staffychance1

Hi Guys, newbie here, hope ya can help.

Long story short, i got a 1.8 zetec escort with dead engine to compete in autocross championship.Bought a so called good engine but after a few months of slow work putting it in and so on, i then found the headgasket has gone, so got the head skimmed and new gasket, oils, etc.

Took it out on saturday and i revs whilst idle all throught the rev range sounding fine, put it in drive and she moves but it very sluggish and will not pull over 45mph, and sounds like a bag of shit.

Dropped the front pipe thugh it might be a blocked cat, nope
Checked plug gaps 1.3mm ok

When i dropped the front pipe to try and allow some flow if cat was blocked a massive sparked jumped from the exhaust manifold into the top of the front pipe when i manually opened the throttle, is this normal, not come across this before.

Also any ideas please im at a loss.

Glenn_

iTrader: (1)

Hi im from darlo too.Are you lambda sensors ok.Is the engine misfiring?

staffychance1

Hi mate

To be honest not 100%, for sure not when at revving in nautral, revs sweet, however it could be classed as a missfire when under load, to be honest i have never heard this sort of sound before.

The lamdas could be at fault but not sure if i can test them or you just have to replace them.

staffychance1

After the other night my old fella went to the unit with a list of things to check, I mentioned the spark in the exhaust manifold and:

He removed No1 spark plug( where the head gasket popped originally) and the spark from the HT lead was all over the place (maybe water damage), swapped the plug lead for another we had and it now works.

Not seen it myself or heard it but i have been informed all is well, cheers Glen


Steve

Glenn_

iTrader: (1)

Or right so it must of been misfiring then.Glad its sorted.The zetecs are a good engine.

staffychance1

Yeah ta, i think after a season running this the plan maybe 2ltr silver top on carbs,RS2000 or maybe a 170 duratec bit more pace.