M1Tch's Fiesta Mk6 1.4 Tdci Daily Project

[GingerFlame]

You ran the car without a filter.. so you can't expect not to have dirty sensors

[m1tch]

You ran the car without a filter.. so you can't expect not to have dirty sensors

I ran the car without an air filter for around 4 minutes, thinking more about the 106k miles the car has done so far.

[m1tch]

Right, just filled up, usually just fill up on the Friday, between fills I have done 262 miles and used 21 litres, I believe this works out to be at 56.7mpg. For me this is rather low considering my Clio 1.5 DCi (80) was averaging the low to mid 70mpg on the same roads and journey to work.

I will be doing some further checks/mods this weekend, I can see that there is the intake tube under the airbox, not sure if this is part of the air box or if its something I can remove - will see if I can remove it.

I have found that the improvement in MPG was through the increase of throttle response - better throttle the less you have to push it down to move away and also easier to fine tune the throttle input. I did find that I was needing to hold the throttle down for a bit longer for the car to respond which would be using more fuel.

I have a feeling that the airbox itself is the main culprit with regards to unleashing the potential of the engine, I will be swapping it out for an aftermarket filter soon but am interested to see how much I can get out of it in stock form.

On another note, the onboard MPG stated I was doing around 61mpg, so its about 10% out.

I did also notice that the car felt much better now that I am running fresh Shell diesel in the car along with a decent long drive - I have a feeling that this car was mainly used for town driving.

[GingerFlame]

If you're trying to extract the best from the car.. consider a terraclean session

[m1tch]

If you're trying to extract the best from the car.. consider a terraclean session

I believe a garage around the corner does this service, although I think I will see what else I can do without spending out on a professional service. The EGR is still plugged in as well as having the crankcase breather going into the inlet as well, I do also have some diesel purge which I will clean out the injectors. As far as I am aware the car hasn't had any cleaning products or indeed any cleaning of the intake at all so I should get some good gains from just giving everything a good clean.

I am also going to check out the intake system as well to see if there is anything I can remove after the airbox - there is the resonator between the turbo outlet and the manifold.

I think just using decent fuel and longer motorway drives will clean out some of the engine anyway as the car would be up to temperature etc.

This weekend I am going to check out the airbox again to see if there is anything else I can do to increase the airflow to the filter, I will be removing the airbox completely soon but want to see if there is anything else I can do.

[GingerFlame]

I believe a garage around the corner does this service, although I think I will see what else I can do without spending out on a professional service. The EGR is still plugged in as well as having the crankcase breather going into the inlet as well, I do also have some diesel purge which I will clean out the injectors. As far as I am aware the car hasn't had any cleaning products or indeed any cleaning of the intake at all so I should get some good gains from just giving everything a good clean.

I am also going to check out the intake system as well to see if there is anything I can remove after the airbox - there is the resonator between the turbo outlet and the manifold.

I think just using decent fuel and longer motorway drives will clean out some of the engine anyway as the car would be up to temperature etc.

This weekend I am going to check out the airbox again to see if there is anything else I can do to increase the airflow to the filter, I will be removing the airbox completely soon but want to see if there is anything else I can do.

Other cleaners get burnt up completely before having the chance to clean. Terraclean doesn't.

Don't unplug the EGR valve. As you may end up with it staying open and causing issues, even when blanked.

Just blank it and have it removed with a remap. These cars respond VERY well to remaps anyway.

The resonator isn't a restriction. It's there to prevent air turbulence caused by the throttle body opening and closing.

[m1tch]

Other cleaners get burnt up completely before having the chance to clean. Terraclean doesn't.

Don't unplug the EGR valve. As you may end up with it staying open and causing issues, even when blanked.

Just blank it and have it removed with a remap. These cars respond VERY well to remaps anyway.

The resonator isn't a restriction. It's there to prevent air turbulence caused by the throttle body opening and closing.

I will still look into Terraclean, will get a cost etc for it.

The EGR valve is still plugged in, will probably blank it next weekend when I get a chance.

I have seen that they do respond well to a remap - will look at this next year although could look to fit an intercooler as well.

Diesels don't have throttlebodies, I did notice a butterfly valve just after the resonance tube - think this is to do with emissions as its 100% open on idle (I checked this). I believe that this butterfly valve is something called 'EAC' - need to do more research but apparently this can fail - anyone able to confirm exactly what this is?

I have done a few tweaks to the OEM airbox, I have now removed the 4 foot of intake pipes and removed some of the baffling within the airbox. The OEM airbox is actually quite restrictive as all the air has to go through the lid of the box, the tweaks I have done so far have increased the induction noise slightly and the power delivery is slightly smoother.

I need to get myself an adaptor to fit the MAF and an aftermarket induction kit directly to the turbo - need to check some sizes out but the KP35 turbo is rather small!

I have also painted the plastic chrome on the front grill in gloss black, just uploading some photos etc of the tweaks I have done.

[m1tch]

Here are some photos of the small bits I have done today, one neat tweak was the spraying of the top front grill in gloss black, I will look to remove the other grills and the foglight surrounds soon as well.

Before - plastic chrome (the only bit of shiny silver on the whole car!)

After abound 50p worth of paint

Airbox setup, below is the entire intake system for the 1.4 tdci, the air comes in from the front hose (pointing 90 degrees away from the direction of travel) though the vented pipe, then down under the airbox. The air then goes up through the filter and into the lid of the box which then goes through the MAF and down into the turbo inlet:

Here is the lid removed and you can see how the air goes through the the base of the airbox and then through the lid and down the right side through the MAF:

All of the air going into the engine must go through this gap in the lid:

I have removed some of the plastic in the bottom of the airbox - there is a resonance chamber on one side which partly blocks the airflow - not ideal but just wanted to try to see if it makes much difference (will be changing the airbox out anyway):

I have also taken the turbo to inlet manifold pipe out and given it a clean - was slightly oily but not too bad, I found that one of the O rings was slightly damaged so I replaced that to ensure no boost leaks.

[m1tch]

Just driven to work which is around 95% motorway, initial impressions are good so far with the removal of the snorkel + internal mod on the airbox - I have found that the throttle response is slightly better means that I can fine tune throttle inputs.

Looking at the trip computer (although its around 10% out) it was showing an average so far of 67.3mpg which is around 10% higher than the trip computer on the last fillup - this would equate to around 60mpg which isn't too bad. Its still a fair way off the Clio but its a start, I have a feeling the main restriction is in the lid of that airbox so changing to an aftermarket air filter should yield results. I am going to measure up the turbo inlet and MAF size to check what adaptors I need in order to fit the filters as a straight shot.

Looking good so far though, and the EGR is still plugged in and open!

[m1tch]

Mini update on this, last night I decided to take the intake pipe off again to get some measurements of the various components so that I could hopefully find some hose adaptors to be able to fit everything together, here are the specs:

Turbo inlet OD - 36mm

MAF OD - 60mm

It seems that I can't get a 36-60mm hose adaptor so I might end up using the OEM pipe and simply connect a different filter before the MAF and run it down the side of the engine rather than behind the passenger headlight - there is also an ECU in the way it seems.

One thing I did however do is to check the MAF again, I noticed over the weekend that it looked slightly dirty so this time I decided to give it a clean out, I used some electrical contact cleaner - this is a solvent which is ok on electrics and dries with no residue. I have then found that the car is running so much better this morning, it has much better throttle response and pick up and feels much better to drive.

This would lead me to think that the MAF, although working, wasn't giving the correct signal eg there was slightly more air going through the MAF than it was recording. The MAF is now clean and has restored some lost performance, I have found with the airbox mod that the car is indeed better than stock (although I technically don't have a baseline anymore).

I did however also have a thought to see what it would be like to drive the car with no restriction at all, the turbo inlet OD is very small.....small enough for a minibike filter in fact so I simply attached a filter directly to the turbo to see what the throttle response was like. Although if there was a MAF attached it would have worked slightly better the pickup was very good, the turbo took very little time to spool up and the power was pretty good with no flat spots etc.

I will get a photo of this setup added later tonight as I took a photo of it on my phone, I just wanted to find out what it was like without any restriction as a comparison, I do also have a few different air filters coming to try out. One is a small 60mm filter usually used on bikes, the other is a larger carbon canister meaning that it has some shielding from engine heat.

The key thing I have found is that although the car might be running well, the MAF might be slightly dirty so not giving full performance - worth checking and cleaning if its not something that has been done recently.

Ah, managed to upload the photo, please see below for a photo of the test setup - I simply ran this setup up and down the road to try out then reverted back to the OEM box:

[m1tch]

I have just filled up again after 309 miles, using 24 litres which works out at 58.5mpg, I am doing the same route plus on this tank I also had some testing so the driving wasn't 100% economical whilst testing out the snorkel change.

As a comparison with just the first tube removed the MPG was 56.7 mpg, so there has been an improvement but I can tell that without any of the snorkel plus the increased airflow within the airbox has helped. Its only a 3% improvement but the car feels more responsive and is more fun to drive.

I have some cone filters arriving soon, one is a small 60mm cone filter (used on bikes) the other is an enclosed carbon fibre filter which also has a cold air feed going to it.

I will be running the smaller cone filter to start with and see what thats like, then change to the carbon fibre one - I really do think the lid of the airbox is the restricting factor. I am also tempted to mod the airbox further by adding additional space above the air filter so that the air has a better flow after its filtered.

[GingerFlame]

Surely 3% is within the margin of error?

Why don't you write a list of combinations and hire a rolling road for an hour or two? That way you'll have solid evidence as to which is best and you'll know alot sooner

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk

[m1tch]

Surely 3% is within the margin of error?

Why don't you write a list of combinations and hire a rolling road for an hour or two? That way you'll have solid evidence as to which is best and you'll know alot sooner

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk

Completely agree, its just an indication but the car does feel better to drive, I won't be booking in with a rolling road as the aim is to make the car more cost effective - paying out for a rolling road wouldn't pay back vs a few tweaks over time.

I do a fair few miles each week so I will just make a note at each fill up, the aim for this car would be mid 60s mpg which should be do-able. I will keep this thread updated, I will also check to see how much extra it would be to fit an intercooler, the connection onto the turbo isn't ideal though but will look into a few options.

[m1tch]

I have found that I seem to have a slight injector leak when above around 3k rpm, just taking the airbox off again there is some pooled diesel and a lot of muck on the top of the engine.

The garage had informed me before I bought the car that the seals had been changed, I don't believe them at all on anything so will need to replace the seals as well as the fuel filter plus anything else I can think of they have touched on the car.

I have also unplugged the 'doser' valve so that it won't operate to increase the exhaust flow from the EGR I will have 100% of the fresh air going into the inlet manifold - I have a feeling I am going to have to take the whole inlet manifold off soon to check and clean it out, blank off the EGR and sort anything else out as well.

The carbon canister filter I have bought doesn't really fit at the moment, might need to get a 90 degree elbow to then run it where the OEM airbox is - I didn't think the fuel filter was so close to the airbox when using the OEM MAF intake pipe. I will try and fit some adaptors to adapt the 35mm to 60mm MAF but there isn't anything on the market so I might need to make something up using stepped adapters.

Anyway, still running the OEM modded airbox at the moment, its not too bad but can tell that its not ideal for airflow - next thing to sort would be the injector O rings, might see if they are simply incorrectly torqued first.

[m1tch]

I unplugged the 'doser' butterfly valve in the inlet, it was determined that this basically closed the inlet to fresher air coming in to increase the % of exhaust gasses from the EGR going into the engine. The valve is operated by a stepper motor on the side of the unit and it has a single plug, I then unplugged this to see what the difference is, there isn't really a performance increase as per say (although the trip computer is showing an increase vs other days) but the intake noise is slightly different.

I remember that when I was checking this inlet butterfly out that when you manually closed it the induction noise would change a fair bit owing to the fact that there was a different induction pathway in the inlet. I did notice that when I let off the throttle when cruising I would get an increase in induction noise which must mean that this valve was closing and increasing the exhaust gas % in the inlet - with this unplugged I don't get this noise anymore.

I also felt that when the butterfly valve did close on cruise the car didn't roll as free as it does now with it disconnected - might be a placebo thing but the car definitely feels like its happier to roll when off throttle.

I am also going to see if I can check the torque settings on the injector bolts using a crowfoot socket adaptor to get round the inlet manifold - ideally I don't want to take it off at the moment but will do if I need to. I can defiantly hear a rattle/'misfire' above 3k rpm where I believe an injector seal is leaking so it could just have been incorrectly torqued down - replacement seals have been ordered though.

[iantt]

15nm and 70 degrees doesnt feel enough to me . Bet the area the injector seal sits on head hasntvbeen cleaned enough

[m1tch]

I have a feeling that they might have been replaced incorrectly and not cleaned, the top of the engine is still very messy so my guess (if they have indeed actually done the work) is that they have just pulled the injectors, change the washer and then just put it back in without cleaning/lapping the injectors - will check its correctly torqued down when the crowfoot adaptors arrive - hopefully I will be able to do that instead of taking the inlet manifold off.

[iantt]

Bit of a tight fit getting a crows foot in, good luck,

[iantt]

Bet the bolts havent been changed either, one I did last week

[m1tch]

Bit of a tight fit getting a crows foot in, good luck,

Its worth a try, they will be useful for many other things - just seeing if I can use them instead of taking the intake manifold off, I found that I could get onto a few of the bolts with a spanner end on.

Bet the bolts havent been changed either, one I did last week

Probably not, I have got the copper seals and rubber gaskets etc on order, might look to get replacement bolts as well.

[iantt]

I would just do them again if you got the washers etc on order. Then you know its cleaned up and done properly

[m1tch]

I would just do them again if you got the washers etc on order. Then you know its cleaned up and done properly

I think its on the list to do, I have a new fuel filter etc which apparently was changed but I don't really trust anything the garage has said so I will be replacing that when I take the inlet manifold off in the new year. Will give me a chance to fit the EGR valve as well, might also see if I can remove the EGR cooler etc to simplify it a bit back there.

I am still working on an adapter for the induction kit, I can't find a reducer between 35mm to 60mm, I am going to look at getting a 60mm to 45mm exhaust reducer and then see if I can get a 45mm to 35mm silicone hose adaptor, will mean that I can have a straight shot into the turbo.

[m1tch]

I am still working out where or how to get the system adapted to adapt the pipe from the turbo to the MAF, I have in the mean time fitted a small cone filter to the OEM pipe which means that its simple to just replace the whole airbox with a single cone filter. I found a basic 60mm filter for a couple of pounds and fitted it as a test.

I plan to try 5 different things to see if they work as a better setup:

1. Buy a 90 degree elbow to attached to the MAF and see if the carbon air filter fits on the top of the engine with enough bonnet clearance.

2. Run a 180 degree elbow to then run a pipe facing forward to fit a carbon filter

3. Turn the OEM pipe a further 90 degrees so it faces down to then add a 90 degree elbow to fit the carbon filter

4. Find a way to adapt the MAF to the turbo

5. Run with the current setup and see how well it works, perhaps fit a cold air intake using the OEM pipework

Here is the trial setup I have running at the moment, I did notice that when I removed the airbox that there was some dampness over the injector/cylinder on the far right so I have a feeling that one is leaking.

My main issue is space after the MAF as the fuel filter is in the way, I need to check the clearance between the bonnet and the top of the engine.

I have taken the car out for a quick test drive, the car is far more responsive and smoother, will see how it goes on the daily drive into work this week.

[m1tch]

After some initial checks it seems that the injector seals seem to be ok as there is no hissing at any RPM, I have a feeling it might be something like a leak off line that is (ironically) leaking slightly - will investigate this a bit further but the car does perform much better with the new test air filter.

[m1tch]

I have unplugged the EGR, its thrown a code which I expected, the car does seem to idle slightly better which might mean the EGR is clogged/blocked, I do also have a bit of smoke when blipping the throttle on idle - might be injector or perhaps sensor related somewhere.

I will be fitting an EGR blocking plate soon, I don't think I am going to need to take the inlet manifold off at the moment but might do at some point when I change the fuel filter, without the airbox on the EGR seems fairly easy to get to.