Lotus Europa Community
Lotus Europa Forums => Garage => Topic started by: exarkun1178 on Sunday,May 03, 2015, 02:38:05 AM
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Hello all,
So, i got my car back after three years in the shop. I picked it up Friday and later Friday brought it back because of the car back firing and running terribly.
Saturday they re did the timing and changed the plugs which were fouled.
Saturday afternoon I pick up the car again and its great (new plugs and timing is good)
Saturday night ~70 miles later the car is running bad and the plugs are fouled again. Thoughts?
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Exarkun good afternoon,
why was your car in the workshop for 3 years, what work was undertaken? Did it include an engine rebuild?
all the best
Stuart
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Presumably the are fouled with oil. That being the case, check that you have the right plugs. They may be too cold. I would also do a wet and dry compression test to see if you're leaking too much oil into th cylinders.
Good luck and keep us informed!
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If you are running the usual NGKs, give another brand a try. The base NGKs have a tendency to foul on our crappy, modern fuels.
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Exarkun good afternoon,
why was your car in the workshop for 3 years, what work was undertaken? Did it include an engine rebuild?
all the best
Stuart
It was in the shop to do some wiring, turned into a frame off restoration.
Engine was not rebuilt. It was determined to be in great shape. Compression was strong, HP and TQ were higher then stock.
The valves were adjusted and a new light weight fly wheel was added. No other changes to the engine.
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Presumably the are fouled with oil. That being the case, check that you have the right plugs. They may be too cold. I would also do a wet and dry compression test to see if you're leaking too much oil into th cylinders.
Good luck and keep us informed!
The plugs are carbon fouled. Compression is good across all 4 cylinders.
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If you are running the usual NGKs, give another brand a try. The base NGKs have a tendency to foul on our crappy, modern fuels.
I do have NGK. the platinum ones, does that matter?
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I'd trust John that it does.
I don't remember what plugs were in my engine when I got it, but I kept fouling plugs. I went to NGKs (for no particular reason) and I think I run just about the warmest plug they have in my size so it might make sense that they run a little cooler than other plugs in a similar heat range.
I think platinum generally helps with plug fouling, but I might be wrong. They should last a lot longer though.
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It's just a weird thing that happens sometimes. I 'd have two identical vehicles with NGK plugs and one would fuel foul and the other not. Switched the problem engine to Bosch and problem solved. Just one more thing to check.
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Pretty much what NGK says too...
http://www.ngksparkplugs.com/techinfo/spark_plugs/faq/faqfouled.asp?nav=31200&country=US