hi,

i just bought a fiat punto mark 1, P reg, 1108cc, 3 door 55S recently as my first car, as a favour a friend changed my spark plugs and air filter and told me that it will be good for the car!

now i'd driven the car for 320 miles before he touched the car and it was fine, a little sensitive on the acceleration, but except for that it was cool!

when he changed the spark plugs and everything, he took out the filter box hose cause it was ripped and said that it wasn't important during the summer! he went, then later i got in my car to drive away, put it into reverse and it stalled as soon as i tried takin' off, so i gave it lotsa gas the second time, i got out then went on, but the car was sluggish now, sound like it was almost cluttering along, stalled on a roundabout, it felt like i was taking off in gear 3! then when i got onto the M25 it would take a long long time before it hit 70 with nothing in the car, but only the day before i had a whole car full of stuff as i was moving house and it was pushing 90 with ease so i'm really confused!

i mean it can't really be the coils as they were working fine before, i've been told by someone else that its definately not the filter box hose and the only thing i can think of is the firing order, the firing order is 1-3-4-2, now the only problem is i don't understand this order, i can see the numbers for the ones that go striaght into the engine, but the ones that go into the coil i'm unsure of how they are counted, can someone give me a clear guide of how to check the order? i know nothing about cars, all the info i have is from a phone convo with a parts seller and some posts i've read on the forum.

i did ask my friend afterwards what the hell he'd done but he came and looked at it, tightened some bolts, made sure the spark plugs were in good then told me that i drove over bumps too fast and that the car needs a new exsuast, but i think as all you know the punto has got a high suspension and even if i was flooring it i don't think it would have come near to it! plus all that would do is make more noise, right? not cause misfiring!

i just think he's tryin' to get all the blame off himself! now he refuses to look at the car and i'm left with it misfiring and i'm scared to drive it cause i don't want to cause any more damage!

all and any help would be appriciated, thanks in advance!

K

Are you sure that the changed sparkplugs are the right type?

hi,

yes, my brother picked them up from a parts seller and gave them all the details of the car, so i doubt they were the wrong ones unless they made a mix up!i can only assume there the right ones!

If you follow the HT-leads from the sparkplugs, the first and third one should be to one coilpack and the second and fourth to the other one. I dont think it makes any differance which one is to which, but someone here probebly know. And also, you can easly check wich HT lead to go where, since the one for the first cylinder (from left) have the longest lead, and they all get shorter the closer to the coilpacks you get.

Hi,

thanks, i just checked it, right now 1 and 4 are going to one coil and 2 and 3 are going to another coil, is this definately the problem?

i want to change them but i'm unsure if i have to diconect the battery first or what i have to do? can i change them from the coil or do i have to change them from where they go into the engine?

if what it is on now is right and i mess it up by testing this would it mess up the car? sorry, i know nothing about cars, i'm very greatful for all the help, what you just told me makes a lot of sense!

thanks

Okej, this one dave wrote some time ago, might help.

"starting from the coil hole nearest the back of the car connect leads in the fireing order above, plug1 into hole at the back then plug 3 in the next hole then plug 4 goes to the next hole finaly plug 2 goes into the hole nearest the front."

get a new car mate

r your plugs gap correctly this will cause your car to run poorly can cause pre ignition and may be a weak spark

1999 Bravo 1.2 80sx, alloys 17" mw neo, smoked side repeaters,abarth spoiler, CARBON FIBRE POPPY CORAL ;-)

the battery doesn't have to be disconnected to change the leads round gust make sure the engine is off!

Remember plug one is the timing belt end of the engine (left as you look at it from under the bonnet)

The hose he took off, it sounds like the one that lets warm air of the manifold into the engine. If it this one it will cause poor acceleration when cold, as the engine uses warm air off manifold when cold. I think you need to get a new hose.

If it isnt that then it is obviosly spark plugs as this is the only other thing changed. Check gap of spark plug!

well from what you said and from what joel said seems liek the leads are on wrong on ya coil pack.

2001 Punto sporting in sprint blue with matching Mr Bump air freshner all together now mmmmmmm

Hmm. I dunno, My Cinq was doing something like this (or it is now)

My coils were wired like that, the car wouldnt start. I checked the wiring wrt the Haynes wiring diagram. It says one coil should service pot 1 and pot 2, and the other pot 3 and 4.

Its wired to that spec now, it starts very very erratically and refuses to hold an idle. Admittedly, the sparkplugs aren't gapped (Im doing that tomorrow), but theres a very definate misfire on one cylinder!

So it could be anything!! Is the timing belt still set up correctly?

Tom (AofB)

95 Cinq GTi 1242cc - GrpN Catback Exhaust, <font color="black">Buckets</font id="black"> and 3pt Harnesses,Sexy VW styleé dials (that look great, but dont work!! D)), 10" Sub and 6x9's, ETech Wing. Lots of Dirt!
boot delock soon, Induction in development!

hi,

okay, heres the thing, i followed what you said about the fireing order, but when i tried it, the car wouldn't even start, i mean i followed it to the word, all i did was change around the heads at the coils but they were in the order that the manuel and joel suggested, but no luck! it would just struggle a bit and then die, wouldn't even starr, forget about misfire.

now i took the car to kwik fit and they said the the exsaust has had it, so i had to change it anyways, they changed it and it was still miss firing, they told me thats probably the reason the exsuast went in the first place!

then i called the guy and told him and said he's having a laugh, then he told me to get some new leads and that they probably were old, so i did, he came round, changed the leads, i told him about the firing order and he kinda laughed it off and said i don't know nothing, i took it for a spin and it seemed fine, so i said to him cool, thanks!

then i took it out to go somewhere, then slowly but surely it started misfiring, and now its worse than before, just no load exsaust sounds, i'm scared to drive it any more cause i think the first time it was doing it the exsaust went, i don't want to spend another £90 on parts, anyone have any ideas?!all the gears seemed to be messed up, the car seems to have no power behind it, and in low gears it a very bumpy ride, even in fourth theres trouble!!!

i don't have a clue what you mean by gapped spark plugs, i don't even know what they do, all i know is that he changed them, and ever since i've been having trouble and he refuses to take blame and he acts like i should be thankful, never let a relative touch your car, they'll mess it up and blame you!!!

i had a makes hift air box hose and it made no difference, i mean its summer, the engine is never that cold to need the hot air, right? i don't know, thats what i was told!

i'm going to call the AA and register with them and then get them to come out tomorrow!

1 question for anyone, would i be damaging the car more by driving it how it is? also since the exsaust has been changed i occasionally get a weird fizzing sound from the exsuast and all the power in the car seems to go, what does that mean? i'm guessing its not good, could my head gasket have gone? i don't know what that is, all i know is its expensive!

anyway, i would be greatful for any help anyone can offer, thanks to everyone who's helped till now, i've had a car since thursday and its been pure hell, makes me wonder.....maybe i should go back to the trains and buses?!?!less hassle and much much cheaper!

I think the catalysator doesnt like unburnt fuel. So if the car misfire the fuel will end up in the exhaust/catalysator and it could break. I think so atleast.

Definitely worth checking the spark plug gaps - if he just bought some cheapy Champions or something alike from Halfords they'll be set to .7mm instead of .9mm I think (check manual first). If you can get to the spark plugs they are easy to undo with a wrench (don't overtighten on re-entry - about half a turn after hand-tight I think). To check the gap you need either a feeler guage or a little gap checking thingmy available from most auto places. My attempt at a spark plug explanation is that basically the petrol mixture gets ignited with a little spark and the "gap" is the distance between two bits of metal on the bottom of the spark plug - between which the spark is fired - obviously if the gap is wrong it could make a difference to the size of the spark and hence the igniting of the fuel.
Excessive misfiring can damage your catalytic convertor which is part of your exhaust system - you don't mention that bit specifically so maybe KwikFit didn't replace it. In anycase I wouldn't worry too much about the exhaust you've paid for already as KwikFit gave you a guarantee right? Certainly get them to check the "fizzing" for you to see if it is to do with the exhaust.
Hope that helps you a bit

don't worry about joining the AA they are really crap and if it's not the fuel system then they don't really know what it is, go to halfords and get a haynes manual it will help you loads if you don't know much about cars, get the correct spacing on the spark plugs you could either do this with the proper tool or a flat head screwdriver real easy. good luck

Punto GT Turbo, forge dump valve, samco hose kit, pace intercooler, k&n induction kit, s/s exhaust, bleed valve, superchip, running 15lb boost!

ok, going directly from the haynes manual and starting from the front of the engine.

coil to plug order is

front coil
2 at front
3 next

rear coil
1 at front
4 next

i've just been through and changed all my plugs and leads and one of the coils which was bad. try this order and let us know if it works.

if this doesn't work and all he touched were the plugs and leads the pull off the leads one by one and push them back on nice and tight. it may be something as simple as a bad contact.