The strangest thing has happened 2 years ago to my cossie and now also to my friends cossie 4x4.

2 Years ago the standard headgasket on my ford sierra cosworth 4x4 ('91, redtop) went so I changed it for a Grp A item. After putting all back together my car was horrible to drive. Running ok at idle, but when driving away it was hessitating, holding in and shaking. Months of investigation started, from checking CO, changing all new sensors, measuring values in the ECU to see what was wrong, but nothing, nothing solved it. The only thing it finally good be from my point of view was the chip itself. Now it was driving some years beautifully with no complaints at all, then it started to leak some water, then I changed the headgasket and this problem occurred. So at the end I ordered a new chip from MSD (the old one was also from them). Instantly the car drove like a dream! Finally solved this weird problem! But I still could not understand how changing a headgasket can have influence on a chip going faulty...

Now two years later my friend, who als drives a Ford Sierra Cosworth 4x4 ('90, redtop) with msd chip, had a water leak. So he also changed the headgasket. And after putting it all back together, his car also drives horrible! Changing again all sensors, checking everything doesnt solve it. It drives as bad as my car did after the headgasket change. So I suggested him to put my ECU in his car to see if it could be his chip that caused this. And after a short testdrive, yes, his car drives like a dream.

So now that this has happened twice, I like to know if there are people who have the same experience with this. I really have no clue what can cause this problem. 2 Different cars, 2 different persons who carried out a headgasket change and a bad chip as a result..

 

does seem odd; exactly what headgasket was it?

 

never heard of it before, although i have heard of plenty shorting wires when working on the engine & damaging the ecu.

 

No one can gaurantee 100% of the chips will be perfect and stay that way, the actual manufacture of the chips is out of thier control, but I do know if you contacted stu(msd) about this, he would happily change it check it asap for you and be only too glad to.
tabetha

 

That's very strange Wim,never had this on mine.