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Diagnose this - EA problemo 

 

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 Post subject: Diagnose this - EA problemo
Posted: Mon Aug 29, 2016 7:15 pm 
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OK, excuse the long winded explanation - I dusted off an old project of mine - The EA SVO Fairmont Ghia. It has been converted to T5 manual during its life apart from that it is basically as it came from Stillwell/SVO in 1990. Last time I drove it was 2 years ago when I moved house and it drove fine. I figured I would be up for a few service items to get it running. Since I am about to chuck in a new worked motor I want everything 100% before I play with it. Mainly the new motor may have a lumpy idle with the Dev5 cam so I needed to check the old one was good to go before introducing other variables.

Here's what I've done so far;

New battery.
Drained the tank/lines/fuel rail of stale fuel.
New Walbro GS341 fuel pump.
New fuel filter.
Replaced injectors with known working set (AU upgrade coming).
Replaced spark plugs.
Confirmed spark.
20 litres of fresh 98 and confirmed fuel system is A-O-K.
Got it running and test drove a short distance.
Removed and cleaned throttle body and IAC (were fairly clean anyway).
Nulon foaming carbon clean inside the log manifold and down the plug holes.
No signs of vacuum leaks, MAP sensor connected, factory air box fitted and filter serviceable.


Start it up and it idles great at approx 700rpm. When cold the IAC functions correctly to pick up the revs.

Although, if you go to rev it - it will die off and then come to life. Trying to drive it on the street is no good as it will either stall or surge. When idling with the bonnet up, flick the throttle actuator and it will stumble and then catch up.

Thinking this was likely a TPS issue I ordered a new TPS. Then when I was cleaning the throttle body I noticed it has 2x TPS switches. So I tried swapping the plugs over to rule out a dodgy TPS. Still has the same problem. New switch hasn't arrived yet.

What am I missing, what should I try next?
Coil, leads, cap? The coil looks pretty crusty and covered in filth. I have no problem with buying a new one and mounting it on the intake runners/strut tower.

As soon as I sort this I can drop in the new motor and swap over the EA log intake and dizzy. New motor is set up with serpentine belt, XH tensioner and a/c delete pulley.

 

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EA SVO Fairmont Ghia - Recaros, Bilsteins, Sunroof, SVO rims and body kit, Genie headers, DBA rotors. T5 steeda triax short shifter. 3.27 lsd. (EL 4.0 ported/polished, rebuilt and balanced, Dev5 cam. J3 chipped EL ecu, AU injectors).

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 Post subject: Re: Diagnose this - EA problemo
Posted: Tue Aug 30, 2016 8:58 am 
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aaron_hogan wrote:
What am I missing, what should I try next?
Coil, leads, cap? The coil looks pretty crusty and covered in filth. I have no problem with buying a new one and mounting it on the intake runners/strut tower.


I'd change the leads, check the cap and coil. If the coil is still okay, just use it until you get the new motor in. As you said, better off changing the distributor when you change the engine, although make sure you get a BOSCH one, since I have heard horror stories with aftermarket ones.

Regarding the stumbling idle, not sure if it's the same for EA as it is for EL, but it will take a bit of driving for the computer to "relearn" the idle. With the EL, every time I disconnect the ECU for a long period of time, the idle goes from good to bad for a few hundred kms of driving.

Maybe the manual conversion could cause the stumbling issue, it did with the EL, but I believe the ECU set up is different with EA.

 

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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: Diagnose this - EA problemo
Posted: Wed Aug 31, 2016 4:40 pm 
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I'll smash a new coil on it and see how it goes this weekend.
Thanks for the tip on non-BOSCH distributors. I very nearly bought the dizzy, coil, cap and leads as an ebay package. Will steer clear. Assume my dizzy is fine anyway.

 

_________________

EA SVO Fairmont Ghia - Recaros, Bilsteins, Sunroof, SVO rims and body kit, Genie headers, DBA rotors. T5 steeda triax short shifter. 3.27 lsd. (EL 4.0 ported/polished, rebuilt and balanced, Dev5 cam. J3 chipped EL ecu, AU injectors).

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 Post subject: Re: Diagnose this - EA problemo
Posted: Wed Aug 31, 2016 5:53 pm 
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It is not so much the aftermarket Dizzys themselves but the drive gear.

Bosch is certainly the best to get but if you can't, pull the drive gear from your eisting dizy and fit to the new one.

I would recommend this anyway as it will keep the gear matching with the Aux Shaft.

Last edited by SWC on Thu Sep 01, 2016 9:27 am, edited 1 time in total.

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 Post subject: Re: Diagnose this - EA problemo
Posted: Thu Sep 01, 2016 9:11 am 
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aaron_hogan wrote:
I'll smash a new coil on it and see how it goes this weekend.
Thanks for the tip on non-BOSCH distributors. I very nearly bought the dizzy, coil, cap and leads as an ebay package. Will steer clear. Assume my dizzy is fine anyway.


A coil is always good to replace, and if you can relocate it to the shock tower or something, even better. Just remember you will need a new lead from coil to distributor once relocated, it will most likely be further away.

SWC wrote:
It is not so much the aftermarket Dizzys themselves but the drive gear.

Bosch is certainly the best to get but if you can't, pull the drive gear from your eisting dizy and fit to the new one.

I would recommend this anyway as it will keep the gear matching with the Au Shaft.


+1 to that. Also so there is no confusion, when SWC mentions "Au Shaft" I assume he means Auxiliary shaft, not AU Falcon.

 

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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: Diagnose this - EA problemo
Posted: Thu Sep 01, 2016 4:48 pm 
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phongus wrote:
SWC wrote:
It is not so much the aftermarket Dizzys themselves but the drive gear.

Bosch is certainly the best to get but if you can't, pull the drive gear from your eisting dizy and fit to the new one.

I would recommend this anyway as it will keep the gear matching with the Au Shaft.


+1 to that. Also so there is no confusion, when SWC mentions "Au Shaft" I assume he means Auxiliary shaft, not AU Falcon.



that he does! ... too many have destroyed their aux shafts with new dizzy drive gears :x
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 Post subject: Re: Diagnose this - EA problemo
Posted: Mon Sep 05, 2016 4:16 pm 
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Picked up a newish but 2nd hand BOSCH coil and it has a little pig-tail harness on it. Will extend the wires as suggested and put it somewhere more convenient.

Also picked up a good 2nd hand dizzy with TFI module. Will drop that into the new motor.

The new TPS just arrived (painfully slow postage). Although since I switched plugs between the 2 tps and it made no difference this could have been a waste of $50.

 

_________________

EA SVO Fairmont Ghia - Recaros, Bilsteins, Sunroof, SVO rims and body kit, Genie headers, DBA rotors. T5 steeda triax short shifter. 3.27 lsd. (EL 4.0 ported/polished, rebuilt and balanced, Dev5 cam. J3 chipped EL ecu, AU injectors).

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 Post subject: Re: Diagnose this - EA problemo
Posted: Sun Sep 25, 2016 1:12 pm 
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Bastard! I just mounted the new coil and it made zero difference.

Ended up mounting it off the first bolt on the fuel rail. Coil lead went straight on. Extended the pigtail harness to suit.

 

_________________

EA SVO Fairmont Ghia - Recaros, Bilsteins, Sunroof, SVO rims and body kit, Genie headers, DBA rotors. T5 steeda triax short shifter. 3.27 lsd. (EL 4.0 ported/polished, rebuilt and balanced, Dev5 cam. J3 chipped EL ecu, AU injectors).

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 Post subject: Re: Diagnose this - EA problemo
Posted: Mon Sep 26, 2016 3:26 pm 
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Ok, so anyone care to weigh in on this? Got me stumped.

Seriously considering getting an EL ecu then ordering a J3 chip to suit (Dev 5, Manual, Smartlock delete).

 

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EA SVO Fairmont Ghia - Recaros, Bilsteins, Sunroof, SVO rims and body kit, Genie headers, DBA rotors. T5 steeda triax short shifter. 3.27 lsd. (EL 4.0 ported/polished, rebuilt and balanced, Dev5 cam. J3 chipped EL ecu, AU injectors).

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 Post subject: Re: Diagnose this - EA problemo
Posted: Wed Sep 28, 2016 12:30 pm 
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Ride: EL Fairmont, VFR400 racer

Power: 144 rwkw

Location: Melbourne
VIC, Australia

Have you doubled checked that the ignition timing is all correct? When dropping the dizzy in at TDC, it should point to finish. Is base timing good? Was it reset/adjusted in diagnostic mode?

Balancer hasn't moved or anything causing wrong TDC?

Have you checked the resistance of the leads? A single broken lead can cause issues.

Get a piece of cardboard and sandwich it between TPS and TB. See if that fixes the idle.

Finally, how are your earth cables? All good and not corroded at battery terminal/engine block?

 

_________________

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: Diagnose this - EA problemo
Posted: Mon Oct 03, 2016 5:23 pm 
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Cheers Phongus, there's a few new things to check.

1. I can confirm the timing is correct as the dizzy has not been touched since the car was last running about 2 years ago and ran like a champ back then. Therefore base timing should be as per factory and no adjustments were ever made during my ownership.

2. Balancer: hasn't moved (didn't even think of that one!).

3. Leads/resistance: The leads all *look* ok (and were running fine) but I haven't tested them for resistance yet. To be honest I am being a bit of a a*** here. I have a new dizzy cap for the NEW motor. However the leads on the new motor will all be too long as they were on an EF coil pack and I'm running a dizzy. But those are new 10.5 mm leads. Just need to shorten them and crimp on new connectors then I can try it out on the old motor.

4. Cardboard sandwiched in the TPS/TB: Idle isn't an issue but if there's a potential for an air leak there then I can always make a gasket.

5. Battery/Earth cables: This i will have to check closely. The battery is new. The old cables/terminals weren't corroded but the fuseable links look like they've had better days. I didn't think of that but should be easy to check.

 

_________________

EA SVO Fairmont Ghia - Recaros, Bilsteins, Sunroof, SVO rims and body kit, Genie headers, DBA rotors. T5 steeda triax short shifter. 3.27 lsd. (EL 4.0 ported/polished, rebuilt and balanced, Dev5 cam. J3 chipped EL ecu, AU injectors).

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 Post subject: Re: Diagnose this - EA problemo
Posted: Mon Oct 03, 2016 8:15 pm 
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I think the clue to your problem was in your first post.
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 Post subject: Re: Diagnose this - EA problemo
Posted: Mon Dec 12, 2016 3:52 pm 
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Resolution:

Thanks to some FB chit chat over the weekend I was able to trace the fault.

I had swapped in/out the original EA ecu and the J3 chipped EL ecu. I made an LED code flasher and came up with code 11 "all clear" on the EA ecu and nothing unexpected on the EL ecu (fans/bbm not installed yet).

Ended up being a fuel problem. Specifically I had over-tightened a hose clamp between the pump and outlet and stripped it without noticing. So there was an internal leak.

All fixed, running ok now. Bring on the engine swap and RWC fix-ups!

 

_________________

EA SVO Fairmont Ghia - Recaros, Bilsteins, Sunroof, SVO rims and body kit, Genie headers, DBA rotors. T5 steeda triax short shifter. 3.27 lsd. (EL 4.0 ported/polished, rebuilt and balanced, Dev5 cam. J3 chipped EL ecu, AU injectors).

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 Post subject: Re: Diagnose this - EA problemo
Posted: Thu Feb 09, 2017 5:21 pm 
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Further follow up:
I swapped out the stock 3.9 with blown head gasket.
In went the worked EL motor with ported head and Dev5 cam.

As far as J3 chip and EL ecu upgrade are concerned I'm pretty happy. I do think it idled better on the stock ecu as it has a tendency to stall on the EL ecu. Have done back to back comparisons and I can live with it. She has HEAPS of power. Certainly more than the stock clutch can handle.

I pulled the wiring loom and plugs for the thermo fans from an EL. This was basically the loom that ran across the front of the car, the relays and the fuses all the way to the alternator. Grabbed the ecu pins while I was there. Idea being to replace the fuse links to cope with the 100A alternator now on it.

Came home and fiddled around trying to work out the best way to do it. Stripped the harness back and snipped off all the useless s**t. soldered the fan to ecu wires and used heat shrink. Drilled a hole through the upper part of the firewall grommet. fed the wires through and plugged them into the connector. Yay it has working thermo fans! The car runs sweet and doesn't overheat. Now I just need to neaten up the harness and properly secure the relays and fuse links.

I've got a few more jobs to do:
Rack boots
Ball joint boot x1
Fit the AU upper control arms (TI adaptors installed already)
Put the original SVO springs back in it (currently Super-Lows)
Install the new nolathane kit
Rebuild calipers (have genuine Ford/PBR kits)
Rebuild or replace master cylinder
Braided brake lines ordered, new disks and QFM HPX pads
Fix the saggy headliner
Fix stuck power window
Fix broken buckle on drivers seat belt.

Then it should be RWC ready.

 

_________________

EA SVO Fairmont Ghia - Recaros, Bilsteins, Sunroof, SVO rims and body kit, Genie headers, DBA rotors. T5 steeda triax short shifter. 3.27 lsd. (EL 4.0 ported/polished, rebuilt and balanced, Dev5 cam. J3 chipped EL ecu, AU injectors).

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