mechanical advice for a ford escort mk6 pls

[leeds4life]

hello, i dunno if im on the right forum but i was wondering if anyone can help me with my dilemma. my car is losing power when i press my gas pedal and is making a right racket from my engine, also i get a black residue from my exhaust. i was told before i bought the car that the air flow meter was knackard, so after 2 days of runnin around to find the right one for my car, i fitted it and the car is behaving exactly the same. can anyone tell me whats wrong with my car. thanx in advance

[chrissyr32]

YEAH its fked!! £2.50 scrap value.

[Zad]

Sounds like it is coughing oil into the exhaust! Definitely not good for catalysts. Check the oil level is ok and not too high. Check the crank case breather pipe too. Is it emitting blue smoke as you drive?

[stifler]

chrissyr32 said:

YEAH its fked!! £2.50 scrap value.

I was trying to work out how to get that meaning across politely. But that's about as good as I could come up with.

My advice is scrap it and buy a dictionary with the proceeds.

[NiceCupOfTea]

is it petrol or diesel?

[leeds4life]

thanx for the reply zad. the oil level is just over maximum. could this be the problem? could that be the cause of the power loss and noise? (it sounds like a subaru impreza but from the engine) also if this is the problem is there any long term damage?

its petrol

Edited by leeds4life on Thursday 5th March 19:14

[NiceCupOfTea]

if the oil's only just over max it shouldn't cause a problem.

Agree it doesn't sound good. Is the black residue sooty or do you mean smoke?

[leeds4life]

no its more liquidy. i would say it is oil now zad mentioned it. it shoots out about six foot when i rev the engine

[leeds4life]

are you there nicecupoftea? is there chance of any long term damage?

[andy-xr]

Time for a compression test I fear

[leeds4life]

ok, whats a compression test?

[andy-xr]

Does what it says on the tin, checks compression

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compression_test

I'm saying that not necessarily meaning head gasket, but what sort of power you're getting from the engine.

On spec, if the MAF's been changed for a known good one it might be worth trying a known good coil pack as well

[NiceCupOfTea]

leeds4life said:

are you there nicecupoftea? is there chance of any long term damage?

Here I am!

I'm not expert but if your car is spitting oil in liquid form out of the exhaust then you are in serious trouble!

Does it have a cat?
How quickly is the engine oil level dropping?
I am no expert but if you are losing oil through the exhaust it sounds like you have a very worn bores which are letting the oil past from the bottom end. This would mean poor compression and poor running.

I agree that your first port of call is a compression test.

[leeds4life]

thanx for replying. as far as i know, it does have a cat and i havnt noticed the oil level drop. if anything it has too much oil in. the level is just over max on the dip stick. how much would a compression test cost? and if anything is damaged, would it be a big job to get anything replaced?

[andy-xr]

You sure it's not petrol going out the exhaust? Overfuelling with reduced compression due to a faulty coilpack?

[DennisTheMenace]

andy-xr said:

You sure it's not petrol going out the exhaust? Overfuelling with reduced compression due to a faulty coilpack?

And if its sounding like an subaru , that could be the problem , check the spark plugs HT leads and coil/coils

The condition ofthe plugs will give you a good indication as to the state of the engine .

There is a section for Fords so im going to move this there .

[NiceCupOfTea]

compression test is 5 mins work - you might be best off finding a back street garage and offering them a tenner to do a quick test. I don't have a guage but a friend of mine did one for me. It's just a case of take out each plug in turn, screw in the compression tester, pull the fuel pump fuse, and crank the engine over until you get a reading. Do the same on all 4 cylinders and they should all be similar. Unplug the coil as well iirc to stop the engine trying to fire.

Petrol from the exhaust sounds more likely than oil actually...

Things to do:
- compression test
- check for a spark

Then you can start narrowing stuff down.

[leeds4life]

thanx for the replys

'll check the spark plugs first thing tomorrow. the liquid smells more like oil than petrol so im guessing it is oil and its a black colour. if it is a faulty spark plug, would i still need to replace the cylinder or just simply replace the spark plug and carry on as normal?

[NiceCupOfTea]

If it's a bad plug, just replace it.

If you've got no spark it could be plugs, HT leads, distributor, rotor arm, coil....

But it does narrow it down to the ignition system!

Careful checking for sparks, you can easily shock yourself. Hold the side of the plug against the block with insulated pliers or something and watch for a spark from the end to the block.

If it really is oil from the exhaust I think this is a red herring though. No way should you be seeing oil in liquid form from the exhaust.

Any experts here? I'm strictly an armchair mechanic / tinkerer! Mods, might have been better off in GG where it would get more exposure...

[andy-xr]

Nolar Dog's your girl for this one, I'm sticking with coilpack though