Technical Brava 1.2 sx just started mis -firing

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Technical Brava 1.2 sx just started mis -firing

steve_uk

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Hi
my 2001 reg fiat brava started mis firing and is giving codes

P0300 random/multiple cylinder misfire detected

P0301 cylinder 1 misfire detected

P0302 cylinder 2 misfire detected

So far ive put new spark plugs in and tonight ive fitted new HT leads and
im still having the same problem.

Is the next step the coils?
If so ive seen a coil pack on ebay at a shope near me and they said i can pick them up http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=300521953894&ssPageName=ADME:X:RTQ:GB:1123#ht_500wt_969

but ive been reading some posts on here and from what i could make out the coils are all seperate and not a pack like that one am i getting the right thing with this pack?
also ive read some posts about checking the coils someone said leave the engine idling and unplug one lead at a time to see if that helps.
does that mean the HT leads that i have just fitted?? ,so i should unplug one at a time from the coil pack is this safe with the voltage there
hope someone can shed some light on this
cheers
steve
 
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It's not really entirely safe to do WHILE the engine is running. Just unplug one, start the engine. Stop it, unplug a different one (And plug the first one back in), start engine, etc.

you CAN just unplug them while running, but it's better to do it at the sparkplug end of the cable. Then just keep the end of the cable away from yourself and the frame of the car.

What you are looking for is not really seeing if it helps but more if it doesn't make a difference. If your engine is running on just cylinders 3 and 4 due to an ignition problem it will stall immediatly if you unplug one of those HT leads. Unplugging the leads from cylinders 1 or 2 would not make a difference as those cylinders aren't firing correctly anyway. So if you unplug a lead and nothing happens you know you've found a cilinder that's not getting a spark.
 
Hi
thanks for the info
i tried something like that at work ,
i unplugged one HT lead at a time (spark plug side) ad tried starting it the car started first time on each cylinder
leaving work today the car took a turn for the worse there was nearly a total lack of power really really struggling and could smell exhaust fumes so looked underneath and it was blowing quite bad from where the downpipe meets the front pipe.
i had to get towed home by green flag as there wasnt a great deal of power.
the green flag guy seemed certain it was the coil pack.
so ive arranged to get one tomorrow and see if that solves it aswell as sorting the exhaust.
thing seems to be falling apart lately 11 years old so the end may be near :(
 
After the exhaust is fixed you can test the coil pack as seen here; (completely disscontected from the car)

but if your 100% confident cylinder 1 and 2 are missfiring then the coil pack has two windings, one for cylinders 1,4 and another for cylinder 2,3. So when a winding goes faulty the cylinders stop working in those pairs. Yet you have one faulty and one working from each pair so i would say the coil pack is probably not at fault.

I think you should look at why cylinder 1 and 2 are both at fault, check compression accross all four cylinders. I would guess the head gasket has failed between cylinder 1 and 2.
 
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your right mate
wasn't the coil pack :(
im lending a compression tester from a bloke on monday to see what that shows up.
Do you know if there are any guides/pdfs for changing the head gasket on my car
(Brava 1.2 16v sx 80 ,2001)
how tricky a job is it ive never done one,i'm not brilliant at mechanics but can do some stuff basic stuff like cambelt an clutch etc
 
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