2ltr injected miss-fire sierra/granada

[dirtbike]

Hello,
I'm a noob to this forum but it seems as good a place as any to try and sort my car probs.
I'm using a 2ltr injected pinto engine in my mk1 escort for over a year now with out any major problems, the engine came out of 1988 for sierra.
The car has been working fine up until saturday when it started to randomly miss-fire, it felt as though I was out of fuel so I topped up the tank but this made no difference.
I then assumed that I was getting a bad spark so changed leads, plugs, dizzy cap and rotor arm, but still no joy.
Today I decided that since it seemed load and throttle related I'd test the components, so I changed the Throttle position sensor, fuel pressure regulator and airflow meter, it was better but still getting problems.
I'm gonna try changing the fuel pump and filter tomorrow but if that doesn't get it I'll be running out of easy fixes.
The general symptoms seem that when I'm in vacuum the engine seems to run quite happily, ie idle and cruising(a few splutters), but when ever there is a load situation ie just pulling off or under initial hard acceleration the engine begins to cough and splutter almost like hitting a rev limiter of running out of fuel but it doesn't do this every time.
In fact the more I think about it I think it could be the fuel pump as I know these can be unreliable as I've had one die on me before, but I suppose it could just as easily be the injectors playing up, as you can see this is driving me crazy so any help will be greatfully appreciated.
Many thanks
Nick

[larsen_huw]

Nick,

Sounds to me like an air leak ... but your symtoms could be caused by one of many things.

See if you can hear a sucking noise while the engine is being revved, which will lead you to the source of your air leak. Otherwise do the decent thing and junk the injection system for a big fat carb, like a 38DGAS.

It's the best of the single carbs .... it's much simpler than twin 40s/45s to set up ... much cheaper than them as well (about £40 for a 2nd hand carb and £10 for a rebuild kit).

I've got one on the injection head in my Capri, and it's great! It's my daily driver, never let me down, and be adjusted with a screwdriver (just about the most technical tool i can operate! :D ).

Huw Larsen.

[dirtbike]

She's fixed!!!
It wasn't anything that I'd speculated.

8:15am yesterday morning lead in the grass and mud taking the old fuel pump off , I then realise that my spare pump is actually slightly different, it's for a mechanical fuel injection so i had to modify some of the fuel fitting's to use the spare pump, all said and done pump's swapped, started the car and backed of the garden, let the engine warm up a little, I then tootled off up the road and less than 100yrd's down the road, she started coughing and spluttering again.

By this point i'm seriously contemplating going and parking it at the junkyard, forever.

So now I decided to pull the plugs just incase there was any thing strange going on, inspected them and they were all chalky white , but no build up and they are all even so i don't think it's the plugs.

I then thought I'd try the coil which has slipped in the holder and is resting against the motor mount. The coil plugs are push on types for the + and - signal, so I took them off and cleaned them up and it was now that I notice the +12v plug is ovalised, it still fits firmly onto the coil but with the added vibration of coil resting on the motor mount it is able to vibrate and move which means that the coil is not getting a solid connection.
Simply pinched the plug so it couldn't move under vibration and everything is running sweet. been on a 20 mile round trip this afternoon and it appears to be solved.

So next time your car start's kangarooing be sure to check the terminal's aren't loose on the coil power feed, even if they feel firmly attached, back to basics.
The up side of all this is that the spare pump is a lot quieter than the original so I'm leaving that where it is.
Thanks for the suggestions huw but I'd ruled the air leak as the car would idle fine and when I've had vacuum leaks before the car will not idle but will drive fine above say 2000rpm as the air flow is flat out by then.
I did contemplate carbs and points but come to the conclusion that neither stay tuned long enough. I guess i'm a gadget guy and I like the benefits of efi too much.
Check my website if you want to see a wacky engine/ecu setup in my project car the "Volvord".
thanks again for the suggestions huw.
Laters
Nick