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Morning all. I suspect that the air mass meter on my Escort turbo diesel is not working. I have a running issue with the car, so after a bit of research I thought I'd disconnect the meter to see if the problems I'm having changed........it didn't. In fact nothing changed at all, does this mean the the meter is working or not?
Edited by Dynamic Dave on 01/03/2008 at 14:22
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Yes the car idles fine, starts fine e.t.c. but when driving there's a point in the accelerator pedals travel where it appears to have a "kick" It's about 1/4 of the way down, you can feel it pull a lot stronger at this point, anything before and after that point just seems to struggle and make it feel like I'm towing something. The speed does pick up but there's a definate feeling off struggling. The brakes aren't binding, I've changed the air and fuel filter recently and the car's in generally good health. I thought that if the maf sensor is not working then the fuel/air mixture will be out? Strangely when the fuel tank's nearly empty the car drives excellentely and this problem seems to dissapear almost.
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marty
The MAF is only one possible cause of that oddness. I'd be thinking more of the fuelling if a low tank makes it disappear. [Although the lack of a significant amount of weight may be a factor.]
Getting the live-data examined at the point that the power changes is the only way to go on that one. [You'll now have codes for MAF and IAT circuits in there after disconnecting the sensor.]
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I did think about the lack of weight due to a near empty tank, but as soon as the needle on the gauge hits just below the red, it starts to perform as it should, not all the time, it catches me out because normally I put my foot down an inch or two when pulling off, but when it sorts itself out I find myself shooting up the road at speed. I also thought that maybe the pick-up pipe in the tank might be partially blocked, and when the fuel is really low it pulls the fuel through better? I don't know, just clutching at straws again. Thanks for your help SL, I'll get it connected and see what they find.
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Does my problem sound like fuel starvation? Just to re-cap, driving along and there is a lack of power when I plant my foot, it just seems to sit there, the speed rises slowly. No smoke out the back so I would think that it's not over fueling, but on occasions there is a boost of power usually when the tank's nearly empty. I blew out the fuel lines today using my air compressor, it didn't sort the problem, so I'm thinking the restriction is at the filter even though I changed it not so long ago, maybe even the primer pump unit is clogged somehow. What do you think?
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The filter shouldn't be clogged unless there's a problem, or you've been using "alternative" fuels....
Air getting in is distict possibility. A length of clear tube in the return line shows any air bleeding back.
Edited by Screwloose on 05/03/2008 at 21:47
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It does infact appear that there is air getting into the fuel line. I connected a clear pipe to the fuel line before it gets to the fuel heater, bypassing the heater, then I connected it to the inlet on the filer housing and there are some big bubbles appearing every 5 or so seconds. I also connected a clear pipe from the filter outlet to the pump and I can see the same thing. I did notice that when I pump the primer when the engine\'s running the bubbles increase a hell of a lot.
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Could well be the primer itself is leaking - if it wasn't for the bubbles coming in to the housing....
You'll have to check the line right back to the tank; even inside the tank if necessary - hope that it's not...
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Me too, to get to the pick up pipe I have to drop the tank, as you probably already know. I never thought that I had air in the system as the car starts so well in the mornings, so it does sound like the air is being drawn in closer to the tank.
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Ok, I've checked the fuel pick up, clean as a whistle. Checked all connections to the fuel tank and all is well. There isn't as much bubbles now, hardly any actually, the car drives much better but there is still a kick at around 1/4 throttle. If I plant my foot for a second or two and then let off gradually I can feel it kick when it reaches the magic spot in the pedals travel. Which brings me back to the air flow meter. I may just buy a new meter and see if it solves the prob. I'm getting closer. By the way thanks for your help SL.
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Right, today I put a new fuel filter on (old one quite clogged up) checked pump timing, everything as it should be. Problems still there, so I pay my attention to the turbo. With the wastegate vac pipe disconnected I can hear the air coming out as you would expect, when I plug it with my finger the air is blocked, the pipe is air tight. When I reconnect the pipe to the wastegate I can hear what sounds like an air leak coming from the actuator itself, so out of interest I removed the pipe and went for a short drive, no change in peformance at all. So I'm thinking that maybe it's over-boosting, but how would this contribute to a lack of fuel economy which I am also experiencing, as well as intermittent power surges?
Edited by marty1979 on 09/03/2008 at 14:50
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The quick test for an actuator leak is to attach a Mityvac pump and see if it holds vacuum.
You might be able to do something similar with a squeezy bottle; squash it flat. attach it to the actuator and, if it refills through the diaphragm, then your actuator is toast.
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Actuator is fine after all. I'm getting so fed up with this car now I can't even be bothered to try and fix it anymore. I've tried everything you can think of that would cause the intermittent power loss/surging apart from stripping the pump, which I'm not going to do now because I believe not even that will solve the prob's. I put £20 in the tank just a minute ago and it still does it, until now it only happened when I was nearly empty. I have come up with so many theories including the air in the fuel lines creating the surging as there is more air going in with the fuel, then the overboosting e.t.c. I did notice that when it actually works as it should which is only 10 sec's at a time, I can see smoke in the car's headlights behind me, this doesn't happen any other time. So, in conclusion I think that there is something wrong with the pump itself. Fin
Edited by marty1979 on 09/03/2008 at 19:27
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Ok I've done some reading. I've heard that on my car the maf meter only controls the egr valve, which I've disabled so that can't have anything to do with the running issue. I think that there is a sensor playing up somewhere that's not providing the right signal for the advance solenoid, therfore not advancing ignition at the right times. Does tis sound right? Do you have any theories about this SL?
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How many threads are we going to discuss this car on? This is getting silly.
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Sorry about that, I though that my other thread was deleted, just read it, and thanks for taking the time to get back to me.
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