Hi, I'm new here but have spent a lot of time reading the forum posts for quite a while. This is likely to be a long post, and I am at my wits end!
I have a 2002 Ford Fiesta 1.4 and about a month or so ago I left home and the car seemed to be jumping and slow to accelerate. EAC fail started flashing on the dash. I took it straight to the garage who plugged in their diagnostic code reader but it came up with nothing except something to do with the O2 sensor (which had previously been read and cleared).
They checked a few things but couldn't find the problem and called a recommended auto electrician. It was before Christmas and he was about to go away but pointed them in the direction of the throttle body. They cleaned it out using carb cleaner and also cleaned all sorts of other connectors.
The problem came back not long after. A work friend who is familiar with fiestas reckoned my problem was with the throttle position sensor and sprayed WD40 on the pedal sensor and also some wiring near the throttle body. The EAC and engine management light immediately went out. I took it for a drive, it did well for about 25 miles and started again. Restarted the engine and and the fault went away.
The garage suggested getting a used throttle body to see if it solved it. They said that it made it worse so put mine back on. Called auto electrician again and he told them he was still really busy and to call in a week. However, after cleaning the TB and disconnecting battery, I drove the car around 300 miles over Christmas with no issue.
January comes and the problem returns. Next suggestion was to replace the throttle position sensor so I agreed. Went to pick car up and they said they couldn't replace it as my car didn't have one?!?! They'd found a price of a new TB from Ford - £365 + VAT. no thanks.
One day I went in person to the auto electrician. He said the other guys are great but were a bit out of their depth, which I'd come to realise. Said that I definitely will have a tps and that you can't just swap a TB - it needed recalibrating or something. He again said he was too busy and to call him in a week (!)
I waited a week and called him. After several attempts to get hold of him, he said...yep...that he was busy and to call back in a week. I was furious and began looking for other garages. Anyway, to cut a long story a little shorter, my local garage got me a date with the electrician's assistant for a week later. In the meantime I took to yet another place. They actually found some codes - P2138 & P0641. They did a lot of checking and were convinced it was not the tps but first suggested that I needed a new ECU. I immediately got suspicious and lead them to believe that I wouldn't pay to replace that, even though if I knew that was definitely the problem, I probably would. He kept the car overnight because the following day he said they had a ford technician going in to try and sell them some diagnostic equipment. Apparently they both spent a couple of hours investigating and were convinced that the TB is the problem as they'd been checking voltages and the one at the TB was low. He gave me a price of £290+ vat just for the part. He said he'd like to check the wiring near the TB on Monday.
I picked the car up and it drove away fine. I had noticed that the battery had been disconnected as the clock etc had reset. I've driven it about 40 miles so far and it's okay.
Took the car back today, he couldn't see a problem with the wiring so tried to convince me it is the TB, but also that the one on my car isn't the original Ford one. He charged me £132 for his time.
I've spent nearly £200 so far and got nowhere. I think I plan to go to this auto electrician in a few days and see what happens there. My only worry now is that with no symptoms and no fault codes showing anymore, it's going to be impossible to diagnose!
I'll just point out a few other things I've noticed which may or not be relevant:
1. A few months back, I thought that my revs when idling were a little too high. Tbh, I do not consciously pay attention to them, but something made me wonder what was normal. They were usually just above 1000rpm
2. I'd been reporting to my garage that the car seemed noisier and sounded like it was working really hard. It picked up speed well but always felt like it was in the wrong gear and that I needed to move up, even in 5th. They said it was fine and drove beautifully. I finally conceded that it must be my imagination (still might be!)
3. I'd often notice that when coming to a stop and changing down gear that the car would rev excessively when I pressed the clutch. It was quite embarrassing as I'd imagine people would think I was an awful woman driver!
I would be grateful for any thoughts or advice. Bear in mind I know nothing about mechanics and have only picked up this terminology and some basic knowledge over the past few weeks. I think I must have read every article and post about EAC fail that exists on the Internet. A dozen times. I really don't want to waste anymore money on diagnostics, I just want it FIXED!
Thanks in advance.
Edited by MJ27 on 19/01/2015 at 22:57
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This is a 13 year old car. It's far from new and everything on it is worn, blocked and sticky to some degree. Engine management systems are emission driven. The engine cylinder compression isn't going to be as good as it once was. The fuel injectors won't be as clean as they once were. The exhaust system will be lined with carbon deposits. The valve springs will be worn, so will the piston rings be. The O2 sensors will be coated with carbon. You may have manifold vacuum leaks. The manifold is plastic and may well be distorted. Fuel pressure may be lower than it once was. All these things are conspiring against the ECM which is trying to run the engine and maintain the stoichiometric 14.7:1 air/fuel ratio. You may have to accept you may never completely cure this without investing a lot of time and money on a car that now has little monetary value. I'm sorry that this might not be what you wish to hear but I'm afraid it's a fact of life regarding cars of today.
Years ago old cars were eventually killed by structural corrosion making them irreparable. Modern cars are different. They don't rust, but there comes a time that they become too expensive to iron out all their faults.
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Hi. I'm having the same problems as you and about to have used throttle body put on tomorrow. I ve had map sensor replaced , new timing belt, engine rebuild, accelerator sensor & lambard sensor replaced and still have no joy. Have you managed to get your issue resolved as I have to stop putting money into this car soon. Thanks
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hi aned01,
Sorry I didn't see your message sooner? How did you get on?
Apart from a brief appearance, EAC FAIL hadn't bothered me for about 8000 miles. Until last week when I was on holiday 4 hours from home. Latest fault code is P0641 again but I'm back to square one. The recommended auto electrician has left town and I just don't know what to do. I don't want to give up on the car as, apart from this problem, it's a decent one. It's just so frustrating to know it would be easily fixed if only we could find out the cause. My garage's latest suggestion is to send off the throttle body for testing rather than replace it on just a hunch.
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