Puzzling Car Problem!

UK_AEH

Car: 1999 Focus, 1.6 Zetec (108k on clock)

Thursday after work, put about 4 litres of Tesco 99 Ultima Petrol (petrol light was on, only had a fiver on me). I usually just put 'normal' in.
Just about got home (3/4 miles away), and relise the engine is running really roughly, lag in exceleration, not very smooth power, a bit 'laggy'.
Thinking it might be the petrol, I get my brother to bring me a fivers worth of normal unleaded - it's still running really rough. I drive to the Petrol Station and put in £40 worth (to dilute the 99 stuff) and still no effect.
My father in law (to be) had a look at it on Friday (I was in work) and changed the spark plugs, said No2 cylinder looked to be the culprit. It was now running pretty good, except wen going from 20-30 in 3rd it was 'laggy' (i.e. not very smooth like the timming was a little out).
It was the same on Saturday (work and back 3/4 miles each way)
Today on the way to work its better still - 20-30 in 3rd was as normal. Just maybe a tiny bit of a stutter very infrequently.
Anyone have any ideas whats happened!?
Also I booked the car in the garage for monday - still worth getting them to have a look at? Maybe get a tune up and oil change ( last service was about a year ago, I only do about 4/5k miles a year)?

Thansk - Adam

DUTR

Old knackered car, do those even run on super unleaded? I think it's just coincidence rather than the fuel on such a short experiement to be the culprit.

UK_AEH

Sorry post may have been a bit misleading - I occasionally put in Ultima 99, and this has never happened.
Was just thinking could it have been of bad quality, or because my petrol tank was low, could some crud in there have got into the engine/pistons?

laurence_p

no the fuel filter will stop any crap getting through. when was the last time it was changed.and why arent you using just normal unleaded.

UK_AEH

laurence_p wrote: »

no the fuel filter will stop any crap getting through. when was the last time it was changed.and why arent you using just normal unleaded.

As stupid as this sounds (to myself) I once read that putting in the super ever now and again is good for your engine!....I know!!!:o

King_Nothing

Won't make much difference on a standard 1.6 N/A car personally, better off just buying whichever is cheapest.

UK_AEH

So if it's not the Petrol, its one of the spark plugs giving up (the guy who changed them said No2 sparkplug looked different to the rest, something about a bigger gap)
....and now they have been changed do i need the garage to make some kind of adjustment to get the engine running some again - a tune up?

Thanks for the replys so far people...:)

DUTR

UK_AEH wrote: »

So if it's not the Petrol, its one of the spark plugs giving up (the guy who changed them said No2 sparkplug looked different to the rest, something about a bigger gap)
....and now they have been changed do i need the garage to make some kind of adjustment to get the engine running some again - a tune up?

Thanks for the replys so far people...:)

You know in the 1st post you said you had the car booked in for monday, what was it booked in for a service?
If so, they should be doing all the necessary checks and replacement (with your authority of course)
Are you doing 4-5000 miles of pre round town driving or do you take the car for a run every now and then?

UK_AEH

DUTR wrote: »

You know in the 1st post you said you had the car booked in for monday, what was it booked in for a service?
If so, they should be doing all the necessary checks and replacement (with your authority of course)
Are you doing 4-5000 miles of pre round town driving or do you take the car for a run every now and then?

I booked the car in on Friday because of the problem that developed on Thursday.
Was just thinking a service might be in order!
I drive to work and back each week (say 8 miles a day x 5= 40 miles a week, so thats 2k miles a year, plus in the last 12 months wales and back x2, plymouth and back x2, manchester and back x4 (all from South Cumbria), so my guesstimation is around 4/5k.
As the car is 12 years old and is starting to get expensive (new exhaust, new lambda sensor, suspension etc) I figured I would run it till its MOT (June) and the scrap it if it needs loads doing [last MOT was about £200, and I must spend around £500 a year on repairs, suspension seems to keep breaking (drop links?)]

DUTR

UK_AEH wrote: »

I booked the car in on Friday because of the problem that developed on Thursday.
Was just thinking a service might be in order!
I drive to work and back each week (say 8 miles a day x 5= 40 miles a week, so thats 2k miles a year, plus in the last 12 months wales and back x2, plymouth and back x2, manchester and back x4 (all from South Cumbria), so my guesstimation is around 4/5k.
As the car is 12 years old and is starting to get expensive (new exhaust, new lambda sensor, suspension etc) I figured I would run it till its MOT (June) and the scrap it if it needs loads doing [last MOT was about £200, and I must spend around £500 a year on repairs, suspension seems to keep breaking (drop links?)]

My commute now is about 6 miles each way city driving, however not so long back it was 15 miles including a section of motorway, in between that though the car was always taken for a run all be it 30 miles or so, but yes when the repair incidents start to become freuent, it is time for a change of vehicle. My neighbours 51 Micra won't start now , it's only done about 25k since new, hopefully there is an easy fix, some tak=lk of the key transponder .

UK_AEH

So whats the consensus here then - bad fuel or sparkplug failure or something els?