Apart from the obvious of having a Pinto Efi in my Car can anyone help with a little problem I've experienced.

The car is an Mk indy fitting with a 2L Pinto using the stock injection system, twice today, within about 20 mins I experienced this problem, once when I was crawling through traffic and once when following a tractor (so both time at low speed)

The starts to stutter and won't rev, it really struggles to build up any revs and seem to be producing next to no power (no joke about what do expect it's a pinto), the first time it happend I pulled over because I thought the car was going to stall, but after stopping it just kept running with a very rough idle, but still wouldn't pickup the revs. I just put the foot to the floor and the revs picked up to around 3000 rpm, then bang the problem went away and the car rev'ed normally so I continued on my way. The second time I knew what it was, so just dipped the clutch and put the foot down till it cleared itself.

Any thought would be appreciated.

Cheers

Scott

problem with fuel pump delivery pressure at low speed?
If the fuel line passes over the engine it could be heat boiling the petrol in the line ( this used to happen to my rover V8 P6 in the summer - cure was to wrap the line in bacofoil!)
Regards
Hugh

Dont know the specifics of the Sierra injection system but i'd be looking in the direction of the idle control valve for starters - give it a good clean.

do these have air flow meaters ??
could be a problem with that ??
sounds like its over fueling like on a carbed engine when u keep choke on and u have to rev it up to clear it?
with out having it to play with its dificult

I had a similar problem which was related to under bonnet temperature. the engine was running fairly lean and the temperature compensator in the ECU weakened it off even more as the temperature rose when stuck in traffic or moving slowly. This caused uneven running and back firing. It cleared reasonably quickly once the speed built up.

You may be able to cure the problem by getting more cold air into the engine compartment and by richening the mixture a bit.

John

Thanks for the quick replies.

The fuel line don't run over the engine, so it shouldn't be fuel boiling. It's an eletric fuel pump, so I can't seem it being delivery problem, although as I type this, I suppose it could be the pressure regulator.

I'll have a look at the idle control valve, it could be faulty.

I think it is a fueling problem, rather than an electrical problem, whether it is running too lean or too rich it's hard to tell, the exhaust is always full of black soot, which normally tends to mean its running rich.

Cheers
Scott

Idle control valves were a weak point on the 2.0 efi pintos. I had one in a granada and about 18 years ago. it would hunt all over the place and stall at low speeds like approaching roundabouts. a good clean sorted it out if i remeber correctly.

a hunting ISVC should not give a loss of power though....

if the car is struggling to get over 3000 rpm, unless really thrashed....

could it be an electrical fault, or fueling

or maybe a blocked exhaust?

has the car a cat? my focus had a problem similar to this and it turned out to be a fractured cat blocking the exhaust line...

nope no CAT on this car

Sounds like a lack of fuel..

Does the tank have a breather - if so is it blocked...

quote:

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Originally posted by Paul (Notts)
Sounds like a lack of fuel..

Does the tank have a breather - if so is it blocked...

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If it was a tank breather problem, it would be even more sick when the pedal was floored...

My vote is for a too-rich mixture at idle that's fouling the plugs or causing the engine to mis-fire. You could try stopping the engine and taking a plug out for a look-see next time it happens - it'll be 'king hot though!

[Edited on 29/8/08 by David Jenkins]

?? coolant sensor playing up and making the ecu think the engine's cold and over fuelling??

Good luck with that one!

I transferred the 2.0i pinto that was working fine in my donor into my MK Indy where it ran ran rough and wouldn't idle.

As the fault was permanent I started by buying a fault code reader but that didn't come up with anything useful so I bought a Gunson colourtune which showed all flames pictures as white - ok there then.

I then rechecked all earth leads, the efi pump, fuel lines and filter, plug gaps, replaced HT leads and jumped it of my running CRV diesel but to no avail. I then took the idle speed control valve off and left in carb cleaner over night - no improvement.

I was going to post a request on the fordsierraownersclub to borrow a MAF and ECU to rule them out, but as I had some Redex on the shelf I poured a load of it into the tank and went to Tesco with a jerry can to get some Tesco 99 super unleaded to mix with the standard unleaded that had sat in the tank for 6 months and after running for a couple of minutes it cleared itself and has run spot on ever since.

My tank has a breather but I would have thought that if your's didn't have one it would eventually just die rather than starting to run rough then picking up again.

quote:

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Originally posted by Paul (Notts)
Sounds like a lack of fuel..

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I have had all sorts of problems with my engine and from the sound of it similar symptoms... ish....

I seem to have solved my issues by completely re-working my HP fule supply. I have re-routed the fuel lines in the engine bay so they now get some cool air flow and fitted an adjustable fuel pressure reg with a gauge (set to about 3 bar).

If you are running the stock EFi I would look at replacing the fuel reg with something like I have. and then making sure that your supply lines a clear and not getting too hot....

I got my reg of ebay - cost abotu £35 IIRC but I know several others on here are using them to good effect as well so think they a reasonably good.

Hope you get it sorted - there is nothing worse than sitting at the side of the road awaiting recovery and everyone going past in their tin tops waving grrr

Has this been happening just recently. Just interested as our shopping trolley has started doing this recently along with a few other friend's cars too.

i remember when there were trace elements of silicon in petrol. could be something like that...

or water in the tanks of a petrol station.

i remember when there were trace elements of silicon in petrol. could be something like that...

or water in the tanks of a petrol station.