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        General >> Problems >> Black Spark plugs and defect fuel pump.
        
(Message started by: Pursche on May 4^th, 2007, 5:56pm)

Title: Black Spark plugs and defect fuel pump.
Post by Pursche on May 4^th, 2007, 5:56pm

Hi all. I have a -96 cossy, a really nice car but lately i had a problem with missfire above 2800 rpm. I took it to the local garage (they have been working with my other Ford's) and told them the following problems:

- missfire above 2800 rpm or not exactly missfire. its more like the engine dont get enought fuel.

- my one month old spark plugs is black. not oily. more like to rich fuel.

The garage made a coolant test and told me the head gasket is faulty. They also told me that they want 30000 swedish kronor to fix it. I think it's abot 2700£ or so. Finaly they told me the engine dont get enought fuel but they didn't fix it this time.

I have an innove 3100 obdII-scanner showing no errors at all. I also have a ELM327 scantool from www.scantool.net . Same here, no errors at all.

questions:

This Cooling test, are they searching for exhaust in the water or what are they doing? I have no problem with water leakes or anything like that. I filled some coolant in september last year but not much. The car have not been to hot, the gauge is steady at about middle.

If the head gasket is faulty, Should I have prefect idle when engine is warm? the car runs so nice exept the fact that when above 2800 rpm It sound like its only fire on 5 cylinders or so and the car feels tired when accelerating.

With this kind of problem, black sparks and so. is it possible to not have any kind of OBD2 errors?

Any ideas what i should do next?

(My swedish-english is not that good but I hope you understand what I mean)

Title: Re: Black Spark plugs and defect fuel pump.
Post by solarpanel on May 4^th, 2007, 8:20pm

a cyclinder compression test should would be a good idea,how long has the car been like this,do the cats rattle.

Title: Re: Black Spark plugs and defect fuel pump.
Post by scorpio_man on May 4^th, 2007, 8:48pm

hi there

does your obd-2 kit let you see the long term fuel trims? if so, what % are they?

have you checked all the wiring to the injectors?

see this....http://www.fordscorpio.co.uk/faults_wiring.htm

Title: Re: Black Spark plugs and defect fuel pump.
Post by jonnycab on May 5^th, 2007, 3:29am

If the car's running too cold then this will certainly cause a rich mixture, so maybe the thermostat is stuck open ?....this can be confirmed if the temp guage drops when on a run.

If the head gasket was faulty then surely you would be loosing water, have a coolant pressure issue & water mixing with the oil. If this were the case, then I don't think it would be running as nice as you say it is ;)

Another possibility is a faulty fuel pressure regulator which may be letting too much fuel into the injectors & causing the engine to run too rich :-/
Too much fuel entering the cylinder can also act like a coolant, & if the plugs aren't reaching the right temperature to 'clean' themselves, then carbon will form ;)

Also, a misfire at over 2800 rpm may be due to coil packs or HT leads starting to deteriorate & not being able to take the load over 2800rpm anymore. This may be evident if the car gradually starts misfiring at lower rpm as time goes on :)

Hope this helps :)

P.S....Is there a possibility that you may have the wrong plugs fitted ?

Title: Re: Black Spark plugs and defect fuel pump.
Post by Pursche on May 5^th, 2007, 9:42am

ok thx for answers. I will test everything today and let you know. The car is not running cold. Temp gauge on nomal and I check what the scanning says about water temp.

For the compression test, do i remove all spark plugs before testing? i guess I also remove the fuse for the fuelpump. Anything more I have to think about?

Title: Re: Black Spark plugs and defect fuel pump.
Post by Spannerdemon on May 5^th, 2007, 10:43am

Haven't time to explain fully, but this excerpt from my Vehicle/Favourites sites should help you.

"As a rule, most engines should have 140 to 160 lbs. of cranking compression with no more than 10% difference between any of the cylinders.

Low compression in one cylinder usually indicates a bad exhaust valve. Low compression in two adjacent cylinders typically means you have a bad head gasket. Low compression in all cylinders would tell you the rings and cylinders are worn and the engine needs to be overhauled.

Compression can be checked two ways: Manually with a compression gauge or Electronically with an engine analyzer. The manual gauge method is the only one available to most do-it-yourselfers.

To check compression, all the spark plugs are removed. The ignition coil is then disabled or the high tension lead is grounded. The throttle is also held open. The engine is then cranked for a few seconds using a remote starter switch or a helper while a compression gauge is held firmly in a spark plug hole. The maximum compression reading is noted, then the process is repeated for each of the remaining cylinders. The individual cylinder readings are then compared to see if the results are within specs (always refer to a manual for the exact compression specs for your engine)." ;)

Title: Re: Black Spark plugs and defect fuel pump.
Post by Pursche on May 5^th, 2007, 1:46pm

I did the scanning again and checked the long term fuel banks. With cold engine I had:

Short term Bank 1= 5-7%
Long term Bank 1= 10 - 14%
Short term Bank 2= 2-4%
Long term bank 2=11-15%

Warm enginge (85" C)

Short term Bank 1= -3 - 1%
Long term Bank 1= 1,5%
Short term Bank 2= 1 - 2%
Long term bank 2= 5%

All at idle. I also checked it at 2000 RPM and had 0 - 3% on all four.

I may found one problem. the coolant temp rised to 103" C before fans come on and took it down to 100" C. This was the electrical numbers. The gauge on the car still show between 50 - 55% (in middle). I don't have the problem with the gauges Cool temp and Fuel going up to half so i know that's not the case here. The temp gauge also started from cold.

Timing advance on cyl #1 is 19.0 degree. Is this normal?

I have no sounds from the cats. I have a brand new exhaust system fitted on the car.

As soon as the rain stops I'm going to make a compression test. Coming back with the results.

Title: Re: Black Spark plugs and defect fuel pump.
Post by Pursche on May 5^th, 2007, 3:40pm

ok i did the compression test:

Cyl kg/cm P.S.I
1 12,7 180
2 12,6 175
3 12,1 173
4 12,5 175
5 12,7 177
6 12,9 179

Name of the spark Plug is BERU Ultra-X Platin. The engine has done 122 000 km, don't know how much in miles but i'm sure you know. ;D

What's next to check? I have to buy myself a fuel-pressure tester but i dind't find any today. That's next weeks job.

Title: Re: Black Spark plugs and defect fuel pump.
Post by Pursche on May 6^th, 2007, 4:04pm

Is this numbers ok for a car with 12 200 km?