EL Falcon Stuttering Issue - Ford Forums - Mustang Forum, Ford Trucks, Ford Focus and Ford Cars

Nightstalker · 10-22-2004, 18:10

Hi,

A while ago I posted a thread regarding my 1996 EL Falcon which has stuttering problems when accelerating from take off.

Well, the situation ended up getting worse, so we finally had our mechanic look at it who checked out the spark plugs which were only 5000km old (we also had the problem before these spark plugs went in so we knew that wasnt the issue), and they were black as night!

He checked the leads and they were ok. So he took out the injectors which had only been thoroughly cleaned out 20,000km ago, and tested them to see if he could see any blockages.

He came back to us and advised that the injectors were fine.
So he put them back in with a new set of sparkies, and then took it for a run. Problem gone! Car felt great to drive again.

We thought it might of been something clogging the injectors, and when they were tested (only for 30 secs) it must of cleared out.

Now, when I drove the car last night the problem was back again, however only very minimal and no where near as bad as it was.
Checked the fuel gauge and it is a bit below a quarter of a tank.

We must admit my wife and I sometimes let the car run a bit too low.

I am thinking maybe that the injectors are picking up the crap from the bottom of the tank. However the fuel filter was only put in about 3000kms ago?!?

Has anyone else encountered this annoying problem?

If so, how did you overcome it?

Did it involve just trying not to let the fuel tank get too low to prevent this?

Is there anyway of getting the fuel tank cleaned out?
I guess with the car being 8 years old now and has done 170,000km it would have some unwanted junk at the base of the tank.

Your comments are appreciated.

Cheers

useless · 10-22-2004, 23:06

The fuel pump on our fords run another fuel filter inside the tank on the pickup.Maybe you'd want to check that and get your fuel lines blown out.

INJECTED250 · 10-23-2004, 02:40

check youre pressure reg.. it sounds like the car is running rich and fowling up the plugs, remove vacume hose of fuel reg, and see if any fuel exits, if so the diaphram is slit inside the pressure reg and leaking extra fuel in..
check map sensor 2, if the vacume line is split the ecu will give extra fuel as it thinks the engine is under load, id replace this vacume line as they can callapose as welll./

Check o2 sensor 2 but im not sure it would make it run rich enuf to fowl the plugs

Nightstalker · 10-24-2004, 23:13

So do you think it would be worth my regular mechanic have a look at it again? Or get a ford dealer mechanic to check it out?

Walkinshaw · 10-24-2004, 23:23

id get somone to hook a fuel pressure guage inline and run her on a dyno and look at the fuel pressures. As sujested above, and from your black plugs, sounds like overfueling.

Cobalt_bucket · 10-25-2004, 00:27

the problem could also be not enough spark, i had a problem when my car stuttered on take off and stalled when i planted the foot, and it's an auto, about 6 weeks of this and the car stopped checked for spark none, put the noid light into the coil plug and had power there, threw a coil at it problem gone, however i still do have a $hit idle and have had for 2 years,

Nightstalker · 10-28-2004, 03:32

Thanks all for your feedback.

I have booked her in at Grawill Ford in Gosford on Saturday week.

Hopefully they will be able to trace the fault.

Cheers!

Nightstalker · 11-07-2004, 00:37

Ok I have had the car serviced at Ford.

They cleaned the throttle body and reset the timing. Was charged $80.00 all up.

When I picked her up she was running ok, however when I drove her for the first time this morning, the problem was still occuring!
She was still hesitating on takeoff, and also when you accelerate medium to hard whilst cruising.

Not sure if they would of run a diagnostic check on her or not. See by the time I picked her up she would of been warm from being run in the morning so the problem tends to go away once warm. Also because of the fact that it is a 15min drive from my house to the ford mechanic, the problem is minimised.

Just another thought... could these symptoms also relate to a breaking down coil or distributor? As also when I start the car sometimes she is very rough, and sometimes very smooth.

Cheers

SiX_iN_a_RoW · 11-07-2004, 01:40

run the engine at night ( as dark as possible ) and check for spark leakage, sounds like one of the leads may be playing up. have you checked/replaced the usual, dizzy cap etc etc