peterhaskew

Hello all,

I have a 1998 Escort 75 van, non-turbo. I've decided to do away with the whole of the standard dashboard as I fancy something a bit different. As part of this, I will be fitting my own custom 'ignition key', which successfully stopped my old Fiesta being stolen twice.

To do this neatly, I want to remove PATS altogether. I've spent many hours in the last week tracing the wires and testing them all with and without the key transponder present, and I think I've sussed out how the system works.

I know that PATS sends a signal to the fuel solenoid momentarily as the key is turned, and that if PATS is satisfied that the solenoid has opened it then grounds the wire going round to the fusebox, which shuts the relay allowing the starter solenoid to fire the starter.

The one thing I can't work out is what that signal PATS sends to the fuel solenoid actually IS! Has anybody ever looked into it in enough detail? I've put a multimeter on it, but since it all happens in under a second I reckon I really need a digital oscilloscope. Since they're a tad pricey, I thought I'd ask if anyone out there already knows!

I realise that the other way around this is to replace the fuel solenoid with a single-wire type, but I've removed as much of the protective cover on the back of the injection pump as I can without serious dismantling (wish I'd realised I'd need to do this when I did the timing belts a year ago...), and I can't yet get the solenoid out. Also, I would need to find out (preferably before removing the old one) exactly what type of solenoid I need and where I can get it from.