ht leads

[valmoores]

hi please anyone help just had new leads and plugs on my car but one has no spark at all all the others are fine anybody got any ideas thanks val

[gracie.f]

I,m not an expert but to start with....what car is it?

[valmoores]

sorry its a deawoo lanos 1.4

[thundercrack]

hi, how do you know its got no spark? the only way to be sure of this is to go out in the dark and pull each lead off , look for the spark with someone turning the engine over. haven.t worked on this type of car but next thing to do is look inside the distributer cap and see if any of the 4 contacts are burnt away or any signs of tracking between the contacts. if so, a new cap will cure all.
good luck, alf.

[valmoores]

hi thundercrack
tank you for your reply the car is only running on 3 so called the breakdown out they said the coil needs replacing this looks nothing like the old type coil i which looks like a can its a black box with the leads attatched are they easy to replace myself or is it a garage job thanks val

[woodchopper]

The one on my wife's Fiesta looks like you have described and was easy to change - just take out all the leads(making sure you take note of where they go so you can put them back in the correct position ).
Usually have to be removed using a spline set.

[valmoores]

woodchopper
please excuse my lack of knowlege but what is a splin set.
thanks

[thundercrack]

val ,are you sure you are talking about the coil? the coil has one main lead coming from the centre which goes to the centre contact on the distributer. there are normally two other wires on the coil which are about as thick as bell wire, these usually go on push on contacts either side of the coil. if you have the metal type coil then replace it with the same type, but your problem of firing on three cannot be the coil as it would not fire at all. it must be the distributer, thats black with five leads coming out of it, one going to the coil and the other four going to individual spark plugs. not difficult to change, either held on by 2 clips or two screws normally. I must say I am talking about normal british cars like ford etc. I am sure someone will put us right if not correct.
good luck, alf.,

[valmoores]

thundercrack .thanks for the consern but as this is not a british car the coil is different i think as i looked it up on parts its a coil unit a black box attatched to the engine all 4 leads push on to it then there is a nother wire that clips on with 4 small pins that runs of somewhere not sure where to as i am not good with cars .i am sure this is the problem as a neighbour had a look today and he is fitting a new one tomorrow hopefully . ill let you know the outcome. he did some test on it and its not the cylinder ???? so hopefully it can be sorted out quite cheaply
thanks again for all your help val

[woodchopper]

Spline set - look like Allen keys except they have have mutiple fins which slot into grooves instead of the hexagonal slot that allen keys have - cant find a picture of show you.
One other type of spline is Torx - picture shown here -

http://www.wihatools.com/indexes/indxSecurityt orx.htm

splines are similar.

[valmoores]

thankyou .... just got get the coil pack now been quoated �124.83 thats the cheapest so far but found one on the net for �55.00 just got to wait for it now over a week .. will it damage my car driving it only fireing on 3 someone said it will damage the cat and i have only just had a new one fitted blinking cars THINK ILL GET A PUSH BIKE LOL VAL

[woodchopper]

Yes, it will damage the Cat. - wont do the engine any good either.