Im hoping someone might be able to help me with a problem im having with my xg ute. 2 days ago I was out picking up some gear and the ute started to run rough and wouldn't idle. I first had the problem after starting the ute outside my local hardware and turning on the ac. when it first happened I was getting a lot of feul pump noise and I thought that the feul pump had failed however changing the feul pump has not fixed the problem. since then I have changed the map sensor, disconnected the feul return to see if it may be blocked and even cracked the nut on the inlet side of the feul regulator to release any pressure in the feul line whilst the engine was running and im still getting lots of black smoke and no idle so im thinking its not either to little or to much pressure and more than likely a sensor fault or the likes. I have also removed the oxygen sensor and cleaned it but no change Can anyone make any suggestions as to where I might go next?

have you tried removing the vac line off the fuel regulator to see if it will idle?

yes I have tried removing the vacuum line. I have also tried unplugging the oxy sensor. It appears that it is being told by the puter to inject more feul rather than it being a mechanical malfunction. Is it possible it could be the throttle position sensor or something to do with the ics

Have you checked the vacuum hose for the MAP sensor down at the intake manifold ???....they are known to split down there.
This will cause a vacuum leak, and make it blow black smoke.

The ute is now at the point where it wont even start. I started and moved it yesterday and it stalled unfortunately in my haste I forgot to turn the ignition off and this flattened the battery. ive put another battery in and even hooked it up to my other car. now it feels like its not getting enough feul.
In the past 12 months I have replaced the distributor, the auxiliary shaft the plugs and leads and the coil so it shouldn't be any of those plus they wouldn't have made it run rich I wouldn't think. I was going to move it this morning to a spot where I can jack it and get under it to check all the vacuum lines etc but now it wont even start

I just pulled no1 plug it was black and soaked with feul so my problem appears to be over feuling to the point that it cant even fire now

I have now removed the throttle body and on testing the tps find that the readings are opposite to the books I have. The book says 3000 ohms at full off and 500 full opened and my TPS is reading opposite. Can anybody tell me if my TPS is wrong or is it the 2 manuals 1 being a Haynes EA to ED and the other being a gregorys 96to98 and both give me the same info.

As to the TPS, have a look here; http://www.fordforums.com.au/vbportal/f ... s+throttle

As to "I just pulled no1 plug it was black and soaked with feul" ,
are you sure it was fuel, maybe the head has lifted & you're getting
coolant/oil mixture leaking into your cylinder{s},
(or possibly you've broken a rocker arm, had it wedge a valve [spring]
slightly open, and the excess [unburnt] oxygen being pumped into the
exhaust is being reported by the O2 sensor as a 'too lean' condition to
the ECU, so it attempts to compensate for the [non-existent] 'fault' by
over-fueling)...
I'm sure to be flamed for suggesting such an unlikely fault cause, but at
least it's easily checked for by removing the rocker cover and casting an
eye over the valve train (and you said you'd replaced the "aux shaft", so
while the rocker cover is off, check the chain tensioner is OK & the chain
locating marks match the cam/crank pulley marks shown in your manuals)
- & the head lifting scenario?, well, it's $$'s for a compression tester
(& removing the 'black with a yellow trace' wire from the fuel pump
'[green body] relay') to check that...

Seriously, of all the things that fail on an e series, the fuel regulator
seems to be one that rarely happens... Hey, wait, you said;
"In the past 12 months I have replaced the distributor", so I'd
suggest trying to rotate it to check it's securing bolt hasn't worked
loose, & the connector is plugged properly & the little ground wire
(from that connector) that attaches to a bolt next to the timing cover
isn't broken off...
(Maybe clarify this for us - you said "lots of black smoke", which suggests
oil into cylinder or exhaust to me, or are you just meaning lots of 'grey'
smoke, which suggests too much fuel and/or some oil to me)

As a previously trained mechanic who exited the trade in the eighties im fairly good with diagnosis but having exited whilst computers were in there infancy I am not very familiar with them and always seek the opinion of people who have had experience hence my posting. Yes it is black smoke /Fuel smoke and yes the plug was fuelled up not oil soaked. As far as the auxiliary shaft goes on visual inspection it is chopped out which has happened in approx. 6 weeks of driving approx. 3 to 400 per week. Can anyone out there tell me exactly how the gear is lubricated eg splash from front or rear aux shaft bearing or by other means as lack of lubrication may be a contributing factor in the premature demise of the gears. Also has anyone had a problem whereby the car was running well even with the fuel issue I first mentioned and found the route cause to be the aux shaft or am I still chasing another fault to. My next problem will be finding an aux shaft as the last one I had to go to a scrappy I know and remove it from a car he had picked up ( hope he's found another one).
If anyone out there needs to know anything about vw air cooled from the 50s through to the end I can help but putters just aint my bagdad.

"Can anyone out there tell me exactly how the [aux shaft] gear is lubricated"...
Dunno. But judging from the pictures of the aux shaft on this webpage (requires
registration); http://www.fordforums.com.au/showthread.php?t=11250053
I assume the end of the shaft fits into a appropriately sized slot in the block, and the
'slot' has an oil passage? to feed the shaft end - as to the shaft gear, well many drain
channels from the valve train in the head are situated to drain down along the passenger
side of the inside of the block, so I just assume the gear gets drips from one those channels,
as well as some mist splash from the rotating crank...?
I guess if you are replacing the aux shaft again, you'd want to be sure there's NO ovality
of the slot the shaft end fits into, as a little loose movement there could translate to
mm's of movement possible down at the middle of the shaft where the gear is...

Me, if I was doing a replacement, I'd steer clear of 'new/chinese' distributors, & instead
obtain a used 'distributor and aux shaft' from an ED motor, (or EB motor if no ED) -
definately I'd not obtain aux shaft from an EF or EL, as I personally suspect Ford may
have ommitted the case-hardening procedure, or failed to carry it out adequately,
on (a number of) the EF/EL aux shaft gear...

Having exactly the same problem with my xg ute. Have swapped most sensors and computer, new fuel pump and reconditioned injectors. Inadvertently fitted injectors from a 3.9 engine which reduced the fuel flow enough to allow the engine to run but it was still rich. Would like an answer before I have to burn the thing. Oddly enough my experience is with air cooled VWs and not fuel injection.

After going through everything and finding the auxiliary shaft damaged yet again I sourced a second hand motor which I fitted. whilst this helped and the car then ran it still wasn't good and was blowing lots of black smoke. So I then swapped the fuel pressure regulator as I had used my old intake and injection on the new motor and the car now runs better than it has ever done with no fuel pump noise or rough idle etc. my conclusion is that the main fault was probably in the regulator and it was not the auxiliary shaft that was causing the problem although it would have failed in the not to distant future. I also found that the oil pump I quite stiff to turn and this may have contributed to the early demise of the auxiliary shaft. In my opinion after having found the prob I would try the regulator before anything else. I hope this helps

Have fitted new fuel pressure regulator, which didn't make any difference.
If there weren't fire restrictions I would probably burn it.