Mondeo power issues

[Olley]

hello people of the mondeo driving variety!!!
i have a 1997 1.8 zetec. and i have an induction kit fitted (no cold air feed yet) and a back box with the centre box removed. but i can still feel that the engine has more to give, what would be the next step in improving the acceleration... what is the best way to go about removing the CAT. looks to be some hassle to remove it, but will do it if it means i can have a proper boy racer basher!!! any help very much appreciated.
cheers.
Olley

 

[turbonutter69]

Are there any sensors in the cat itself?
How much have you got to spend?

 

[Olley]

not in the cat itself just before it on the bottom of the manifold, money is quite tight atm, but i can get some, i just need an idea of how much things will cost so i can start saving up...

 

[turbonutter69]

not in the cat itself just before it on the bottom of the manifold, money is quite tight atm, but i can get some, i just need an idea of how much things will cost so i can start saving up...

A de-cat is just a replacement pipe in place of the cat. So it is real easy to fit. Just make sure you keep the cat for MOT time. Go to halfords and buy yourself some ducting pipe so you can make a cold air feed for the air filter.

 

[obi_waynne]

Removing the cat or better still getting a sports cat will give a power gain of around 4-6bhp (not a lot really).

Some fast road cams would be the biggest next option for you

 

[Olley]

fast road cams would be good. one question. what exactly do they do? call me thick... do they just change the timing or do they make the valves stay open for longer or something???? can anyone tell me roughly how much a de cat pipe, or fast road cams would cost? cheers...

 

[obi_waynne]

Fast road cams alter the timing and duration of the intake/exhaust vavles. see this article for more information on them http://www.torquecars.com/tuning/camshafts.php fast road cam prices vary from model to model and range from £70 SOHC to £700 on some DOHC setups.

 

[Olley]

cheers waynne. i'll start looking into it... now i just need to get back to work. poxy credit crunch!!! is there anyother relativly cheap mods i can do that will improve the performance? i've got some induction kit problems at the moment. the induction kit seems to be creating flat spots, does it just need cleaning? i have a pipercross filter. and when i first fitted it it did woners for the initial pick up. once the engine hit about 2750rpm it literally went off like a nutter. but now it struggles and you can feel and hear flat spots where there is almost no power at all, and the overall performance is noticably worse. i've tried running it with no filter just a piece of ducting from the original air feed that used to feed the OE airbox. and that makes it run even better than when i had the filter on new... i know it's not wise as anything could end up in the engine. but it was just a simple test to work out the problem.... any advice appreciated...

 

[turbonutter69]

Also why not get the pulleys machined to make them lighter whilst the engine is in bits. I won't give you any power gains but will make it rev quicker.

 

[Olley]

tis a good idea, will bear all this in mind.
still not working at the moment though so money is a bit thin on the ground...
anyone wanna share in the profits from a bank job!!! times a gettin desperate........

 

[Blizzard]

If I may share with you my thoughts.

I can tell you from experience that getting involved in building a tuned engine for road use is pretty much a waste of money. IMO blowing cash on anything more than 2 years old is just money down the drain unless you're going to keep it forever but even then...

I'll try and be brief....
Tuned engine goes in and everything's great.
Now the next upgrade is the brakes so you can stop your now faster car.
Now the gearbox needs upgrading because of the extra power and torque has caused bearing wear and that top gear is too short anyway.
Wheel bearings need replacing because your taking corners faster.
Spending more on tyres too because those fast starts at the lights cost rubber.
Spending more on fuel too.
I really need to lower this car to make it handle better, there's another grand gone.
Insurance wont insure you because your car is modified.
If you ever come to sell it, know one wants it because if it's modified and it's probably been thrashed within an inch of it's life, even if it hasn't that's what they think and how well has the work been done on it.

AND.
Before you start on me, I've modified just about every car and motorbike that I've ever owned and I'm still doing it, I just won't learn.

My problem right now is that my MODIFIED Mondeo TDCi has blown and injector because of me pushing it to see where that line is that we shouldn't cross, well now I've found it.
Am I happy about it.... NO! because I'm also out of work and am getting in more debt trying to fix it on the cheap.

If I hadn't messed with it and I was just satisfied with a standard Mondeo TDCi I wouldn't be in this mess and I would have a load more money in the bank because I wouldn't have spent a small fortune on awesome 19" OZ Racing alloys and EBC ultramax Brakes, Koni FSD shocks and Eibach springs and that's just the obvious stuff.
Right now I would rather pay the mortgage and put food on the table.

Just my 2 pence worth.

TIP: If you want to go faster... buy a faster car.
I quite fancy the Vauxhall VXR8. lol

 

[Olley]

Blizzard your an honest man... and quite frankly all you've said i've heard before, and just like you i won't listen!!! feeling the not working situation! at the moment the problem is just getting the mondeo back on the road, damn head gasket. al goin well should be done by the end of the week!!! i do like the vxr8 as well as the 4 door monaro... although my heart is set on a sierra saph cos, i'm afraid i've been bitten and infected by the ford bug!!! hope all goes well with the tdci, keep me posted!!!!

 

[Blizzard]

Sorry to hear of your problems, they sound worse than mine.

I'm not entirely sure that it is my injector at the moment, I've been told that if you re-code them to the ICU they run normal for a while but tried that and mine just won't code in or it's coz really screwed. So, before I spend any more money I'm going to get the Multi-meter out and check the electrics, if that doesn't show up anything I'll have to fork out for another injector, I've already sourced a good supplier... I just don't want to spend the money unless I really have to.

Ho Hum, the joys of motoring.

Good luck with your head gasket, it's not a job I would want to undertake anymore, time is getting the better of me.

Take care,
Dave.

 

[Olley]

been working on the damn thing tonight, just putting bits back on because i was originaly told it needed a new engine... but low and behold a few expletives later i've got the head off and sent it away for skimming etc. well if you ever need a hand with anything i'm sure we can arrange to meet up and swap experience. i had a diesel astra before, did plenty of work on that, although saying that most of it was guess work!!!!
take care mate, keep me updated!!! as will i you.

 

[Blizzard]

Hi Guys,

Here's a very overdue update.

After trying everything that anybody suggested like clean the MAF sensor, clean the EGR, blank the EGR, clean the tMAP sensor, Ad some Forte to the tank, recode the injectors with <name intentionally withheld> only to prove that it doesn't work and never will and then getting a refund months later.

I got my injectors reprogrammed by a friend of a friend and WOW! all the cleaning and messing about which showed very little in the way of improvement before suddenly all came together and my smokey, rattly Mondeo was suddenly a very quiet and sporty Mondeo. No noise, no smoke, just whoosh and gone, I never remembered it ever being this quick.

It seems that it was just the reprogramming that was needed and I wasted months with some rubbish kit that was never going to work. While trying to recode the injectors and even replacing two of them with new ones and that didn't make a difference either, needless to say I'm now bald.

Anyway, moving on, I've learnt enough about this problem to justify (in my mind at least) the purchase of an Autoboss V30 Diagnostic Computer to allow me to look after my Mondeo from now on and to try and help others in the same predicament. The V30 does do the job well and a whole bunch of other stuff to boot.

So if anyone has the good old TDCi problem just give me a shout, the sooner the better because if you delay that's when the injector damage is done.

I can help you and save you a fortune on Main stealer prices.
Fraud just love it when someone like me drives up to the service dept rattling and smoking looking for some help. And before someone jumps to their defence they wouldn't help me at all and just said "you'll have to book it in for a diagnostic check" while rubbing their hands together and grinning at me, they quoted me £1,800.00 for four injectors fitted and programmed and added you may need a fuel pump too. Yeah right, see me coming you didn't.

Current status: It's running fine, still flies along but I do still have a slightly knocking injector which I believe has been damaged due to me driving around without it being coded in.

I've also learnt that some people who think they know what they're talking about don't really have a clue but it's when you're in trouble you'll listen to them and you'll try anything they say and that's the bit that's costly.
I guess I sound like one of them now.
Anyway what's done is done, if you don't learn from your mistakes you'll just keep on making them until you do.

@Mondeoman88, how's your head coming along?

Regards,
Dave.

 

[pgarner]

having your own diagnostics and parts catalogue helps alot

what do you mean by recoding the injectors ? youve lost me there they should in very basic terms just open and close. the coding would normally be in the ECU not the injectors themselves

 

[Bertrum]

as a mondeo tdci owner im sure ill have injector issues at some point.... My question is, whats recoding/reprogramming the injectors?

I didnt realise that injectors needed coding to the engine or anything.

Can you explain this for me?

 

[Olley]

got it all back on the road!
took me a while, but did most the work myself. got a friend to strip the valves out etc once i'd split it from the block...
my most recent upgrade, which is an ongoing effort is a full ST24 body kit.
gonna take some modification to the already "custom" exaust, but it'll get there!

 

[Blizzard]

Recoding the injectors:
Is a term used for programming the IDU/ICU (Injector Driver/Control Unit or whatever you want to call it) with the unique calibration code for an injector. The code consists of 16 alpha numeric characters from 0 to F (F = 15 in Hexadecimal)
Without these codes the IDU can't communicate the open, close, duration timings to the injectors correctly as the TDCi injectors are controlled electronically similar to the injectors in a Petrol engine.
The calibration codes tell the IDU how that individual injector performs which allows it to control the fuel delivery more precisely which improves performance and reduces emissions.
If you ever fit new injectors to a TDCi they will need to be programmed in to work properly and failing to do this will have the opposite effect to the above and eventually knacker the injector/s too.
This also applies if you send your injectors off to be reconditioned as this will affect the performance characteristics and the original code will no longer match that injector.
If you ever remove your injectors make sure you put them back in the same cylinder that they came from or you 'll be in the same situation.

If you ever buy a reconditioned injector make sure that it has had a new code generated to match it's performance otherwise it's not going to last long and you'll probably fail the smoke test on the next MOT as well.

Just buy injectors form a Delphi agent, that's what I do, and you can't go wrong as they always measure the performance and generate a new code on reconditioned injectors.

Hope that helps.

 

[Blizzard]

got it all back on the road!
took me a while, but did most the work myself. got a friend to strip the valves out etc once i'd split it from the block...
my most recent upgrade, which is an ongoing effort is a full ST24 body kit.
gonna take some modification to the already "custom" exaust, but it'll get there!

Hey, glad you got it back on the road mate, good job.
Hope you post some pics once the body kit is on.

My current problem is 3 burst CV gaiters, I was thinking of trying those split gaiters that you just glue in place unless I can find someone who can replace them properly (not Frauds) because it seems a pretty big job according the the Haynes manual and I don't even have the pullers to get the shaft out of the hub either.

Really must do it this year sometime

 

[pgarner]

cheers for the info. never heard of them needing done before
more and more complicated now

 

[Blizzard]

cheers for the info. never heard of them needing done before
more and more complicated now

Yup, it's all part of the plan to stop the DIY motorist from doing his own servicing and repairs I guess.
Ford charge around £1,200.00 for 4 injectors to be replaced and programmed so they don't want you to do it do they.
If you ever need a second opinion regarding this type of problem give me a shout as I have access to a Diagnostics Computer for this very reason.