The battery finally succumbed after another 2 months of non use.
Jump started ok but battery would not hold charge (8 years old so not complaining). Alarm became very confused to the irritation of neigbours and did not want to reset properly until I discovered that manually opening and closing the passenger door would reset it permanently! Trick worth remembering.
No problem , new battery, and now fires, starts and and ticks over at first touch. HOWEVER for the first 2 -3 minutes engine refuses to 'pickup' when any load is applied or accelarator is opened anything other than very slowly. It then runs and drives perfectly. Ambient temperature is not a problem 22 deg C down here today!
I first thought that ECU was retraining itself (after flat battery) but have now done about 50 miles and fault still reoccurs. Petrol is now all fresh. It is worse if car has not been used for more than about 60 minutes.
It does need servicing and plugs are 35k old (previously they were good for 50k) and has never exhibited any sign of misfire or similar problem in the 85k since new.
Any good ideas please??
(or is it sulking that it may have to go back to the UK?)
pmh (was peter)
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I would look to the spark plugs first as a possible problem, followed by ignition leads and system. The plugs sound like they are quite old after 35k miles, perhaps they are ok when the engine is warm to ignite but for the first minutes are not up to the job. It would do no harm to replace them and work from there. Turning to the fuel system is a more complex department and difficult to diagnose, in theory it should be fine if nobody has tampered with settings etc. I had a 1.25 Fiesta a while ago and it developed a terrible misfire as you set off or under load, main dealer diagnosed ingnition lead fault. They told me that the system needs to be spot on to run properly.
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Fiestas of this age always ran worse when started at around 20C because this was the emission test start temperature and engine does not run rich. You may have an airleak into the intake manifold which would make things worse. Hard to find these. Could try listening with a tube next to manifold/throttle body joints to see if you can hear a hissing.
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Hi,
Try disconnecting the battery for about an hour, re-connect it and start the engine. DO NOT Rev the engine, leave the engine idiling for about 10 minutes. Drive the car carefully for the first 5 miles of driving, dont rev it very high!
This worked with my father in laws fiesta after a flat battery. he had confused the ECU because he revved the car too much after his battery went flat.
Let me know if this works,
Hope i have helped.
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Problem solved at last! But worth a laugh at my expense and may save somebody some time in the future.
The problem persisted despite new plugs (just about due any way at 35k), search for sensor connector problems and vacuum leaks. And then problem started to manifest itself as intermittent loss of power at about 3500 rpm in 5th causing loss of about 10mph, which could be cleared by dropping a gear temporarily and then changing back. No problems in round town driving after the 4 -5 minute warm up period.
ECU diagnostics showed no error codes. But the mpg had apparently dropped from a normal 44 mpg.
Open Air filter box and find that some animal had made a nest incorporating large non degradeable eucalyptus leaves and bits of air filter in bottom of box and air inlet piping. No sign of animal tho' but probably frightened off by mechanical activity. Presumably the intermittent nature was due to animal adjusting its position for added or less warmth as car warmed up. New filter and all cleaned out and ran almost perfectly. A small hesitancy continued to exist, but this was solved with a replacement MAF.
I should have included in the original post that car had been unused for about 6 weeks before the problem occurred, and somebody would probably suggested it. The flat battery (and ECU power down) and battery replacement was just a red herring!
pmh (was peter)
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