My girlfriend's had trouble starting her car over the last week or so - the battery seems to be losing charge overnight. Her brother's just jump-started it and apparently they've noticed a spark plug is smoking when the engine is running.

Any car buffs here have any idea what all that's about? They haven't taken the plug out or anything so they're assuming it's seated correctly.

The car's a Daihatsu with only 35000-ish miles on it. Seems strange for it to be having engine problems.

Does it stop smoking after a while ? Does the engine, apart from starting bad, run fine ie. on all (3? 4?) cilinders ? Does it smell like burned material ?

Quote from Michel 4AGE :

Does it stop smoking after a while ? Does the engine, apart from starting bad, run fine ie. on all (3? 4?) cilinders ? Does it smell like burned material ?

Yeah it does smell, not sure if it stops smoking after a while - they turned it off! The engine runs fine otherwise, sounds fine, and yeah I think it's a 3cyl engine.

She's just discovered she has a home call-out service through her bank account or something weird so she's called those guys to come look at it. She could've done that a week ago...

I'm in no way a professional, nor do I have much knowledge about cars, but maybe the plug just has losened (spelling?) a bit, and that's why there might be a bit of a leak, and as the engine is starting to warm up, the leaked oil/petrol mixture is starting to evaporate ?

Or maybe the plug just has oxidated a bit where the cable from the ignition comes onto it, and therefor it heates it self up because of the higher electrical resistance ?


But that are just vague guesses

Well the plug seems to work OK. The only other symptom is that the battery seems to be draining slowly, maybe a short somewhere (could just be moisture somewhere I suppose?).

RAC guy will be here in 10 minutes anyway, I'll let you know the outcome.

Had a look and it looks like the oil filter's leaking, which is right below the plug, so it looks like the smoke is coming from the plug.

Stupid thing.

Now I'm confused. Do the sparkplugs not sit on top of the engine block in that engine? Or is the entire engine tipped over at an angle?

Just that in my engine bay, the only thing around or underneath the coil packs (I don't have spark plugs) is the engine block itself. Any smoke coming from the oil filter would be obvious, because it's about two feet away from the coil packs.

I presume a leaking oil filter doesn't explain the draining battery, though.

Draining battery can be anything,first how old is the battery,car sits a lot? etc etc,on bmw's the auxulary fan and the blower resistor couses battery drain,but who knows on this1

Battery means alternator could be out, or the battery is shot anyway.

Seems like the Really Awesome Club helped you out, though.

Quote from STROBE :

Now I'm confused. Do the sparkplugs not sit on top of the engine block in that engine? Or is the entire engine tipped over at an angle?

Just that in my engine bay, the only thing around or underneath the coil packs (I don't have spark plugs) is the engine block itself. Any smoke coming from the oil filter would be obvious, because it's about two feet away from the coil packs.

I presume a leaking oil filter doesn't explain the draining battery, though.

Of course you have spark plugs... They're underneath the coilpacks.

spark plugs burning ??


what car is it ?

sounds like a 1.2 eco-tech corsa

Quote from Klutch :

Of course you have spark plugs... They're underneath the coilpacks.

Eh how many coil packs do you need? Surely 1 or 2 is enough for a 4cyl engine?

Quote from pb32000 :

Eh how many coil packs do you need? Surely 1 or 2 is enough for a 4cyl engine?

No idea...brothers has a coilpack for each SparkPlug. (6Cyl) but its a sportscar...so it might be differient. *shrug*

Quote from Klutch :

Of course you have spark plugs... They're underneath the coilpacks.

Doh! :doh: Yes, you're right - of course I do have spark plugs. Don't know what I was thinking by saying I didn't have any - I guess what I meant was I don't have a distributor, and I can't see my spark plugs. I was picturing my engine and only thought of the coil packs, under which the spark plugs are buried.

Quote from theirishnoob :

spark plugs burning ??


what car is it ?

sounds like a 1.2 eco-tech corsa

Sounds like a Dihatsu Accident 1.5 3Cy Diesel..

Quote from S14 DRIFT :

Sounds like a Dihatsu Accident 1.5 3Cy Diesel..

I doubt very much it's a diesel.

Oh yeah. Diesels don't have spark plugs. :doh:

Quote from pb32000 :

Eh how many coil packs do you need? Surely 1 or 2 is enough for a 4cyl engine?

one over each plug,

the bloody Almera cost me an arm and a leg last year changing the timing chain(€600) and it turned out to be one of these coil packs(€190)had an intermitant fault...nissan released a tech bulliten for my model that the chain is rubbish after 50k so wudda needed it anyway.

Quote from kev :

Spark Plug Smoking?

Have you tried talking to them about it? Offered to aide them? Bought them some Nicotine patches and warned them about the problems it might incur with their lifespan?

Quote from thisnameistaken :

The car's a Daihatsu with only 35000-ish miles on it. Seems strange for it to be having engine problems.

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