Some newbie questions

honda99ex · 11-08-2010, 01:33 PM

First off great site. I've parsed through some 400+ pages of it. I'm a new S1 Falcon Forte owner, well officially the car is for the gf. Great hx from 1st owner, last 5 years with 2nd owner has been suspect. Love it so far, though it's been an adventure and probably not as much a bargain as I thought it was.. But alas it's mine now so I have to deal with it.

I've been meaning to contribute, once things settled down and I get the pics up on the laptop but for now I have some simple questions...

The car almost stalls or stalls on cold starts. Once it stalls will crank 2nd time. Always good when warm. Changed plugs. Any thoughts?

As noted it's the gf car but I changed the coolant. That went well but now I noticed the operating temp needle doesn't ride above the N in normal. As in it sits to the left (colder side). Is this normal? She never noticed where it sat prior to the coolant change.

I changed the oil and I have an oil leak somewhere. I thought it was at the sump drain as I bought a non specific washer. Tightened it up but still dripping. Poured in a bottle of stop leak. A couple of drops per day. Trail of oil all around bottom of sump but also on the silver bar behind it which confuses me. Any thoughts before I dive under again to have a look? Nothing from up top.

Speaking of which, I bought those stanfred ramps from supercheap and they blow. It takes forever to get the car to go up on them even, they run and mark up my floor. What am I doing wrong? Should I be jacking it onto the ramps? Annoying...

Finally (don't laugh) the gf complains the rear wheels spin. At first I chalked it up to bald tires but tires are new now. Stock car. She says she lauches SLOWLY. Today she said it was almost like one held on and then lurched her forward.

Thanks a bunch.

Will add my own contributions by the weekend. Cheers

sleeper393 · 11-08-2010, 05:04 PM

try this for the stalling. also vacuum leaks , check all vacuum hoses.
http://www.fordforums.com.au/showpos...9&postcount=43
temp gauge normally sits between the N & O
try nipping up the sump bolts , that may halt the drip , the are also pron to leaking from the timing case just near your altenator on the front of the engine

sd1800 · 11-08-2010, 05:09 PM

Welcome to the forums.

In regards to the stalling issue, two things that spring to mind are firstly that the Idle Speed Controller behind the throttle body is clogged up with crap and not operating as it should. Remove it and spray it out with carby cleaner and see if that fixes it. The other thing it could be is the Coolant Temp sensor, which isn't telling the ECU that the motor is cold and is therefor not dumping the extra fuel in (choke).

Unless it's dropping large pools of oil, i wouldn't worry about it. Although thats probably not the answer your looking for lol.

In regards to the spinning wheels, I don't think she's used to the torque!!!! She must be planting it pretty hard?? I have a single spinner 3.23 in mine and on good surface if i just plant it i will only get the slightest chirp. Plant it while taking a corner and thats a different story

honda99ex · 11-08-2010, 05:25 PM

Thanks for the replies thus far.

Stalling - I was in a rush before so i neglected to add the shop cleaned the TB for me, I cleaned the Idle Speed Control Valve (it was full of gunk, I let it sit in carby cleaner for days), ECU reset. Still almost stalls/will stall only on cold starts. Even if it fails to turn over, I don't have to wait and on re-crank it will turn over... Will check vacuum (or read up on how to do it) .

Temp - My first Ford back in the day also did this. Needle sat very much on the cold side and on the highway basically went almost down to C. Back then I didn't know a thing about cars or know any better to realize something could have been amiss. Still learning. Nice to know it sits where it should, or close at least.

Oil Leak - Never even thought about the sump bolts. I'm not really worried. Just watching little pools in my car port (good thing I'm renting). Will look at timing case too. Damn Stanfred ramps. If I could work out how to get the car on there smoothly I just put it up again.

The Monty · 11-08-2010, 06:00 PM

Running cold could be a dead thermostat. Do you get good heat from the heater?
Or it could be upside down.
Oil leak, retighten the oil filter, and the drain bolt on the sump (sump plug). I probably wouldnt use a washer either, I dont think they are meant to have anything bar the little rubber ring on the end. If yours doesnt have one, just buy a new one.
Stalling issue could be a lot of things. I wont bother with that one yet.
As for the ramps just put them on the grass.

jcto · 11-08-2010, 06:17 PM

Ill add my 2 cents worth re the ramps...I bought similar ones from repco and same thing even on the grass it slipped....got the father in law to weld some steel plate on the up slope of the ramps and now they work gr8

honda99ex · 11-08-2010, 06:29 PM

This ford had one so I was trying to replicate it. It was a thin metal one. I was going to change the whole sump plug but the one at supercheap was half the length of the one that is in it which I thought odd so I just bought the washer instead. That replacement had a rubber? or felt? washer on there. Will retighten the filter too though over the many oil changes I've done I've only ever hand tightened. The filter on there was a toughie to get off. I attributed to a oil change chain over tightening it. I had to go buy a tool to wrench it off...

Heater is good. I just changed the coolant so I had been running it on heat full blast for a couple of days.