Zetec Timing problem

[Kauai Guy]

Originally Posted by Pfc_Dustin

Ok I'm searching for that now but in the mean time what sensors adjust timing in this car other the crank shaft pos sensor, cam shaft pos sensor and the knock sensor, does the temp sensor or anything else. Also what sensors mess with the a/f ratio?

What exactly does the xcal read?

Did you replace the fuel filter by any chance? And check out the passenger mount while you're at it. Those blow out often and usually cause vibrations. Take off the cap and push it to see if theres oil in it.

[Pfc_Dustin]

Fuel filt was done with the fuel pump about 2 years ago and the first thing I actually checked was the mounts lol

Also when I swapped out the timing belt I got a few miles of normal driving

[1turbofocus]

IF and thats a big IF it is timing related then there is something causing it and you need to find out what that is vs trying to just take timing out

Tom

[Pfc_Dustin]

What do you mean trying to take timing out?

That's pretty much what I'm doing, the only thing I can think of is that a sensor is bad and giving false readings, other than that there's the ecu it self.

so far ignition is good, mechanical timing has been set and reset, cat was bad but I deleted it, and fuel pump and filter are new, also plugs read a bit rich but 2 and I believe 4 were lean, I put in some new ones a couple weeks ago after I replaced the coil and I'm going to check again, compression is also good but I'm going to recheck that as well. Also the o2 sensor after the cat was damaged by the clogged cat so that was just replaced

The differing plug conditions can be caused by the coil, which was bad, so its misleading but ill know more on that today.

Anyone have any input on sensors or was to test the individual sensors?

[Pfc_Dustin]

Compression is #1- 120, #2- 120, #3- 126, #4- 120, spark plus were ok but a little on the lean side, I also went over all the vac lines and check the intake manifold for leaks.

[1turbofocus]

You cannot check a plug that has been drove on or idled on for long that isnt how you read plugs so what your doing there is worthless

"mechanical timing has been set and reset" How did you set the timing ? There is no mechanical timing on the Focus ??????

You need to see what the issue is not just start throwing parts at it and hope you find it

Tom

[Badad]

Usually if compression is good Timing is good. Unless you have a tester that will read codes and hopefully pids it will be hard to check sensors. It sounded like a converter at first but since you said you have removed it that cant be the problem. I would go after the MAF sensor or the IAT because both of those will cause rich conditions.

[Pfc_Dustin]

Originally Posted by 1turbofocus

You cannot check a plug that has been drove on or idled on for long that isnt how you read plugs so what your doing there is worthless

"mechanical timing has been set and reset" How did you set the timing ? There is no mechanical timing on the Focus ??????

You need to see what the issue is not just start throwing parts at it and hope you find I
TTom

The plugs are pretty new, I mentioned I put them in a couple weeks ago
I've only put about 10-20 miles on them, also you can read plugs that have been driven on, I've honestly never heard of that before, the only thing like that would be that you can't read really old plugs because you'll need kind of a fress canvas so to speak. In that respect these are just fine to read even if I had 50 miles on them.

Mechanical timing is set at the timing belt with the the cam and crank tools, I've set it and reset it just to be sure.

I havnt been throwing parts at it, believe it or not every parts been bad. The timining belt was missing most of the teeth, the cat was clogged and throwing stuff out of the exhaust,the o2 sensor was melted by the cat, the coil tested bad, and was cracked and the fuel pump was replaced as part of a recall. Now I'm dow to the sensors and I'm trying to lock down a specific one instead throwing parts at it.

I don't mean to be rude just giving you some clarification.


also the compression I posted is pretty low, I've been seeing that normal for these cars is the 150-180 range, any thoughts on this?

Is there a way tp test the maf sensor with an ohms meter or voltage meter?

[1turbofocus]

You CANNOT accuratly read a plug that has been drive cycled on , it has to to be a FRESH plug installed brought to temp , do a WOT pass on it and as soon as you let off the throttle kill the engine , this is the ONLY TRUE WAY to read a plug and get an accurate reading
Doing it this way you can read both timing and fuel

"Mechanical timing" is used for distributor engines , what your talking about is the Cam timing and has nothing to do with engine timing so are you talking Cam timing or the Engine timing ?

Tom

[Pfc_Dustin]

Originally Posted by 1turbofocus

You CANNOT accuratly read a plug that has been drive cycled on , it has to to be a FRESH plug installed brought to temp , do a WOT pass on it and as soon as you let off the throttle kill the engine , this is the ONLY TRUE WAY to read a plug and get an accurate reading
Doing it this way you can read both timing and fuel

"Mechanical timing" is used for distributor engines , what your talking about is the Cam timing and has nothing to do with engine timing so are you talking Cam timing or the Engine timing ?

Tom

As far as the plugs go I've only heard of that in race cars, reading plugs after driving on them is a pretty standard practice to help diagnose a problem in a regular car especially since its not going to be driven too much at wot.

As for the timing, your arguing symantics for seemingly no reason at all. This motor is a distributorless ign system so what do you think I ment? Me and most people I work with consider timing adjusted on the engine mechanical timing and timing adjusted at the distributer ignition timing, this car like you and I said has no dist, so like I said symantics. There's no reason to be asking that question or arguing about this at all it not helpful. If you don't think its timing fine, offer up a solution. Otherwise you could save your weird macho contest for someone who cares about it more. I'm posting here for a helpful discussion. Helpful would be answering a question like how do you ohm out the maf sensor or ait sensor on this car. Instead of arguing for absolutly no reason try helping.