I'm embarrassed to post these pictures but I hope they will serve as a warning to those who might suffer the same fate. I took the car out in November and had a good run then put the car away dirty. Next day or so I took it out and washed it, including hosing-off. Apart from starting her up to put her back in the garage I didn't run her until last Thursday. She ran like a dog all the way to Brighton and back (100 miles), rarely feeling as though she was firing properly on all eight at once. The rear bank plugs were fine but the front, relatively inaccessible plugs were as shown. One of the plugs was still very wet and the other three in pretty poor shape. Fortunately replacing all eight has restored normal service. At £40 a set in the UK it was an expensive lesson considering they were only last replaced in August. Even thought the rubber plug covers are in reasonable condition, the water still got in there and, worse, stayed there for a couple of months. The moral is cover the engine when washing and hosing off and/or make sure the plugs and cam cover holes are dry afterwards. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Whenever I wash the 308 I cover the engine and all associated electrical parts with large trash bags, sealing the seams with duct tape and forming a trough for any water to run down safely. Then I run the heck out of it to dry it. The saying goes, "You push it out of the garage, wash it and run it"
Paul you can keep the plugs. Just wire brush them and blow them out with compressed air. They are fuel fouled and once dry will work ok. Also after I wash the car I blow compressed air down each sparkplug hole to dry them out. Works great
You guys actually wash your cars? Heck, I wipe mine down with a soft baby daiper every time I drive it. Once in a while there might be a small area by the wheels that need washing, but I minimize the water to that area. Once it looks clean, I use "Armor Plating" to put a light wax on the car. Never see swirls or anything.
No need to cover the engine...just replace those ancient plug covers with fresh, tight fitting ones. I had the same problem as you, but after replacing the covers, no more problems. Covering the engine is a "band aid"; what are you going to do if you get caught (heaven forbid) driving in the rain???
This happened to me in the GT4 when I first got it back from it's first major service.After its first wash the car ran like crap.I immediately thought my mech had screwed it up and after ringing him he told me to blow out the front spark plug wells with compressed air.I then removed each lead one at a time until the engine revs made no difference.I remove the fouled plug and replaced with new.The car then ran perfect again.I then studied where the water was getting in and custom made a small 35mmx35mm stainless steel channel that acted as a gutter for the water and installed it in the engine bay (see attached pic).Looks original and is not very visible.Now I can wash my car all I want and no water gets down the front spark plug wells.I showed my Fmech my mod and he was impressed.He got me to make a few up for him for some of his GT4 customers.I don't know if this could be done on the GTB/S series as I have never really studied the engine bay.Paul what type of plugs are you using as 40 pounds seems very high for regular NGKBP5ES.The same plugs cost me about 10 pounds.Are they Irridium? Image Unavailable, Please Login
The plugs are BP5EVX, platinum fine wire electrode NGKs and retail at about £5 each plus tax although I managed to get them at about 15% off. I thought about just cleaning them up but they looked so awful I bought new ones. Since taking the picture I've wire brushed them and put them away as spares. In future I'll blow out the holes after washing and in the meantime see if I can get some new rubber bungs. The old ones look pretty ok but obviously are not too effective any more.
Hi Paul! Can you let me know which type of plug-hole covers you have? I will attach a picture of a complete set of 8 new covers that I bought for my previous car, but never got to use. There are two different styles, and the 308 I have now uses the other type. I can sell you my redundant set if you're interested. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Hi Mick they are the same as mine so I would definitely be interested. Send me a pm and let me know what you want for them. Not sure how we'd go from pounds to euros but I guess we can work something out. Paul
