Problem diagnosis... Escort plugs
Discussion
Hi,
Visited my folks at the weekend and helped my brother with his car. It's an Escort 1.6 LX, L-reg, DOHC injection jobbie.
It'd been missing quite badly under acceleration so we changed the plugs. Sure enough this was the cause of the problem. They were badly fouled - lots of carbon around the electrodes but also quite a a lot of oil round the threads of the plugs.
Car doesn't smoke on start, loud peddle or gear change.
Even after the change the engine feels pretty lifeless - pickup is pretty naff but I'm more used to performance behaviour so that might be normal!
Not knowing much about this engine, what is the likely cause of the state of the plugs?
Visited my folks at the weekend and helped my brother with his car. It's an Escort 1.6 LX, L-reg, DOHC injection jobbie.
It'd been missing quite badly under acceleration so we changed the plugs. Sure enough this was the cause of the problem. They were badly fouled - lots of carbon around the electrodes but also quite a a lot of oil round the threads of the plugs.
Car doesn't smoke on start, loud peddle or gear change.
Even after the change the engine feels pretty lifeless - pickup is pretty naff but I'm more used to performance behaviour so that might be normal!
Not knowing much about this engine, what is the likely cause of the state of the plugs?
Does it use much oil (i.e. need topping much much)? Does it have good or poor fuel consumption?
Maybe at some point the oil was over-filled and it was vented into the throttle body. Check the oil level is ok and have a look at the plugs now and then to see how things go.
It might be that one of the rubber pipes has got blocked with detritus, or alternatively the catalyst may just be old and starting to break up. When it is cool, give it a tap with the handle of a screwdriver to see if you can hear any bits inside.
Maybe at some point the oil was over-filled and it was vented into the throttle body. Check the oil level is ok and have a look at the plugs now and then to see how things go.
It might be that one of the rubber pipes has got blocked with detritus, or alternatively the catalyst may just be old and starting to break up. When it is cool, give it a tap with the handle of a screwdriver to see if you can hear any bits inside.
If the oil is on the threads and not on the electrode i'd say it's an oil leak issue and the threads have picked it up as they've unscrewed through the oil.
Zetec's used to suffer from poor leads and high tension voltage tracking down the ceramic. Quite often if you only changed the plugs, you'll get a misfire about 1000 miles later.
a small amout of silicon grease in the lead helped to stop that.
A new set of plugs and leads costs buttons and can transform the drive quality.
Zetec's used to suffer from poor leads and high tension voltage tracking down the ceramic. Quite often if you only changed the plugs, you'll get a misfire about 1000 miles later.
a small amout of silicon grease in the lead helped to stop that.
A new set of plugs and leads costs buttons and can transform the drive quality.
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