Insignia VXR misfiring

[14-7]

Hi all,

My Insignia VXR last month started misfiring under acceleration to 60-70mph+. It also every now and again stunk of petrol when it was started from hot ie, being on the motorway or quick country lanes for an hour or so.

Took it to the dealers and they plugged it in and said it needed spark plugs. Despite me arguing that a 1.5 year old car with less than 40,000 on the clock shouldn't need new plugs they insisted it was wear and tear and charged £190.

Well today the engine once more has stared misfiring when started up after a bit of a run (300 miles since plugs done) and really smelling of petrol to the point I switched it off and check under the bonnet for a fuel leak. The misfire cleared after a few minutes but has anyone heard of anything like this on them?

[browno]

Having run a Vectra VXR for 7 years I know the issues they can have with misfiring due to plugs - they do need to be clean, but also (and importantly) gapped a bit tighter than standard, particularly if your car is mapped - I did mine to about 0.8mm and this worked well - but I did replace mine 2-3 times too (possibly a little OTT, but it kept it running sweetly). The other possible issues beyond that then fall to coil packs, boost sensors or (worst case, and I believe less common on the insignia) stretched timing chains...

Might be worth an ask on VXR Online as there is a lot of knowledge over there.