escortghiasi77 Posted December 24, 2012 Share Posted December 24, 2012 (edited) im having a problem with my ford escort 1.8 16v ghia si and none of us can seem to figure out what the cause of it is,so i thought i might post up on here and see if anyone has had similar problem,went out in the car on a 25 mile journey to local shops yesterday and on the way back through decided to put some fuel in it,after putting the fuel in it took a long while for the car to start up again which i thought was strange but anyway as i was leaving the petrol station it cut off and failed to restart but after a few times i managed to get it running but would not idle properly.so i thought it might of been some dirt etc so decided to drive it onto the motorway to try and clear out but this was no good i had my foot flat to the floor at a max speed of 70mph.but managed to get it back home where it cut off again and again.so called the rac out to it and they informed me that the car was only firing on two cyclinders from the coil pack as there was no spark there.so i went out and purchased a new coil pack for it and fitted it to find that the car only turns over and will start at all.even called the rac out to it and they were stumped he spent over an hour trying different things on what it could be,the only time that the car started when the car was been towed on a bar by the rac truck and then it would not go over 3000 rpm and sounded very rough and would not idle. :nutter: Edited December 24, 2012 by escortghiasi77 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supersport Posted December 24, 2012 Share Posted December 24, 2012 where abouts in the country are you? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
escortghiasi77 Posted December 24, 2012 Author Share Posted December 24, 2012 where abouts in the country are you?im in leicestershire mate? im having a problem with my ford escort 1.8 16v ghia si and none of us can seem to figure out what the cause of it is,so i thought i might post up on here and see if anyone has had similar problem,went out in the car on a 25 mile journey to local shops yesterday and on the way back through decided to put some fuel in it,after putting the fuel in it took a long while for the car to start up again which i thought was strange but anyway as i was leaving the petrol station it cut off and failed to restart but after a few times i managed to get it running but would not idle properly.so i thought it might of been some dirt etc so decided to drive it onto the motorway to try and clear out but this was no good i had my foot flat to the floor at a max speed of 70mph.but managed to get it back home where it cut off again and again.so called the rac out to it and they informed me that the car was only firing on two cyclinders from the coil pack as there was no spark there.so i went out and purchased a new coil pack for it and fitted it to find that the car only turns over and will start at all.even called the rac out to it and they were stumped he spent over an hour trying different things on what it could be,the only time that the car started when the car was been towed on a bar by the rac truck and then it would not go over 3000 rpm and sounded very rough and would not idle. :nutter: it was petrol that was put in the car not diesel had this confirmed by the rac Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scottybo Posted December 24, 2012 Share Posted December 24, 2012 blocked fuel filter? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
escortghiasi77 Posted December 24, 2012 Author Share Posted December 24, 2012 blocked fuel filter?good thought but i was getting fuel through to the spark plugs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supersport Posted December 25, 2012 Share Posted December 25, 2012 bit far from me to have a look. lift the back seat and make sure the pump sounds ok, as it may have a blocked tank filter, also is thepressure at the fuel rail good? undo the cap and see if the fuel squirts out, looks like a tyre valve. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
escortghiasi77 Posted December 25, 2012 Author Share Posted December 25, 2012 bit far from me to have a look. lift the back seat and make sure the pump sounds ok, as it may have a blocked tank filter, also is thepressure at the fuel rail good? undo the cap and see if the fuel squirts out, looks like a tyre valve.it has good fuel pressure the rac guy took the cap off yesterday to test the fuel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ahmotorsport Posted December 25, 2012 Share Posted December 25, 2012 You need to determine whether or not it's sparking again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
escortghiasi77 Posted December 25, 2012 Author Share Posted December 25, 2012 You need to determine whether or not it's sparking again.we did get the car to start up under a tow but it wont start up on it's own,but we did take the spark plugs and leads out of the car and attached the leads to it and tryed to start it and there was a spark there Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GingeRS2K Posted December 25, 2012 Share Posted December 25, 2012 Checked compression? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
escortghiasi77 Posted December 25, 2012 Author Share Posted December 25, 2012 Checked compression?not checked that yet as i have no compression tester Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rockerrob666 Posted December 30, 2012 Share Posted December 30, 2012 if your not getting sparks, try: one by one take out the spark plug still attached to the lead and place the end against the block to ground it, turn the engine over and see if it sparks (hold it by the hose, you'll be fine) find out which plugs aren't firing. swap the ones that aren't firing with a lead that is and test again, if the plug fires now it could be the lead, if it still doesn't fire, it could be the plugs. only do one at a time and only have one removed from the block at a time. not a proper test, but good to see which plugs are firing and whether it's the plugs or the leads. Always look at the simplest explanation first, you don't want to spend mega bucks sorting the entire electrical system out just to find a couple of leads are shorting (like I did in my old car). remember, Only have one plug out at a time, hold by the rubber lead and make sure the cathode end of the plug is touching the block to earth it. turn it over just for a second to see if it sparks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
escortghiasi77 Posted December 30, 2012 Author Share Posted December 30, 2012 if your not getting sparks, try: one by one take out the spark plug still attached to the lead and place the end against the block to ground it, turn the engine over and see if it sparks (hold it by the hose, you'll be fine) find out which plugs aren't firing. swap the ones that aren't firing with a lead that is and test again, if the plug fires now it could be the lead, if it still doesn't fire, it could be the plugs. only do one at a time and only have one removed from the block at a time. not a proper test, but good to see which plugs are firing and whether it's the plugs or the leads. Always look at the simplest explanation first, you don't want to spend mega bucks sorting the entire electrical system out just to find a couple of leads are shorting (like I did in my old car). remember, Only have one plug out at a time, hold by the rubber lead and make sure the cathode end of the plug is touching the block to earth it. turn it over just for a second to see if it sparks.the rac guy tried that when he was hear and it did spark,having spoke to a couple of mechanics about the car they seem to think that the cambelt has jumped,they have not investigated the problem yet as the car will be going into the garage tomorrow to be examined but they say it all seems to point to the cambelt jump.strange as i was told by my mechanic that the cambelt was fine and did not need changing but will have to see what happens with it tomorrow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shawdreamer Posted December 30, 2012 Share Posted December 30, 2012 if your not getting sparks, try: one by one take out the spark plug still attached to the lead and place the end against the block to ground it, turn the engine over and see if it sparks (hold it by the hose, you'll be fine) find out which plugs aren't firing. swap the ones that aren't firing with a lead that is and test again, if the plug fires now it could be the lead, if it still doesn't fire, it could be the plugs. only do one at a time and only have one removed from the block at a time. not a proper test, but good to see which plugs are firing and whether it's the plugs or the leads. Always look at the simplest explanation first, you don't want to spend mega bucks sorting the entire electrical system out just to find a couple of leads are shorting (like I did in my old car). remember, Only have one plug out at a time, hold by the rubber lead and make sure the cathode end of the plug is touching the block to earth it. turn it over just for a second to see if it sparks.the rac guy tried that when he was hear and it did spark,having spoke to a couple of mechanics about the car they seem to think that the cambelt has jumped,they have not investigated the problem yet as the car will be going into the garage tomorrow to be examined but they say it all seems to point to the cambelt jump.strange as i was told by my mechanic that the cambelt was fine and did not need changing but will have to see what happens with it tomorrow. doesn't matter if the cambelt appears fine, if something like the tensioner is on its last legs then it can allow something as small as a couple of millimetres of belt slack which is enough to allow the belt to jump one or two teeth on any of the pulleys, cross your fingers that it ain't that though as upto now you'd have been lucky, any more than one or two teeth and you could see your valves slamming into your pistons and a head rebuild on the cards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
escortghiasi77 Posted December 30, 2012 Author Share Posted December 30, 2012 if your not getting sparks, try: one by one take out the spark plug still attached to the lead and place the end against the block to ground it, turn the engine over and see if it sparks (hold it by the hose, you'll be fine) find out which plugs aren't firing. swap the ones that aren't firing with a lead that is and test again, if the plug fires now it could be the lead, if it still doesn't fire, it could be the plugs. only do one at a time and only have one removed from the block at a time. not a proper test, but good to see which plugs are firing and whether it's the plugs or the leads. Always look at the simplest explanation first, you don't want to spend mega bucks sorting the entire electrical system out just to find a couple of leads are shorting (like I did in my old car). remember, Only have one plug out at a time, hold by the rubber lead and make sure the cathode end of the plug is touching the block to earth it. turn it over just for a second to see if it sparks.the rac guy tried that when he was hear and it did spark,having spoke to a couple of mechanics about the car they seem to think that the cambelt has jumped,they have not investigated the problem yet as the car will be going into the garage tomorrow to be examined but they say it all seems to point to the cambelt jump.strange as i was told by my mechanic that the cambelt was fine and did not need changing but will have to see what happens with it tomorrow. doesn't matter if the cambelt appears fine, if something like the tensioner is on its last legs then it can allow something as small as a couple of millimetres of belt slack which is enough to allow the belt to jump one or two teeth on any of the pulleys, cross your fingers that it ain't that though as upto now you'd have been lucky, any more than one or two teeth and you could see your valves slamming into your pistons and a head rebuild on the cards.i hope it aint that but just thinking worst case,but if it had jumped how did it manage to drive over 20 miles back home? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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