Hi Guys,

I could tell you all a bit of a story or of the adventures this car has been on to get it to the frustration that it's at today. But I won't. Massive story, with many sad endings. But I will however tell a story of where it is at though lol.

So here's where it is at: I've got an EF Falcon Futura 6 Cylinder 5 Speed manual with an AU Series 3 motor.
I'm using all the EF running gear accept for the alternator (the alternator I hadn't touched, stuck with the AU one) had troubles in the past with trying wire in AU throttle body sensors but I've realised they play havoc on the ECU.
I've managed to get the engine harness correct now with wiring back all the plugs on for the EF throttle body sensors.
Have also drilled and tapped a thread on the AU block to allow for the EF knock sensor.

It's been through the ringer with many motors, so a warning in adanvace this won't be a regular walk in the park.


This is what it's doing now: idles perfectly, runs very rich as in fouls the plugs really quickly from new. And struggles to rev on acceleration.
I'm positive there's no leaks in the air intake manifold, as I have installed a new gasket between the head and manifold. Tightened all bolts to spec and haven't touched the two halves of the manifold either. Have replaced the Coil Pack and Spark Plug Leads.
Originally as thought it was the tinning but my brother (mechanic) has completely redone the timing on the engine, by lining all the marks up correctly.

The recommendations of my brother has me led into replacing the Cam Angle Sensor and Fuel Pressure Regulator in the hopes that the richness will go away and it will rev properly again. I've also got an ECU on the way.



My question is (after going through the gruelling story): what else could it be?

Any help would be appreciated.

Hey there,

I had a very similar experience and found that i managed to blow a 10 month old 200cpsi cat from its housing, turn sideways in the cat and block the exhaust. Car wouldn't rev over 3g and it rattled me for so long checking ALL the usual gear on the ef's.

I also found the cam angle sensor to be a useless waste of space with a code logging all the time even after replacement and checking the wiring with a multi meter, so i just unplugged the thing as the ecu only needs to know the position of the crank to batch fire injectors and ignition.

The first thought that came to mind which you did mention is the reg and that's a good move, so if that don't fix it check for a blocked exhaust or stuffed O2 sensor.

Hope that gives you some leads bro.

Cheers Joel

Been a few months.... but finally putting somemore thought back into this old gal...
Joel, it's not the cat convertor, have taken it off and light can be seen all the through it, and there is no rust coming out or anything sinister like that. And the car does the same thing with our without the cat converter connected. And tried changing the O2 sensor as well.

Have tried with a new cam angle sensor, no luck. I'm thinking it could be either the Knock sensor or IAT sensor underneath the throttle body. They're the only sensor I can think of that were change during the engine change over process.

I have a spare ECU to try too

Anymore ideas?

Have you checked the injectors? They might be dirty/blocked sending drips into the cylinders.

This may seem like a stupid question, but did you put the inlet manifold gasket the right way? I was stupid enough to put it upside down in the EL causing cylinders 4,5 and 6 to block the injectors, meaning the fuel was sprayed on the gasket and then dripped into the cylinder.

Have you checked for vacuum leak by spaying something like "Start-ya-bastard" in the intake area to see if it picks up revs?

How's the temp gauge when it's running? Can't hurt to check the water temp sensor just in case it is stuffed and giving the ECU a cold reading and thus running rich.

The gasket was the first thing I checked, funny enough and I have done a few gasket changes on this engine... trying differant manifolds etc.

I orginally had the AU series 3 manifold on, modified to take the EF gear, but I couldn't go any further with some of the sensors being differant, so I've opted to go back to the EF manifold.
Having said that, I've been a through a few engines... long story lol.
But I'd like to note that sensors from the AU manifold where "attempted" to be wired in to the harness, with little or no success, mainly the Knock Sensor, IAT Sensor, TPS, ISC sensor and lastly the coolant temp sensor on the lower thermostat housing. (Yes! Very messy!) and wasn't through any fault of my own, was actually done by a mechanic who really didn't know what he was doing!

Now, I have spent a bit of time working on the engine harness and I was able to wire the old EF sensors back in, soldered with heat shrink and electrical tape for a good connection.

Apologies for tongue tying. Lol.

Haven't tried 'Start Ya Bastard' either sorry. But I have throughly cleaned the throttle body and ISC valve extremely well.

Temp Gauge is fine too reads just under the 'L' on Normal when fully heated up to operating temp. I also have a heavy duty 3 core, 65mm alloy radiator with stock fans.

Check your IAT sensor below the throttle body.

Might be faulty, would you say?
How can it be tested? I have a multimeter handy.

Did you rewire it, when you did the rewire?

Actually, it had the AU TMAP sensor wired into it (mechanic did that). I just got the plug and sensor off an automatic harness and wired it onto my manual harness. I just matched up the colours of the wires and soldered them.

Mate if I am reading this properly you are using your ef wiring loom and ecu and have fitted an au 3 engine, if so the ef ran a digital map sensor that uses frequency, not an analogue tmap sensor that uses voltage. You have not done basic tests to see where your problem is for running rich, like checking fuel pressure, coolant sensor voltage, obviously map sensor, 02 signal voltage, pulse width on the injectors, manifold vacuum, connect up a timing light and see where the timing is and open the throttle and see if it advances mate this is simple stuff. If that engine has vct have you checked and made sure it is locked. One more thing the reason they use a camshaft sensor is to time the grouped injection for number one, if the ecu dos not receive a cam signal the injectors will be triggered continuously meaning every third pip signal all six fire instead of 135 - 246.

For starters, I'm using all the EF sensors. Like I have said in previous posts.
This AU motor is a non-vct engine.
The timing is fine as all marks line up now (wasn't before) as my brother (mechanic) has done that.
Fuel pump has been tested and that's fine. Injectors were also changed as I thought that'd be a problem, that didn't help.
Fuel reg has been changed a couple of times, with no luck.
The CAM angle sensor and o2 sensor have been changed too, that didn't help either.
Temp sensor is new too.
Haven't actually checked for vaccum leaks, but the manifold gasket is on properly and the bolts are tightend to spec.

Only thing I haven't done is check the IAT sensor under the throttle body, I would like to know how this get tested?

check for vac leaks and also check the MAP sensor and the hose that goes to it.

Like I said I haven't actually checked for vac leaks. But I have changed the MAP sensor and the hose from the side of the manifold to the MAP sensor is fine too.

Whats the best method for checking for vac leaks? And how can I test the IAT sensor?