Distributor Cap & Rotor Arm Replacement

[scottca]

Hi All,

Am I being completely blind - Can someone tell me where it is ?

My 1.6 SX is having problems starting, seems to be mainly in the wet so been told thats the first port of call since the battery is ok.

Also, where are spark plugs?

Thanks,

Craig

 

[scottca]

Hi All,

Can anyone help? Ignore the plugs question, that was me being stupid! But I still cant locate a Distributor cap

Does it even have one?

Thanks,

Craig

 

[scottca]

So Reading a bit more.. The leon doesnt have a distributor cap! shows how old I am!

The car has trouble starting when its wet, any ideas?

When it starts, it seems to run fine no issues and never fails mid way through running.. purely just getting the thing started!

Battery seems fine and the start motor turns fine, can hear the fuel pump pumping fine when ignition is turned on etc

Cheers,

Craig

 

[Muttley]

I'd suspect the HT side first. Could be spark plugs, HT leads or the coil pack - difficult to test thought. Plugs should be easy to check, just take them out, if the electrodes are worn so that the gap is too large then it will make starting difficult. When were the plugs last changed? The service interval is 40K miles.

HT leads break down and allow the voltage to leak away, which can sometimes be seen in a dark garage. Tracking (sparks crawling along the lead) or sparks from the connectors indicate a problem.

The coil pack won't give much away. Diagnostics may detect a fault, but not always.

HT leads should be relatively cheap to change. Plugs more expensive and the coil pack (there's just one with four outputs) will be a lot.

There are tests that can detect a failing coil pack, using a multimeter. But to start with, you cold try taking one plug out, holding it so it makes good contact with bare metal on the engine and cranking the starter, to see how good the spark is.

 

[Phillc]

Ther are no HT leads because it has coil packs.

 

[scottca]

Thanks for the replies guys

Any further ideas why it may not be starting after a downpour ?

I had a full service done approx 3 months ago, supposed to have all the plugs changed then - if it were a faulty plug or coilpack, I thought it would still start but just be misfiring as one cylinder would be out?

or would it not start at all?

Someone suggested the Engine coolant sensor on another forum, got me to check what the ECU see's the temp as via the climate control panel to see if it was different to that of the dash, I thought they probably got their info from the same sensor! checked it anyway but they read the same

Would have thought if it were a sensor, I would be getting starting problems regardless of weather!

Craig

 

[Muttley]

Phillc wrote

Ther are no HT leads because it has coil packs.


Not necessarily so. This is a 1.6 SX with (I think) a single coil pack (containing two coils running four plugs on the wasted spark principle) with HT leads from the coil pack to the plugs. Not every engine's built like an LC you know.

 

[Muttley]

scottca wrote

Any further ideas why it may not be starting after a downpour ?

I had a full service done approx 3 months ago, supposed to have all the plugs changed then - if it were a faulty plug or coilpack, I thought it would still start but just be misfiring as one cylinder would be out?

Can you tell us what engine you have? It will be a three-letter code, on the data sticker in the boot or in the service book, also stamped into the block on the edge of the bellhousing joint. It might be AEH, AKL (Simos injection system), AUS or AZD (4LV injection system). Both systems use a single coil pack.

Someone suggested the Engine coolant sensor on another forum, got me to check what the ECU see's the temp as via the climate control panel to see if it was different to that of the dash, I thought they probably got their info from the same sensor! checked it anyway but they read the same

The coolant temperature sensor can affect cold starting, if it thinks the engine is warmer than it really is.

 

[scottca]

scottca wrote

Can you tell us what engine you have? It will be a three-letter code, on the data sticker in the boot or in the service book, also stamped into the block on the edge of the bellhousing joint. It might be AEH, AKL (Simos injection system), AUS or AZD (4LV injection system). Both systems use a single coil pack.

The coolant temperature sensor can affect cold starting, if it thinks the engine is warmer than it really is.

Its a BCB Engine, 1.6 16v

Any ideas how to check the coolant temp sensor, would the method described on the other forum work (comparing the temperature on the dash with the one thats displayed through the climate control screen)


Thanks again in advance,

Craig

 

[Muttley]

BCB has the Marelli 4LV system. But it is a later incarnation and does use individual coil packs, one above each spark plug.

So. No HT leads to fail (this is a good thing). The individual coil packs are fragile and fail more often than a remote pack (which doesn't have to fit down the well between the cams) but this is more likely to manifest as misfiring.

I would check the plugs if I were you, to make sure they were changed at the last service, and to check in case they are gapped wrong. Not very likely, though. DON'T twist the coil packs to get them out, it will break them.

The Climate Control display hack will show you the reading from the sensor that feeds the ECU. It should show a low temperature when you first start the car in the morning. If it shows a high temperature when you know the engine is cold, then the ECU will not add extra fuel to the injection quantity to take account of the cold cylinders.

G62, the coolant temperature sensor that feeds the ECU and climate control, is contained in the same sensor unit as G2, the temperature gauge sender that feeds the dashboard meter. The dashboard gauge is not a precise instrument, and is just there to give you warnings of bad things happening under the bonnet.

 

[scottca]

Hi Muttley,

Thanks for your response.

Come to think of it, the random start problems did only occur after the service, not straight away so it could be just coinsidence!

The climate control shows the engine coolant as starting low - around the ambient temperature outside and increases to 90 degrees where it stays, the same as what the dash is showing.

In terms of the sparks, would a wrong gapping cause random start issues or would it be consistantly bad? could changes in temperature/weather have an impact given the sparks and nice and hidden?

is getting the correct gap easy with the spark plugs, or is it something I should really get a garage to check, im more than willing to do it myself, I have a good head for these things and consider myself technically minded and am able to read and follow instructons well, just never really applied it to cars!

Thanks,

Craig