• Welcome to the Contour Enthusiasts Group, the best resource for the Ford Contour and Mercury Mystique.

    You can register to join the community.

pre98 zetec "sucks"

J

jasonvan9

CEG'er
Joined
May 26, 2009
Messages
33
Location
London, ON, CAN eh?
Hello,

having a bit of trouble with my engine.. whenever i give it relatively hard throttle (pulling out into traffic) the engine has no power.. when im sitting idle and recreate the throttle it sounds like the engine is "sucking" in air or something..

http://www.facebook.com/v/106681846645 - "sucking" sound

here's a video of what im talking about, best i could get with my cell.. you can hear the sucking noise though..


http://www.facebook.com/v/106684056645 - cam tick

also there is an irregular tick sound coming from what sounds like my cam pulleys (above video).. ive had the cover off and had a look thinking there was just something bouncing around, but everything looked good, belt looked good as well.. engine has 180k km's on it
 
the "sucking" sounds like it may be a vacuum leak, which would also explain your lack of power. i cant tell from that video what the ticking is though.
 
striker2 said:
the "sucking" sounds like it may be a vacuum leak, which would also explain your lack of power. i cant tell from that video what the ticking is though.
Click to expand...


i remember testing the vacuum when i first got the car home, the vacuum was fine at idle but when you rev the engine it goes.. down? i think it went down, not up.. i remember reading up on that and its either valves arnt closing all the way, or.. something else.. which if that was the case, that might just explain the ticking sound coming from the cam shaft(s) as well? bad bearing, worn.. :S
 
Vacuum is supposed to drop when you rev the engine since it now essentially has a huge vacuum leak from the open throttle body. if its bouncing around and not holding a steady vacuum then you have other mechanical issues. a small vacuum leak may not necessarily be noticed on a vacuum gauge.
 
fair enough, well does it help any that when i'm driving, every now and again I get a distinct smell of gas.. when im just driving along? there are no fuel leaks, i have checked, and lately my fuel economy has been appauling.. maybe 100km/15L when im suppose to be getting less then 10L.. Also, i went to parts source yesterday to have my codes read cause the engine light came on the other day, which I thought I had fixed with new plugs and wires.. but yet again, the code read a miss-fire on cylinder 4... i pulled the plug today and it lookes great, just a small tint of orange.. and the wires are less then a month old and they all looked great with no carbon tracking or anything.. my next guess is the coil pack..
 
it is very hard to tell from your video but your tapping could be a broken valve spring or two on the 4th cylinder which could also cause a missfire
 
Sable23 said:
it is very hard to tell from your video but your tapping could be a broken valve spring or two on the 4th cylinder which could also cause a missfire
Click to expand...

If it was a spring it would miss-fire constantly correct? This is more of a "come and go" problem.. usually happens from about 900rpm-3000rpm, once i get past 3000 the power's back. Also the "ticking" sound is coming from the left side of the head (cylinder 1) rather then the right (cylinder 4) so i dont think it could be valve spring(s)..

I had replaced wires before for the same symptoms, and that seemed to fix it for nearly a month, now the problem is back again, not as bad mind you, but its back.. I'm guessing its the coil pack, it must be, any thoughts?
 
the ticking is probably the timing belt slapping against the top cover. remove the cover and see if it goes away. if it does, its time to change the belt.
 
I had the same problem about a year ago. This is a post98 though. Doesn't hurt to check anyway...

checkhere.jpg

It was about halfway down the back of the engine, right below here.

Its an S shaped hose.

P1000528.jpg


^^ Thats the hole mine had in it.
 
Thanks for the tip on the hose Bluez, I'll take a look tonight after work.. It guessing you're right because thats where i hear it coming from, under the intake by the throttle body... And also, I believe I had the cover off of the timing belt and the ticking sound remained.. im not 100% though because that was a while ago.. but i'll take it off again and see if the ticking sound goes away, I hope its not the belt because I believe its a pain in the ass to change isnt it?

Thanks again for all your help gents,

Jason
 
my 97 had a nasty tick it was almost a knock i guess but it was a combination of two things, a bad lifter and a cracked exhaust manifold but my tick was rather steady (about 2 ticks everysecond) thants why i suggested the valve spring cause it would have similar results as a bad lifter only more then likely more irratic. come to think of it i did not see that hose on my engine i will have to go and look before i put it back in the car
 
the hose under the intake manifold is a 98+ thing only as the pre98s have a hard line for the EGR. the line under the intake on the 98+s is for the PCV system instead. the PCV system on the pre98s comes in on the side of the manifold near the head.
 
ok i was wondering cause i didnt see anything like that on my car at all and i just got done rebuilding the engine so kinda had me worried for a second there...
 
Had a question, my car seems to run fine when its cold.. so i dont think it could be something like a vacuum leak.. because that would be a more permanent problem I would think.. unless the tubes expand with the heat and lose their seal.. either way..

I've just ordered a new coil pack from rockauto.. I just got the cheap 32$ one.. which still has a 50k mile warranty with it.. I'm going to replace that and then go from there... Doing this on the basis of an internittent electrical problem, with no other options as the plugs and wires are new.

Also, my tranny seems to shift hard from first to second when I'm speeding up, I'm assuming is a shift speed sensor.. any thoughts? it only does this from 1st to 2nd.. doesnt happen at any other shift times, and it doesnt do it on the down shift..


Jason
 
Vacuum leaks typically are less noticable when the car is cold because at a cold idle the computer artificially enriches the fuel mixture, which happens to compensate for the extra air leaking in. When warm, the idle is lower and leaner, so the vacuum leak becomes much more of a problem.

Like they said, check that hose! The one on my 2000 just recently went bad.
 
IRingTwyce said:
Did you ever put a meter on the old pack and test it? It's easy to do. Linky Linky to Autozone's how-to. Might not work as you have to be logged in to get to the repair guide. If the link won't work, you can find it like this:
HOME >> REPAIR INFO >> 1996 FORD CONTOUR 2.0L MFI DOHC 4CYL REPAIR GUIDE >> ENGINE ELECTRICAL >> DISTRIBUTORLESS IGNITION SYSTEM >> IGNITION COIL PACK

You can always return the new one if your old tests good.
Click to expand...

Alright, I just went and checked my coil.. according to my Haynes maual, the allowable resistance between the connector pins is:
0.5 Ohms +/- 0.05 Ohms

My coil pack tested as 1.1 Ohms , which is WAY outside the recommended spec.. So it does appear to be the coil pack which is the problem! According to my test anyways..

Also back to the main point of this thread, the infamous "sucking" sound, upon further inspection, I believe the sound is coming from, or near enough, to the EGR valve.. I checked every last vacuum hose under the hood and all of them look brand new, no holes or cracks as someone had suggested. So my next guess is the EGR ist bad, or the valving is leaking.. I didnt feel any pressure or anything coming from the EGR valve when I was revving the engine, so i'm still unsure.. but the symptoms I'm experiencing and a bad EGR valve are lining up very nicely.. Any thoughts?

Jason
 
Alright I finally got my new coil in from RockAuto.. FedEX screwed my address up 4 times.. hah but anyways, I tested the new VS the old coil.. exact same numbers, and I replaced the old coil with the new and I still have the same problems.. so the coil wasnt the problem sadly..

BUT! yesterday I was poking around under the hood under curiosity and Striker, you weree 100% right it was a vacuum leak.. I noticed a black corrugated hose "flexing" whenever I revved the engine, so i went to go grab it and it broke in half in my hand and a suspicious point which had one wrapping of yellow tape over it.. Any ways, I headed over to parts source, got a new hose, and she's running like a DREAM now! Lots of power off the line! Thanks again you guys for helping me trouble shoot this thing, I couldnt have done it without you!

Cheers,

Jason

Image025.jpg


Image024.jpg
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top