Help! Im about ready to blow the thing up!

InitialD · 19-01-2005, 09:13 PM

Well after last week where my alternator died, I couldnt belive anything else could go wrong

:

While driving back home tonight, after about 2mins the car starts stuttering like it had Turetts syndrome. every 1/2 sec it would die then pick up then die, then pickup , etc ,etc ,etc

The harder I revved the car, the more it did it. And ofcourse i got every red light and when it idled at the lights it died then picked up straight away.

Its like the TFI is stuffed or like it didnt have enough fuel?
Earlier today I went to start it, it wouldnt start, But it had spark, and the injectors were ticking. I had to fully open the throttle before it would start, and it had alot of black smoke coming out of the exhaust for 1min (running ritch i guess)

Anyone got ideas?

So far Dave (thanatos) and I have come up with....
ECU
TFI (Ive used the TFI from the old EA and it was new)
DIZZY
FUEL PUMP
COIL

EA2BA · 19-01-2005, 09:19 PM

last time my Xf did that it stalled and blew the muffler appart *BANG*

AUII_Forte · 19-01-2005, 09:21 PM

This sounds very similar to what my EA is doing!!! I haven't been able to drive the car because it's unreg'd, but it's really hard to start, the timing is up to shit no matter what I do and sucks through fuel like you wouldn't believe! I just can't figure it out, about the only thing I haven't changed is the fuel pump and I can't see that being the cause of the problem. I think it must be to do with the wiring or something, but I really have no idea, hence the reason the car is still in the same state. I gave up on it until i really HAVE to sort it out.

InitialD · 19-01-2005, 09:25 PM

Ohh and the Timing is perfect on it aswell (checked it recently with a timing light)

oneredED · 19-01-2005, 10:06 PM

When you say you have spark... how much spark have you got? When my coil went, it had spark when i tested it, according to the mechanic it was just not enough to get the motor to fire into life. My dosh is on the coil ;)

XRated · 20-01-2005, 12:10 AM

If you've done so much to it already, why not do the dizzy, coil and fuel pump... If it's none of them, we will have a mod day where we blow it to the high heavens! :dr_Evil:

Mike Gayner · 20-01-2005, 05:25 AM

Yup my money is on the coil. Doesn't take alot of current at all to fire a plug into the block, but remember inside the engine the spark has to jump across about 12mm gap through compressed air and fuel. Surely a coil would cost sweet fudge all from a wrecker.

NZ · 20-01-2005, 10:39 AM

I hope you dont have fat hands if you change it.

rag top · 20-01-2005, 10:56 AM

Have you checked the cat? might be collapsing??

How good are the injectors? Have they been cleaned recently??

InitialD · 20-01-2005, 02:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by '67

Have you checked the cat? might be collapsing??

How good are the injectors? Have they been cleaned recently??

How exactly would you check the cat?

The injectors were given to me from another motor. Unknown how good they are. I originally had another set in there and they were shot, but these seemed to be fine.

Quote:

Originally Posted by EB MKII

I hope you dont have fat hands if you change it.

HAHAHAHHA thanks karl

Quote:

Originally Posted by OneredED

When you say you have spark... how much spark have you got? When my coil went, it had spark when i tested it, according to the mechanic it was just not enough to get the motor to fire into life. My dosh is on the coil

Now i think about it, When the car wouldnt start earlier yesterday I thought id check for spark, and amazingly the motor fired up to life when i took the plug out to check for spark, There was a very weak spark aswell. Would this cause it to do what it was doing while driving??

Racecraft · 20-01-2005, 02:07 PM

What about the earth strap to the block?

BJ · 20-01-2005, 02:08 PM

Have you tryed the M.A.P sensor The vacum line could be split and will cause the same thing.

InitialD · 20-01-2005, 02:13 PM

the earth connections are fine.

The strange thing its allways done even on CFI was it hunts at idle? say 600 then goes 500, 600, 500 ,600 no matter what RPM your at. Since the conversion to MPFI and MPFI idles at a lower RPM then CFI, its seems to have gotten worse. Ive changed ECU's and it doesnt make a difference. Well actually it did for about 10mins then it started it again. Can a coil cause this? Since converting to MPFI ive changed dizzy, plugs, leads, cap, rotor button, fuel pump, etc the only thing left on the car that hasnt been replaced is the coil.....

spope · 20-01-2005, 02:22 PM

Black smoke coming out of the exhaust is unburnt fuel. If you are overfuelling, maybe it's your map, ozy sensor or fuel pressure reg, or possibly even fuel pump.
However, if you aren't overfuelling, then your engine is not burning all the fuel, which suggests possibly bad timing, or more likely, weak spark. If your plugs are old, change 'em, otherwise probably coil if it is doing it fairly consistently. A new coil should be less than $40, and if you can't get to it, just pull the manifold off. It's not that tricky.

oneredED · 20-01-2005, 07:07 PM

Quote:

What about the earth strap to the block?

Oooohhh, many a pointless hour has been spent trying to get paddock bashers to fire, going over everything 100 times, only to realise a faulty earth is to blame...

Sundeep · 20-01-2005, 09:40 PM

Dude when you say that it starts when you hold the throttle open, are you pumping it or holding it down? If you are holding it at WOT the ECU cuts off fuel, you'll hear the injectors stop pulsing and the fuel pump will stop as well. If it starts like this, I'd be checking fuel related stuff because it's obviously overfuelling.

Start with the pressure regulator, MAP sensor (unplugged, busted) and have a go at cleaning out the bores and cleaning/replacing the plugs. After that crank it a few times with the throttle wide open (fuel cut off) and try start it.

I coulda sworn I posted this yesterday ;)

Sundeep

InitialD · 20-01-2005, 10:15 PM

Well after further investigation this afternoon...

I went to drive the car up the driveway and it spluttered the whole way up. My sister (previous owner of it) said that it use to do that occasionally when her boyfriend had it. Then i started thinking... what havent i changed over yet? COIL!!!

after a painfull removal I discovered that it had a BIG nasty crack in it going allmost 180deg around the outside of it. So im guessing that was one of my problems since its got VERY weak spark atm. I thought maybe it was the fuel pump but when it stalls you can hear it prime again. The other thing i noticed in the ford repair manual is that it shows CFI and MPFI having different relays for the fuel pump??!

: Was I suppose to change this??

NZ · 21-01-2005, 05:31 AM

you mean the ECU relay

spope · 22-01-2005, 09:33 AM

Yeah, fuel pump relay is the same. Green. ECU for cfi is white, mpfi black.
No, you don't have to change this. The only difference is with the cfi relay it stays on for 30 seconds after you turn the ignition off, to allow the throttle to reset.
Strangely enough, my car won't start if I put the mpfi relay in. But i haven't had any problems using the cfi one.

NZ · 22-01-2005, 10:14 AM

You didnt swap the 2 wires behind the relay block spope.