Vitara misfire

[Hotbob]

Hi I'm new to vitaras. I'm generally a Saab guy but I found this at a cheap enough price so I thought why not. It starts and ran but misfires. Took it for a drive and drives spot on so I brought it think it can't be much so tonight I started to look into it. I've driven 200 miles in it and no overheating or missing under load. I started by pulling leads off while running and found that the when i pulled the lead of off the second cylinder from the front nothing changed so that was the culprit cylinder. Changed plugs no difference. Changed leads still the same. Cleaned the rotor cap and you guessed it still the same. Any ideas welcome. Thanks in advance

[Hotbob]

It's a 1.6 8v carved model btw

[Jordi]

Any oil in the water? Water in the oil?

Is that lead sparking? When you pull it out and hold it near he manifold you should be able to see it spark.

My thought is a dodgy cylinder, might be an idea to compression test it and see if that cylinder is ok.

It sounds like you have eliminated any electrical issue.

[Jordi]

Or it could be badly timed up?

[turbo-tom]

badly timed or give it a good service and compression test it

[Hotbob]

Compression test is next on my list. No oil in the water. Dodgy cylinder or head gasket was my thoughts before but like i said it runs fine when driven that's what lead me to think it had a weak spark on tickover. Does not smoke or overheat at all. Had a good day green laning in it on Sunday as well.

[Jordi]

Could just be timing, if its only just out it may adjust on the dizzy.

When was it last serviced? How many miles?

A damn good service can do wonders.

[turbo-tom]

I would still compression test it though as that can tell alot of things, whats going on etc if not give it service they try again i guess.

[Hotbob]

Not sure on its last service as it was just a cheapy buy. Plugs looked good. Filter looked dirty so does the oil. I'll sort it. If not ill keep driving till it becomes more apparent

[ScottieJ]

As well as doing a compression check.

After its been running a while whip the number two plug out. What colour is it? Does it look washed?

While its running try spraying carb cleaner or similar around the inlet manifold joins the head and around the carb gasket etc. does it make any difference to how it runs?

I doubt it will be timing related if its only one cylinder to be honest.