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strong smell from exhaust emissions and heavy petrol use

5737 Views 10 Replies 7 Participants Last post by  salta, 
R
Hello to all again,

I have had a problem with my engine for sometime now revving high (around 1.5 on idle) at times and then at others it would just cut out and loose all power before stalling, it also is drinking petrol like its council pop just got 120 miles from £30 at £1.08 per litre there is however a strong smell of petrol from the exhaust when it cold or after running for an hour or two.

I have had it in the garage several times now and the following as been done,

1) Had an engine diagnostic done which only showed up for a split second a temperamental lambda sensor
2) The vacuum pipe under the manifold which gives lots of problems was replaced with a brand new one from ford; this did not cure any of the symptoms
3) Had a new air flow fitted (the metal part between the air filter and inlet manifold)
4) Had the car hooked up to the computer again, the electrical specialist then reset the computer and sensors surprisingly found nothing wrong at all?
5) Had the emissions checked again the results were as follows fast idle past with flying colours 0.05 but the natural idle failed impressively 11.1?
6) Given the information on this site I decided to change the lambda sensor with a new one, the emissions results however were just as before

I am now at a complete loss as to what could be causing the heavy fuel use and smell of unburnt petrol does anyone have any ideas or is it just time to put the car out of its misery
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V
Hi,

Probably something wrong with the ignition. This causes sometimes a high fuel consumption and if it's not burning the petrol correctly, the smell could be the result. But I'm not sure as well.

Did you check the spark plugs?

Could be also a general problem with central control unit.
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R
Hi thanks for the reply,
yes the spark plugs were changed about 4 weeks ago so no problem there and the car as been on two computers to check the electronics (mot diagnostic and the crypton machines) but did not show any electrical fault other than the lambda which as now been replaced.
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R
Have you checked the ECU temperature sensor? It sounds like the car always thinks its cold so is pouring fuel in to try and heat itself up, its possible for this to not show on diagnostics as the reading could be believable but wrong.
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R
Thankyou Grxt Ian I will ask the garage to test it tomorrow, not so sure about the answer as they said all electrical components had been tested.
is the ecu easy to replace? and if so how much does it cost?
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R
I have been back to the garage and he confirmed the temp senor was working fine and that thefan kicked in when the engine reached the correct temp.
just wandering if it could be the ecu, but having already spent over £200 on a car worth that is there any point in shelling out another £100 to then find out that it may not be the ecu as that showed up with no faults as well!
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rudeboymick
you say the plugs were replaced recently? Were these symptoms present before?
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T
At a shot for about £10, it would be worth replacing the coolant temperature sensor IMO before giving up.
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R
Hi, sorry for the delay about the spark plugs however yes the symptons were there before they started back in june 2009. around november time give or take the car was serviced with all motorcraft parts but the symptoms got worse so i changed the plugs and put in bosch this also did nothing.
yesterday i disconnected the battery for 14hrs and went for a run today about 30miles the car appears to have stopped revving and dropping but the smell of unburnt fuel is still present when it idles. also whilst comming back on the motorway the engine seemed to lose all power twice but it was like a mili second you couldnt hear it you just felt it.
i will try the temperature sensor tomorrow and see if that works.
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K
Did that work then?
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S
ok burining fuel sounds like either bad valves or throttle body or bad engine timing ..it can be a few things like this and yes the engine coolent sensor is a good bet and etc. ok take out the dipstick and smell it does it smell of fuel..is the oil watery and black ..this might indicate unburnt fuel getting past the rings on piston and indicate broken rings of engine wear ..is she putting out black smoke form the exhaust pipe ..this might indicate a bad air/fuel mix due to a fault in the throttle body which might neccesitate changing the throttle body or carb as i dident see what model you are on about .but as for not getting diagnostics right well thats down to what the garage is using to diagnose and who is using it i have experieenncec loads of non and stupid diagnosis and as i have said before the only place to get a Ford diagnosed is at a ford dealership anything else is useless and get the readout form the ford guys and theyll stand by theeir diagnosis ..somethisn else i would do immediatly is get your mech to do a basic comperssion test hot and cold this wil showup most serious engine wear faults or broken rings ..but as she was recently serviced by a non fore dealer i presume im inclined to suspect the throttel body components .anyway good luck with it ..s
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