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Car won't start after overfilling oil and spark plug change


Pete0309
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VW lupo 1.4 54 plate

I overfilled the oil and me and a  mate drained it off and refilled.  It wouldn't start as there was oil in the piston so we took the spark plugs out and it turned over.  We cleaned plugs, tested coil clips on top of plugs for voltage and neutral and seemed to be getting voltage, but we're getting no spark from the plugs.  Cleaned the cam sensor,  and fitted new plugs and still not starting.  We put spark plug testers on the plugs and they lit up but there still wasn't any spark from the plugs (that we could see.)  Now stuck as it turns over but there is no spark.  Any ideas or help appreciated.

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11 minutes ago, Rich said:

are you 100% sure that spark is the issue ?

No.  We took the plugs out to crank the engine to get the oil out of the piston and then cleaned the old plugs with heater but there was no spark,  We tested voltage in the coils, (my car has the four small ones above the plugs) according to a post online and there was voltage there.  We figured power was getting to the coils and tested the old plugs and got no spark so bought new ones.  My mate has a plug tester that sits between plug and coil and when we turned the ignition and turned the engine over there didn't seem to be a spark.  It may be that we tested the wrong pins on the coils and there is no power.  We also cleaned the cam sensor as there was some oil in there and we thought that might not be reporting properly as the oil we insulating the pins.

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Was it hydraulic locked and not turning over on the starter until you took the old plugs out?

Clean and gap plugs and test for spark the old fashioned way holding one at a time on the engine with insulated pliers or gloves and eyeballing the spark.

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8 minutes ago, Sausage said:

Was it hydraulic locked and not turning over on the starter until you took the old plugs out?

Clean and gap plugs and test for spark the old fashioned way holding one at a time on the engine with insulated pliers or gloves and eyeballing the spark.

Yes, locked and not turning over - thats why we took the plugs out, to get the oil out of the cylinder.

 

We tested the plugs (old and new) the old fashioned way but got no spark with either.  Maybe we checked the wrong pins on the coils?

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I cant see a connection between the oil and no spark at all on clean and gapped plugs. You probably need to retrace your steps and work out what you did and when to it as there might be a simple thing unplugged or something and also see what error codes you have as well.

Hopefully you didnt do anything drastic to it while locked like towing it and bump start.

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Originally the emissions/engine light on the dash came on when I was driving home from work, tired.  As I was tired, I misread it as the oil light so put a load in the next day and then noticed, when the light didn't go off when I started the car that it wasn't the oil light and there was a load of smoke from the exhaust.  So it could be related to that that is stopping it sparking but I am not sure what that issue is and the problem was, after doing the oil, the car wouldn't move, so we took the plugs out and replaced them.

I appreciate that this was a stupid error on my part but am a fairly new driver, and its all a leaning process I guess.

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my mate who has been driving for years mistook the o1L service for the oil light and put five litres in his on top of what was in.

always use the dipstick, manual checks can't be beat.

you should check you haven't sucked crap into the oil pick up.

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1 hour ago, Rich said:

i know it's the coil pack one, same crap as I have in my daily mk4.

 

You're living the Mk4 dream now too?

I'm running the Golf SDi as a daily again having moved the Passat on. It's reminded me that actually quite like it ^_^

Have you sorted out my undertray yet?

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3 hours ago, Pete0309 said:

Yes, locked and not turning over - thats why we took the plugs out, to get the oil out of the cylinder.

When it hydrolocked (or oil locked), it is remotely possible that the pressure on the downstroke popped out the cranksensor, which is used as the primary timing source for ignition. Although depending on the engine computer (ecu), it might be able to use the cam sensor as a timing source. So it 'may' be possible that the reason's there's no spark is because of the crank sensor.

But yes, like rich says, those horrid, awful coil packs do fail with monotonous regularity. Really poor design. When they fail you usually can tell by unplugging all the leads except one with an earthed plug, out of the engine. Usually one of them will give you a spark. They spark in pairs, and the failure usually results in one of the pairs not working. The plastic around the metal coil cracks and then lets water in which corrodes the metal below, which then expands and causes the wiring to short out.

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1 hour ago, Rich said:

yes, the mk4 dream, I am not against the 1.4, i can get 50mpg out of it (according to the mfa) which is better than I got from the Tt.

The mk4 is the poor mans phaeton... i have one too. Comfy car for long rides. With that god awful AEH engine.

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9 hours ago, Rich said:

i am still debating on it.

yes, the mk4 dream, I am not against the 1.4, i can get 50mpg out of it (according to the mfa) which is better than I got from the Tt.

50 mpg is good going :) When I last had a 1.4 40mpg was an absolute record after a 100 mile run so you're doing something right....

Give me a nudge when you know what you're doing post debating etc ;)

8 hours ago, mk2 said:

The mk4 is the poor mans phaeton... i have one too. Comfy car for long rides. With that god awful AEH engine.

I like them, although not sure I'd bother with the 1.4/1.6 models anymore given the SDi's/Tdi's are £500-£600 cars these days....

Mk4's have reached a stage where so many are being broken that the parts are virtually free. I bought perfect/rust free wings for mine at £10 a side, pimped the lowly SDI spec with good rip free GTi seats (£20), Gti rear lights (£2), Avus II wheels (£40), cupholders (£10) and a whole host of other spares I've bought 'just in case' for next to nothing.

Good comfy cars and lots of knowledge and parts out there makes them a winner IMO.

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13 minutes ago, Rich said:

tdi mk4 isn't the way.

expensive injectors, turbo, flywheels, so many things.

 

Would agree with that for the PD stuff, earlier VE seems capable of 200k+ on original turbo/injectors/clutch in most instances.... Also these parts seem cheaper and easier to replace on VE stuff.

I'm on the lookout for an Octavia VE estate at present, either in 90 or 110 flavour. So long as it's 2001-2004 and VE I'm not precious ^_^

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13 hours ago, mk2 said:

When it hydrolocked (or oil locked), it is remotely possible that the pressure on the downstroke popped out the cranksensor, which is used as the primary timing source for ignition. Although depending on the engine computer (ecu), it might be able to use the cam sensor as a timing source. So it 'may' be possible that the reason's there's no spark is because of the crank sensor.

But yes, like rich says, those horrid, awful coil packs do fail with monotonous regularity. Really poor design. When they fail you usually can tell by unplugging all the leads except one with an earthed plug, out of the engine. Usually one of them will give you a spark. They spark in pairs, and the failure usually results in one of the pairs not working. The plastic around the metal coil cracks and then lets water in which corrodes the metal below, which then expands and causes the wiring to short out.

where is the crank sensor, do you have a pic or diagram?

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