Escort with idle problem + high feul consumption

Aug 20, 2003 4 Replies

I have an -88 Escort 1.6i which in idle is running up and down in rpm with a constant frequency (a couple of seconds between every "up" and "down"). It started with the engine running bad once in a while while driving, and then only for a second or two at a time. It seemed to get too much fuel, but only for a short period. Now it runs bad all the time, but I notice it mostly in idle and in full gas. The fuel consumption is 12 l/100 km, witch is way more than normal (almost double).



I've checked/changed the fuel filter, air filter and distributor cap/rotor, but it didn't help. I've also checked the fuel distributor and the "disk" (I don't know what the part is called in english..) which lifts in the air flow and controls how much fuel is going through the fuel distributor. It also seems to be ok.



Any ideas what the problem could be? I suspect some electrical problem, but I don't know where to start...



/Marcus


first check wires and plugs, then coil. Those things (had a friend with one) ate wires - when it rained it looked like a lightning show under his hood. Same drivability problem. replaced wires, plugs and coil, ran fine

Andrew

Marcus M wrote:

Andrew Paule wrote in news:KZO0b.52$ew2.44334 @news.uswest.net:

Those are also symptoms of a bad Oxygen sensor, if it is fuel injected.

The wires and plugs are relatively new, so I dont think that's the problem. Would a faulty coil give such a high fuel consumption? My thought was that it could be some cold start valve or something that gave the wrong signal to the box, and that it in turn gave signals for higher fuel consumption. Could this be true?

=20

Those are also symptoms that trouble codes need to be checked. The 88 escort does not use a check engine light to notify the driver of an emissions related failure.

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