AGAR-COSWORTH

Hey guys,

Looking for some help on a non-starting HCS engine in my Mk3.5 Fiesta. Its been sitting for over a month now not moving, ive got the time after exams to actually sort it

Anyway, i set about adjusting the tappet clearances on it - they were way out! I followed the haynes manual exactly, with my dad checking what i did was correct (which it was on all 3 times we checked it). The car turns over but doesn't fire now, as far as i know it does keep compression so the only conclusion we can come to is some problem with the ignition not sparking, or i've knocked a sensor out or something.

Any ideas/suggestions?

Cheers

MAD EVO 4

Some how you have over tightened them

AGAR-COSWORTH

See i don't know - i know some guys on Fiestaturbo who suggested halving the book clearance values from 20mm and 30mm down to 10mm and 15mm, they say theirs runs fine even with the smaller clearances. Ive tried both settings and even loosed them off so the clearances are greater than the book values

AlexF

You've not adjusted the valve at the right time or to the right figure...

20mm??????????

do you mean 0.20mm ??

Alex

AGAR-COSWORTH

Yeah sorry i do mean 0.2mm and 0.1mm - we're pretty certian we did do it correctly. Finding TDC then adjusting the pairs of tappets in order, noting that the exhaust and inlet valves swap over on cylinders 3 and 4. Also made sure to crank over the engine 180degrees after each set of adjustments so the next valves being adjusted are rocking.

Will have another go on Sunday to make sure we're doing it exactly correct- but in the meantime is there anthing else i had missed? Even something as tedious as a rocker cover gasket not being replaced with a new one?

UBster

are the plugs soaked in fuel?

are you getting a spark on all 4 plugs?

are the leads in the right order?

AGAR-COSWORTH

Good point about the plugs being soaked although any time ive taken them out to check the clearances they've been ok, will buy some new ones though as there pretty fucked.

All 4 leads in correct order - but how do you check you sparks?

UBster

big rubber gloves, pliers and ark off the rocker cover whilst turning the car over

Ask your dad to do that though as I don't want to be responsible for giving you an afro

AGAR-COSWORTH

Cheers

AGAR-COSWORTH

BTT for today

filthyrichie

best way to do the tappetts is to rock the valves, ie get no1 rocking inlet and exhaust and adjust 4 then rock 2 adj 3 rock 3 adjust 2 rock 4 adjust 1

check firing order is good and watch plugs dont snap off in head as its ded common especially if they have been stood

Jim Galbally

was the engine warm when you set the tappets

did you find you had to do any of them up or undo them much?

AGAR-COSWORTH

filthyrichie - yeah thats the way we adjusted them as it says in the haynes manual. How do i check the actual firing order is correct though? Is it possible i could have upset the firing order when cranking the engine round by hand a few times before finding TDC?

Jim Galbally - no engine was cold when tappets were adjusted, and yes alot of them required big adjustments? What does this mean?

Cheers

filthyrichie

no firing order shud be same what ever the position of it when u started is it acfi injection cos if so 1and 3 and 2 and 4 can be mixed and it will still start, check cps connector aswell maybe just dirty

AGAR-COSWORTH

Its an N reg so i've been told its definatley got an injector - whats the cps connector and wheres it located? Crank position sensor?

Turbo Zetec

iTrader: (1)

am i right in thinking the hcs engine has an odd firing order? like 1-2-4-3?

carfixz

You dont adjust the ones that are rocking, you adjust the opposite cylinder, i.e if No1 is rocking, you adjust No4

Jim Galbally

how big, did you loosen em off loads?

AGAR-COSWORTH

MD Cos - correct

carfixz - yeah no worries i should have worded that better however i did do as your suggesting

Jim Galbally - didn't loosen them off at all, all of them needed screwing down (tightening) a good 50mm at most!!

Rab

50mm?????

You mean 0.5mm surely!

AGAR-COSWORTH

50mm is a rough estimate of how much some of the tappets had to be screwed down by in order to get to the clearnce of 0.3mm or 0.2mm! i had NOT set the clearances at 50mm

Jim Galbally

ok youve DEFINATELY done it wrong if youre adjusting by that much. (as if they were that far out beforehand the engine wouldnt have ran!

youve just set the clearances to tight that the valves dont close and you have no compression

go back and re-read the haynes manual and try and work out where you went wrong...

remember your aim to to find the point where both valves are 100% closed and set the clearances between the rocker arm and the valve.

this is so that when the engine gets hot, the metal expands and the clearance then becomes zero.

youve set yours so over-tight (somehow or other) that the valves cannot close

Rab

50mm. That's 5cm..... If you've moved these anywhere near that much you've done something very very wrong

As Jim says, I'd be starting again if I was you. If you still have no success, gimme a shout and I'll come a have a look

filthyrichie

if you pm me i will give u my number call me and i will tell you how to do it correctly

AGAR-COSWORTH

Rab - sorry meant 5mm (still hungover )

Jim Galbally - yeah thats what i figured, no compression - and i did increase the gaps (ie closing the valves more) but it seemed to be further away from firing before.

filthyrichie - cheers, going to give it one last go for myself tommorrow

andre_k

iTrader: (2)

you had to adjust them by 5 whole centimeters?

as others have said, you must have meant 0.5 mm, because 5mm is alot, letalone 50!

AGAR-COSWORTH

I definately had to adjust them by 5mm, ie 0.5cm down to thier 0.2mm and 0.3mm clearances - i did think this was worrying at the time

Jim Galbally

thats a SHITLOAD of adjustment.

if they were that far out before, the valves wern't even opening

you did it wrong, end of

and you didn't mention that it wasnt working BEFORE, surely there's another fault :P

AGAR-COSWORTH

Acch well shit happens I try to do all the work on my car myself so as by the time i get a decent RS i will know how to do most of the mechanics on it without buggering it up (ie like ive done on a 1.1 ) Car DID work BEFORE , anyway will give it another go tommorrow.

Cheers

Tom`s Fiesta

Why did u adjust them in the first place was it really tappety? Coz these engines where never quiet new! Take the rocker cover off and check again. My dad did mine in 5 mins when i had a lazy tappet and it was fine. Good luck!

AGAR-COSWORTH

It was seriously tappety, up to the stage where i had to push my car down my girlfriends driveway to avoid waking everyone up at night , and wasn't doing too well on fuel so i though the valve clearances were a little off.

Anyways cheers - if i'd known i was going to cause this much hassle i would have never started it

Fingers crossed for tommorrow.

Thanks again to everyone.

haz87

just thought, i know its a simple thing but you did take into account the inlet/exhausts swap half way, the middle valves (4 + 4) are both exhaust as this would have cocked it all up?

AGAR-COSWORTH

Yeah i knew that cheers