Water Soaked Spark Plugs

[Geminidawn]

He's a trained arse then

FFS this is not at all difficuly DIY jobbie.....

IF you really think you have water in the system

• Empty tank completely, and have it dry out / blow in air line etc
  
• Blow fuel pump over with airline
  
• Blow air line down pipe between tank and fuel filter (removed)
  
• Remove return pipe to tank, extend place end in bucket
  
• Blow air line down pipe from other side of filter, this will empty into bucket
  
• Fit new filter,
  
• Reassemble tank
  
• Fill tank with NEW Petrol
  
• Switch on and allow pump to circulate fuel
  

That will remove 99% of water..........

• Remove plugs, disconnect Fuel pump
  
• Crank engine - this will remove most of the water in the system
  
• refit new plugs, genuine cap leads and new genuine rotor arm
  

Up to this point its easy peasy and you don't need a trained mechanic arse to do this

Start it,

if not starting then go through diagnostic manual as in Tech Forum and post up here how its gone

Once started add one container of FORTE INJECTOR FLUSH to half a tank of fuel, run low before you refill

Nige

Thanks Nige, I'm already half way there, I'll let you know how I get on.

[kiall]

am confused

never mind the water in the tank atm your not getting a spark with the plug on the engine block ?

dry and clean it to see if you get a spark clean coil etc etc, get that sorted first then clean the tank and system out of water

but if water in the tank like your describing is alot, is your engine oil emulsified , mayo around the oil filler , loss of engine coolant ?

[Geminidawn]

am confused

never mind the water in the tank atm your not getting a spark with the plug on the engine block ?

dry and clean it to see if you get a spark clean coil etc etc, get that sorted first then clean the tank and system out of water

but if water in the tank like your describing is alot, is your engine oil emulsified , mayo around the oil filler , loss of engine coolant ?

No, The oil filler was one of the first areas I checked after finding water on the spark plugs but it's clean TG

[JimAttrill]

If you think you have water in your petrol which is causing misfiring and bad running, the best cure I have come across is to throw a handful of napthalene balls in the tank. These are otherwise known as 'moth balls' When they first introduced ethanol into the petrol here the ethanol, being hygroscopic, caused a lot of problems with water condensing out into float chambers. You get funny looks from petrol pump attendants when you put in the moth balls, but that wouldn't worry you in the UK as they are extinct. For all I know the moth balls improve your MPG as well, maybe I should advertise them and sell at a huge profit

[Geminidawn]

Purged the system thoroughly.

Replaced the plugs and leads

Still nothing!

Got a guy in to test the electrics. In his opinion the fault is somewhere around the fuel injection system, something in the ECU may be shorted. Is that possible?

He will not have the time to look at it again until the end of the week

It's like a dominoe effect in the wrong direction. I need a working vehicle and all I got is this 1.5 ton brick!

[FridgeFreezer]

Look in the tech archive for EFi fault finding guides, Nige has posted some excellent PDF's - work through the guide methodically and you should sort it easily enough.

[ThreeSheds]

Purged the system thoroughly.

Replaced the plugs and leads

Still nothing!

Got a guy in to test the electrics. In his opinion the fault is somewhere around the fuel injection system, something in the ECU may be shorted. Is that possible?...

Some thoughts:

1. MOST breakdowns (IIRC the AA quote 90%?) with petrol engines are electrical - get the sparks working and then worry about the water.

2. IMHO you can't drain the tank fully without removing it...

3. IHINTBHB (I Hope I'm Not Talking Baloney Here But ) I think that the sparks system in a 3.9EFI is independent of the ECU - ie it should spark without the ECU although the ECU needs a signal from the sparking system to know when to fire the injectors. There is an amplifier module either on the dizzy or on the coil, but that is the sum of the electronics in the sparks side.

Check for dirt/corrosion in all of the sparking side (including: inside the dizzy, under the thin cover, all the thin LT leads and connectors) check that there is power where and when there should be, and if none of that gets it going then (if you can) change the coil and/or amplifier pack for known good items...

Best of luck with it - hope you fix it soon

TwoSheds

[Geminidawn]

Look in the tech archive for EFi fault finding guides, Nige has posted some excellent PDF's - work through the guide methodically and you should sort it easily enough.

Thanks for the tip. I've printed off the documents, thanks to Nige once again for taking the trouble to post them I'm sure they'll be of great help.

[FridgeFreezer]

Yes, the ignition system is separate from the EFi - the -ve of the coil (or a signal from the amp on some models) is connected to the ECU via a white/black wire, if this signal isn't there the ecu will play dead (no sparks = engine not turning as far as the ECU is concerned) so start basic, there's a lot more common and simple stuff to get through before looking at the ECU.

Oh and if your amp is dead you can replace it with a GM one for £25 which will handle silly big coils, see here.