hi guys looking for some help asap.

i have a 54 plate stilo 5 door 1.4 petrol car and all was great untill the drive home from work.

all of a sudden the engine light came on flashing when i pressed on the accelerator and then the car seemed to intermittently loose power and splutter with the rev counter jumping up and dropping a bit.

i know it is not the best diagnostic description but its best i can do as not a mechanic.

any ideas i checked oil it was just above minimum so i topped it up but still doing it.

cheers for any help.

Have you tried looking at the pencil coil pack I had two coils go not long ago and my rev counter playing up was one of the issues that occured on mine as well as the eml coming on and misfiring under acceleration

Possibly misfire?

Need to get it plugged in and the fault code read ideally, anything else is just stabbing in the dark and potentially throwing money away.

Aj80 said:

Have you tried looking at the pencil coil pack I had two coils go not long ago and my rev counter playing up was one of the issues that occured on mine as well as the eml coming on and misfiring under acceleration

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I have read several posts on other threads about this very thing. Is it possible to examine the coil pack to find which one it is as i do not own a diagnostic tool to connect to the car also is it ok just to replace one or all 5

Ok so theres 4 pencil coils not 5 buddy lift ya air box to show each one as they will be on top of the engine when I checked mine 2 had decintergrated with age from the harness connection to each coil and coil 2 was causing a misfire as it was arching from inside on the connection end to the spark plug

hellboy78 said:

I have read several posts on other threads about this very thing. Is it possible to examine the coil pack to find which one it is as i do not own a diagnostic tool to connect to the car also is it ok just to replace one or all 5

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The cost of the cable and software is similar to the cost of 1 coil so worth investing rather than guessing.

Hi there where you from i have the diagnostic gear here if you would like me to check it out for you that's if your not too far away

cheers for the advice guys and the offer pete but i am in newcastle area, i checked the last time it was serviced which turned out to be over a year ago so i replaced the oil, oil filter and spark plugs which were nearly black with soot.

no it runs smooth again however the engine warning light is on solid now but with no " check engine" message is it just a case of needing the error removing ?

yes it needs resetting but you might be lucky just to disconnect the battery for lets say half an hour that might turn it off or one other way is to turn the key on and off a couple of times you never know but the sure way is to have it reset

The light should go out automatically after 3 fault free clear runs, so I'd just leave it a little while to see if it goes out on its own. If it doesn't then there is still an issue somewhere.

I have experienced similar symptoms in the past . All lights go clear and, a few weeks afterwards, a couple of coils finally give out. I would advise checking those coils at the earliest opportunity !

hellboy78 said:

cheers for the advice guys and the offer pete but i am in newcastle area, i checked the last time it was serviced which turned out to be over a year ago so i replaced the oil, oil filter and spark plugs which were nearly black with soot.

no it runs smooth again however the engine warning light is on solid now but with no " check engine" message is it just a case of needing the error removing ?

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Which newcastle(north or midlands)?

850kd said:

I have experienced similar symptoms in the past . All lights go clear and, a few weeks afterwards, a couple of coils finally give out. I would advise checking those coils at the earliest opportunity !

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Thats what I said as my first two had gone past it

Flashing EML means misfire, count on your coil packs for packing in. If you're not a mechanic take it to one and get it looked at

Straughany said:

Flashing EML means misfire,

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Nope, its a generic MIL, can be a number of different reasons, which a proper plug in with a code reader should establish.

cheers for all the advice its all valuable.

im in newcastle northeast.
engine management light has gone out on its own.
also i noticed that 3 of the coil packs were slightly scorched ( light brown markings ) but no rotting of the rubber.

cheers

Check the wiring that connects to the coils to see if they have a good connection