Hi,

I have a Fiesta 6.5, 1.25. Bought it a few weeks ago, had the timing belt replaced and done the oil and filters. Today I decided to change the spark plugs before winter, the car was running fine but I could not confirm when they were last changed.

On pulling off the first HT leads, I could see water in the plug well, same for all four plugs. I managed to get most of it out and sprayed WD40 on the plugs and leads.

I could not get the plugs out in the end, I will have to buy a socket set as I only have a basic plug tool.

I have read about the windscreen washer jets leaking, not sure if it's the same on the 2008 Fiesta, but it did appear to be only water, it was not oil or coolant.

I will have another go at the plugs next weekend, don't want to damage anything, so I will see if the water has come back, I have put some sealant on the washer jets just in case.

Another other suggestions of what it could have been, it did have an engine cover as well.

Thank Martin

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm wondering if it's possible somebody has tried to clean the engine bay with a jet wash or similar before you bought the car and left water in the spark plug wells. If water is leaking from a washer jet I suspect it would enter just one or two plug wells.

Thanks for the reply, that's a good idea, it's in very good condition, only done 48,000 miles, so maybe it had been steam cleaned in the engine bay prior to the sale. I will have to sort a proper socket set to give me enough grip to get the plugs out, I could not turn them.

Thinking about, even though water was in the wells, there was no sign of rust and the HT rubbers were black and not discoloured, will keep an eye on it, will feel better once the plugs are changed.

 

Martin

 

2 minutes ago, mealmond said:

I will have to sort a proper socket set to give me enough grip to get the plugs out, I could not turn them.

You could do with a proper spark plug socket really. They have a rubber insert which grips the top of the plug so you can pull it out of the spark plug well without having to mess around.

When I changed the plugs on my Ecoboost I found both of my plug sockets were way too big. I used a long reach socket without a rubber insert then lifted the plugs out with one of those flexible pick up tools. I used the same tool to gently lower the new plugs into the wells and get them started into the threaded holes.

^{Thanks for all the replies, I will have a look next week for a suitable socket set, hopefully before lockdown, and then I can try and get the plugs out next weekend.}

 

^Martin

 

I managed to sort a socket set and better plug tool and managed to get them out.

All of them were still wet, two of the plugs, two furthest away from the battery had slight rusting on the plastic housing, nothing major.

That makes me think it cannot have come from a recent engine clean, I have had the car a month.

I will leave it for a couple weeks and then have another look, the car runs fine on the new plugs.

Martin

The core plugs in the head leak on these so I'd double check that it's plain water rather than coolant personally.

Thanks, I read somewhere about the core plugs being a possible source, I will have a read up on this and see if it something I could do myself.

I'm fairly certain it was only water, no smell or colour and I presume if it were coolant it would be pink.

Once I get a dry day I will have a proper look, but hopefully new plugs can only help the car.

 

Martin