Hello,

Just signed up, wish you all a happy new year (before it's over again), thank you for your patience with me and letting me be a member on this board.

My mechanic told me, that my 1997 Ford Escort LX, has a bad motor. It has 87.000 miles on it.

Here is what it did before it died; The valves started to sound like when the motor is under load in a too high gear for a too low speed.
I heard this sound occasionally for quite some time, but it always went away after I brought the car up to speed and it ran in the proper ratio, (gear to speed). But on the day before the motor went "bad"?!?, the valve noise only went away after I was going about 65 to 70 miles on the Freeway, it behaved and sounded normal.

However, I pulled in to a shopping mall, parked it and when I started it again to leave, it would run, but had no power. When I pushed the gas-pedal down, it would sound muffled and it threatened to die. When I had the pedal about 1/4 pushed, it would run on even road, but no more than 20 to 25 miles per hour, but would make no more abnormal sounds accept getting it rolling again after a stop at a red light. Then the valves would rattle again until it would reach top speed (25 m/h).

Here's what we did; The mechanic hooked it up to the computer (while it was running [idling] and ran a compression, checked the timing and the belt and some other stuff. Nothing negative! Then, because the exhaust had no back-pressure, he unhooked it at the manifold to exclude a clogged CAT, but to no avail. After idling through some of the mentioned tests, it finally died on him.

I picked it up and had another person give me a second opinion. He too took the valve cover off and sprinkled some of that reddish magic Wallmart stuff over the valves and then poured the rest in the tank. He went over all electrical connections, checked the fuses and then kicked it over. A couple of times it sounded like it wanted to catch on but did not come off. He then pumped the pedal a few times and cranked it continuously and it sounded like it was running, as long as he held the key, when he got off the key, ZERO.

I, yes folks, I today checked the fuel-pump shut off switch in the trunk, but I guess that would have been too easy.

Do I really have to go out and put another motor in? It would be so nice of one of you members had an answer or a suggestion, but it would be even nicer, if some real Ford specialist were closed enough to take a 1/1 look at it. I would be very grateful.

Thank you for listening to me. Enjoy your well-deserved weekend.

Roland the Swiss

 

Did anyone look at the cam drive belt?? When they ware and they do they jump the teath on the cam gear. This would lower the power output and make some noise if the valves were contacting the pistons. I don't believe the engine needs a rebuild with that mileage unless it has had a very hard life.

 

Thank you kindly for your response kiarasue.

Yes, the engine, when it was still running was hooked up to the computer and it actually showed all positive results.

Meanwhile I had two other people (NOT professionals) independently looking at the car and based on how it sounds when it is being cranked over, both think it could be the fuel-pump.

So as soon as I find a little more time than just 10 minutes, I will take the tank down and put a new fuel-pump on. I hope this will solve the problem.

Again, thank you for your suggestion and the effort to answer my post.

Roland

 

Need to check the fuel pressure and injection pulse, before replacing pump or engine. You maybe missing 1 or 2 cylinders causing the very poor preformance. This maybe computer issue, but alot of checks on things need to come first. good luck

 

check if you have fire& gas then check compression but to mesounds like your timing has jumped and they are known for this was the timing belt ever changed...........

 

If the engine is cold does it make a diference in performance? Might have a carbon buildup problem, hence the ping or spark knock issue. Carbon build up around the valves might be holding them off there seat just enough to cause a power problem, especialy after the motor has been shut off and alowed to heat soak. Just an idea. Good luck

 

I guess when you say the valves are rattling you mean the engine is pinging. Valves should never make noise. If they do it's all the time not under load. Pinging is usually caused by too lean fuel mixture, too early ignition timing, too low fuel octane, EGR not working or the engine is running too hot. It's pretty normal for it to knock (ping) when the engine is lugged at low rpm.
I'm kind of leaning to the "too lean" fuel mixture by the way you described the sequence of events, although it really could be other things.
Have someone check the fuel pressure at the fuel rail with a guage. Your fuel pump could have gone bad.

 

check you timing belt if it has never been replaced. It also can't hurt to replace the fuel filter as well. I had an escort with the same moter that ran great for well over 300,000 miles before I sold it. I had to replace my timing belt twice and did the waterpump at the same time.

 

it jumped time, i'm bettin 180 out, the computer diagnostics check out ok because @ 180 out the valves stay closed long enough to allow it to build significant compression. Infact, if move the distrubitor 180 degrees with the #1 cylinder @ TDC, i'd be willing to put $$ on the fact it runs and maybe even runs well.....if I'm right, its a $25 timing belt, a new tensioner, and about 4 hours work (6-7 if you never did it before and need to follow the book), either way, ALOT cheaper than the new engine, and a faster fix too

Good Luck