Hi guys, having a spot of engine trouble. Started the car earlier to go to work, drove off fine and after about 200 yards the engine started to plutter. Fells like its down a cylinder. Drove home slowly and had to leave it. I'm hoping its a spark plug but what else should I check? Also what spark plugs should I buy and do Halfords sell them as they're the only place open today.

Thanks, Alex.

Alex,

Sorry to hear about your problems. It's too vague to say what the problem might be, but just to start somewhere don't forget the easy things........

Low on fuel, just short of running out?? Just washed under the bonnet and it's soaked, (have you been under there recently and dislodged something, leads etc)? Maybe you ran the car super low on petrol recently and picked up some rubish from the tank...... 

Best thing to do if all else fails; get it towed to someone with a diagnostic reader...... it may be something electrical. I doubt it's anything more.......word of caution though do not take the first error code as the cause, look a little more into the error codes to find the right one.

best of luck.......

Thanks, I've had a look under the bonnet with a friend but can't see anything too obvious.

Here's what happened. Bought the car Wednesday night. It was very very low on petrol so I filled it up. Car ran perfect for 200 miles. Yesterday I did have a go at cleaning the engine. I sprayed Gunk on some parts and rinsed with water. The engine was hot and it ran perfect on a 10 mile journey afterwards. Then later, I was stuck in a VERY bad traffic jam because of an accident. It was bumper to bumber for about an hour. When it cleared the car was running fine. As I was driving up the hill towards my house I did notice a slight hesitation but I didn't think anything of it. Left the car overnight. Today at about 1pm I started it and drove out of my gate and down the hill. Car sounded perfect, then going up the next bit of a hill it lost power and started shaking and spluttering so I turned and went home.

Alex,

I had the same myself, you've got water in there. Hard to believe as it has got hot since, but it gets in everywhere.

Take the M Power cover off, and dry it all out, use a hair dryer, try every trick you know, I'm sure that will sort it out.....

Dave