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rough idle fixed! PULP riddle solved! Longish

8K views 3 replies 4 participants last post by  Rollin 
#1 · (Edited)
After many weeks of frustration my rough idle (worse on cold start, cold morns) has been solved. And I gained some great knowledge of getting the best out of PULP.

1. Car running fine (or so I thought)
2. Changed plugs and went to 98 RON on same day.
3. Next morning a rough idle which I guessed must be bad fuel
4. Changed 98 RON brands, some improvement
5. Bought new leads, some improvement
6. Rechecked plug gaps, swapped plugs, no change
7. Spent hours looking for vacuum leaks and reading old threads.
8 Removed K&N, no difference
9. Increased beer consumption due to frustration:)

I finally gave in and took it to my mechanic and asking him the change the fuel filter and put it on his scope and look for faults etc. He had told me that distributor and rotor go with bad hot running, not cold.

Picked it up. He said the filter was a bit blocked after 25K but said Fords tend to be like that. He also said the timing was retarded 2 degrees so he advanced it 4. In effect making it 2 degress advanced over standard.

Man, a different car. Smooth in idle and the auto shifts are sweeter even in power mode. Doesnt raise its idle when stopping at the lights by 100 rpm for 10 secs. The entire car is so much smoother and seems to have a tad more grunt and is using way less fuel. My advise is that if you switch to 98 RON, get the timing checked. If it is retarded like mine you will see no difference at all in response or consumption. Even a loss of performance/smoothness.

Not only has this timing change (and maybe fuel filter) fixed the problem it has taken my car to a new level that I didnt know was possible. Sorry for the long post :)
 
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#2 ·
Good news and confirmation of what many knew about timing. PULP burns slower so you ultimately have to advance the ignition timing to get the same combustion timing.
 
#3 ·
I got the same problem but I think its my cat I am changing that but it could very well be the fuel filter as well
 
#4 ·
i have 16 degrees advance (up from 10) and only use BP ultimate, i have bever heard it ping, and the difference after i wound the timing up was extremely noticable.
 
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