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[DaveyDavey]

OK, well firstly my apologies in advance because I have a question about my other half's astra and this is an omega forum. But since you're all very knowledgable people, my first thought was to pop a question on here.

The car is a V reg year 2000 1.6 16v saloon.

What I'd like to know is: Where the hell the spark plugs and leads are?

It started misfiring yesterday and my first thought was to check plugs, the only problem was that I couldn't actually find them  

Can anyone point me in the right direction please!!

[markey mark]

does it not have a coil per plug set up ?? take ecotec cover off top and see !!

[damon80]

The spark plugs and leads are under the black cover on top of the engine that says "Ecotec" on it.  

It's held on with 2 allen bolts - just unscrew them with the correct size allen key, and there you go!

The plugs are a fair way down the holes, so you'll need a socket extension on your ratchet to get at them

[Matchless]

It is a coil-per-plug set up so no leads.

I assume the engine management light is working correctly and is not lit during the misfire.........
Remove the engine top cover ( 2 allen screws, take off oil filler cap and ease the cover forwards slightly then lift off).
You will now see the coil pack assembly....long black moulded plastic thing.
You can unplug this then remove its fixing bolts (2 iirc) and gently prise it up off the spark plugs...do it evenly.
Look for one or more spark plugs sitting in a pool of oil, if so the camcover gasket is leaking. If all is dry then its most likely that one of the coils has died (fairly common fault) and you need to look for a new one on ebay.

[DaveyDavey]

Cheers guys  

I was almost there last night then. I had the ecotec cover off and had whipped the bolts out of the big yellow and grey thing underneath (which I now know is the coil pack). As I couldn't seem to shift it with a gentle pull I decided to err on the side of caution and leave it well alone until I had reasearched a bit more thourghly.

So presumably this means that there are no HT leads attached to the plugs then? I was planning to run the engine and yank leads off to see if there was any change to the idle, although I guess that idea is redundant now.

[Taxi_Driver]

Cheers guys  

I was almost there last night then. I had the ecotec cover off and had whipped the bolts out of the big yellow and grey thing underneath (which I now know is the coil pack). As I couldn't seem to shift it with a gentle pull I decided to err on the side of caution and leave it well alone until I had reasearched a bit more thourghly.

So presumably this means that there are no HT leads attached to the plugs then? I was planning to run the engine and yank leads off to see if there was any change to the idle, although I guess that idea is redundant now.

Nope wont be any leads.............however what i would do, to check for spark.....is remove coil pack and plugs.....put plugs back in coil pack.....earth one plug at a time....using jump lead or similar....get someone else to crank it over and you should obviously see a spark on each plug.

Mind you i wouldnt bother doing the above if as Matchless says plug wells are full of oil.

[Marks DTM Calib]

Cheers guys  

I was almost there last night then. I had the ecotec cover off and had whipped the bolts out of the big yellow and grey thing underneath (which I now know is the coil pack). As I couldn't seem to shift it with a gentle pull I decided to err on the side of caution and leave it well alone until I had reasearched a bit more thourghly.

So presumably this means that there are no HT leads attached to the plugs then? I was planning to run the engine and yank leads off to see if there was any change to the idle, although I guess that idea is redundant now.

Nope wont be any leads.............however what i would do, to check for spark.....is remove coil pack and plugs.....put plugs back in coil pack.....earth one plug at a time....using jump lead or similar....get someone else to crank it over and you should obviously see a spark on each plug.

Mind you i wouldnt bother doing the above if as Matchless says plug wells are full of oil.

Doesn't really proove anything as you only need a few KV at atmosperic pressure to jump such a small gap.....at a 10 times atmospeheric you need 10's of KV so they may still appear to be working.

[DaveyDavey]

Well first step will be to get the coil pack off and check the whether there is any oil in the plug wells.

I've also found on the VXownersnetwork site, mention of the throttle body getting gunked up and causing a similar issue. That's apparently a 15 minute job to check as well so I shall do that too.

Thank you again for all your input though gents, it is much appreciated