moving on,

[lozz]

less tapity tap with beef dripping

[plod]

When was it last serviced Plod?

Was it using proper ford Specification (Ford WSS-M2C 913-C or WSS-M2C 913-C) oil?

About 12.500 miles ago, at ford main dealer ( all service stamps are ford main dealer )

I did put some new ford plugs in it about 4 weeks back, as on a cold morning it did miss under load the odd time

I'd like to get it service soon, to keep the book up to date, but money is so tight, especially since i've sold sod all off the 406

Hey Plod, maybe it's because you got used to driving a car with a handbrake that didn't matter if it was on or off...

Handbrake???........Oh, you mean the house brick on a bit of string don't you

[Bailes1992]

There's your problem! It needs a good service.

National tyres will do an oil change for £40!

It also needs a new coil pack ;) the missing when cold is a sign its going to fail. The new plugs may temporarily fix the problem but it will come back to haunt you! It's a ford weak point (ask Dai ).

[DaiRees]

It also needs a new coil pack ;) the missing when cold is a sign its going to fail. The new plugs may temporarily fix the problem but it will come back to haunt you! It's a ford weak point (ask Dai ).

Except that problem turned out not to be the coil pack itself, more the wiring to the coil.

I used to have a 1994 Mondeo with a 1.8 Zetec engine, it was very sensitive to servicing on time. Also the service manual said 10K between services, but that the plugs didn't need changing until 30K, so I cleaned and gapped the old plugs and put them back in. By 14K she was missing under load, took it for a diagnostic and the bloke said "change the plugs and if that doesn't work change the leads." . After that I changed the plugs every 10K with the service, with no problems, she still used to eat HT leads too though, probably needed a set every 20K or so