[EL FUTURA]

Having some problems with my EL Futura at the moment...it sort of 'shudders' soemtimes as you accelerate (mainly when its cold), but its getting quiet annoying because once or twice I have overtaken someone and you accelerate a bit more and it hesitates for a bit...very scary!!

The EL is a 96 model with almost 190 000km on the clock (I am second owner) and has had all of its regular servicing. It is also duel fuel, but this problem happens with both unleaded + gas. About June this year I had the gas converter replaced because the old one had a small leak.

This problem seems to go away a little when she is warmer but I don't like her the way she is. Do you think its due for a VERY major service or something?? It doesn't seem to go through the fuel (+ gas) and oil too much but I like driving a safe car!! (waiting for a big bang!!)

It has all new spark plugs and sparkplug leads (the ones for cars on gas).

Also, a few weeks ago I decided to fill up with premium unleaded fuel and also added a bottle of octane booster 'cause I was told it flushs the crap out of the motor so I thought it would be benefical.

Any thoughts/advice/own experiences would be GREATLY appreciated!

 

[botch]

Hey, i just realised your from Albury.

going to winton tommorow?


Maybe your car has a vacuum leak. Check all the vacuum hoses around the intake manifold, paritcularly the one the goes to the MAP sensor, mounted on firewall. sometime the loom will rub through vacuum lines.o1: o1:

 

[3Toed]

Hi there EL,

I had the same problem with my EL but at a very young age - around the 10,000km mark. It only happened when the engine was cold and when I would accelerate in any way apart from very gently - either from a stop or from a slow crawl like coming out of a driveway.

I told Ford about it but they weren't sure what it was. They suggested flushing the injectors so got them to do that and I also use Optimax now and it's gone away. I always sit in my car for a minute before driving off when it's cold just to let it warm up a bit and that also helped before I got the injectors flushed. I still let the car warm up before driving of unless I'm in a real hurry.

You could also try adding a dash of injector cleaner into your tank when you fill up. That might help a bit.


Hope that helps,

Andrew

 

[Guest]

most likely a simple answer

Why don't you try replacing your ignition leads, my beast has just clocked over 100,000 and it was doing the same thing. (Well not as bad) Just replace the leads. And don't ever get your car serviced anywhere just do it your self!!!
All service places put nothing but crap into your lovely car!
Also I find that they never even replace most of your cars servicables! I marked my spark plugs/leads and air and oil filter one time and they didn't touch any of them and then Charged me 99!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So I hit him in the head and got my money back!

 

[botch]

Re: most likely a simple answer

Why don't you try replacing your ignition leads, my beast has just clocked over 100,000 and it was doing the same thing. (Well not as bad) Just replace the leads. And don't ever get your car serviced anywhere just do it your self!!!
All service places put nothing but crap into your lovely car!
Also I find that they never even replace most of your cars servicables! I marked my spark plugs/leads and air and oil filter one time and they didn't touch any of them and then Charged me 99!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So I hit him in the head and got my money back!

jeeesus mate, what a first posting!!!!:dead: :dead: :dead:

Are you aware that NOT ALL service places are the same....some even change the filters and oil!!!:s3 If you look through your service schedule book, things like plugs / air cleaners / fuel filters are replaced regularly under routine maintaince (generally 50 to 100,000 km!!). I know id be cut if I got a $200+bill for **** I dont need every 6 months or 10,000k's

What happens if EL replaces "just the leads" and it isnt the problem. Chasing good money after bad Maybe if you "just replaced the engine too the problem will go away":s2: :s2: :s2:

Fair enough, i can understand your frustration if you copped $99 for a service and they didnt even replace the oil filter. Maybe you should look around for a better mechanic?!?:s6:

 

[EL FUTURA]

Why don't you try replacing your ignition leads, my beast has just clocked over 100,000 and it was doing the same thing. (Well not as bad) Just replace the leads. And don't ever get your car serviced anywhere just do it your self!!!

Have to agree with Botch and say that not ALL Dealers are bad...the dealer my car goes to has won Ford dealer of the year (or something like that) for 3 or 4 years in a row and the dealership is only in a town of 1440 people! So he isn't good by selling alot of cars but instead by giving good service.

And I couldn't really help it the EL was serviced at a Ford dealer anyway cause I am the second owner and the previous owner chose to service it at a Ford dealer.

The car has only had new spark plugs + leads put on in the last two months + I don't want to fork out $60 + $30 for more leads and plugs just yet

I sent the car to a local mechanic and he couldn't really find the problem. He felt the car 'shudder' like I explained but he just couldn't pinpoint where it was coming from. So I wil probably send it to a Ford dealer if the problem occurs again (I'm hoping that it was a a lead loose or something simple that the mechanic said he fiddled with a bit!)- the mechanic said it needs to go to a place where they have a computer to find the problem when its cold so Ford dealer it is

Thanks for advice guys and hopefully the Ford dealer will find this problem!!

 

[Jase_ELXR8]

How does it idle??? Most of the time on those things when they get a vacuum leak they'll idle up a bit. Is your gas computer controlled??? Could be a number things, as Botch said check all your vacuum lines they sometimes blow the one under the manifold off. Has it ever backfired on gas???

 

[EL FUTURA]

FINALLY FIXED (HOPEFULLY)

OMG, (hopefully) my car is FINALLY rid of its problems!!! I sent it to a Ford Dealer, and the problem was the coil!! They originally thought it was the injectors and that they would have to be taken out and sent away to be cleaned, but I told them the problem happened on gas as well so they knew it was something else (gas doesn't use injectors if you didn't know)

Thankyou very much to all who contributed and I'm so happy the problem is fixed!! (well I hope it is anyway, its still at the dealer!!)

I was thinking that this service was going to be expensive, but its only going to cost $50 or something!! YAY!!!!!!!!!

 

[Tim_EF_5.0]

+ $230 for labour and another $10 for waste disposal :s6:

 

[sjwau2xr6]

Same thing happened on my old mans EF. Ford said it was the leads, then fuel pump, then plugs. What a wank. Gave it a serve of Slick 50 fuel system cleaner and lo and behold no hesitation.