Bob Valdez

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I have these for the XF. The lower arm is a reinforced stocky, with the spherical bushing. The upper is for the std coil set-up, using the corrected top balljoint and Shelby drop. I'm using the Open Tracer Racing delrin front strut pivot balls, instead of the urethane style, as it puts less stress on the bracket. Using a 1/2" bolt isn't an issue, one can drill it for the 14mm (9/16") bolt if one desires, as I have, plus I'm using the fixed square camber plates they supply to stop the pivot bolt moving under cornering, or minor bumps with those who won't give way when I dive under them in the corners. I also have the a Baer bump steer kit, plus solid tie rod adjusters so I don't have the same happen like Dick Johnson at Forest Elbow in 1983.

Will a bad cam sensor cause a 1 & 6 miss in a 4.0L AU engine? We have tested/tried/replaced EVERYTHING that could otherwise cause it. Dad's car stopped one day. They replaced the coil pack, found the ECU to be red hot, but since then, after several more visits to his mechanic, the miss persists. I've exhausted all other possibilities, so it appears the cam sensor could be causing the ECU to be confused as to where #1 is. Anyone got any ideas?

That actually is the next thing to do, and the last. If it doesn't come good, it will go out the back until I have more time, or go to a new home.

I've considered that, too. Yesterday, I sprayed WD40 around every gasket joint in the manifold to see if it picked up, but to no avail. That doesn't mean that's not a problem, because the fuel is injected at the inlet port, so a manifold leak won't affect it. A carb engine, yes, it will.

Yes, fitted a brand new set of injectors. I even swapped a few around on Sunday (I didn't include that in my post), just for shits and giggles, however, samy same. I'm making up a jumper to take the pulse direct from the plug at the ECU to the injector, bypassing the entire harness. I just have to isolate the injector power feed and the #1 wire pos on the ECU plug to tap into and run the injector in remote mode. I'll also run it with the belt off, to make sure there is zero interference from the alternator. If it still misses it's got to be the driver in the ECU which grounds each injector in the correct sequence. When the weather allows, I'll get into it this week, as I'll have to collect the XF from the farm and start work on that.

Mine misses from the get go. The HLA's are working, oil is flowing from their bleed holes, valve springs in #1 are good, no sticking valves. Cam lobes and rockers and bearings are perfect. However, the spark plug is clean, whilst the others are sooty from the short running on cold start it's been doing lately. No valve gear noise of any kind, so that rules out the rocker gear. Your oily plugs are likely bad or broken valve stem seals, quite common in crossflows. You also could have an exhaust valve seat recessing, taking up the lash adjustment in the lifter and holding the valve off the seat as it heats up and expands. Mine? Still working on it.

Well, I've had a day of unusual results. Got Ol' Blue out of the garage, warmed her up and pulled spark plugs, fuel pump fuse and coil pack plug and started the compression test. For correct results, the engine should be at operating temp, the throttle needs to be wide open and the test gauge accurate. This one is brand new (and a good one I've used else where), so away we went. My brother got the key and accelerator duties, with Dad watching on, I started at #6. #6: 155 psi #5: 120 psi (squirted oil into the cylinder and 145 psi). I'll attribute this to a broken top ring. #4: 145 psi #3: 145 psi #2: 150 psi #1: 165 psi The rocker cover was removed and the valve train inspected thoroughly for loose/broken rockers, broken valve springs and/ or sticking valves: Nada. All is as it should be and very clean (thanks to Dad's meticulous schedule of servicing every 10k without fail). At 335,xxx km, the compressions are about what I'd expect, except for #1. Next, put it all back together, it still misses on #1. Put a clean plug in #1 lead, started the engine and we have sparks. Put a globe in #1 injector plug and we have light, but when re-assembled, it still misses in #1. Disconnected the alternator to do the diode failure test (again) and it still misses. However, due to a lack of time, we ended the session there, packed up and went to my block to have a walk and see if we could whistle up a fox or two. So, the last 3 things I will do is: 1/ Completely disconnect the alternator (it does not appear to be charging, either) and remove the belt to make sure that any AC current frequency cannot be any possible interference. 2/ Fit a set of normal OHC spark plugs. 3/ Bypass the #1 injector wiring in the engine harness directly from the injector to the ECU right at the plug with a 2 core to eliminate any broken/intermittent connections there and see what happens. If the miss is gone, I'll replace the harness/alternator/whatever to fix the issue and get the car back together, either to sell or use. If the miss prevails, then I'm going to split the intake manifold and see if there is an obstruction in the intake or the bypass butterfly hasn't fallen into and blocked the intake tract (or something stupid like that, which might account for the unusually higher comp pressure and/or the miss). If I find nothing wrong, the engine and harness will go to junk and I'll put a V8 and 4 speed into it and go club racing. It will be carbed or use a FiTech with a seperate wiring harness, so the gremlin won't bother me again. I can't see the dash or it's harness being a factor in this, because there are only a few critical wires in the ECU to dash connector and without them, it will not run at all. The others are for water temp, tacho and oil pressure, TC enable (disconnected anyway), ECU enable from the BCM and that's about it. When I have time during the week, I'll try again and then make a decision. Cheers all.

So, today I decided to try a trick I learned from a guy who used to do my radiators years ago. I put my radiator tester on with an extension on the header tank and filled it completely with water after I warmed up the engine. I started the engine and sure enough, bubbles formed in the top of the tube. Dad and the Bro are visiting on Sunday, so we will do a complete compression test and check the valvetrain, but I'm pretty sure it has a leaking head gasket in #1 and possibly into #2. The bubbles and the fact that it won't build pressure in the cooling system point to that logical conclusion. If that is the case, the engine will come out to repair it, go back in to be tested and if that cures the problem, it's going up for sale and the 302 and 5 speed from the XR8 are going in.

It's home now and that miss is really bad. No way this is electrical. Driving it on and off the trailer, it shook and carried on like a dog shitting razor blades. I suspect this is likely to be a head gasket blown between 2 cylinders, as my brother's Bronco was very similar and had blown the head gasket between #1 and #2. When I get time, I'll do a full comp test and leak down and pull the valve cover to have a look why there is bugger all oil around the rocker gear. The comp test will give some indication as to WTF is going on.

Thanks. Picking up Ol' Blue tomorrow and bringing home on a trailer. Once the miss is eliminated and all the electrics sorted, I'll get a RWC and transfer it, then it might go up for sale. I need the space and money for the XF.

Probably some idiot was banging on it with a hammer/spanner to make it work and damaged it. All the injectors in the AU are brand new, and I made sure to fit them spotlessly clean and correct in both orientation and alignment. The nodes indicate that they are firing from the ECU, it's just that intermittent #1 spark and injector 'fault' that comes up.

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Absolutely. Most of the 'new' parts were fitted by others. Mine are the injectors, coil pack and CTS in the back of the head. The others (ECU, etc) are parts from a known running engine in working order. Because much of the wiring 'testing was not done by me, I have to reassure myself that it was done correctly. I've run nodes on the injector plugs, they all fire correctly, only #1 intermittently does not flash. I have spark at #1, again intermittently, but spark none the less. All the sensors check out, according to the factory resistance values, including many of the old replaced ones. My biggest issue is I haven't have the time I needed to delve deeper into the whole problem. All the info I have on what was done is second hand, so I'm not entirely certain I'm getting the full story. When I visit Dad, I HAVE to leave by 2 pm at the latest, or it takes over an hour to get through the mad afternoon traffic clusterf*ck that is the Ring road and Calder 'highway' to get to and past Calder Park to get home. Once I have the car here, I can start my investigation of the cause without any interuptions (other than the squealing handbrake) and work. While the electronics and wiring on AUs is very complex, I'm still not entirely convinced this is an electrical gremlin, rather a mechanical fault. Without a doubt, the ECU failure was a primary cause of the original no-start, it run fine after for a few days, then started missing. That has NOT gone away. I'm thinking that during the original repairs, those apes revved the absolute piss out of the engine and started an internal failure that continues to this day. Anyway, I will get to the bottom of it, even if it entails replacing the ENTIRE wiring harnesses and/or engine of the car itself. If it's an engine replacement, it will go V8.

Spent 4 hours on this yesterday after we found Dad a clean BA XT Mk2 sedan. Short of pulling the engine apart or replacing the entire wiring harness, I can't find what is causing this bloody miss. Every part involved is either new, fully tested, or a working example from another car. When it comes to my place where I have my full arsenal of tools and test equipment, it's getting the full monty, comp test, rocker cover off, full electrical check for EVERY ECU wire for continuity and crossover and then, I'll decide what to do next. Shiity weather meant I couldn't pull the valve cover at Dad's place and I was limited somewhat to what I could do without major dismantlement of the dash (that will come if required), so I did what I could (which wasn't a lot, unfortunately) and I will continue the search under cover at home with a vigor. This thing will not beat me. I WILL find the problem.

I've considered there is a failed diode in the alternator. That's where I'm looking first next visit to Dad's place.

Crank sensor has been replaced with a good known one, balancer has been removed to check tone wheel, which was perfect. Cam sensor tests ok, plus it would have showed up in the scan test.

Sorry, a mis-print, I meant to type #1 & #6, not 4. The plan is to remove that pin from the ECU plug. By "Cutting", I was alluding to disconnection of that particular circuit. I'm just trying to eliminate every possible interference. None of the wheels/brakes have been touched, so unless he ran over something and didn't tell me, until I can get it onto a hoist and check wheel sensor wiring and trigger wheels, I'll just disconnect the ABS/TC and see what happens. The ABS and TC lights have been coming on randomly, so it's possible something happened and it's done some damage somewhere. Short of removing the harness from the car and testing/replacing it, it's more than I'm prepared to do right now. I did an hour and a half session with a decent Scantool and came up with #1 coil A circuit failure and #1 injector circuit failure. Checked everything, did continuity tests and everything came up fine. Coil is fine, ECU is showing up correctly from workshop manual requirements. The ABS came up with a no engine speed code. I cleared everything and kept running both key on engine off and engine running dynamic scans and kept coming up with random faults. Nothing came up that would not go away. So, to throw a proverbial spanner in the works, I disconnected #2 injector plug. After running both tests twice, and clearing between each, only the #2 injector circuit fault came up. After that, I disconnected the battery and replaced the ECU ECT sensor (because I had one and I had to break the old one to remove the connector plug without fucking it) and after reconnecting the battery, ALL the tests came up with ZERO faults or codes. I ran it all 3 times, with Dad and my brother looking on. However, in the last test sequence, the ABS came up with a no engine speed fault and the ABS/TC lights started going mental. The miss persists. I've pulled the 60A fuse for the ABS to disable it until we sort this out. Now, the ABS and TC lights are always on. It is remotely possible that there is a fault in the harness behind the dash and that the TC request wire is sending random pulses to the ECU. Until I try that, we are still hunting for the mystery miss, ONLY on #1 plug. #6 is now firing normally now, so unless the TC is causing it, the only other thing it can be is a mechanical fault in the engine (burnt/leaking valve, broken lash adjuster, valve spring, or broken piston/rings.) There are no apparent engine noises or any other problems, only the miss at #1. No-one else wants to touch this car, so i have to do something to help. Rather than just throwing new expensive parts at it, I'm trying all the old fashioned methods to narrow down and hopefully eliminate the problem.

If that's the case then I would go looking for a faulty wheel speed sensor or vehicle speed sensor, could even (but very unlikely) be something dicky with the abs module, with each of these items they will be producing a signal but at the wrong value cause the ecu to think the car is experiencing wheel spin I've found the #62 wire at the ECU is the traction control torque control request from the ABS module. We suspect that the ABS module has had a meltdown, burned some wires inside the body harness and is somehow causing the ECU to think that the car is losing traction and is cutting cylinder(s) to reduce 'wheelspin'. That might explain the random ABS and TC lights and codes. If I cut the #62 wire close to the ECU plug, allowing me to reconnect it if needed and removing any possible signal leakage into the ECU, that MIGHT stop all this bullshit. I'll also do a full comp test and leakdown, plus check a few other mechanical things to make sure it's not a mechanical issue. Being this car has been faultless prior to this issue, I doubt that is the problem, but hey, anything can happen, even to perfectly good engines.

What I have to do now, is figure out how to permanently shut down the traction control. It is stuck on and trying to pull down the engine ALL the time by killing spark and injection in # 1 and #4 cylinders. Live data shows this, as all the sensors are functioning, the coil wiring is intact and the coil and ECU are working, but the traction control is trying to pull down the engine, thinking there is a loss of traction. I have been told that function is in the BCM, so perhaps a replacement is in order. That might explain all these shenanigens.

Report post Posted 11 hours ago 'Questions - what caused it to arrive on a tow truck (ie, total breakdown)? Apparently, Dad started the car as usual, it ran for a moment, then started farting and carrying on and stopped. It would not restart. When it arrived at the repair shop, it would not start there either. As I have said, I haven't been involved in this until no-one could fix the miss. Now, I'm stuck with it. have you verified the 1 and 6 plug leads are still not generating spark? Put spark plugs into the leads and cranked the engine. With wasted spark, it should spark at every revolution. No spark at either plug. If it were the lead, I would have at least one plug firing, the chances of both new leads being faulty are unlikely in the extreme.

Had a chance to have an in-depth chat with Dad's 'mechanic' and have a clearer picture of what he thinks has happened: Paul believes that there has been a 'short' in the engine to ECU harness which shorted out the 1-6 coil and took out the ECU. He says when the car arrived at his shop on a truck, the ECU was 'very hot, and couldn't hold his hand on it for long. Because he was just out of a hernia op, he got the guys across the road to look at it. They replaced the coil pack, leads, cleaned and tested the plugs and checked some other stuff and after some fiddling around, got it running. It was still playing up, so Dad's mech replaced the ECU and it ran on all 6. After a few days, though, it started missing again. Paul has tried another ECU but it still misses. A mobile auto sparky spent a couple of hours on it, but says he can't find anything wrong, other than an 'external interference' in the 1-6 trigger circuit. Yesterday, the first thing I checked was coil trigger wiring, leads, plugs (resistance, etc) and whatever I could test without disassembling too much. One of the injectors was suspect anyway, so I've replaced them as a matter of course, as much to eliminate them as a culprit, also to change them for fresh ones (it has 340K on the odo). I removed the replacement coil and found the blistering. It seems to test fine, but as a precaution, I bought a VDO replacement, which is a much better looking replacement. No-one has a Bosch unit anywhere that I could find. BEFORE I fitted the coil and ran it, I did the coil trigger wire bypass with Deutsch plugs and made sure there is no shorts, good continuity and all tested good. However, the miss continues. I can only assume that the coil driver in the ECU has failed due to the short in the engine harness (if it exists). Bypassing the harness removes this as a culprit. It is easily reinstated. I am concerned that doing that will start the whole sequence off again. Looking at the repair history, they never removed the possibility of the wiring harness being at fault, and just threw parts at it. All the while, each time has just wrecked the new stuff one by one in a continuing trail. The short burned the coil, which burned the ECU, which burned the new coil, which burned the replacement ECU, etc etc. Now, I have precluded the short as being the issue and hope that now, it's only the ECU that needs to be replaced AGAIN. I've tested everything the workshop manual says to check, it all tests up as specced and I can't find anything else to blame. This bloody thing was the model of reliability previously and now, Dad is ready to consign it to the scrap heap and get another car. No-one else wants to touch this thing. I'm stuck with trying to solve the conundrum. Dad is 82, he depends on this car for his mobility and security. The thing not running is doing the poor bugger's head in. I just want to fix it and get him mobile again. I'm two hours away from Dad. I have to take time off work to go look at it or fix it now. I'm happy to do it for him, he is my Dad, so I try and help where ever and when ever I can. Any ideas are gratefully appreciated.