Any ideas ?

[honer]

Dudes

Got a weird issue that I really can't figure out why is occuring

Basically, when the car revs (usually 1/2 to full throttle) when it hits about 3000rpm it basically feels like it "pulls back" (kind of like traction control feel) and feels doughy up top, almost like its pulling out alot of timing something.

This was happening last week (as well as a massive miss) however I put new leads, plugs and air filter in which has fixed all the missing, however this issue still remains (though not AS noticable)

Any ideas ?

BTW car is AU3 XR8..

[Bushbasher]

It's not leaning out is it? put a bottle of injector cleaner through it and change your fuel filter and see if that makes a difference.

Bushbasher

[LG]

Is this with < 1/4 of fuel?

[Peuty]

Could be a breakdown in the coils as well. Are they the original coils?

Also, can you hear any pinging?

[TURBOTAXI]

Originally Posted by Peuty

Could be a breakdown in the coils as well. Are they the original coils?

Also, can you hear any pinging?

Thats what I was thinking

[JC]

Could also be a blocked cat

[autickfordfairmont]

Another vote for a blocked cat.

I had a similar thing with mine where first it was the fuel pump oversuppling fuel (looked like a diesel truck when driving), after that was fixed, about 2 months later i had your symptoms. I took it to my mechanic and they spent 2 days on it, got specialist equipment down from brisbane and all sorts, in the end it turned out to be a collapsed cat (obviously from the overfuelling issue). New high flow cat & a tune up & the thing went better and harder than it ever had before. A new cat (or two in your case) isnt cheap, so try replacing the fuel filter, clean the filter sock on the pump & run some injector cleaner through it to see if that clears it all up first.
If that doesnt then check the cats.
Also, try disconnecting the battery and letting the computer reset overnight. It may sound simple, but it has fixed many a problem with my car that I thought would have been something else.
Cheers

Col.

[Peuty]

Originally Posted by autickfordfairmont

I took it to my mechanic and they spent 2 days on it, got specialist equipment down from brisbane and all sorts, in the end it turned out to be a collapsed cat

Time to find a new mechanic if he needed specialist equipment to diagnose a busted cat.

[adrian k]

na, my XR8 did just that and i don't have any cats. Ford cleaned the TB and reset the ECU and i put a bottle of injector cleaner thru it, and the flat spotting is all but gone now, really have to pay close attention to notice only the slightest hesitation.
months before i had already had the fuel pump changed out due to the 1/4 tank surging issue.

[autickfordfairmont]

Originally Posted by Peuty

Time to find a new mechanic if he needed specialist equipment to diagnose a busted cat.

The way it was behaving seemed like a collapsed cat, but when they dropped off the pipe and had a look it all looked ok, was only after they tried everything else first that we chucked the new cat on and it fixed it. All up they spent 14 hours in total on it trying & testing different things, and I only got charged for 1 hour labour. Whatever they did to it over the two days, and the tune up they did was bloody awsome. After the new cat it was the quickest it had ever been. And for a fairly bog stock standard Fairmont (apart from exhaust and intake) it would blow the absolute hell out of my brothers EL XR6 & also his new WRX.

[honer]

Cheers dudes

Fuel filter is new, the issue was occuring under 1/4 tank, however I'm sure it was occuring above that level as well.. But I'll check it again to make sure (My EL XR8 suffered the 1/4 tank issue as well)

I'll see if I can borrow some coils as well and see if that helps out...

If it ends up looking like the cats and I'll just have to buy a couple cats and some bends and build a new exhaust rather then just replacing the cats (Exhaust system has def seen better days)