97 ford escort runnin' like poo

[Kane24]

97 for escort runs like crap. It starts fine, idles a little up and down (pulses) when you take off driving the rpms climb as normal and you move, slowly. There is a lot of noise coming out of the air cleaner system, ( on acceleration) sounds low and rumbly. It just has no power. I pulled off each spark plug wire one at a time and each one dropped the idle speed so all should be good there. Could it be timimg belt or egr valve or something like that?

Thanks, Kane24

[jeffescortlx]

Vac leak, MAF problems or a lazy O2 sensor would be my first guess's.

[mlw35405]

mine had the same problem once. the timing belt had jumped once. It would go very slowly, and growl like the devil from the air cleaner.

[machone2005]

My vehicle is a Ford Escort, manufactured in the year 1998. Few months ago, I began noticing some deterioration in the engines performance. This all began when the check engine light came on. Driving up hills was embarrassing because of the lack of power. Even fully laden semi-trailers cruised past you.

My first reaction was to change the spark plugs. That did not influence change. Secondly I surfed through online blogs of car trouble and solutions in addition to browsing through copies of my cars manual in the library. I did eventually purchased my own copy.

Most fault diagnosis in the manuals pointed to other areas. I began to analyze the faults on a case-by-case basis. The fuel consumption was abnormal. The sound of the engine was awkward and there was excessive vibration while the car was idling. It reached a point that the sound of engine almost sounded like it was about to stall. Especially when stopped at traffic lights, I had to shift the automatic transmission to Park and then rev the engine. When the lights change to green, I shifted gears back to Drive.

I swallowed my pride and took the car in for diagnosis at an Auto-shop, which cost about $65 just to identify the fault. Additional costs will be added to rectify the problem. Getting to know exactly what fault which the indicator light pointed out is half the battle, but the most important.

Otherwise it would be working blind and spending money unnecessary for work that doesn’t fix the original fault. I almost fell into that trap, by getting quotes for the components listed in the manual. This included an oxygen sensor and EGR valve, both of which when purchased as new exceeds $100 each. The cost did turn me off that option.

It was pointed out and confirmed by the Automotive Technician, that my engine was misfiring. To be exact, Cylinder #2 was isolated as the culprit. He ascertained this by conducting the spark plug test.

Now to find out why the cylinder is not firing when it should is not exactly science but more of trial and error. That is because, the factors that stop the cylinder from firing is not always the same for each case. For an example, it can be related to the coil pack or to a blown head gasket. Getting the right cause of faults means the difference in costs.

Generally, for this model, the engine design omits a distributor. Instead, it uses Electronic Ignition Timing incorporating a coil pack, which fires the spark plugs at the right timing.

Thank God, that it was just the coil pack. A new coil pack from the Dealer easily costs $130 plus. It is prudent to find out if you need to fork out money for an entire new coil pack or find a second hand one at the auto wreck yard. The manual gives tips on how to test a coil pack with a digital multi-meter and provides the reader acceptable limits for the readings.

In my case, I had bought a second hand coil pack but found out that the readings from the second hand one was the same as the original component. My auto-mechanic friend just changed the capacitor wires instead of the entire coil pack. The result was fantastic. The engine ran and sounded smoothly. No more vibration was observed or having the fear of the car stalling.

[Davescort97]

Go for the simplest cause. First things first. Get a good bottle of Fuel Injector Cleaner. Run it through a full tank of gas. You will feel results within 30 minutes. Super-Tech is good.

[Jet-Lee]

Machone2005....please dont post a novel again.

Check ur plugs and wires, although if that were the problem, u'd notice a BIG vibration/chug in the engine, which you haven't mentioned.