'93 Escort problem - Ford Forums - Mustang Forum, Ford Trucks, Ford Focus and Ford Cars

Freelancer · 08-20-2003, 05:33

I have a '93, standard-transmission Escort wagon. Within the past month or two, it has started idling strangely. It's fine (maybe a little rough) when I initially come to a stop. After about 30 seconds, the idle suddenly gets really rough, kind of spasming between 400 and 700 rpm and feeling as if it is going to stall (but it never does). As soon as I step on the gas for a second, even if I'm in neutral, this weird idle stops, then starts up again after another period of idling. Any ideas?

Vlad_Padberg · 08-30-2003, 20:37

I Would have to say it would be the fuel pump.

93EGTinLR · 09-02-2003, 14:28

I have had a problem similar to that where it surges sometimes...you may need to clean your throttle body and intake some as well as check your idle controller to see if it is acting right...there is a setup procedure in the haynes manual

springthing · 09-12-2003, 08:38

Freelancer-

I have exactly the same problem with our '95 escort. It starts up just fine, drives fine for a while, then for no reason it will start doing that while sitting at a stop light. It idles really low and shakes a little then picks up just enough to keep it going, then does it over again.

Well, actually it used to do that! Now it just dies. It's gotten so bad that if you put the clutch in for any reason and let it idle on it's own, it will just stall within a few seconds.

I'm heading this problem off right as we speak. I just came in from outside after having started simple and replaced the fuel filter. Next will be the fuel pump (as per Vlad's suggestion) and then then I'll move on to the idle controller stuff.

I'm guessing it will come down to that because this past summer we've noticed that when it's been hot, the idle starts to go up and up and up and up while the clutch was in. It would practically red-line the tach if I would have let it. I would have to shut the car off, and restart it.

--

Update...the fuel filter wasn't it at all. Figured I'd start off with the really easy stuff. After reading up on this forum (and I thank everyone for all the information they've given) I'm going to go ahead and replace the Idle Air Control Valve. It seems 1/5 of all posts here deal with this situation. No one in this area had any handy so they ordered for it and will be here tomorrow. It looks simple enough to change.

If anyone has any advice on changing this out, please let me know!

Thanks

10-05-2003, 15:23

I own a '93 Escort also, and was recently having problems with what seemed to be the catalytic converters, from a stoplight or sign the car would accelerate at a turtles pace, only to drop gears and shoot forward, and when driving it above 45 mph it would lose momentum, start shaking, and when trying to accelerate it would shake tremendously.... I took it to the shop and they put on a new MAF (Mass Air Flow) Sensor and it has corrected the problem completely! I do know it still needs some work to the tranny and cooling system, but it would definately be my suggestion to get your MAF sensor checked, as it did a tremendous amount for me.
___From a Girl with a Plan

10-08-2003, 18:05

O2 Sensor... maybe. mine was bad and I had rough idle problems

Freelancer · 01-26-2004, 09:11

I finally got the problem fixed. It turned out to be the PCV hose. For anyone with this problem, you might want to check the hose first. Mine was cracked around the elbow joint. It's a $16 part and takes less than 30 seconds to change. It fixed the idling/stalling problem immediately and completely.

tiresmoke19 · 02-06-2004, 07:24

before you buy an iac idel air control take it off its prob two 8mm bolts, take a bottle of carb cleaner and start cleaning in side with a small bottle brush if ones handy. i work aty the local ford garage and if its a car on the lot we always do that it almost always works, because they rarly go bad its just the get so dirrty..... of coarse if its a customers car we'd put a new one in... as long as you got the brush, clean out the throttle body but make sure yuou use a trottle body cleaner thats safe on fords coated body, they put a coating on at the fasctory thats supposed to keep them from gumming up, well it don't work...

springthing · 02-06-2004, 08:20

Much like freelancer, I found the problem to be a vacuum leak. From the description given it was in exactly the same place as well. I thought it was a little odd so I checked with my wife to make sure she wasn't "freelancer" and she wasn't, so we are talking about two different cars with the same problem. It might be something for you to check if ever you encounter this problem. It was a very inexpensive part and easily fixed. Such a headache of a problem for a small part. Good luck to all.

polskakielbasa · 04-22-2004, 10:06

'93 escort wagon, 1.9L. I had the same problem - the idle would drop down go up drop down etc. I fixed it with a new PCV hose about a year ago, but it has come back and gotten worse now, to the point where the engine dies almost every time when it starts idling. It gets less severe when the engine warms up a little - it won't die anymore.

any other ideas?