Hi all, My name is martin, I am from Argentina. I am trying to help a friend who is a mechanic and he has in his workshop the first ever 3 door RS to enter the country. The car was imported from italy and he needs to scan it, or at least access the ecu, since the car wont start. The fuel pump, fuel lines, fuel pressure regulator and also the spark plugs and leads have been changed. I know that the ecu is behind the dash cover. What I dont know is if the 3 door RS can be scanned (I am not a mechanic). Any help at all would be much appreciated.

 

Hi Martin, a 3 door RS Cosworth is from around 1986 and it is not like a modern car where you can scan it to find the fault codes.They are a specialist car and do require someone with a lot of expertise on them to diagnose what the problem could be.

 

What troubleshooting has actually been performed?

Getting an output from the ECU is not the correct approach and won't help at all.

Do you have spark? Is fuel reaching the cylinders? If not then you need to verify the ECU etc has power and an immobiliser is not causing an issue etc.

Only once the answer is known to these questions can a troubleshooting strategy be devised.



Whilst they were around before OBD was even thought of, they do have a flash code system.

On the 3DR, the number of flashes on the EML denotes what the issue is, but it's crude as it only does something if a sensor has gone open circuit IIRC.

 

As I said to Martin the garage needs to find someone who has worked on a 3 door who has the knowledge to trouble shoot the problem.It is not the same as a modern car and a process of elimination is required not just a simple plug in to read fault codes.

 

I'll second that. Confirm you have the basics like fuel and a spark. If one is missing it's usually a case of working backwards and eliminating possible causes by replacing with new, or known good, components

 

Thank you very much for all the answers, the problem was a faulty fuel pressure regulator. We tested the car saturday and goes like a rocket. If the owner gives me permission will be posting pictures soon. Again, thanks a lot for the help.