Help required on mis fire

TSF · Post by **TSF** » Tue Feb 27, 2007 1:41 pm

Hi Lads,

Wonder if anyone could point me in the right direction on this one......

My car had not been started for 6 weeks and it is kept outside.,... rain snow etc, unfortunately the battery was flat when I tried to start it so took off the earth lead and put on the charger. Started the car and took it out the road..... After it warmed up I found it cutting out and miss firing the rev counter would be sitting at 3k then drop to 1k then few seconds later back up to 3k?

I think this must be an electrical problem rather than a fuel one? Have you got any idea where I could start??????

Cheers
Eddie

tuscan_thunder · Post by **tuscan_thunder** » Tue Feb 27, 2007 2:00 pm

new battery

thinfourth · Post by **thinfourth** » Tue Feb 27, 2007 2:24 pm

Don't know if this is an elise problem but check the plugs as they might be wet common with a 7

robin · Post by **robin** » Tue Feb 27, 2007 2:43 pm

If it's an S1 then you very likely have moisture inside the spark plug wells - as the car heats up this will evaporate and condense again causing somewhat erratic behaviour of the type you describe.

Remove the spark plug cover, plugs and leads and take somewhere that you can leave it to dry. Cover the engine with a tarpaulin or similar if you cannot leave the car under cover in the meanwhile. *NOTE* if you do this you must make sure no water gets into the bores - if you cannot be sure you should crank the engine for a while with the plugs still removed before refitting plugs - this makes sure there is no (or nearly no) moisture in the bores - water doesn't compress and can damage your engine.

Then once it's all dry and on a dry day refit plugs and leads but not the cover - get engine good and hot, then fit cover. Some people advise using a silicone sealant to seal the cover to the engine to avoid moisture ingress - I never bothered to do this, but it does depend on how well your cover fits.

The S2 has a much better system for protecting the top of the engine from water

Cheers,
Robin

thinfourth · Post by **thinfourth** » Tue Feb 27, 2007 3:06 pm

% minutes with duct tape and my plugwells have never filled up again

TSF · Post by **TSF** » Tue Feb 27, 2007 4:55 pm

Thanks Robin, and the rest of the lads.

I will make a start to this and see if it helps. The car has been outside in all kinds of very wet weather, so could easly be the cause.

I will keep you posted.

Cheers
Eddie

Titanium S1 111S (gla) · Post by **Titanium S1 111S (gla)** » Tue Feb 27, 2007 5:44 pm

Had the same problem with my s1 a while back. Take off the cover and leads â€“ do not remove plus â€“ speak nicely to misses and borrow hair dryer. Spend five minutes drying out the plug holes. Give the plug ends of the leads a quick blast while at it. Good squirt round with WD 40 and put back together

.

Alternative approach â€“ wait till misses out â€“ borrow without asking and follow as above. Just make sure that you donâ€™t leave oily figure prints on hire dryer (they always notice that

).

Just waiting for one of the tecy guys to explain why my approach is likely to make the engine explode.

r055 · Post by **r055** » Tue Feb 27, 2007 5:49 pm

Titanium S1 111S (gla) wrote: Just waiting for one of the tecy guys to explain why my approach is likely to make the engine explode.

robin · Post by **robin** » Tue Feb 27, 2007 8:10 pm

Only reason to remove plugs is to make sure they are completely clean and dry - it's hard to blow hot air down a hole that is sealed at the end and (try blowing a piece of paper into a bottle) so you can leave moisture trapped.

I agree it's a bit belt and braces and you're right that using the hairdryer will work too, especially if you don't get caught.

Cheers,
Robin

Titanium S1 111S (gla) · Post by **Titanium S1 111S (gla)** » Tue Feb 27, 2007 8:27 pm

Agreed, I actually took the plugs out after stage one and gave them a rub with T-Cut then acetone to get the slight surface rust and grease off.

TSF · Post by **TSF** » Tue Feb 27, 2007 10:31 pm

A hair dryer eh

It has been raining all day here so have not had the chance to try any thing

but will have a go I'm sure now that this will be the problem.

The wifeâ€™s hair dryer is black so maybe she would not see my greasy finger prints

well not until she put on the war paint.........

I'll keep you all posted.
Cheers again lads
Eddie.

robin · Post by **robin** » Wed Feb 28, 2007 2:36 am

TSF wrote: The wifeâ€™s hair dryer is black so maybe she would not see my greasy finger prints well not until she put on the war paint.........

I'll keep you all posted.
Cheers again lads
Eddie.

We're especially interested in whether or not you get caught, and if you do, how she takes it

Robin

Dominic · Post by **Dominic** » Wed Feb 28, 2007 11:09 am

Some fresh petrol will prob help too.

Petrol goes off, especially if left sitting about for weeks / months.

TSF · Post by **TSF** » Fri Mar 02, 2007 12:32 am

Guess who never got caught

The reason for this as after I took it out for a spin its own engine heat has done the the trip, so no need to steel the one that must be obeyed hair dryer

Been up to Perth today and not even a splutter

Thamks for all the advise could not of been as bad as I was saying

or just lucky.

Many thanks Cheers
Eddie

robin · Post by **robin** » Fri Mar 02, 2007 12:48 am

You should at least look at making the sealing better on the engine cover to prevent a re-run when it gets damp again.

Cheers,
Robin

[Or risk getting caught next time

]