[SVOCapri]

A friend of mine owns a Performance Shop, I used to work there, and has an SVO came that in on a wrecker this week with what the current owner said was a timing issue. The former owner has put a lot of work into the car. It came in and right away he noticed that the cam and ignition timing was off. That prompted his call to me.

The current owner was street racing someone else we know, and was ahead of a cammed out 4.6 3 valve Mustang. Hit second gear and said something went boom, lost power, and kept popping and backfiring. He thought it jumped timing and tried to put it back, everything was off.

I went over and got everything back in time. Checked the compression avg 155# all within specs. Getting spark, getting lots of fuel, to the tune of fuel soaking the plugs. It tries to fire, but just wont really catch.

It has a Microtech LT-8 stand alone engine management system. I downloaded the software and will head back up there tomorrow to work on it again.

Is there anyone here familiar with this engine management system???

[Stinger]

I don't have any Microtech experience. However, I wouldn't expect something that was running well before to suddenly need re-tuned after a timing belt jumped. I'd be looking for other issues that are still present that is keeping it from running as it was before the issue.

[TurboRay]

Sheared distributor-gear roll pin? That would allow the dist position to be statically set and then go outta time when cranked (especially if there's a seized or galled oil pump).

Also, check the rotor for a bent tip or for internal grounding by holding the coil wire over the "sprung center tab" and cranking - if a spark jumps, it's fubar. :dunno:

C'ya - RAY

[SVOCapri]

Stinger---We are not sure at this point if the car jumped belt timing or not...the current owner said "he didn't touch anything before bringing it". Then when prodded and questioned more, he said that "he and a friend tried putting things back in time". He had cam timing alomst 180* off and dist timing about 90* off and they wondered why it wouldn't start. :dunno: :dunno: He also told the other street racer that "its very common for these engines to jump timing" and that "it happens all the time". We all chuckled at these lame answers. The guy that currently owns the car is really a used car lot owner and only wants to sell the car...but while it's for sale I guess he's trying to have fun with it. Hence the "2 stories" of what really happen to the car. All we wanted to know is what they did so we can undo to start with a clean slate of where to begin diagnosing.

I forgot to mention in the original post that it only tries to fire under WOT and thinking it may be a blown MAP sensor maybe just dumping fuel into the cyl, as the plugs come out almost dripping with fuel.

Ray---we have spark definately in a consistant pattern when cranking not, sporadic as would IMO constitute a gear slipping as it's cranked...but I will check rotor placement when I go back today.

[TurboRay]

Originally posted by SVOCapri:


I forgot to mention in the original post that it only tries to fire under WOT and thinking it may be a blown MAP sensor maybe just dumping fuel into the cyl, as the plugs come out almost dripping with fuel.

You might wanna check the TPS too. :dunno:

C'ya - RAY

[CruzNlife1]

I had a microtech lt8 in my ranger swap years ago. Even with the software, you still need their 100 dollar adapter to plug into the ecu. That connector is not the db9 connector you think it is, its proprietary microtech, there's an adapter that goes in between it and the serial cable than to the pc.

I have one here, you're welcome to borrow it, pm me your address and I'll ship it to you asap.

There's definitly a "learning curve" to that ecu, its not going to be what you expect when you open it. The base map itself is preset when you buy it from microtech for the 2.3. Than you can tune around the base map with settings available in there, you won't see the VE maps you're expecting. Its really stupid, and I hated mine.

[SVOCapri]

Cruz---I really just want to see all the vital signs to know where the relevant sensors are.

[CruzNlife1]

Gotcha. You still need the adapter. You're welcome to borrow mine

[svojohn]

Is this the SVO in question? http://i228.photobucket.com/albums/ee230...SVO002.jpg

[mgman75]

I had a 2.3 turbo act up as far as timing. I timed it twice. It finally done this. The rotor plate came loose from shaft. Take a quick look and make sure not loose. Maurice
It finally totally came loose. The plate will sping around shaft
http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w224/...0_6437.jpg