Thought it was the end...

Hello all.

So, last night the following things were spinning round my head: "Well, I can sell the doors easily, cos they're good, and the alternator's recent so worth a bit, and the battery..."

Yep, the Panda had broken down the night before giving a friend a lift home. Came off a roundabout in 2nd gear at medium revs and an almighty rattling started coming from the engine. It was pitch black and all I could see was oil, but the rocker gasket had been leaking anyway. Called my brother who turned up in his van and gave me the best towing service in the world to get home (3 or 4 miles).

Ok, I thought, this is something oil related - either there's not enough in there due to the leak, something's got blocked, or maybe something even more sinister has resulted. I was ready to tackle the car yesterday but had another heap of stress unloaded onto me that morning so after taking the airbox off I shut the bonnet and went back in.

My mind continued to pickle.

Today, though, I went a-tacklin'. Dropped the oil first, and there's was loads, so this wasn't a cause for concern. Weekly top ups have kept it running sweet. Great. So I decided to take the rocker cover off and get the gasket sorted.

And then I saw it. One of the spark plugs had worked its way loose. Strange, unfathomable even, but such a pleasing result. Luckily I killed the engine as soon as I heard the rattle. Called Fiat and I'm getting an official rocker cover gasket - third party ones just don't seem to do the job. There's a small recess on the manifold side that a non-Fiat gasket doesn't appear to cater for, thus resulting in a poor fit and a leak. At the time I had no other options so put it on anyway and kept a rigorous eye on the oil level, and I'll be sure to let you all know how the official item fairs.

Good news at last. Seems like nothing can stop these cars from soldiering on.


(Click for big)

Helicoil time by any chance?
Rgds.

Could be, yeah - won't know until tomorrow when I've had a proper look.

Scary moment, but sounds like an easy fix! The beast lives on..

Cheers,

Plug

Happened to a MK1 Astra I had many years ago, infact it was the morning I passed out of Hendon. For no reason the spark plug got loose, didn't have anything to use to tighten it other than my hand at the time so when it came to the pass out parade those white gloves excellently hid my oil engrained hands

Didn't require a helcoil had just worked loose ?

Well I changed the plugs about 3 months ago and seeing as it was me who put them in, it's entirely possible one wasn't tight enough. It's the 3rd plug along (left to right) as you face the car. I've changed the plugs every 6k or so and the plug that jumped out has never felt as secure as the others anyway.

For future reference, an official rocker cover gasket from Fiat (Mangoletsi anyway) is £6.53 + vat.

Would def get it sorted as if it lets go on a compression stroke it will probably go straight through the bonnet....

I'm getting a bit worried here. This isn't a common problem is it

Not by any stretch of the imagination, NO. Has happened once in my lifetime and on a different make of car..

So can I confirm this is likly to be due to a spark plug not been screwed into place at the right torque and is not likly to be due to a defect of the car.

Doubt it as I def put the plugs in correctly and I'm sure that Sam did as well, a bit like the bermuda triangle

I did a search online and it happens to all sorts of cars, and seems to be entirely random. I don't know if it makes any difference but my use of the car has changed from 3-5 times a week to once or twice. Don't see why this would cause a plug to make a break for it though. Guess it's just one of those things.

Gasket is in so i'm off to get it. Fingers crossed I will have shiny pics of a moving car by the end of the day!

What an incredible difference. The car drives beautifuly now, has a lot more urge at low RPM and back to the usual rorty soundtrack. Smiles all round!

You'll be keeping it then

I had this a while back on mine. I was also very shocked to find that it was running fine despite the plug being near the end of its thread.

Scary thought that I couldve had a spark plug sized hole in my bonnet lol!!

Glad it was fixed ok anyway, allways a releif.

Si