Gerry Posted January 14, 2008 Share Posted January 14, 2008 I've had a Ford (sorry) ST200 Estate for work for about three years now. Soon after I bought it it developed a flat spot which came and went, usually between 4,000 &4,500 RPM. It was annoying, but not a big problem. After I had it seviced, which I thought would put it right, it was the same and I became more & more annoyed with it. Two years later, it's been through my local garage, the main Ford dealer & Janspeed, who found it on the dyno but couldn't sort it. Made my mind up to sell it and declare it as a problem. Last week, just out of interest I signed up to the ST Owners Club Forum and did a search for "V6 Flatspot" - I found loads of stuff ! Today... I have a sawn off bolt inserted in the ERG valve hose and no flat spot Also drives tons better... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShamelessTT Posted January 14, 2008 Share Posted January 14, 2008 Back of the net! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kranz Posted January 14, 2008 Share Posted January 14, 2008 I had the same problem last year. Did the same mod with my Focus estate, although in my case its a BB pellet in the hose to fool the MOT tester The pierburg EGR valves (or whatever cheap copy ford has used) have a life much shorter than the car & end up getting sticky due to exhaust & oil deposits on the valve stem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neil tt Posted January 14, 2008 Share Posted January 14, 2008 These forums do have the uses:) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Massey Posted January 14, 2008 Share Posted January 14, 2008 Fix Or Repair Daily dont you just love fords lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gerry Posted January 14, 2008 Author Share Posted January 14, 2008 I had the same problem last year. Did the same mod with my Focus estate, although in my case its a BB pellet in the hose to fool the MOT tester The pierburg EGR valves (or whatever cheap copy ford has used) have a life much shorter than the car & end up getting sticky due to exhaust & oil deposits on the valve stem. BB Pellet ... of course I was trying to think of where I could find a ball bearing ! The Forum recommended the ball out of a rabbit's water bottle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dangerous brain Posted January 14, 2008 Share Posted January 14, 2008 Cool fixing. Just shows doesnt it that more often than not the users of cars know more than the dealers do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ivan Posted January 14, 2008 Share Posted January 14, 2008 Should have asked TF - I'm sure they could have trimmed a broom handle down for you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bignum Posted January 15, 2008 Share Posted January 15, 2008 Dont you just love forum`s, i had a problem with my washing machine and found a forum for them, washing machine now works a treat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrDriver Posted January 15, 2008 Share Posted January 15, 2008 I love forums too, you can spend hours reading silly and unnecessary treads - P - Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4packet Posted January 15, 2008 Share Posted January 15, 2008 I think alot of people will suffer issues with modern EGR equipped engines. There is no thermostat on the cooling system for the recirculated exhaust gas. If it over cools the gas, deposits (like a gum) form on the valve mechanism and seat. In extreme cases this can even begin to affect the airflow through the inlet manifold. Modern engines rely on much heavier quantities of EGR to pass emissions legislation and surpress noise in the case of diesels. EGR serves to reduce NOX by reducing in cylinder combustion temeratures. Thats why the cooling is necessary. Drive cycles play an important part to how quickly these deposits form because the EGR is only used during certain operating conditions. Having seen the effects of EGR I would be very tempted (should I ever own an EGR equipped vehicle) to limit or stop completely any EGR entering my engine. Blocking the vac pipe will work if the valve is seating OK, but some are operated by a motor. An industry test for diagnosing EGR concerns is to slide a blanking plate between the EGR valve outlet and inlet manifold (only sure way of stopping the flow of gases). Martin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kranz Posted January 15, 2008 Share Posted January 15, 2008 Blocking the vac pipe will work if the valve is seating OK, but some are operated by a motor. An industry test for diagnosing EGR concerns is to slide a blanking plate between the EGR valve outlet and inlet manifold (only sure way of stopping the flow of gases). Martin The older systems like my D3 (IIRC that was the emissions legislation it was homologated to) Focus TDCI are easy to disconnect as they have no EGR feedback or diagnostic so its a simple case of unplugging the vac pipe. More sophisticated systems such as Euro 3 & 4 will have diagnostics that will flag a fault if the valve is not lifting like it should, and some will even have EGR rates checked against MAF. These will be harder to fool and in some cases I expect the only solution will be to fit a new EGR valve & clean out the EGR cooler & inlet manifold..... Quite an expense! For those with EGR valve position feedback the blanking plate method is best as you suggest. A simple 1mm copper plate is an easy solution Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gerry Posted January 15, 2008 Author Share Posted January 15, 2008 Should have asked TF - I'm sure they could have trimmed a broom handle down for you. Excellent.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4packet Posted January 15, 2008 Share Posted January 15, 2008 The older systems like my D3 (IIRC that was the emissions legislation it was homologated to) Focus TDCI are easy to disconnect as they have no EGR feedback or diagnostic so its a simple case of unplugging the vac pipe. More sophisticated systems such as Euro 3 & 4 will have diagnostics that will flag a fault if the valve is not lifting like it should, and some will even have EGR rates checked against MAF. These will be harder to fool and in some cases I expect the only solution will be to fit a new EGR valve & clean out the EGR cooler & inlet manifold..... Quite an expense! For those with EGR valve position feedback the blanking plate method is best as you suggest. A simple 1mm copper plate is an easy solution Modern diagnostics def keep things interesting! Don't discount the option of steam cleaning (remove parts first obviously!) the EGR/inlet tracks. Hesitation and other related running concerns being the prompt. I hope your TDCI engine is otherwise serving you well Kranz? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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