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Terrible conspumtion, lack of power, hard start HELP! 

 

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 Post subject: Terrible conspumtion, lack of power, hard start HELP!
Posted: Thu Jun 10, 2010 6:37 pm 
Getting Side Ways
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Ride: 1992 EBII Fairmont

Location: Aga
VIC, Australia

Well I bought this EF with 181000 k's and since then it has had a slight rough spot in it's idle and only gets 350k's to 62 liters. And it's always been funny with power, most days it feels like i really need to push the accelerator down to get it to move but on rare days I barely need to depress it and it just goes as it should.

It's now at 197000 and it's getting hard to start, takes 2-3 seconds loner than usual.
Doesn't to it all the time but almost all the time. Does it whether it's hot or cold.
It's also now idling low in drive (600RPM) which also never used to happen.

It appears to blow no smoke whatsoever. It's been happening for over 20000k's now

Any clue on what this could be? Cheers.
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 Post subject: Re: Terrible conspumtion, lack of power, hard start HELP!
Posted: Thu Jun 10, 2010 7:35 pm 
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Theres a few recent posts regarding high fuel consumption, lack of power etc... Check them out, spend the long weekend doing a ''full'' tune up.
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 Post subject: Re: Terrible conspumtion, lack of power, hard start HELP!
Posted: Thu Jun 10, 2010 8:36 pm 
Getting Side Ways
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Hey mate I can't find any threads titled like that.
Also don't have enough money to do a full service.

Would anyone have any idea what the problem could be?
I banged the cat with a rubber mallet and it's not rattling, MAP sensor hose is fine.

When I rev it, it blows a bit of white smoke but not much at all (prob just cause it's cold outside). I don't think it's a head gasket the smoke amount is nothing compared to that and it's not thick.

I also took off the power to a couple of injectors and it started shaking violently so it's not that either, it's rough at idle but nothing compared to what a stuffed plug/lead/misfire/injector would do.

Any ideas?
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 Post subject: Re: Terrible conspumtion, lack of power, hard start HELP!
Posted: Thu Jun 10, 2010 8:48 pm 
Fordmods Junkie
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Ride: EL Fairmont, VFR400 racer

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VIC, Australia

Possible vacuum leak. Have a look around for any loose vacuum hoses in the engine bay that may have come off.

Does it have climate control? If so listen for vacuum leaks within the cabin. A hose may have come off the vent actuators, or the actuators themselves are cracked leaking vacuum. My passenger side vacuum actuator is cracked and I had to seal off the vacuum hose by plugging it up.

It could also be your oxygen sensor.

 

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phongus = Post whore 2006
EL XR6 motor, EL ECU + J3 chip, WADE 1673 Camshaft, 3" S/S intake, Pacy 4480, 2.5" Hi flow cat, 2.5" Lukey exhaust.
Max Power = 144.6 rwkw (03/05/2008)

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 Post subject: Re: Terrible conspumtion, lack of power, hard start HELP!
Posted: Thu Jun 10, 2010 9:09 pm 
Getting Side Ways
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phongus wrote:
Possible vacuum leak. Have a look around for any loose vacuum hoses in the engine bay that may have come off.

Does it have climate control? If so listen for vacuum leaks within the cabin. A hose may have come off the vent actuators, or the actuators themselves are cracked leaking vacuum. My passenger side vacuum actuator is cracked and I had to seal off the vacuum hose by plugging it up.

It could also be your oxygen sensor.


YES!

It has climate control and I have heard the dash making heavy breathing noises the entire time I've had it, it really does stand out. Like a breathing machine. I was told it's just climate control doing it's job. It's quite loud.

I've never owned a fairmont before unfortunately so have no idea where this stuff is located?

Do I have to remove the dash to fix it? Is that where the actuators are?
Would this explain everything? Poor power/economy etc?

Thanks heaps dude!
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 Post subject: Re: Terrible conspumtion, lack of power, hard start HELP!
Posted: Thu Jun 10, 2010 9:18 pm 
Fordmods Junkie
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Yeah you have to pull the whole dash out to get to them. The one that broke on mine was on the passenger side which is bolted onto the heater box stuff. It was annoying to get to.

However before you start pulling the dash out, pull your glove box out and have a look behind it. There are some vacuum tubes which run from the engine bay through the firewall and into the cabin. The main vacuum is connected to a switching box which is controlled by climate control (CC). You can trace the vacuum lines to each of the actuators...but you might be lucky and it could just have come off at the main box.

Vacuum leaks will give you a rough idle and poor economy...depending on how bad the vacuum leak is, will depend on how much power/fuel economy you will lose.

Does it feel worse if you have the CC set on different vents? (leg, face, windshield)

 

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phongus = Post whore 2006
EL XR6 motor, EL ECU + J3 chip, WADE 1673 Camshaft, 3" S/S intake, Pacy 4480, 2.5" Hi flow cat, 2.5" Lukey exhaust.
Max Power = 144.6 rwkw (03/05/2008)

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 Post subject: Re: Terrible conspumtion, lack of power, hard start HELP!
Posted: Thu Jun 10, 2010 9:39 pm 
Getting Side Ways
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Location: Aga
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phongus wrote:
Yeah you have to pull the whole dash out to get to them. The one that broke on mine was on the passenger side which is bolted onto the heater box stuff. It was annoying to get to.

However before you start pulling the dash out, pull your glove box out and have a look behind it. There are some vacuum tubes which run from the engine bay through the firewall and into the cabin. The main vacuum is connected to a switching box which is controlled by climate control (CC). You can trace the vacuum lines to each of the actuators...but you might be lucky and it could just have come off at the main box.

Vacuum leaks will give you a rough idle and poor economy...depending on how bad the vacuum leak is, will depend on how much power/fuel economy you will lose.

Does it feel worse if you have the CC set on different vents? (leg, face, windshield)


Ah I know where you're talking about, looks like I need to set a day aside haha.

The vents some time lag and sometimes swap randomly on rare occasions. But air wise I can't really notice a difference, the side vents seem a lot weaker than the center and center console vents. Feet and windscreen vents seem fine too, although just before it took a few seconds to swap to windscreen after pressing the button.
I can only hear the leak when the climate control is switched off and the car is running.
It doesn't sound like a leak either, more like a breathing machine. It'll "inhale" for 2 seconds pause then exhale (I think) and repeat that pattern consistently. It's coming from the passenger side right around the glovebox.

Thanks I'll go to the garage now and remove the glovebox.
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 Post subject: Re: Terrible conspumtion, lack of power, hard start HELP!
Posted: Thu Jun 10, 2010 9:57 pm 
Getting Side Ways
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Ok I just removed the glovebox (but I can't get the surround off).

I'm 99% sure it's coming from a blue box directly to the right of the glovebox (towards the middle).
If I can remove the surround it looks as though I can access it, I removed the 2 screws but it seems fixed down at it's sides, and I can't find any screws.

It also looks like someones been in there before (there's a white press in clip and around it it's scratched to buggery).

Can the surround come off without having to remove the entire dash?
By surround I mean the light gray part of the dash that the glovebox sits in.

Cheers.
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 Post subject: Re: Terrible conspumtion, lack of power, hard start HELP!
Posted: Thu Jun 10, 2010 10:16 pm 
Fordmods Junkie
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ILLaViTaR wrote:
Ok I just removed the glovebox (but I can't get the surround off).

I'm 99% sure it's coming from a blue box directly to the right of the glovebox (towards the middle).
If I can remove the surround it looks as though I can access it, I removed the 2 screws but it seems fixed down at it's sides, and I can't find any screws.

It also looks like someones been in there before (there's a white press in clip and around it it's scratched to buggery).

Can the surround come off without having to remove the entire dash?
By surround I mean the light gray part of the dash that the glovebox sits in.

Cheers.


I believe the surround can't be removed without removing the dash...but I have never tried. hmm if it isn't hissing, then maybe it may not be a leak in the cabin. Have a look in the engine bay for any leaks as well before you pull too much off.

 

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phongus = Post whore 2006
EL XR6 motor, EL ECU + J3 chip, WADE 1673 Camshaft, 3" S/S intake, Pacy 4480, 2.5" Hi flow cat, 2.5" Lukey exhaust.
Max Power = 144.6 rwkw (03/05/2008)

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 Post subject: Re: Terrible conspumtion, lack of power, hard start HELP!
Posted: Thu Jun 10, 2010 10:29 pm 
Getting Side Ways
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phongus wrote:
ILLaViTaR wrote:
Ok I just removed the glovebox (but I can't get the surround off).

I'm 99% sure it's coming from a blue box directly to the right of the glovebox (towards the middle).
If I can remove the surround it looks as though I can access it, I removed the 2 screws but it seems fixed down at it's sides, and I can't find any screws.

It also looks like someones been in there before (there's a white press in clip and around it it's scratched to buggery).

Can the surround come off without having to remove the entire dash?
By surround I mean the light gray part of the dash that the glovebox sits in.

Cheers.


I believe the surround can't be removed without removing the dash...but I have never tried. hmm if it isn't hissing, then maybe it may not be a leak in the cabin. Have a look in the engine bay for any leaks as well before you pull too much off.


Ah I was afraid you'd say that. It sounds like a hiss it's fluctuating though, I just recorded on my phone (you can hear it very clearly). The surround isn't really budging so i'll leave that for now.

I'll have the clip up within 5min.
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 Post subject: Re: Terrible conspumtion, lack of power, hard start HELP!
Posted: Thu Jun 10, 2010 10:37 pm 
Getting Side Ways
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http://www.supload.com/sound_confirm.ph ... 033138.m4a

I tried converting it to mp3 but you couldn't tell the difference between the car running and the hissing, the quality of this is much better.
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 Post subject: Re: Terrible conspumtion, lack of power, hard start HELP!
Posted: Fri Jun 11, 2010 1:48 pm 
Fordmods Junkie
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ILLaViTaR wrote:
http://www.supload.com/sound_confirm.php?get=951033138.m4a

I tried converting it to mp3 but you couldn't tell the difference between the car running and the hissing, the quality of this is much better.


I'll have a squizz at it when I get home.

Hiss could be fluctuating due to rough idle, but that's at a guess.

 

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phongus = Post whore 2006
EL XR6 motor, EL ECU + J3 chip, WADE 1673 Camshaft, 3" S/S intake, Pacy 4480, 2.5" Hi flow cat, 2.5" Lukey exhaust.
Max Power = 144.6 rwkw (03/05/2008)

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 Post subject: Re: Terrible conspumtion, lack of power, hard start HELP!
Posted: Fri Jun 11, 2010 7:08 pm 
Fordmods Junkie
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Sounds like a vacuum leak to me :?.

You can also double check this by also going into the engine bay and disconnecting the vacuum hose that goes through the firewall into the CC control box behind the glove box. Disconnect that and plug it up...with tape over the top or something bigger then the tube, you don't want the plug to get sucked in.

Once you done that, check if the hissing noise is still in the cabin.

 

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phongus = Post whore 2006
EL XR6 motor, EL ECU + J3 chip, WADE 1673 Camshaft, 3" S/S intake, Pacy 4480, 2.5" Hi flow cat, 2.5" Lukey exhaust.
Max Power = 144.6 rwkw (03/05/2008)

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 Post subject: Re: Terrible conspumtion, lack of power, hard start HELP!
Posted: Fri Jun 25, 2010 5:29 am 
Getting Side Ways
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Location: Aga
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phongus wrote:
Sounds like a vacuum leak to me :?.

You can also double check this by also going into the engine bay and disconnecting the vacuum hose that goes through the firewall into the CC control box behind the glove box. Disconnect that and plug it up...with tape over the top or something bigger then the tube, you don't want the plug to get sucked in.

Once you done that, check if the hissing noise is still in the cabin.


Hey, I took a look at it and there were 3 vacuum hoses (1 big, 2 small), I disconnected the big one and the hissing in the cabin disappeared. When I tried the 2 other hoses the hissing was still there.

Would this be able to tell me what exactly under the dash is broken?
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 Post subject: Re: Terrible conspumtion, lack of power, hard start HELP!
Posted: Fri Jun 25, 2010 9:33 pm 
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A vacuum leak will only cause rough idle, at wide open throttle there is not much vacuum in the inlet manifold. Your lack of power is not caused by a vacuum leak, your chasing a red herring with the loss of power mate.

Do a compression test on each cyclinder......

 

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