Hi everyone, It's been very informative reading all the advice and very helpful "maintenance guides". I've already used the spark plug change for 2.6/3.2 by markjay
My problem started a couple of weeks ago when the engine light came on when I was on the 4 miles to go before you have no fuel! As I was only ¼mile from fuel station I went in and put just under ½ tank in and when I restated on engine light, so I put it down to possibly gunk from bottom of tank, as I have never got quite that close to empty before!
This week the engine light flashed off and on when the car was under load going up hill and went off again, there appeared to be a miss-firing as this was going on. I phone the local garage, which is run by a rally mechanic, who has worked on cars for the last 50 years, possibly longer! I was told to bring it in when I was passing next and he would run the diagnostic on it (I've got a "My Naff Code Reader" but have lost the driver disc for it, having wiped my laptop and started with less dross installed
) on Wednesday I had to go to Llanduno and on the way home the engine light came on constantly and there was an obvious loss of power and miss-firing so I called in to the garage and waited for 45 mins while he was on the phone, before he put the diagnostic on and started her up, initially it wasn't showing a fault as it was running smoothly but after revving up to 3K it came up with Miss-Fire 2 & 4. Simple he said coil packs gone, not cheep but easy to fit!
Luckily for me I found a new unused one on eBay with a buy it now or offer. so I made an offer and (Thank you David) it was accepted and sent along with a copy of markjay's instructions after speaking with David on the phone.
So I spent 5 hours following the instructions (I've got a knackered Back which hampers things at the moment
) and have taken coil pack off (see picture) dried out 4 & 6 before taking plugs out of all 3 and giving them a good clean and gap checked and put back in, I didn't have any new plugs!! Once this was done and coil pack fitted, put the important parts back where they should be, but leaving the cover off the loom as I will have to do it again when or if I fit new spark plugs. Dependent on what your collective views are to the photo that I attach.
My initial thought was oh
head gasket, although reading all the posts here it's considered to be a rare thing to occur. I have an oil leak I can't find oil light comes on every 8-1000 miles, not noticeable in the exhaust and not leaving any marks on the ground where parked. It's all over the front of the engine courtesy of the belts etc, the coolant level is the same as its been for the past 14 months. Prior to I had a largish water leaking problem that turned out to be a leaking Vacuum heater control valve and that took some finding! So I'm thinking more hoping that that may account for the state of the coil pack
Slight problem can't attach the photo
will post and attach when I find out how!
(Incidentally, I also copper-slipped the thread and put in with extension bar on plug socket, having been taught to turn anticlockwise until you feel the thread dip down then gently start putting back, with markjay's note of any more than finger pressure and you are looking at crossing the threads)
Thanks for your time reading this rather long winded account
Paul
Author
Topic: Is this a Head Gasket problem? (Read 1049 times)