1.8 Escort Diesel problem - no fuel at injectors
Nufkamp
torching this fscker!!
Escort diesel van, 1.8 normally aspirated engine.
A couple of weeks ago it felt like it was surging while driving, and
felt even more gutless than usual. Last Monday morning it was a real
cow to start, unusually, and when it was ticking over the engine was
hunting, only by a few hundred rpm but it definitely wasn't a steady
idle. I drove it off but had to quickly turn round and bring it home
as it had no go at all and felt like it was on the point of stalling.
Changed the fuel filter after work, but no different. Found a split
leak-off pipe, so changed all of them. No difference. Fitted a new
filter head in case the diaphragm on the hand primer was split and it
was sucking in air. It started ok, still hunting but it seemed ok to
drive. 200 yards down the road it conked out. I re-primed the system
in case there was still air in it, just about got it started again
only for it to stall again and I've not been able to start it since.
On cracking open one of the pipes from the pump to the injector and
turning the engine over it seems there is no fuel being delivered to
the injectors. I cracked them all off and got my lad to crank the
engine over while I pumped the primer head like a man possessed but
not a sign of fuel leaving the pump.
I have noticed that the red LED on the dash is no longer blinking when
I turn the ignition on, so I'm wondering if the immobilser circuit has
gone tits and is not opening the stop valve in the pump, but I've got
no idea how to test it. I've only got one chipped key (no master) so
I've got nothing else to test it with. Plus, it cranks over so can the
immobiliser have a partial fault?
I pulled off the connector from the loom to the fuel pump, and metered
out the 3 terminals. If you look at it there are 2 side by side and
one seperate. The 2 together showed 12 volts and the seperate one zero
volts. On my mates diesel Escort (same Lucas pump) it goes zero, 12v,
12v so something is definitely wrong electrically. I took a wire
direct from the battery to each of the pins in turn, figuring this
way I was bypassing the immobiliser side of things. Still wont start.
I'm stumped. I dont want to have to pull the pump off until I've
eliminated every other option or possibility. It's a Lucas pump and
there is an anti-tamper cover over the stop valve and solenoid which
apparently is made of hardened steel, so getting this off is an angle
grinder job.
Oh, and I also bypassed the little fuel heater matrix between the
filter and pump as these are prone to leak air into the system.
I've covered just about everything I can think of, cant afford to tow
it to a garage for diagnosis so i'm open to suggestions from you
knowledgable lot.
Any help most appreciated.
Douglas Payne
If something has changed with the way the little light behaves, my
immediate thoughts jump to the immobiliser. I dunno exactly how they
work, but I'd hope they'd be more complicated to bypass than just
shorting pins on an obvious connector.
The cars I've had with immobilisers would turn the engine but not fire
into life if there was something amiss with the immobilser.
Dunno about Fords, but the little key reading coils around the ignition
barrel has a tendency to stop working on some marques.
I had a diesel Peugeot (pre-immobilisers) that had a problem where it
would run but wouldn't idle. That turned out to be a leak in the fuel
pipe near the tank which caused the pump to draw mostly air and made
diving in traffic very difficult.
Good luck.
--
Douglas
harv
My sons 98 Escort td with lucas pump had an immobiliser problem
( caused by a broken wire in the multi-pin connector to the pump) and
the car would not even turn over.The immobiliser light flashed rapidly
moray
"Nufkamp" <call_me...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:rhfh14l39afvcm009...@4ax.com...
Some immboilisers prevented cranking, others didn't.
The initial problem does sound like air ingress. When priming, did the
plunger on top of the fuel filter get hard to push?
If it didn't then there's air getting in somewhere. Escorts were bad for the
fuel pipes chaffing (usally around the filter area, and anywhere between the
engine and underside). Working one pipe at a time, run your fingers along
them and feel for any chaffed spots, and check them closely for any spots
where they may of chaffed through.
Was the other filter head you tried a known good one?
If you remove the outlet pipe from the primer head, cover it with your
finger, and then try the primer, the primer should go stiff and pressure
build up under your finger. If it doesn't, it's faulty.
As for the immobilizer. Check all the fuses in the fuse box. If you drop
down the fuse box, there are other fuses (might only be one - it;s been a
while since I worked on one) in amongst the electrical connectors on the
rear which also need checked (from memory the fuse is pretty well hidden,
and may require you to disconnect some of the electrical connectors to find
it)
If that checks out OK, and the immobiliser is still showing no sign of life,
you have two options.
Get it sorted properly, or bypass it.
To bypass it, remove the security shield of the pump. You may be lucky and
have one of the vans that didn't get two shear bolts to hold it on, and may
just have normal bolts (or one normal and one shear).
Once the security shield is of, disconnect the immobiliser module on the
pump, and connect the wire with the 12v feed direct onto the stop solenoid.
It may also be worth checking the actual immobiliser module for water
ingress. It's mounted on the inside of near side A-pillar (a black box about
4x3x1inch) behind the trim panel. Water ingress was quite common. If you
carefully open the module, if there has been any water in it, you should see
the white marks.
Nufkamp
<mtbhyp...@hotmaildotco.tuk> wrote:
>
>"Nufkamp" <call_me...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
>news:rhfh14l39afvcm009...@4ax.com...
>> Bear with me on this please, I'm about 2 pints of unleaded away from
>> torching this fscker!!
SNIP
>
>Some immboilisers prevented cranking, others didn't.
>
>The initial problem does sound like air ingress. When priming, did the
>plunger on top of the fuel filter get hard to push?
Yes, it did. There's plenty of fuel getting to the filter and to the
pump.
>If it didn't then there's air getting in somewhere. Escorts were bad for the
>fuel pipes chaffing (usally around the filter area, and anywhere between the
>engine and underside). Working one pipe at a time, run your fingers along
>them and feel for any chaffed spots, and check them closely for any spots
>where they may of chaffed through.
>Was the other filter head you tried a known good one?
Brand spanking new, direct from the manufacturer, if you know what I
mean ;)
>If you remove the outlet pipe from the primer head, cover it with your
>finger, and then try the primer, the primer should go stiff and pressure
>build up under your finger. If it doesn't, it's faulty.
Plenty of pressure. And plenty of diesel all over the engine bay now.
:(
>
>As for the immobilizer. Check all the fuses in the fuse box.
Done this.
>If you drop
>down the fuse box, there are other fuses (might only be one - it;s been a
>while since I worked on one) in amongst the electrical connectors on the
>rear which also need checked (from memory the fuse is pretty well hidden,
>and may require you to disconnect some of the electrical connectors to find
>it)
Will look at this tomorrow.
>If that checks out OK, and the immobiliser is still showing no sign of life,
>you have two options.
>Get it sorted properly, or bypass it.
>To bypass it, remove the security shield of the pump. You may be lucky and
>have one of the vans that didn't get two shear bolts to hold it on, and may
>just have normal bolts (or one normal and one shear).
Look like shear bolts to me.
>Once the security shield is of, disconnect the immobiliser module on the
>pump, and connect the wire with the 12v feed direct onto the stop solenoid.
>
Does it matter which one, I've got 2 out of 3 of the wires at 12v, but
not the same 2 as my mate's Escort diesel.
>It may also be worth checking the actual immobiliser module for water
>ingress. It's mounted on the inside of near side A-pillar (a black box about
>4x3x1inch) behind the trim panel. Water ingress was quite common. If you
>carefully open the module, if there has been any water in it, you should see
>the white marks.
This is a possibility as my van does tend to be like a sieve in this
particular area.
Thanks for this, I'll give it a look after work tomorrow.
>