Pinking

[Guest escortmatt86]

Iv got a 1989 1.6 mfi xr3i

 

Under load or when the engine gets really hot the engine pink's really bad

 

had a mechanic check the timing and all is fine

 

any ideas on what to look at?

 

 

[StuDaBear]

fueling may need tweaking or perhaps a air leak or dodgy sensor, tbh its that long since I've worked on a mfi car I can't remember the full ins and outs of tuning them.

[Guest Lee81]

The MFI system is getting very old now and I'd say 95% of ones out there have this problem.

 

The main things to get right are.

 

Timing- set as per ford if using super unleaded, retard 4 degrees sometimes more if using standard unleaded.

 

Replace fuel filter, mostly never done but will cause deting under high load and high rpm. There cheap to do

 

Check fuel pressure in system- Nobody does this, make sure its as per ford, if anything is modified set fuel pressure a little higher. Theres a nut on the side fuel meter and fuel pressure is adjusted by adding shims. You'll need to get hold of some from a dead fuel meter as there very thin only around 0.1mm . Add more shims to raise fuel pressure.

 

Co- set Co at idle with fans on and at a rpm of 950 . If rpm is diffrenent at base adjust until its around this.

 

With this done if you still get det / pinking you need to get injectors out and get them proffesionally cleaned / tested

 

On a good engine this will solve this problem in most cases. There are other issues that can cause det / pinking but start here first

[Guest escortmatt86]

Been told to run the car on super unleaded to help the problem I can under stand why as the higher octane rating will help with pre ignition

 

the car had a new fuel filter only a few months ago, and im yet to get the timing checked but did have a new cambelt last year so should be right

 

iv noticed the idle is around 1000rpm so will lower this to 950rpm

 

any more help would be great

 

thanks

matt