after some help,
i just put an ef motor into the ute after the old one threw a rod it
i drove it for the first time yesterday, it was fine at the start but progressively got worse and then the starter motor burnt out last night. fixed the starter motor this morning and it started first go but i turned it off at the fuel staition and it took about 10 goes to start it felt like it had no spark and you had to quickly jiggle the key on and off to get it to start it was definitely getting fuel cause it would fire up from just moving the key when the engine wasnt spinning. i thought it just needed to clear it self so thashed it on limiter in 1st and 2nd then it lost all power and started back firing when you put your foot down. it feels like the distributor has skipped a tooth because i can only just get it to fire up when the distributor is hard up against the block. ive tried 3 different ecus that didnt help, ive sand papered all the spark plugs and cleaned them, that didnt help. i tested the plug leads they were all around 1.5k ohms, i disconnected the water temp sender so that it would trick the ecu into thinking the motors overheated and change the timing which helped heaps, it stared and had full power for 30 seconds it drove about 1km then died as soon as you opened the throttle, let the throttle off for a bit and the revs come back up and runs on all 6 then open the throttle a tiny bit and it loses all spark.
ive got 2 coils and 1 distributor that i can use but not keen on swapping coils where its parked, ive only got 2 km to get it home, i aslo noticed engine was very hot after i went back an hour later so hoping after it cools off a bit more it might just make it home.

any suggestions on what would cause it to lose spark and be undrivable all of a sudden it did this exact problem with the old engine before it threw a rod, could a faulty key cause it to lose spark cause it seems to come good for a second when you move the key

i finally got it home yesterday, only way i could get it started was by strpping all the big yellow wires coming out of the ignition barrel connection and joining them together, once it was started it ran on all 6 but felt extremely lean im thinking map or 02 now, i noticed o2 sensor connector had green corrosion over terminal pins so going to hard wire it and see if that fixes it. i also had both door handles break so if i shut the doors with the windows up i wont be able to get back in haha i think its time to take this engine and s**t t5 do the dump where they belong and and slap an ls1 with a t56 in it. ford engines are are a joke, never again.

Stick a Barra in there mate-LS would be cool too though-
sounds like your XH has "multiple wiring gremlins" which is why most people just get sick of chasing them,best bet would be to replace whole harness/harnesses with a good used loom to get them all (wiring gremlins) that is at the same time.
Glad you made it home though.
Cheers Johnny.

i just hooked up the afr gauge and its idling at 22:1 which is the max on my gauge.
checked the fuel system its fine, pulled rail and injectors out and turned it over to check fuel spraying out at good pressure and good spray pattern on all injectors.

i then moved on to the map sensor, disconnected it and afr went to 10:1 and instantly revved up on all 6 so i checked the hose its good no leaks, so im thinking it could be the map sensor however i hooked up a vacuum gauge and its idling at 5inHg... i checked it the other day and it was idling at 18 to 22inHg so i put my hand over the intake for a second and it got up to 10inHg max... im now thinking this could be why the map is doing weird things.

could the timing chain have skipped a tooth and be causing this vacuum issue or is it more likely to be the valves needing adjustment and thanks for the loom tip Johnny ill see if the wreckers have a loom in good condition

Hi mate,another thing I was thinking was you mentioned you had a spare coil and distributor but the EF use a crank angle sensor and its possible the timing/positioning for it could be out,just a thought anyway.
Cheers Johnny.

update: checked timing marks there good
checked that vacuum gauge was connected properly it was its still at 5inHg throttle closed
compression test
cyl1 160
cyl2 160
cyl3 135
cyl4 140
cyl5 135
cyl6 140

Sorry I meant cam position sensor, but you've checked that anyway.

yeah i was told it was an ef motor when i bought it but it had a coil and dizzy and a bbm so not too sure what its out of. im thinking it could be brake booster leak maybe causing the low vacuum cause i tried to stall it to turn it off after hot wiring it and had to stand on the brake pedal to get it to stall, i just ordered a new map sensor for it too and ill get a new j3 chip for it tomorrow cause smartlock is throwing codes after hot wiring

well the brake booster was good but the iac valve was on backwards so i could get my hand into the dizzy haha put it on the right way and its got all its vacuum back but its still running at 22:1 at idle then goes to 10:1 when you unplug the map sensor. im hoping its the map sensor and not smart lock trying to stop injector pulses cause it will only start if its hotwired.
the new map sensor should arrive tomorrow so ill know straight away if its the map. im hoping its not the loom but i have spliced a rev limiter into the loom and put in switches to turn the thermo fans on so my next step will be a tracking down a good loom if the map doesn't fix it

So I replaced the map sensor yesterday and it stared up by just using the key, I went to rev it and it sounded worse wouldn't rev past 2000 so I joined all the yellow wires together in the ignition and it instantly smoothed out and seemed to rev fine but still too lean.

I noticed the harmonic balancer showed signs of the rubber perishing and falling out, it's also got a loud knock coming out of it below 500rpm. Would this cause the knock sensor to lean it out?
I also noticed when I put the timing light on it and wasn't getting anywhere near full advance and dizzy is hard up against the block, it will only start when it's hard up against the block and occasionally back fires out the intake... it hasn't back fired out the intake with with my new map sensor in there so I'll hook the old one back up till I get the issue sorted haha it can't be good for the map sensor

well finally got it running. it was corroded wires to the fuel pump, hooked a fuel pressure gauge up and its got full 40 psi and the regulator works fine. i still havent drove it yet cause its only got thin speaker wire going to the fuel pump so hopefully thats the last of the issues i now have 2 of every sensor at least.

the next mod is a gt3582 ebay special and its going to be just behind the cab next to the fuel tank, i was planning on covering the fuel tank with roof insulation but ill probs have to make an ally fuel cell where the spare tyre would have been. ive already welded the exhaust up to it with the flange and have cut the holes through the cab for the intake piping. im going to have to get a scavenge pump to suck the oil back to the sump and wire it to the fuel pumps relay with a 10 sec time delay so it hopefully doesnt run dry for too long when the car is first started. its not going to have an inter cooler but im saving for a water methanol injection kit so that should keep intake temps down. it feels like an absolute waste of time doing all this with the weak t5 and problematic piece of s**t ford engine but as soon as im on my opens ill be dumping an ls1 with a strong box in it so will be kind of good to have water methanol and rear mount turbo already installed. i welded the diff in it too, there was literally f**k all room to weld through the inspection ports but i turned the welder up full and used a fair amount of wire to fill it up but i cant see it braking before the t5

When you say dizzy hard up against the block, do you mean the TFI rotated clockwise until it's touching the block? Mine's nowhere near that far around, you have to check the timing by putting it into timing mode.

http://www.fordmods.com/fordmods-technical-documents-diy-f38/how-to-set-and-advance-your-ignition-timing-t126014.html

I've always heard sandpaper and spark plugs is a no go, because it scores the surfaces on it.

The fuel pump is a bastard - I changed mine in my EL in a shopping centre parking lot, not a fun job haha.

The EF motor should be ok for some boost, have you considered running a double AU headgasket or spacer plate to lower the comp a bit? Should start a build thread, I'm keen to see your turbo setup.

na its rotated fully anit clockwise so the tfi plug is closest to the coil not throttle body side of the block and cheers for that link Benno ive been trying that exact method to set the timing with no success, my neighbors hate me haha cause its didnt have the turbo bolted up its just a straight pipe coming out beside the tank so its very loud and it wont go into base timing mode after nearly 5 mins, i think its got heaps and heaps of codes to get thru from changing all the sensors. ill have a crack at it again a bit later with a wet towel over the exhaust.

and yeah not too sure what path im going down for lowing the comp yet, ive got 1 au mls headgasket so far but i think im going to keep the compression fairly high for more down low grunt cause will probs take a bit to boost and my theory is the water methanol will keep detonation away so i should be able to run a fair bit of timing and compression, its going to have a switch so i can run a safe amount of boost if i run out of methanol too. ill get some pics of it too for a build thread.

im going to get some new wire and re wire the ecu and fuel pumps power and hopefully get it into base timing in an industrial estate away from houses, the hose for the map sensor is loose on the block so that could be getting worse with heat and giving bad readings, im thinking a hose clamp should fix it.

the ute has a new problem now where it wont quite hit limiter properly with the thermo fans on full, it sounds like a crackling noise out the exhaust at 5500 and lascks power slightly at high rpm as soon as the thermos are turned on full and as soon as there switched off full power up until limiter but it gets hot pretty quick haha have to stop drifting and let it cool down. its got a new radiator and the new engine had very little corrosion and a new water pump too.

i tried to get it into base timing again yesterday and it didnt work, it didnt do any of the tests it normaly does like rev slightly higher and advance and retard spark for the first 2 mins but it wouldnt advance when you rev it after 5 mins with the wire connected. it is an auto el ecu with no j3 chip but so it could be wigging out a bit, ill try the manual xh ecu and see if i can get it in to base timing. i just moved the dizzy a tiny bit and test drove it to get it to where it is now but the tfi is very hard up against the block so ill try move it over one tooth so ive got that last little bit of timing. it only makes power from around 4000 rpm.