Right, whose head mechanic in here...

[simon718]

I know its a bit off topic, but a lot of good experience hear so i reckon if anyone can help me out its you lot

My car (1.6 escort si, about 96 if i remember right) started running off a cylinder one day last week, upto about 2000 rpm when it would kick back in. Had a quick look but could see nothing out of the ordinary, then the next day it started running fine again, with an occasional tendency to "hunt" at idle, then yesterday it decides it would be good fun to idle at 5000rpm I would imagine the latter of the problems to be the idle speed control valve or something similar?

Not really the best with petrols, old diesels are more my thing i wouldnt imagine the two faults to be related? Any advice greatly appreciated as iv just spend a couple of hundred replacing tires and suspension components and could really do without forking out for a garage to sort this

 

[shenion]

Could be the throttle position sensor. I have seen vacuum leaks cause similar issues.

Sounds like you may have had a stuck injector. Might be a good idea to run some injector cleaner on you next two tanks.

 

[simon718]

Cheers Scott, will fire some cleaner through once i can get it idleing at a more sensible level! Don't think it has a throttle position sensor, do you not have them on fly by wire throttles? This things that old theres a cable still

 

[zardoz]

When you say "started running off a cylinder" do you mean it runs off three cylinders, with one dodgy cylinder ?

 

[simon718]

Yep Zardos thats exactly what i meant, sounds better when i say it out loud

 

[JimM]

With a cylinder misfire my first thoughts would be towards plugs and leads - cheap & simple enough to change and may do the trick

Jim

 

[simon718]

With a cylinder misfire my first thoughts would be towards plugs and leads - cheap & simple enough to change and may do the trick

Jim

Yep planning on doing plugs and leads later this week Jim

 

[gavuk]

I agree with jim,crank the engine ,then remove the plugs ,see if any are wet and smell of petrol,may just be a plug,(mark the leads or do 1 at a time) ,if u have a spare could be worth changing any suspect..neon indicators are cheap to check leads although there are other ways ....to proove if there is petrol getting to cylinder the engine can be cranked without plugs in ,the king lead is normally shorted to bodywork so power has no chance of igniting the petrol vapour coming out the plug holes,hopefully someone with a hayne's can check if escorts are earthed......plugs, leads and dissy cap all need checking and perhap replacing but this extra expense when trying to find a problem ....Gav

 

[NeilH]

if you got the zetec engine put new plugs and leads in it. or possible fuel pump on this engine and year.



if you havent got the zetec then check for vacuum leaks. or it could be the idle control valve, throttle position sensor, and associated wiring.

i think there is a idle control valve and wiring harness kit available from ford.

 

[simon718]

if you got the zetec engine put new plugs and leads in it. or possible fuel pump on this engine and year.



if you havent got the zetec then check for vacuum leaks. or it could be the idle control valve, throttle position sensor, and associated wiring.

i think there is a idle control valve and wiring harness kit available from ford.

Neil, it is the zetec engine. Im hopeing plugs and leads will solve the intermittent misfire. Are you saying that the high idle isnt likely to be because of vacuum leaks on the zetec, or does it work differently on the older ford engines?

cheers for all help so far guys

 

[shenion]

Usually bad plugs or leads gets worse at higher RPMs.

I had a thought about the idle. There is a stepper motor (Idle Servo) for the idle speed. That may be sticking.

If you have a Haynes or Chilton manual, it should show how to check both the TPS and idle servo.

 

[NeilH]

Neil, it is the zetec engine. Im hopeing plugs and leads will solve the intermittent misfire. Are you saying that the high idle isnt likely to be because of vacuum leaks on the zetec, or does it work differently on the older ford engines?

cheers for all help so far guys

put plugs and leads on it firstly mate. it might sort out the misfire. ford released a bulletin about these engines. they said fit new spark plugs and if necessary fit leads too. without having the car in front of me, thats my best guess.


a vac leak may well be the cause of your high idle, but if it was the old ford engine i would have made a small cash bet.

give the throttle body a clean out with good quality brake cleaner, with and without the engine running.

and use whats left of it to spray round the engine hoses whilst its running and listen to what the idle is doing.

 

[ben8vgte]

First up you wnant to take iac valve out and give it a clean with carb cleaner they normal get sticky from the crank case breather make sure it operate smoothly try to move it with a screwdriver, plug it in get somone to turn on ignition and see if it moves freely you might need to turn it over to get it to start moving.
Ignition wise is it on a dis pack? as i have a lot of these go down on focus's on one output as there paired you can swap plug leads over to see if the miss fire moves to another 1-4 paired 2-3

 

[NeilH]

coil pack and leads on these ben.

 

[general--lee]

hi i have done quite a few missfire problems on theses zetecs, make sure you fit new plugs and leads at same time do not run engine on just new leads or plugs then fit the others , buy genuine ford leads they come with a really good silicone type sealer that helps and fit ngk plugs, they track down where the procalain is and you cant see

if you just fit say plugs the old leads damage new plugs so you fit new leads but the new plugs are already damaged so now the new but damaged plugs now damage the leads and you end up in a endless circle i know ppl who have done it , i only fit both and genuine leads ngk plugs , they last a long time compared with all others .

 

[general--lee]

ps have had a few coil pack prolbems too that miss at certain temps on one cylinder but go for leads and plugs first coil packs quite dear!!!

 

[BMAK]

Yeah coil pack and leads, is a problem with zetec engines, had a fiesta with same issue!

 

[engybenjy]

if its a Zetec - go for the coil pack! £30 to replace, had one go on my friends Focus the other week. After p155ing about with CAT/injectors/filters/plugs/leads, spoke to another mechanic friend and he said "coilpack" they are a well known fault, he's changed a couple a month apparentley.......HTH
Cheers, ben

 

[engybenjy]

coil packs quite dear!!!

£30 from KevinCoopers.........cheaper than RS1600i coilpacks

 

[general--lee]

true but i only buy genunine coils leads sensors type stuff had too many problems with cheap after market stuff that costs to much time looking for another fault when i was right all along !!