Fault in 1998 Ford Escort

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bjmh, Feb 1, 4:32pm
A 1.6 16v Zetec 98 Escort. it hunts at idle and sometimes falters on takeoff.The owner has had it to a local Ford garage,apparently they couldn't find anything wrong.While it was hunting at idle,i disconnected the airflow meter. this smoothed out the idle. reconnect and it idles funny.Yes intrade I am a swapatron.Any thoughts,or do I send him to a diagnostic genius,where-ever that is.

intrade, Feb 1, 5:11pm
ok it will be a vaccume leek beween the airflow meter and the engine. or it is a faulty mass airflow meter, and that is juts a guess i am taking because of what you just said.

,i disconnected the airflow meter. this smoothed out the idle.
this and here is why i come to the conclusion.
You unplug the mass airflow then the ecu dont gets information about airflow and defaults to use the map sensor to calculate how mutch fuel to chuck in the engine.
This is why it then runs right because the vaccume leek is not affecting the system or the faulty mass airflow no longer tells a lie to the ecu.

intrade, Feb 1, 5:14pm
now we would need to know does it dump other information when you disconnect the mass airflow usually egr is linked with mass airflow mesurments. So that would needed to be checked
A petrol car should stall when you open egr at idle . remember its the oposite of diesel Diesel run egr open at idle and only shut egr at higher rpm So right now i cant think of more things whom could be affected when you unplug the mass airflow.

franc123, Feb 1, 5:27pm
Check the PCV valve and the plumbing to it, IIRC there is a rubber hose under the manifold that is prone to splitting open.

bjmh, Feb 1, 5:49pm
cheers guys I will check it and intrade that is an understandable reply. I am impressed.

intrade, Feb 1, 6:23pm
if you dont find a vaccume leek then we have to do more tests . cold engine testing will be next if your 100% there is no vaccume leek
also these test wont work on euro 4 and higher emission vehicles There the systems are way more complex and you need to look at obd2 and oem live data to start wading thru the forrest of possible reasons . this old 8 bit computer only has 256 possibiltys and thats where you can most easy learn from as 256 you could do on a huge white board with pen and paper

bjmh, Feb 10, 1:24pm
a bit of an update,i couldn't get hold of the owner till yesterday. he said he was driving at 100kph,the car hiccupped and stopped. he lifted the bonnet to find the battery leads on fire ? his words. car engine caught fire. now the car is at another Ford dealer with an insurance claim on it.He has since been sent an account from the first repairer for checking fault and resetting codes. I told him to give it all to assessors to try and sort.A bit of a cluster f. k.He's an old family friend hence my interest.

mechnificent, Feb 10, 1:48pm
Intrade. This car is not going to have an air-flow meter AND a MAP sensor.

Read your books some more.

intrade, Feb 10, 4:51pm
RE 8 i dont need to read no books i know who should get some education and its not Me i clearly can see where the mass airflow meter is on this picture but i am not so sure if you can
http://images.gtcarlot.com/customgallery/engine/50575975.jpg

might not have one now that its burned out if you try and make that joke.

mechnificent, Feb 10, 4:58pm
That car won't have an airflow meter AND a MAP sensor Intrade.

Intrade, just a few years ago you were forever in here telling us all that all that electronic stuff was bullshit and that we should rip it all out of cars. You used to boast about having done so.
Until I posted you some cds with diagnostic, data link software, and EFI operation and system information on it (because you needed to know). You didn't have a clue.

You are a novice Intrade and you should read and listen more.

attitudedesignz, Feb 10, 5:50pm
05 focus pictured may well have different setup to a 98 escort.

May I suggest intrade that when you use pics to 'call someone out' you use relevant ones.

mechnificent, Feb 10, 5:57pm
I reckon. and don't try to call people out that have been good to you. that try to help you. even after they got no thanks.

mechnificent, Feb 10, 6:00pm
Intrade was sour on electronics and efi just a few years back. I had to convince him that the software I was going to send him would be useful and that he should have a read of it. I copied it and posted it at my expense, just to do him a favour. and I never got one thanks or acknowledgment. And now he thinks he's an expert and I'm the idiot.

intrade, Feb 11, 12:52am
lets put one thing straight i dont call no one a idiot nor a moron on here and i made a explenation how things work and then i get told i should go and read books, i just explained why i dont need to read books . i need to read books about how exactly adblue and latest dpf function. and quite a few systems the learning never ends with more stuff to come out.

mechnificent, Feb 11, 12:56am
Yeah but your explanation was wrong Intrade !

When they unplug the airflow meter, it doesn't revert to a MAp sensor. because it doesn't have one. It reverts to static base settings.

mechnificent, Feb 11, 1:00am
What makes you think it has a MAP sensor Intrade ?

I'm not familiar with that model but I'm bloody sure it's not going to have both an airflow and a MAP.

mechnificent, Feb 11, 1:01am
Not unless it's a turbo.

fordcrzy, Feb 11, 1:02am
si it prob had a dodgy alternator and the battery wasnt charged properly, then it failed completely and fried the battery.

intrade, Feb 11, 1:03am
i do recall that somone said they send me something , the thing is i never got nothing that i recall or i would have said thanks.

i was thinking since nothing turned up it was just talk, and moved on and that would have had to be at least 5 to 7 years ago .
And yes your correct i did not want to know of electronics crap untill i had to fix a problem on a t4 vw diesel as i only ever did diesel till that day , From there on i made the desition to learn for the diesel and discovered that you might as well learn it all as i would have to do trucks and machinery for diesel only otherwise.

mechnificent, Feb 11, 1:09am
That's strange then Intrade, because within just a few weeks you had started enthusing about the software and computer knowledge you had and how we should be using it.

No matter though. I;m glad you are getting up to speed.

You need to study more though because you still haven't got a good understanding how the various systems are integrated in different cars, and which systems work together, and which don't.

intrade, Feb 11, 1:15am
any efi engine has to have a map or airflow meter or both. this is basic diagnostic information. how else would it know the ammount of air going in to the engine if somone knows how i would be real keen to learn what i have missed in them classes i took.?
Anyhow i am not here to accuse anyone of not knowing things we all try to help the original poster well thats how i see it anyhow.

mechnificent, Feb 11, 1:31am
Well I must have overlooked this thank you. and you wouldn't remember sending me this email either huh.

Hi thanks for the autodata cd
got it installed on my old xp pc that is not going online any more
Thanks again Ronny

As for the airflow/MAP thing. We only have both on some turbo cars. most cars only have one or the other.

You need to study more Intrade.

intrade, Feb 11, 1:33am
of course i need to study more everyone needs to do this in the fast moveing technology , and i said if i got it i thanked you!
did you look at the date of this as i cant remember

mechnificent, Feb 11, 1:40am
Forget it Intrade. Best thing would be to stop giving out all this confusing and often wrong advice until you do know for sure what you are telling people is right.

intrade, Feb 11, 1:47am
i dont give wrong information my post 2 is 100% correct
if you unplug the mass airflow and it wont die it has a map sensor also.
if it dont has a mass airflow then how is he going to unplug it?all information i have is the 1.6 16v Zetec and i posted a immage of such engine with mass airfow top right corner with all them wires on it . i wont be responding any further as this is not opinions and politics here.