1995 Ford Escort LX 1.9 Acceleration problem

[FordMan59]

Originally Posted by MDJR

Thanks for the input. No I dont get any type of response at all. Every time that I shut mine off hot or cold it always revs to 3500 rpm's and over a period of 2 minutes or so it settles at or around 500/750. The car actually would die when I would give it gas and then I tried a tps sensor and that has seemed to cure that problem. Now the only problem that I have left is the high idle at initial startup. Today I am going to try and change the egr valve and the egr solenoid and or the egr vacume regulator, then the fuel pressure regulator because it is vacume related. If none of that works I will try the ECU. On ford ecu,s do you just change the prom chip and install or do the need to go to the dealer to be changed? Anymore input here is greatly appreciated.

When I changed the ECU in my '88 Pony I just bought a used one from a salvage yard and changed out the whole ECU. It's plug and play. The ECU on your '95 is located behind the passenger side kick panel of the console up near the firewall. (much easier to get to than where it is on my '88) The plug bolts in and if I remember right the ECU just slides into the ECU bracket without any fasteners. Another thing that makes me think it may be the ECU is the fact that it revs high at start up like the ECU is losing it's memory just like when you disconnect the battery and restart it, it will idle at a high RPM for a couple minutes while it begins to relearn the engine parameters. There are also a couple numbers or letters on the ECU that is supposed to match your old ECU, but I don't remember which ones they are. I'm thinking it was the last two letters in the part number, but I'm not sure. Maybe someone else can help you with that.

[MDJR]

Actually I am thinking things through. As I said before I am unable to pull the codes off of this car. Even a code reader will not pull the codes nor can you pull codes by using a paper clip the system is non responsive. I have viewed evryones comments on the subject of this car. So far I have tried them all with the exception of the ecu which is next on the agenda.

[FordMan59]

Please let us know how it works out.

[MDJR]

Hey fordman59 My escort turned out to be the same problem. ***ECU*** !!!
Thank the Lord that the hunt is over. I should have known. Anytime that your onboard computer wont connect with a code reader you should automatically assume that is where your problem starts. Either that or change the test wire harness on your car first. I started to do just that but I moved the wires around quite a bit when I was trying to pull the codes with a code reader but nothing ever changed. Anyhow all of the parts that I changed I had easy access to, so I guess I will have fun taking all of that stuff back where I got it. I hope this info helps someone down the road.

Just remember that this was a high idle problem only for the first two minutes or so , because this car would settle down and drive perfectly after that. It just goes to show that your car can still run great even with a messed up ecu. Thanks for all of the input everyone!!!

[Intuit]

Look for any residue in the area around and on the ECU. If some is present, that might be an indication that it's getting wet. If has gotten wet, that would most likely point to the heater core.

Interesting story FordMan59, MDJR. FordMan, unlike MDJR, I assume you never got a check engine light correct ? The ECU just refused to communicate...

[FordMan59]

Originally Posted by Intuit

Look for any residue in the area around and on the ECU. If some is present, that might be an indication that it's getting wet. If has gotten wet, that would most likely point to the heater core.

Interesting story FordMan59, MDJR. FordMan, unlike MDJR, I assume you never got a check engine light correct ? The ECU just refused to communicate...

No check engine light and no communication from the ECU when trying to pull codes.

[FordMan59]

Originally Posted by MDJR

Hey fordman59 My escort turned out to be the same problem. ***ECU*** !!!
Thank the Lord that the hunt is over. I should have known. Anytime that your onboard computer wont connect with a code reader you should automatically assume that is where your problem starts. Either that or change the test wire harness on your car first. I started to do just that but I moved the wires around quite a bit when I was trying to pull the codes with a code reader but nothing ever changed. Anyhow all of the parts that I changed I had easy access to, so I guess I will have fun taking all of that stuff back where I got it. I hope this info helps someone down the road.

Just remember that this was a high idle problem only for the first two minutes or so , because this car would settle down and drive perfectly after that. It just goes to show that your car can still run great even with a messed up ecu. Thanks for all of the input everyone!!!

Glad you got the problem taken care of. Where your car would idle high at start up I could be driving down the road and mine would suddenly start accelerating, but when I shut it off and restarted it everything was OK. Maybe we should call this "Toyota Syndrome". Personally I have thought ever since Toyota started having uncontolled acceleration that it was an electrical issue with their cars. I guess time will tell.

[AzTumbleweed]

This thread is 6 years old. OP probably long gone.

[FordMan59]

MDJR revived the thread a few days ago to ask a question about a current problem.