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Ford Escort Mk5 1990 1.6 CVH Carb

I have the above vehicle which sometimes fails to start. New battery and starter motor, leads, plugs and air filter. Carb mixture checked, all OK. I suspect that there is no spark, although difficult to prove as its not every turn of the key. Does the factory fitted alarm have an immobiliser, and if so does it just cut the spark? I thought perhaps coil pack but car runs fine once started and doesn't miss a beat. There's not much left that I can see, there is a solenoid on the side of the carb which I assume controls the idle, and a silver, almost ECU looking box bolter to the nearside wing. Apart from that, its a basic CVH unit. Any ideas anyone?

Thanks

John

Reply to
John Dennington
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I could be wrong, but i've had 3 escorts in my time and two have failed to start due to a faulty ignition module. It's attached to the right hand side of the crank shaft sitting close to the distributor cap. It's about 2in Sq. and replacing it resolved all the starting problems with a Y Plate XR3 and a E Plate XR3i.

Cost was around £40 but a scrappy might be worth a go.

Reply to
Dan

sorry, might have got the size wrong 2 x 2 x 0.5 inSq

Reply to
Dan

On a '90 Mk5, it will be running DIS, so no dizzy, or cap.

Tim..

Reply to
Tim (Remove NOSPAM.

Possibly.

Does the factory fitted alarm have an immobiliser, and if

No.

I thought perhaps coil pack but car runs fine

You really need to establish if there is a spark or not when it wont start, i expect there wont be, and the first port of call should be the crank angle sensor. At this age, and if you have never changed it, do so, also check if the connector has had the mod with the gold pins. The new sensor will have, and the connector must have too. There is a kit available from the dealer, which if you are handy with a soldering iron and heat shrink will cause you no problems. The CAS are notoriously unreliable, especially when coated in oil from a leaking rocker gasket and / or clutch dust.

Tim..

Reply to
Tim (Remove NOSPAM.

Tim, many thanks, thats gotta be worth a try. I am not familiar with this set-up, am ok on older CVH and EFI units but this one is like an in between unit. I guess they tried to get to clever then ditched it in favour of injection. I will let you know how it goes

Reply to
John Dennington

No, think of it as a 1.6 EFI but with the EFI removed and a carb in its place but with the DIS ignition system working on its own- throttle pot mounted on the carb. Its really very simple!

Tim..

Reply to
Tim (Remove NOSPAM.

Tim

Just to let you know that you were correct in assuming it was the Crankshaft Angle Sensor. The car now starts on every turn of the key, now all I have to do is work out how to control the idle.

Many thanks for your help

Reply to
John Dennington

Whats up with the idle?

Tim..

Reply to
Tim (Remove NOSPAM.

Hi Tim

The idle tends to be unstable, taking a while to go down to 1000 rpm, sometimes it drops down when you slow down at lights or roundabouts, almost to a stall, then returns back up to about 1000 rpm. If this were an EFI unit I would say it was the idle control valve but this vehicle doesn't have one of these. What it does have is a solenoid that sits on the side of the carb, not sure if this controls the idle or not but I cannot find any mention of this in the Haynes manual. So the idle goes no lower than 1000 at any time. Thanks to you it now starts everytime, the autochoke works fine and appears to go off when warm. I have cleaned all breathers, pipes, replaced air filter and the tin pipe from the manifold but none of this made any difference.

Regards

John

Reply to
John Dennington

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