Ford RS2000 I4 - GTI cab

[Rexy]

Im not a member of a ford fourm but im stumped so, see if anybody can help.

A friend has a escort GTI cab which has an rs2000 I4 lump fitted, now this thing was runnin fine and dandy until he put the std air box back on and it started to idle between 500 and 1500 going up and down.

we have tried a new ICV, air coolant temp sensor, two brand new lamba sensors cleaned the Throttle body, New coil pack from a zetec has replaced the oem ones which sit ontop of the plugs and rewired this was all working fine but the idel was still eratic between 500-1500.

The steering rack needed to be replaced so we cracked on with that, inlet off etc blar blar... The map sensor rubber pipe had a split which I thought would hopefully solve the iratic idel problem. So the rack was done, and we finished putting it all back together and went to start it.

It was cranking but not starting, we have checked all four leads are making spark which they are, and the injection rail is getting fuel. Ive not checked the injectors as yet. we managed to get it started after a number of trys but its has a missfire on low and cuts out. It is a right bollock to actually get started and isnt happy whatso ever.

The only things i can think of are O rings on the injectors are fooked i didnt check these before putting the inlet back on, or the ECU is at fault with the ignition timing.

is there anything else anybody can think of to try and get this fooker up and running again. As i've spent a few hours with my mate replacing things now and its annoying me.

[mowgli]

could it have had the mixture adjusted with the other filter & the split pipe? so it is now so out of adjustment that it just won't run?

[Rexy]

what dya reckon get it running and keep it running for as long as poss mowgli? as its EFI so i thought it would of been automatically adjusted by the ecu?

[mowgli]

have you swapped the spark plugs?? is there a dodgy earth?

[db_1.2]

I hate it when you cant find whats wrong with a motor.

But really, the one thing you havnt got round to checking is compression. But personally i think its fueling.

[Rexy]

Plugs are new, the only earth we took off was redone. everything that was taken off has been checked and replaced in the same order.

To me it does sound like some timing issue like the ignition but the engine is a chain driven, the injector plugs were all replaced in the same mannor and the leads are brand new as well.

[C612DNM]

Hunting like that sounds a little like the airflow meter. Is it a hot-wire type on that or a flap type? If a flap type (Ford liked being behind the times!), that could be the culprit. If it's an early Bosch LE Jetronic, I seem to remember them having an idle mixure adjustment on the airflow meter. That might have been something older still.....

I had a Belmont 1.8i GLS as a company car a lot of years back, that did it too, but at higher revs.

As I keep saying though - check the earths. Just about all sensors measure against earth, and if that's "floating", they'll lie like a cheap watch and cause it to run like a dog.

[Rexy]

I'll have another look over all the earths tomorrow with him, they dont have an airflow meter as such its just an ICV attatched to the standard airbox. Which I persume will be doing the same sorta thing.