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[star_whites]

My 1999 3.0 started with a missfire yesterday. I stripped the plenum off and could not find a fault with the coil or leads, however it had used a little water.

Ive driven in 15 miles to work and it has missfired all the way when below 30mph and on arrival I popped the bonnet to find the headertank empty, so Im guessing it is leaking direct into the cylinder as there is no water in the oil.

Im only wanting this to last another month as I repair the 2.6 I have bought but Im guessing that Im going to have to do it anyway.

My problem is I dont have a V6 Timing Kit, does anyone have one I can borrow for a few days?

[Cliffo B]

I have one,and will be happy for you to borrow it,I travel your way from time to time,so PM me your address and I should be able to do a drop off in the next few days an evening call would be best for me.About your water loss problem,I've had the same,a week or 2 back and it turned out to be the HBV at fault,all though I did'nt have any missfireing probs, yes at 1st I thought it was the heads

[Cliffo B]

Also just thought, do you have a Oof 'how to' dvd ? If not can bring that along also

[star_whites]

Thanks Cliff, I have the DVD as I used it last time. Will pm Details.

I think its the head as the missfire is only at low end and there was plenty of condensation when stood.

I am going to have a good look round for a water leak prior to stripping just to make sure as its rather an expensive repair for the same of a couple of weeks as thinking of breaking her anyway due to her age.

[star_whites]

Ok heres a question for you technical guys. If the water is seeping through the headgasket into one of the cylinders, would the spark plug still be carboned up or would it be clean??

Just a thought as they were all carboned up like normal??

[MutantCav]

Have you tried cleaning up the spark plugs? Could it just be the HBV leaking?

[Kevin Wood]

V6 head gasket failures are rare, and normally the water jacket leaks to the outside world without the fire rings being damaged. I would be inclined to do more diagnosis before stripping it.

Have a good look for external signs of coolant leakage, particularly round the back of the engine, the heater bypass valve and inside the valley where the thermostat and oil cooler plate are candidates.
Pressure test the system and see if you can spot any leaks.
Might be worth checking the compression and also checking for bubbles rising through the coolant with the header tank cap removed.
Also check the plug wells in case they have filled with water or oil.

Kevin

[star_whites]

I checked the sparkplugs last night and they appeared ok but had a layer of carbon as normal. Thinking about it was damp inside the v but didnt investigate any further due to the rain. It only started using water during my run out on Sunday and that's when the misfire started as well.

[star_whites]

Well I've just drove it home and it misfired all the way home on low revs but as soon as it went above 3000 revs it was fine. It also lost a full header of water but at no point overheated and no sign of water in the oil.

[star_whites]

If it was just misfire wouldn't the enginE management light come on??

[MutantCav]

Nope...rarely ever does if the spark plugs/leads or dispack need doing unless it triggers off other things...

[star_whites]

Well I think that's just confirmed that. I changed leads and plugs and put it back together. As soon as I fired it up it's still miss firing and theres exhaust gases coming out of header tank so I think it's definatly the head that's gone!

[MutantCav]

Have you changed the dispack? How much do you want to sell it for? lol

[star_whites]

No I haven't changed the dispack but I cannot find a water leak. Plus the exhaust gas in the header tank points to head or am I incorrect?

And yes she will be for sale as soon as I get my 2.6
Sorted!

[Teebee]

This will sound like heresy but I had a leak from the rear bank and put a can of Radweld in. Not something I would do on a car I planned to keep but if you are planning to dispose of it shortly it might just keep you running.

Won't help with the misfire though, as they happened at the same time maybe it's leaking water onto the coil pack?