What is this please?

[Skylarking]

^ yuck. That's what lack of service and poor PCV can cause.

I had an old EF Ford which would occassionally stutter and I couldn't work out what it was. Then one night, I had the car running with bonnet up while in the garage. The garage lights suddenly went out and it was black as, except for the faint blue arking i could see on some leads and on the coil pack... A new coil pack and new leads and the stutter was solved. Not saying you have such an issue but an easy enough check (just pay extra attention to rotating parts you can't easly see in the dark of night).

Another possible tought, as your engine was all gunked up, it could be crap behind the valves themselves causing gas turbulance and less than ideal ignition of the fuel/air mixture, especially if you have weak spark. Possibly look at intake ducting for oil fouling and clean up your ducts if any oil is found. Then consider running a few taks of 98 with extra injector cleaner thrown in as well. Something to consider when all else has been done.

PS: a faulty knock sensors could be tested in older cars by tapping the head/block near the sensor itself while checking timing. A working sensor whould show the timing retard a little. Not sure if a faulty sensor would cause the fault codes youve seen.

 

[Lex]

The mis fires are down one bank.
Have you checked the injector wiring on that side?

 

[55ams]

its a sensor, which one im not to sure sorry

ITS A BOLT, THAT THE ARROW IS AT.. JUST UNPLUG IT AN SEE WHAT CODES IT THROWS????

 

[splot-bob]

PS: a faulty knock sensors could be tested in older cars by tapping the head/block near the sensor itself while checking timing. A working sensor whould show the timing retard a little. Not sure if a faulty sensor would cause the fault codes youve seen.

Swapped the knock sensors over (isn't that drivers side one a mongrel!) after checking them with the multimeter attached and tapping them, no difference.

Have you checked the injector wiring on that side?

Visually they look OK, not too sure how I would go about testing them for continuity, watching the injector opening times with Software on Elm St. 2 & 4 aren't opening at all. Interestingly watching the knock sensors using that software gives no readings at all.

ITS A BOLT, THAT THE ARROW IS AT.. JUST UNPLUG IT AN SEE WHAT CODES IT THROWS????

It's a knock sensor apparently.

So far I have:
Swapped all the coils side for side
Swapped the knock sensors side for side
Swapped the cam solenoids side for side
Fitted new spark plugs
Run a compression test, Bank 1 cylinders are all a smidgeon under 175, Bank 2 cylinders are all around 180.
I'm stumped!

 

[Lex]

Looks like you've found your problems. You have already said it.
Injector 2 & 4 are not firing.
Swap 2 & 4 injectors with two injectors that are firing (ex. 1 & 6). Now is 2 & 4 injectors still not firing or has the mis firing moved to injectors 1 & 6? If injectors 1 & 6 are now mis firing, replace those two injectors with new or known working (used) injectors.
If injectors 2 & 4 are still not firing that would indicate the wiring loom.

At the moment forget about knock sensors.

 

[splot-bob]

If injectors 2 & 4 are still not firing that would indicate the wiring loom.

Thanks, I'll give that a go, of course there is always the chance that it's the ECM shutting off the injectors because it has detected a problem that it's not throwing a DTC for I guess.

 

[Skylarking]

If you suspect an injector is not firing, get yourself a noid light and plug it into #2 injector harness. If it flashes, the wiring and ECU are OK so it’s the injector itself that is faulty, then you could try moving injectors but why since you’ve identified the fault?

If the noid light doesn’t flash, then you have a fault in the wiring harness or the ECU. So have a look at an injector wiring diagram for your VE and work out whether the ECU grounds a constant 12v coming from the injector to turn it on OR whether it sends 12v to a grounded injector to turn it on. You can then jumper appropriately to test where the fault lies (harness or ECU). A harness can be fixed with a replacement wire, but an new ECU is $$.

Noid lights are cheap so if you’ve never heard of them, google is your friend.

PS: I think VE service manuals have been discussed and a PDF is available here so it would be worth downloading it and reading through the appropriate DTC trouble shooting section (haven’t looked at this doc myself so can’t advise specific chapters, etc).

 

[splot-bob]

Thanks for that, I have both the paper and .pdf manuals, the only DTC's I'm getting are P0300, P0302,P0304, and P0306, all just misfires.

 

[splot-bob]

OK, so I have checked and I'm getting power to the injectors on both banks but the Bank 2 (problem bank) is showing 12 Volts and Bank 1 is showing 3.5?

 

[Skylarking]

Briefly looking at VF workshop manual fault diagnosis for P0300, it states that the issue can be caused by a rather large number of conditions including vibration from brakes, wheels or drive line. Best to follow the documented workflow flow and check everything diligently.

For example VF manual states to check spark strength using tester as weak spears can cause such codes. Also I didn’t look into details of checking injectors but expect it must specify voltage levels to check.

But it does seem rather odd that working side is 3.5v and faulty side is 12v. Your manual should specify what is correct. Or check wiring diagram which should clarify if ECU provides voltage and other side of injector is grounded OR battery volt supplied to injector with other side grounded by ECU.

If I have time, I may check the VF manual re P0300 in more detail on my pc but in any case good luck with it. Let us know how you progress.