97 Escort Diagnosis.

This is my son's car, somewhere in excess of 200K. Misfires when cold, under acceleration. The colder it is the worse it is. Some days it doesn't misfire at all. Today, probably 20 miles passed before it stopped. No misfire at idle or under steady state cruise. Once it quits misfiring, it runs great. Plugs, wires, coil pack, have all been changed. That corrected the problem for about a week. I'm starting to think it's blown a head or intake gasket as about a half a gallon of coolant disappears per month, as in can't see it or smell it. However, there is no excessive steam on start up and no coolant smell in the exhaust. Any thoughts?

Valve adjustment? That's about all I've got in addition to your possible head/gasket woes.

I'm thinking head gasket. Unfortunately.

That's what I figured. Parts aren't but $270 including T belt and water pump and it shouldn't take more than a day to do it. The belt's past due anyway.

So when the car warms up, the problem goes away?

Might be a temp sensor stuck in hot mode. Should be a 2 wire plug under the coil pack in the heater line...worth checking and it's cheap.

For the coolant loss, I would check the radiator cap first. I have seen a few caps that didn't seal properly and would blow a little steam out and them fail to pull coolant from the overflow tank like it is supposed to!

Of course check the various wiring connections and vacuum lines for something awry.

If possible, get a code reader on it....may be codes that don't cause a CEL but are still important.

Bruce

What engine? 1.9 liter? If so swap in a Zetec. There are websites showing the swap if you google for them...

I paid $250 for my '00 Zetec from a junk yard that even loaded it up for me... Just a thought.

The engine is the 2.0 split port.

Good thought on the temp sensor. We'll look into it.

Running the codes on it it just shows misfire on cylinders 2 and 4. Clear them while the engine is hot and they stay gone. Crank it cold, and they come back.

We've looked into the Zetec swap. Maybe later, right now it just needs to get him to work for minimum money and time.

Variable cam timing or static?

Probably static, but its an interference engine. If timing is the problem, be careful.

Any codes ? Temp sensor or TPS are possible. Valve timing is static on the SPI. I know the 1.9 and the Zetec are NON interference so I would assume that the 2.0 SPI would be also. Many service sources are wrong in that aspect. Valves have hydraulic lifters. There are two coolant sensors located in the thermostat housing. One is the sender for the dash gauge, the other sends into to the ECU. Both can be checked with an ohm meter.

Apparently, these engines are known for valve seat separation problems. A lot of people describe the same problem, loss of coolant, misfire, knocking

In reply to iceracer:

I had just read something saying they were interference. A lot of guys think all skyline engines are and swear to it and I know one that isn't, so that may very well be the case with the escort know-alls. If its static, it doesn't master much anyway.

N Sperlo wrote: In reply to iceracer: I had just read something saying they were interference. A lot of guys think all skyline engines are and swear to it and I know one that isn't, so that may very well be the case with the escort know-alls. If its static, it doesn't master much anyway.

They aren't. I've broken at least two, a 1,9 and a 2.0. Either way it was a belt change and I was on my way.

Joey

Static timing....non interference engine. Variable runner length.

Given that the codes are for misfire rather than lean condition have me heading for an electrical condition rather than a fuel/air problem...but they cannot be counted out as these codes are sometimes interrelated.

This would indicate a glitchy cam positioning sensor, but these rarely go bad and the temperature aspect leads me to EGR problems.

Often the DPFE (delta pressure feedback egr)valve, which controls the EGR valve, goes out and might or might not throw a code.

I have dealt with this several times and have had different things fix it. First thing I try is a can of injector cleaner! Then I try cleaning the MAF sensor with a hard look at the vacuum lines and wiring connectors.

Still no joy? I try the temp sender and check the PCV valve and the hose for leaks. there is a hose off the back of the intake that sometimes disintegrates and can cause problems...usually at all speeds but worth checking while you are there.

This is all the cheap stuff and you can do all this for less than $50 (including the new radiator cap) in one 2 hour session.

The DPFE valve and the cam position sensor get a little pricy and more work. DPFE runs about $50 and has the quality of a Mcdonalds toy so I usually grab one from the junkyard.....center of the firewall with 2 vacuum hoses and an electrical connector and a 10mm bolt.

Cam position sensor (back of the head near the coil pack) is about $20 (I got mine at the junkyard with the DPFE for $10) but can be a booger to change as the intake may need to be removed. But this is usually not temperature related along with a bad intake gasket and the cracked intake problem.

One I found a missing EGR gasket, but that was the result of a mechanic letting it fall out while working on it...never saw one go bad by itself. symptoms were all there though.

Last possibility is the IAC (idle air controller) on top of the throttle body. These sometimes stick...just unplug it while running and see if the idle drops..usually good if affects the idle speed.

Hope this helps as guide...may just eliminate possibilities.

Bruce

Thanks for the feedback. Looks like we'll be starting at the top of the list and working through it. It'll probably be a week before we get a chance to mess with it. I'll keep you posted.

No experience with SPI Escorts but it sounds just like when the DPFE went out on my Zetec Focus. And it never did throw and codes! Fortunately it was a well known problem on the early Focus and was easy to fix.

FYI: Ford changed the location of the DPFE on the Focus 3 times in the first 3 years of manufacture due to problems with water getting into it.

Well, it was the head gasket. It went the rest of the way last week and started running a little hot. The son was smart enough to shut it down before blowing it up.

There were a couple of places that looked like this and cylinder 4 was spotless from being steam cleaned.

One thing that surprised me. This engine has better than 200K on it. You can still see the cross hatching in the cylinders.

The poor thing was nasty. I think we spent more time cleaning parts instead of actually pulling parts.

We are probably 60% done. It ended up taking longer than I expected. The good thing, no broken bolts, not even one.

All in all it was a good day.

Hopefully the rest of it will go back together easily.

Do not pass go, do not collect $200, do not re-use an SPI head that has been overheated.

I am not kidding, throw it away. With 200k on it you are already on borrowed time, but if it's been overheated, it is a ticking time bomb. You WILL drop the #4 exhaust seat in the not too distant future, which will send shrapnel into the intake manifold where it will be distributed to the other cylinders, and the entire engine will be junk.

^+1, depending on how hot it got. I wouldn't re-use it either way, but i'm not sure i'd want to sink more money than you already have into an Escort, either.

He said it never got into the red on the gauge. It was just running hotter than normal so he parked it. I guess we'll see how long it lasts, because it isn't getting a new head.

Toyman01 wrote:

So the car wasn't the only thing in need of adjustment? Attitude, I assume?

In reply to N Sperlo:

That's the son threatening to apply custom makeup to his sister. For some reason she didn't want a greasy hand print on her face.

In other news, the damn thing is done. It runs like new. It took about twice as long as I figured it would, but we took our time and made sure everything was right.

Yeah, run it and see wot it'll do. And if it blows up, find a $500 ZX2 with a bad automatic and get swappy.

Guy I worked with picked up a Focus with a blown head for pocket change. The junkyard we prefer to deal with was selling 2.0 SPI engines for close to $1000, but we had to wait a while to get one that was running. Seems they're pretty in-demand for some reason. Said junkyard also sold Zetec engines, with computer and wiring harness, for $600, as a swap to repair Focuses with blown SPI engines.