Zetec / Emerald expert in San Diego?

[perry]

Hey Guys. Sorry I couldn't make the blat. Bet it was fun. I've had a problem with my Birkin for a few years that The Dyno Shop in Santee could not figure out in 2010.

Since then I've just suffered with the issue. When the car is not at absolutly FULL temp & the throttle is stabbed hard the car goes into a running-on-3-cylinders type mode. Thut thut putt putt putt.

So I've been warming her up to full temp before driving or going granny speeds until the car is FULLY warmed up.

2.0 Zetec w/ Emerald ECU & Raceline injection.

I'm going to tackle the problem again by throwing money at it. My car knowledge hits a wall at 1975! I only know points & carbs.

So I ask: Do you know a Zetec/Emerald guru south of Pendleton? One that may want to earn some dough?

Thanx, Perry. (619) 840-4142 [email protected]

[magnusfeuer]

That is most likely not an ECU issue. If it was a crank / cam sensor issue the whole engine would stall and/or backfire. Since all injectors are fed from the same rail, fuelling is proabably also ok. You *may* have a bad injector that poops out at high load but I have never heard of that happening before.

I would replace the ignition coil pack. They rarely fail but when they do, they fail in mysterious ways. While you are at it, replace the HT leads to the plugs as well.

If you want to test the coil pack theory, warm the car up until it runs nicely. Then cool the coil pack down with ice and see if the problem resurfaces.

/Magnus F.

[perry]

Magnus. I will try your idea. I'll use any excuse to buy a Slurpee. --P.

[Doug Liedblad]

Check for vacuum leak when cold. You can do this with a can of carb cleaner. Start the car when cold, rev it up until you get the problem, then spray around the intake manifold mounting and fittings. If there is a leak the problem will go away or at least change flavor.

It's also cheap and easy to do.

Also check the mass air flow sensor.

Do you know David Laird? He's a seven owner in San Diego that might be helpful.

David doesn't do internet so send a PM to Roll A Seven.

[Roll a 7]

John Ryan @ New Tickford in the Miramar area is the guy to call. He works on other local 7s and accepts $$$ for doing so; and is a factory trained Aston Martin guy from the old country, just like our silly little cars.

[slomove]

I agree it is probably not the ECU itself. However, who knows how badly the mapping was done. For instance if the coolant temp correction was way off, I could imagine something like your symptoms can happen.

If you have an ECU cable and the software (free download) you could pull out the map/settings file and send it to me. I can not fine tune it from here but at least have a look if something is way out of whack.

[perry]

Perry here. Thanks for all the good input. I called The Dyno Shop & set them to finding the ECU cable. They bought it at the time & charged me for half. So I'm going to buy them out & take it home.
Going to do the Slurpee technique & vacuum leak check again (done that a few times already)
Spoke to John Ryan at Tckford. --thanks, Roll A 7----Nice bloke. If I can't solve this on my own it will go to him for some professional attention.

My poor car. I put so many miles on it. I fill her up every week! & I give her about as much care as you would a Camry. I'm a bad bad boy.

[perry]

Definatly not a Cold Coil problem. I checked & found that there is no temperature difference of the coil whether the car is hot or cold. The coil is cool to the touch either way. Mounted on a shelf at the rear of the cyl. head, it does not heat up with the engine. Just "room temp" all the time.