Help!!

[schlik]

yes another rogue petrol thread kinda.

i need lots of help tho.

car: felicia 1.3 spi n reg

last sat ngiht i filled my tank up with £15 of tesco std unleaded. there was about a £5 worth of week old esso in it prior to filling.

car run ok, but was a bit down on power for about 50 miles.

tuesday car started just with a splutter and grumble. poor idling, and occasional missing during accelleration. ignore it thinking its just the fact car needs a service, kinda over due one actually.

wed; rogue fuel reports on the news... strikes a chord with my symptoms. anyway, by now my £20 of fuel is down to the last dregs. try siphoning it off but no luck, just get fumes in my lungs *eww*

hunt for recepit. cant find (typical)

thursday i start car, and its very poor running, with misfiring and variable acceleration almost every 3 seconds. so i run car down till no fuel in tank (as i said id used almost of it all anyway) and put my spare petrol from about a month ago from my break-down petrol can. also incidentally esso std unleaded.

car seems to run much better. get to esso petrol station and put in £5 esso std unleaded, and within 5 miles, even worse misfiring, car is almost like a kangaroo. next opportunity i put in £10 of super unleaded. within 5 miles car now running a bit smoother, a la tuesday, with only intermittent misfiring, unless accelerating up hill in which case it was more often.

so my question is, is my lambda screwed, will some redex help, and if my lambda is knackered how do i check it. been told if i take it off, if its covered in a whitish substance its silicone and if only lightly soiled, it could be washed off with de-ionised water... ? how much of that is BS, and what can i do?

i cant find my receipt so i cant feasibley launch a claim agaisnt tesco, so i need to sort this the cheapest possible as car is only worht 600 at best, and darent go through insurance company (tesco!) cos my excess is £400!

if i have to replace the lambda, ill attempt it myself, but anyone got any good guides? help im poor ! (had my tyres stabbed, like a couple of other cars, sat night too, so that was £130)

[schlik]

must be far too complex for all you clever clogs out there then!

[pinkskud]

the o2 sencer should just skrew in/out. i would get a new one, then disconnect the battery for a bit (re-set ecu) and take it for a spin on the motoway.

thats what i would do but it is, in on way informed advice.

good luck
regards edd

[schlik]

i dont even know where the sensor is tho!

[fordfan]

Had a car in last week showing misfires on all 4 cylinders, the plugs were white and smelt odd - replaced them and all was OK.

The sensor is screwed into the exhaust just after the manifold.

[pinkskud]

Originally Posted by fordfan

The sensor is screwed into the exhaust just after the manifold.

yer, between the manifold and the cat.

[schlik]

right. investigations later on today if the weather holds out methinks.

certainly badly misfiring, is fine about 2000 rpm if i dont accelerate, but any acceleration until 3000rpm gets very juddery and makes the car a pig to actually handle, but then between 3200, and 5000 rpm its pretty smooth, i dunno if this is because its spinning with so much more momentum, any misfires dont affect it so much?!

[pinkskud]

Originally Posted by schlik

right. investigations later on today if the weather holds out methinks.

certainly badly misfiring, is fine about 2000 rpm if i dont accelerate, but any acceleration until 3000rpm gets very juddery and makes the car a pig to actually handle, but then between 3200, and 5000 rpm its pretty smooth, i dunno if this is because its spinning with so much more momentum, any misfires dont affect it so much?!

mine you, my old 1.3 spi did all of the above without the help of dodgy fuel.

[daverapid]

Check out the ignition system first, the coil is prone to failure on these, as is the carbon brush in the centre of the distributor cap. Either of those things, or indeed faulty plugs and leads will give your car the symptoms you're getting.