ive just had my car back from garage after cambelt snapped and took all valves its a been replaced etc but now the car stutter when accelerating in 2nd and 3rd. once its going in 3rd upwards its ok but in early gears it feels theres sum flat spots. shud i check the sparkplug gap too see if that qures it (I DO NEED TO NO THE SPARKPLUG DEPTH ON A FORD ESCORT 1.6 ZETEC 1999) If not the plug could it be the timing or sould i start looking at things like maf sensor I.A.T sensor etc????????????? HELP HELP

 

i cannot find the sparkplug gap anywhere and my haines manual is for the older efi zetecs HELP please lol :S:S:S:S:S

 

If you pop into Halfords etc, they have a application chart for plugs, if you think it's the plugs and change them just don't put bosch in there.
Very unlikely to be plugs, I would start by cleaning maf, but lambda may be damaged especially if any oil went down exhaust when it went pop.
tabetha

 

tabetha,how do i clean the maf sensor? it is those 2 little resisters in the channel isnt it and the lamba how would i clean that just take it out wipe the end and put back in?? thanks for help

 

The way to clean the MAF is take it off and use carb cleaner, don't ever poke the sensors with anything they are fragile, watch your eyes as the carb cleaner sprays give a big blast, and it stings like buggery in your eyes!!
After the clean just shake dry, then after putting back on car, pull the violet fuse from the fusebox near battery for a minute, it is a 2 or 3 amp fuse, may be marked KAM, this will reset the ecu and it will relearn the best running settings so may be a bit iffy for a mile or two, but just drive as normal.
I would do this before thinking about the lambda, which if buggered can't be cleaned/fixed, but a mot emissions read out will tell you if it is ok or not.
tabetha

 

the electrode gap on the 1.6 zetec is 1.3 mm
the electrode gap on the 1.6 chv (efi) is 1.0 mm

the torque setting for the zetec is 15 Nm or 11 lbf ft
the torque setting for the cvh is 25 Nm or 18 lbf ft

hope this helps you out fella

 

thanks for the help m8 , but i do have to ask.. it says in my haines manual that the SP gap is 1.0mm or .039thou what makes u say its 1.6 iam only asking because thisafternoon i changed the plugs there were 3 motorcraft ones that wernt even the right sort for an escort zetec and there was 1 ngk in good nick so i bought 3 more checked the gap to 1.00mm now the car runs ok but its got no power whatsoever thru the gears and sumtimes on idle it DROPS to 500 then UP to say a 1500 then back down till nearly stalling and it does this untill i either turn it off and on or rev the car. its realy pissing me off now ive spent 850 on car 575 on knew valves etc and now more money its just starting to take the pisss lol :@:@ any help with the bloody problem ov mine is much appriciated thanks for any help ive been given too

 

Timing isn't adjustable on these, but by the sounds of it, it could be running very lean, look for obvious air leaks, also some zetecs have a "T" shaped pipe/joiner for the PCV system that has the t piece under the inlet manifold corner, these are famous for splitting.
Also clean your idle speed control valve, as these gum up and get sluggish.
tabetha