Sounds like running on 3 cylinders...?

[Verity]

Hello my lovelies,

My dear puma is not very well! What happen was......

took her to Ford main stealers for well deserved full service (which is absolute joke - £195 for new sparks, oil, filter and new air filter[one in her was only 2 months old and I did mention this] and a visual health check!), have done 68 miles and now she ain't well at all. Soooooo this is more than likely a coincidence but it still really, really, really annoyed me (want to use expletives but don't want to break the rules!).
Car was fine upon start up and drove like she always does, but after approx. 4 miles she started to 'cough'/misfire. When I pulled up to busy junction, she was really spluttering and then BANG! she produced one of the best backfires I have ever heard! Scared the living sh1t out of me and has prob blown my exhaust to smithereens! Anyhow, now I have no power or able to have any kind of acceleration - she sounds like she is running on 3 cylinders. when she is just idling she sounds perfectly normal but the moment you touch the accelerator she splutters/misfires and struggles. I have not noticed any smoke, no warning lights, nothing. I figured that perhaps the garage minions had not put a spark plug in correctly or had not attached an HT lead but they seem fine (need new fairing bolts now as well). They did say that only 2 litres of oil came out of her but there is no evidence of oil leak anywhere. Does anyone have any ideas as I am scratching my head - other than sounds and lack of power there is no indication that anything is wrong with her!
HT leads?
Ignition coil?
Head gasket????
She was driving perfect before her service!

Many thanks
Verity :-( :|

 

[Dal]

HT leads on the coil pack ok?

If only 2 litres of oil came out I can imagine that your bottom end bearings have gone pop. Mine sounded like a back of spanners when mine went.

Sad times *cry*

 

[YOG]

↑↑↑↑↑↑
What he said!
When did you last check the oil before it went in for service? Normal volume is 4.62 litres.

 

[joedeltahf]

air leak or throttle posistion sensor or maf?

 

[DOH]

As it is so soon after changing the plugs, it is extremely likely that 1 of the spark plug leads has been damaged ,whilst trying to remove it from the spark plug.They effectively weld them selves onto the spark plug and sometimes despite twisting/rotating the lead around the plug, they can still break when trying to remove. So check that first. Any person who waits for the red oil warning lamp before checking or adding oil is being very foolish! You should religiously check the oil dipstick at least once a week, whilst also topping up the under sized windscreen washer bottle. :thumbs:

 

[red]

Get the basics checked on the ignition before looking any further. Coil, leads and plugs.

 

[Verity]

Thank you everyone for your replies.

I spent yesterday evening trying to get a little hand held diagnostic machine to English (not easy when it appears to be in Farsi!) and it was coming up with - eventually(stored code) "Cylinder 1 misfire" and also pending code was something like "System too lean Bank 1". The first bit I understand but could I have some help understanding the second bit? Something is too weak??

I swapped spark plugs around but it still came up with same reading, though at one point it said cylinder 4 misfire! Bit confused as at this point I had only swapped 1 and 2 around! Anyhow it went back to previous statement and has stayed like that.
So thinking it is HT leads, though from the outside they look perfectly normal. Have had a nosey and have ordered a pack of sparks,leads and coil, so hopefully this will cover the bases.

I am worried about the oil though. It has been 4 wks since I checked and I had to top her up then, which is one of the reasons I decided to take her to the stealers - to see if they would help. Nope, they are effin useless and I have given up banging my head on that particular wall! No oil warning lamp thank goodness as that means I'm a really bad Mother! Also I check often enough as I do plenty of driving around. Bottom end bearings huh? Never dealt with that. Or could it be piston rings? Cant say I've noticed any smoke but usually I'm looking out the front!
End bearing sounds big. Is that a specialist job or is it something that can be manageable with a collection of knowledge from a group of car hobbyists( or weekend warriors)! Any help and/or advice would be very much appreciated.
Many thanks

Verity

 

[joedeltahf]

mixture too lean is an air leak/sucking air this will cause spluttering, misfire poor throtle response etc, have you had a look at the 3 smalls tubes under the inlet manifold for splits

 

[tuonokid]

Getting cyl 1 and cyl 4 msgs strikes me it's the coilpack on the way out.
Barry

 

[748]

Yep, I'd go for the coilpack first.
The Puma uses the 'wasted spark' ignition system...2 coils in the coil pack, one for cylinders 1 and 4, the other for cylinders 2 and 3.
This is why removing each plug in turn like we used to do does not always tell you which cylinder is not firing (think about it).
One faulty coil would give intermittent fault codes on 2 of the cylinders.
Paul

 

[Dal]

^^ Great advice! ^^

 

[Verity]

Again many, many thanks and great advice, thank you all so much. Will work my way through the problems....... :?

Verity

 

[Verity]

At long last! Apologies for the lengthy delay - very busy doing all sorts of things!

Anyhow, new coil pack fitted and 3 sets of HT leads! 1st set of leads were described as for puma but the connection from lead to coil pack was wrong - on the pack I have, the chimney's are short and stocky where as the connecters on the leads were tall and skinny. 2nd set where like skipping ropes!, they were sooooo long! I had leads hanging out all over the place. The 3rd set were spot on apart from the number 1 lead was too short and no matter how much I tried, I just couldn't get it to go from plug to coilpack.
What a pain in the rear end!!
Managed to get a set from eurocarparts ( :twisted: ) from next to nothing and spot on! Can't believe the issues I had!

Whilst car was off the road, I did rear axel bushes(lots of swearing and referring to very handy 'How To' guide), outer CV boot (I found this very hard!) and fuel filter. When I was messing at the back of the car, I noticed the dreaded rot. The inner rear wheel arch, the brake line attachment and the chassis were knackered!
Time to undress her!
Welded with stainless steel and painted with rustbuster fe 123 and then painted with epoxy mastic. then put back arch covering. On the passengerside I have similar problems but I have a problem - the petrol tank!

Does anyone have and hints and tips as to the removal of tank and the pipes?

Many thanks
Verity

 

[Verity]

Tis ok all! Ive found a section on fuel tanks!

Verity

 

[Stavros34]

You replaced rear axle bushes, outer cv boot, removed the fuel tank, carried out welding but paid Ford £195 for a service? !