First, I'm so glad to have found a specific site that seems active! I posted this on VXoN about 6 weeks ago and not a peep. I copied it direct so if you read it there before, sorry! Easiest way I thought.
NB - I'm technically awful. Practically illiterate in mechanical issues, so please try not to snicker at me too much.
Car ran really lumpy all of a sudden mid-journey a few weeks ago, then eventually cut out about a mile after the lumpiness began (I was keeping the boot in to get close enough to Chieveley services to coast in otherwise I'd have been stranded in the dark with no hard shoulder and a battery that struggles to retain its charge when not running). Car had to be towed home by the breakdown service (it was late, and no diagnostic people available, so straight on the back of a truck and relaying me north). The initial breakdown man suspected the fuel pump going by my description, and the failure of the car to achieve ignition... but the 2nd guy in the relay who took me onward from Brum checked that power was going through it (exposed the thing under the rear seats, put his gadgetry onto the socketey thing powering it), and we could get the engine to run with the accelerator pressed a bit. Releasing the gas to try and idle resulted in the engine cutting out. The relay mechanic suggested that, having checked around the engine for other clues, that it would be the mass air flow meter that was kaput.
Lack of funds (full time student) meant I had to leave the car at my parents while I come away to uni. Paid for a mobile mechanic to visit the car and perform a diagnostic on it. He said the laptop gave him no codes, presumably due to breakdown clearing them when doing their checks (nothing was plugged in by breakdown so I know that aint the case). Mechanic had it running and not cutting out, just. Checked sparks, said they were in a hideous state. Cleaned up a bit, reset the gap, and it ran a little better, but still misfiring. His suggestion is to simply replace the sparks, and hope that's all. If it's not fixed by that then replace the throttle body/air-flow (which he says is an unusual sort of combined affair on the 2.2).
So, first up... Does the diagnosis sound fairly good? Is the whole throttle body / air flow thing sound correct?
Got replacement sparks ready for when I go back for Christmas, and seen the polished throttle body thread in classifieds, so assuming there's nowt about the auto that differs in that regard I'll sort myself out with one of those - if this all sounds about right.
Any other ideas?
Thanks!