> Edited by GaryDVO on Friday 27th August 09:41

gregmund

139 posts

277 months

Friday 27th August 2004
quotequote all
Also worth checking the distributor cap contacts & rotor arm.
I had these symptoms and both had become corroded with the damp atmosphere. A quick clean with wet & dry, light squirt of WD & good as new.

dragstar

3,924 posts

274 months

Friday 27th August 2004
quotequote all
Misfiring is much like anal sex

Gentleman, let me elaborate:

Both tend to occur during or immediately after a downpour (rain and the period), both are things that shouldnt be happening and finally both involve the liberal smearing of vasaline.

Indeed, the analogy is striking

im back from my holiday...prague is heaven on earth

>> Edited by dragstar on Friday 27th August 15:07

si_swain

Original Poster:

8 posts

261 months

Friday 27th August 2004
quotequote all
Cheers for the advice guys.....time to out that vaseline to some use i thinks!!