Anyone Know Of "electrical Issue's"

[littledaz]

I forgot to add that when stone cold - in last weeks freezing weather - the exhaust produced substantial white smoke at startup

 

Since you've bought a spanking new multimeter, it might be worth checking your glow plug resistance aswell. Black lead on the body of the glowplug and red on the centre electrical terminal. Can be checked without removing them from the head. Value should be below 1ohm if OK. This may be the cause of your smoke. The glowplug system is utilised for the first 5 mins of running to aid smooth running and emissions under 2500rpm. I take it your issue also occurs when hot?

 

Worth a try Dave, getting a lot of failed ones lately, especially on motors around the age of yours.

[Dave-G]

I'm noticing more smoke now - especially a rich puff that follows a missfire - and it stinks worse than properly burnt diesel. I'm planning to test the glow plugs today if the rain holds off.

 

Now you know how things go when you cant sleep... especially when you have a sleep disorder and kick things over in your mind as you desperately try to drop off?

 

Well you can usually tell the approximate mixture ratio or burn efficiency in a petrol combustion chamber by removing and examining a spark plug, ideally looking for a speckled biscuit colour - does anyone know if the working end of a glow plug would reveal anything?

Edited February 12, 2007 by Dave-G

[Dave-G]

All tested the same - and looked the same too. I'm surprised About their tiny diameter - and mere 10mm socket size!

[Dave-G]

Well I had a go at the loom today - nothing found to cause concern. Only swore a few times trying to remove it from the head. finally found there are "holders" for the plugs in the stem.

 

Nearly threw a wobbly about not being able to undo one of the rocker cover bolts at the rear of the engine - till I dug real deep deep deep into the tool archives and found a 1/4" drive universal drive elbow and 10mm socket... whew.

 

I have also discovered a revelation :o They dont use flat cork gasket material under rocker covers that tears when you look at it - that ribbed rubber moulding is a work of art :rolleyes: I'd even splashed out 4 million quid on some flexible gasket compound because I read somewhere it might be needed over the camshaft humps.

 

Anyway all I could think of to possibly make an improvement was to slightly distort the terminals in the plugs in the hope they might improve contact.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now Comes the immense anger and shame that I have been naive and gullible enough to assume that predelivery checks and servicing on such a new car is done correctly :o

 

While the bonnet was open I decided to check the fluids. Topped up the screen washer level... checked the dipstick

WTF?!?

The oil level is over an inch above the level - Give me strength!

 

Off to drain it now!

[littledaz]

finally found there are "holders" for the plugs in the stem.

Dave, I told you about the "holders" in post #44. :rolleyes:

Unplug the 2 pin injector connectors and clip into loom casing

 

I admire your persistence in getting to the bottom of this but, I am thinking more and more that, if the loom is at fault, you would have fault codes and engine management light on.

 

As for your oil level, I don't want to teach you how to suck eggs but, did you check the engine oil after it had sat for a while. The oil should be checked a couple of minutes after switch off due to an amount of oil flowing back to the sump from the oil filter housing, which can lead to an overfull reading. However, an inch overfull sounds a lot.

 

Interested to see if this all makes a difference though.

[Dave-G]

Hmm - I've replaced the oil - to the correct level and it's still 'miss-firing the same. :rolleyes:

 

Think I ought to google 'damaged catalitic converter' to see what I find given that high oil level.

 

I checked it after I'd finished the loom check.

[Dave-G]

And the next gripping installment of my sad tale of woe

 

Went to ask another Ford dealer today if THEY are able to run a diagnostic on the VW engine...

 

In their words... ANY Ford dealership can read the VW engine codes. Ok can we do that then please? It's amazing how dealers like to show up the competition :(

 

Drove me around to the workshop there and then and plugged in the WDS or whatever it is they have. Four fault codes found... Each of the front parking distance sensors - No fault codes to the engine. A quick test drive showed a couple of glitches, idling at 1500 rpm clearly showed the fault but the workshop foreman has never fast idled an auto before so cant say it's a proven fault as far as establishing a clear warranty claim item for ford to pay them. Booked in for the service manager to drive it home on monday night to establish a clear problem before they can speak to ford about it. Some kind of routine will have to be followed possibly prior to getting a Ford specialist in to check it.

 

Sounds like its going to take a while! I was also advised to say nothing of my afforts to resolve this myself being as a ford main dealer had no idea

Edited February 23, 2007 by Dave-G

[Dave-G]

Well its sorted...

 

I am so shocked at what it was - or what they said it was: I'm going to have to make a cliff hanger out of it because it just can not be right it was that simple give the absence of related fault codes :lol:

Edited February 28, 2007 by Dave-G

[seatkid]

Well its sorted...

 

I am so shocked at what it was - or what they said it was: I'm going to have to make a cliff hanger out of it because it just can not be right it was that simple give the absence of related fault codes :wacko:

 

and it was ????..........ethanol in the fuel?..........too much screenwash fluid?........wrong kind of air freshener?......come on or is it a secret?

[Dave-G]

Ah yes SK, sorry - I forgot ^_^

 

They attributed it to the MAF sensor :o

 

Myself and friends have had several new MAF's for loss of power between us over the years - but none for a miss-fire. Nor have I ever 'heard of it in any thread from the very knowledgeable members on here over the last two years or so.

 

I had asked if the intercooler outlet pipe joint (which had a copius leak) being full of oil would block the low rpm airflow through it, yet have sufficient flow through it at above 2000 rpm when the fault clears. This methinks would effect the air - or lack of - passing the TMAP sensor? That was dismissed - and I don't really question that opinion. They did however replace the pipe.

 

I rather think something minor was found but a MAF adds a tad to the bill - and perhaps helps to justify the cost to Ford Motor Co.

 

Either way I'm a happy chappy because they also sorted my front parking sensors and advised me that there are leaking pipes on the AC that need changing, they have been orderred and will be fitted monday B)

Edited March 1, 2007 by Dave-G

[tim-spam]

Well, you live and learn...

[Mr Maloo]

Hi

 

Had a misfire on my Bus (PD 115 manual) and eventually traced it to a poor connection to an injector - I took the rocker/injector cover off and disconnected, cleaned and ensured there was a good contact on all the terminals to the injectors. I also took apart the round connector on the side of the cylinder head and did the same with that. I dont know which one was at fault but it was over 2000 miles ago now and have had no probs since.

 

Scrote

 

This site is brilliant!!! I had a misfire on my 2002 1.9 TDi that at first was intermittent, then went away if you restarted the engine, then got the point of being pretty well continuous and was so bad it seemed like it was running on two cylinders, not even three, with huge loss of power. Took it to an independent whom I've used before and trusted, who read the codes and reported fault on No 1 injector. He did diagnose for me that the ESP light coming on (Electronic Stability Program) was as a result of the misfire, not the misfire happening as a result of the ESP cutting in which I had been thinking. Anyway he quoted

[Scorpiorefugee]

Just a quick note on this to express thanks and bring it back out of history. This topic has solved my problem and proved the value of this site yet again. It took me a while to take the rocker cover off to get at the wiring loom. Not because of the difficulty, that bit was easy, it was just that it has been more than 25 years since I last took one off - an ancient Talbot Horizon. Also, every time it tested the wiring from the external plug it all read fine and yet the fault was permanent.

 

Once off, a waggle of the connector on No.1 revealed very loose connections and an intermittent reading. A quick squeeze of the connector without removing the cover and all was tight and reliable - hopefully. repeated on the other 3 which were of varying tightness and I now have a 4 cylinder motor again.

 

I cannot see any value in replacing the loom because this type of connector is renowned for going slack and usually responds to a but of a squeeze. So, now off to fill up ready for a 500 mile round trip tomorrow which I was dreading in my wife's Picasso.

 

Thanks fellers.

 

Ron.