Mk5 Escort start up issues

[SVaughnD]

I need some help with something that night be a little out of my skill set!

(Sorry for the long intro to get you upto speed) i've recently bought a 1.4l mk5 escourt LX J reg with the CVH carburated engine.

She's in amazing condition for its age and I've been working the past week to get it upto scratch fully. I've done a full service, including oil & filter change, spark plugs, air filter and filter box clean up, clean the carburator with carb spray, changed the rocker cover gasket (it was extremely old and leaking oil over the engine since the Cork had petrified) and a few other bits and bobs.

Thing is, its struggling to start no matter hot or cold. It seems to be hit and miss with if it wants to fire up easily or not. Majority of the time it takes a few seconds of turning over and pipping the throttle to fire up, to which it can be a little sputtery and drop revs pretty easily and wouod stallnif i dont open the throttle. After 5 of so seconds of giving it some gas it'll idle perfectly fine and act exactly as expected. It runs and drives very nicely now with nothing out of the ordinary, just start up issues.

I've been fault finding through the week and have tried replacing the vacuum hoses from the air intake solenoid to the bottom of the filter, and the hose from the filter to another hose read of the carb (also from rocker cover), cleaned out the vacuum hose from the rocker cover to the air filter (oil has gunked up the hose and filter, I assume from a bad gasket/too much oil previously) cleaned the carburator with spray etc. 

I've noticed the choke sits wide open sometimes when I have the filter off (for cleaning the carb) and doesn't seem to set its self when I press the throttle twice before going to start the car. 

Fast idle speed seems to choose between 1500 or 1200 ish before coming down to a normal 900ish after a few minutes. 

Would anyone with more experience have any idea what the issue could be? 

Let me know if you need anymore info.

Thank you

 

[DaveT70]

Hi, Is it definitely carburetted, not CFi?

Could it have old, stale fuel in?

Have you put E5 Petrol in or E10? If E10, get it out and put E5 in

Check power to the coil is correct

You didn't mention the dizzy cap and arm, does it have one? If so have you changed these?

Have you changed the HT leads?

Check the engine earth strap is good

Check the ignition module earth is good

[SVaughnD]

On 5/13/2024 at 8:00 AM, DaveT70 said:

Hi, Is it definitely carburetted, not CFi?

Could it have old, stale fuel in?

Have you put E5 Petrol in or E10? If E10, get it out and put E5 in

Check power to the coil is correct

You didn't mention the dizzy cap and arm, does it have one? If so have you changed these?

Have you changed the HT leads?

Check the engine earth strap is good

Check the ignition module earth is good

Hey Mate, Thanks for getting back to me

Yeah is a weber TLD 2V i believe (not sure on the part number (photo attached))

Only using E5, i've just got some redex to give that a try

i'll have a test of the ignition system, leeds etc sometime but i'm doubtful its this, as yesterday (quite a warm day) it was starting up fine, whereas today its a bit colder and now its struggling again.

Will check the earthing tonight too.

in the mean time, it seems the choke is still wide open on starting the car. i tried to give the carb another spray clean/look for vacuum leaks last night, but the engine didnt seem to like having the air filter off of the carb and was coming to a stall if i didnt keep the throttle open.

I'm fairly certain its something to do with the carb settings and potentially the choke need to be set? 

[Frembrit]

Is it auto choke? Could be something faulty there.

My dad had a previous shape Orion which had a manual choke and my brother J reg new shape Orion was auto choke but I can't remember anything about it, he didn't have it long and was quite new at the time so never needed to look at it. I need to check when I get home later but I think I have a Haynes manual for the MK5 Escort, if I do I will take a look.

[DaveT70]

That carb does look a bit crusty, try WD40 on all the external moving parts that you can see.

Correct auto choke working is:

Turn on ignition

Fully press throttle to floor, twice

Start engine with no throttle

If the choke flaps are not closing on the first full press of the throttle then the auto choke mechanism is seized

It looks like you ca still buy rebuild kits for these carbs, I would suggest rebuilding it

[SVaughnD]

Narrowing it down I think 

I've given the exterior of the carb another good clean with carb spray and got some wd 40 on moving parts

I also cleaned out the breather pipes a little better (from the rocker cover to bottom of air cleaner and the split off to the bottom on the carburator (where the vacuum tube also meets))

Seems now these can breath properly and the carb is loosened up the choke is setting properly when the throttle is depressed!

It starts a little better now (I don't have the feather the throttle for a 5-10 seconds) but it's still not perfect, idle sometimes starts to die away or it takes a pip or two of the throttle to bring it to life when starting.

Think I'm going to keep looking through the Haynes manuals I have and work out if it's potentially mixtures etc

I think you might be right that a rebuild would be helpful

I'll update the post if I work it out for answers sake 

Cheers 

[SVaughnD]

Looks a little nicer outside of the engine bay