Ford Fiesta (1995 - 1999) - 99 1.25 Running very rough after 'kangarooing'

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Fri 17 Apr 2009 22:22
99 1.25 Running very rough after 'kangarooing' - exciton
Hi All,

A request for help in diagnosing the following:

Today whilst accelerating on joining a roundabout my zetec fiesta started 'kangarooing' quite violently as if I was in much too high a gear. I changed down and carried on home but the car now sounded quite 'rough' and had definitely lost power. Once home I had a quick look in the failing light but could not see anything immediately obvious wrong in the engine area (bits hanging off etc!). The engine still starts OK but still runs 'rough' and 'lumpy' and you can here a pronounced 'pulsing' from the exhaust. The exhaust has also moved as the tailpipe now just touches the rear bumper and has melted it slightly but I could not see if it had come off a hanger.

Any ideas? Can toothed timing belts slip? Is there an easy way to see if the timing is out or does it sound more of a mechanical failure?

Thanks in advance,

Mark
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Fri 17 Apr 2009 23:07
99 1.25 Running very rough after 'kangarooing' - bell boy
you might have 2 faults here
the first is half of the coil has gone down
and the second is that because of the jolting its broken your exhaust

can you beg borrow or steal some of these to check your plugs are firing
tinyurl.com/cprqe5
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Fri 17 Apr 2009 23:17
99 1.25 Running very rough after 'kangarooing' - exciton
Hi thanks for the reply bell boy,

I think I have seen something similar to those ignition testers in Aldi recently for ~£5 so I'll pop in tomorrow to see if they have any left.

I did wonder if the exhaust is just a secondary issue caused by the kangarooing. Hopefully tomorrow I'll get the car up on ramps and have a good look underneath.

Cheers

Mark
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Sat 18 Apr 2009 22:49
99 1.25 Running very rough after 'kangarooing' - exciton
Hi All,

Turned out it was the ignition coil pack - cylinder 4 was not firing at all. £15 later from local scrapyard and all running OK again.

Thnaks for the heads up.

The exhaust fouling/melting the rear bumper turns out to be because the rear silencer box is bent! There is a huge crease in it so it is somewhat banana shaped! I guess when the car was viooently kangarooing etc then somehow it was bent - wierd as it was defintiely OK before that and I have not reversed into anything.

Cheers

Mark
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