I've had intermittent misfires from my 2005 1.6 Ghia MK2 for months. They've gotten worse to the point where I'm considering scrapping the car as my garage and numerous AA call outs cannot detect the underlying fault. The Engine Warning light comes on, car goes into limp mode. Recently, it stalled twice and then just locked up and luckily, I was somewhere out of danger where I could just allow it to cruise to a halt. The battery and (I think) oil red warning lights also appeared that time. Battery is new. Every time I took it to the garage, they would read the codes, check the car, test drive it and couldn't recreate the fault. AA changed spark plugs, drove fine all the way home. Next day, same problem. etc. etc.

My garage also swapped cylinders to see if the error migrated to another cylinder but it stayed on the one shown. There's no water in the spark plug wells as the washer jet leaking sils were sealed and they're completely dry.

Last AA breakdown:

P0264 Injection valve cylinder 2 short to earth

P0302 Ignition failure, cylinder 2 detected

P0302 Ignition failure, cylinder 2 detected

P2297 O2 sensor (bank 1, sensor 1) Fault during overrun

P1000 OBD system tests Operation not completed

 

Any help in diagnosing this will be most appreciated before I ditch this car! Thanks

"The battery and (I think) oil red warning lights also appeared that time"  they would come on normally if the engine stopped and the ignition was still on.  

"My garage also swapped cylinders to see if the error migrated to another cylinder but it stayed on the one shown" . I assume a typing error here where it says swapped cylinders, what was it that was swapped?

Did it suddenly appear, or did it start as a minor fault and gradually worsen?

Is it ambient temperature dependent?

Does it do it on a hot engine, or at any time from the moment you start driving?

TBH, they're not especially complex motors or management systems.  I'd be inclined to find another garage.

I'm guessing a coil pack breaking down as it warms up, but that's a guess.  Leads can do the same.  Has it ever had a new dissy cap in its life?  My guess is the O2 probe fault is a red herring, and is the by product, not the cause.

2 hours ago, isetta said:

"The battery and (I think) oil red warning lights also appeared that time"  they would come on normally if the engine stopped and the ignition was still on.  

"My garage also swapped cylinders to see if the error migrated to another cylinder but it stayed on the one shown" . I assume a typing error here where it says swapped cylinders, what was it that was swapped?

It died whilst I was in the middle of a junction first time. Basically stalled. And then along the same journey where I was fortunately driving in an industrial estate so able to coast to the roadside when it locked up. I'm not a mechanic but yes they swapped one of the other "working" cylinders with the no. 2 which keeps coming up in error codes. This was to troubleshoot and isolate the error. If the error code moved to the new cylinder position, it would confirm that was faulty. 

1 hour ago, Jethro_Tull said:

Did it suddenly appear, or did it start as a minor fault and gradually worsen?

Is it ambient temperature dependent?

Does it do it on a hot engine, or at any time from the moment you start driving?

TBH, they're not especially complex motors or management systems.  I'd be inclined to find another garage.

I'm guessing a coil pack breaking down as it warms up, but that's a guess.  Leads can do the same.  Has it ever had a new dissy cap in its life?  My guess is the O2 probe fault is a red herring, and is the by product, not the cause.

Engine warning light started very intermittently and had gotten progressively worse. Definitely not temperature dependent. It's a very honest garage and they don't want me to spend a few hundred here or there unless they're sure it will solve the problem. The car's monetary value isn't very high. 

They're adamant it's not a faulty coil as were two separate AA guys. My garage thinks it's probably a wiring issue. Spoke to an electrical engineer and he said with an intermittent fault, it's like looking for a needle in a hay stack and potential cost per hour would not be worthwhile. Interestingly the electrical engineer didn't think it sounded like an electrical problem.

If I did go down the route of replacing coil pack, which aftermarket one is suitable and also, I've read about different spark plug gaps for this model, but can't find anything conclusive as to what it sound be set to. Thanks again

 

Am not sure about the distributor cap. Will have a look through the paper work I've got. Which would be the best one to buy as a replacement? 

 

2 hours ago, F05Newbie18 said:

It died whilst I was in the middle of a junction first time. Basically stalled. And then along the same journey where I was fortunately driving in an industrial estate so able to coast to the roadside when it locked up. I'm not a mechanic but yes they swapped one of the other "working" cylinders with the no. 2 which keeps coming up in error codes. This was to troubleshoot and isolate the error. If the error code moved to the new cylinder position, it would confirm that was faulty. 

I think what I meant to say was they swapped the no 2 coil with no 3.

don't think they have a distributor cap. too new and modern for that. I might be wrong, I fell maybe 90% right

Of course it doesn't!  For a moment then I was thinking of old 1.6 Escorts! Please ignore the old duffer.