Hey guys I'm new to the forum and couldn't see the exact answer for a couple of questions I had so thought I would post instead:

I own a 1997 R plate Skoda Felicia 1.3LXi MPI, and to be honest have not done/ had a lot of servicing done on it in the last few years. Around a year and a half ago when I was at uni, the car began having trouble starting after a night/6 or so hours plus of rain. Basically when you turn the ignition you have to rev the car to get all four cylinders going and for about the first mile of driving (particularly after an upshift) the car runs on 3 cylinders with the fourth one kicking in every now and again. Once the engine has dried out between 1-2 miles of driving it runs perfectly.

I have finally gotten round to addressing the problem by changing the HT leads, spark plugs, and air filter (as i assume one of these is causing the issue). This maybe a stupid question but I was going to change the distributor cap also however i cannot see one, is there actually one in this model?

Finally, my engine is 50kw 68bhp and the engine code is: 136m. The spark plugs i have bought (Bosch 510 super 4) are for the engine code: AMH but there was another option of plugs (Bosch 509 super 4) for engine:136b. Is there much difference between the plugs? And have I bought the right ones?

I can add any photos if it helps and a Haynes manual is in the post as I type.

Thanks in advance for any help.

HT leads? On an MPI? They're coilpack on plug, surely?

I'd never use anything but NGK plugs myself.

If you're having issues with running in the wet, waterproofing with silicone grease will do the trick - my Felicia rally car made it through the ford on Rally GB 2008 which killed many other cars with that put on the HT setup:

it's just careful preparation and a bit of servicing and it'll be spot on.

@djaychela

Very impressive pond (river?) crossing photo.

@oxocube1

I would take a clear photo of engine bay + some detail photos on the rest of ignition parts.

Then I would let djaychela put some arrows on critical spots that need waterproofing.

I've heard this autumn will rain heavily all over Europe and I guess we're all interested in his solution.

Who knows, we might have to cross bigger ponds on the way to work...

Hi oxocube1, dejaychela's advice is spot on as I've had similar probs in the past. Working through logically on electrical components/connectivity should give a good guide as to what to waterproof

Ah thanks for the help guys, much appreciated. And yes after making that post I did discover that there is no HT leads and Dis Cap. Like you say there is a coil pack on top of the four plugs, which annoyingly is a lot more expensive than the leads for other engine versions so i will just stick to changing the plugs and air filter.

@adurer

Yes i will do that. I'll get a picture up here tomorrow.

@djaychela

I have been using 'Damp Start' spray at points where wires enter terminals and on the wires themselves. Is that a similar thing to silicon grease just in a spray form?

Thanks again.

@oxocube1

Damp start spray, no - AFAIK it's like WD40. You need something like this:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HT-Silicone-Grease-Tub-60ml-Pot-Food-Industry-Approved-/261082608825?pt=UK_DIY_Materials_Plumbing_MJ&hash=item3cc9bc74b9#ht_500wt_1180

I had a big tube of Dow Corning stuff and it lasted me for years.

You need to make sure nothing is cracked on the coilpack as far as the HT side of things is concerned - the rubber bits that go over the plugs are the only place that high voltage is in the engine bay, so remove the pack and check them over carefully. Then when you replace it, put silicone grease on there to seal where it meets the plugs. You can do similar on the connections on it and so on, although they are waterproofed with little rubber seals in the plugs (check they are there!!!!) so just a bit will help bolster their ability. Don't forget to do things such as the crank sensor and the injector connections, making sure that they have their little sealing rubbers in the plugs - with those it really shouldn't need any extra as they are generally well designed and work well in most conditions.

It's worth running the car in pitch black and looking under the bonnet - I can remember doing this on an old vauxhall I had and was amazed how much HT was leaking from the caps to the engine block. A new set of leads sorted that out.

Keep your eyes peeled for coilpacks - I've seen brand new ones on eBay go for £20 or so. Yes, they are more expensive than a cap, rotor arm and leads (although by the time you've done the full set they're not that much more), but they are a LOT better, a lot more reliable, and will last a lot longer. Distributors are a big loss of spark energy, after all.

@adurer:

That was the ford on Hafren 2 on Rally GB 2008. It was usually a small river (and indeed when we recce'd it, it was about an inch deep, and maybe 2 feet wide). When we came to doing it on the event, we missed the entire stage first time round (as a road section accident meant we had to adminster first aid and the road was blocked), but the second time round we were warned that it had got a bit wetter - the reason being that all the snow was starting to melt! When we got to it I just gave it some as we had to cross it one way or another, and we had a bit of a push from the marshals there to keep us going. When we got to the other side there were quite a few cars out with bonnets up (5, I think) - all brand new proper rally team stuff, a marshal later told me he took the plugs out of the engine and turned it over and water was coming out of the plug holes! The only downside was we got a bunch of water inside the car via the heater vents and the screen steamed up completely; my nav couldn't reach to wipe his side of the screen clear, so I was looking out of a small hole for the next mile and a half while it cleared! He couldn't see the corners at all, but read the notes perfectly, which was handy as otherwise I'd probably have crashed. Fun times...

I (sort of) know the answer to this one and you've all beat me to it !!, so here's what the coil pack is and where:

http://www.briskoda.net/forums/uploads/3/2/8/0/6/21237.attach

a marshal later told me he took the plugs out of the engine and turned it over and water was coming out of the plug holes!

Wow! So we're talking about a massive water ingestion...

I looked at Felicia rally car photos and saw they have a conical air filter mounted higher on inner wheel arch and heat shielded. I'd put myself one too and solve accidental water ingestion, but there is a problems: I need to route the hot air pipe from exhaust heat shield to air filter input for easy start on winter, and that looks messy, unless you have a better solution.

You have also mentioned heavy fogging of windshield. I believe that's a common problem for Felicia. What is the best solution to overcome this design(?) issue and never have a sauna inside when raining and cold outside?

Edited 30 September, 201213 yr by adurer

Mine was mounted on the inner wing, where the original airbox was, with an aluminium plate sectioning it off from the engine compartment - as you say, a large cone filter. There was no hot air feed - it's a rally car and it'd decrease the power and increase complication, so it wasn't bothered with. I don't think hot air feeds are that important on injected cars, it's far more for carbs as they suffer more fuel dropout at low temperatures.

Looking at the car afterwards, it must have ingested some water as there was mud in the air filter compartment, but it kept going, thankfully.

The windscreen wasn't a problem as long as the car wasn't full of water. We hit that hard enough to get it to actually spurt out of the top vents on the dashboard (the mud stayed there for about a year!), so obviously lots of water came in then - usually it wasn't that bad in the car. Most of the time it's because the windscreen leaks and then the interior is damp a lot of the time - it soaks into the soundproofing on the firewall and under the carpet, neither of which my rally car had for obvious reasons!

I don't think hot air feeds are that important on injected cars, it's far more for carbs as they suffer more fuel dropout at low temperatures.

I'm on carburettor and I'm loving it except for that impossibility to adapt a rally air filter without looking like an elephant singing to a trumpet.

Oh yeah, I should have read your car details! In that case, I think you have no easy way of doing it as a standard airbox has a bimetallic strip to select the appropriate air input!