Fg Stalling Problem Fixed ( I Think)

[turbotrana]

I know that my FG has had a stalling issue since early on in its life as a Ford dealership has had a go in trying to rectify it when it was stock.

The car was modified and the stalling issue still remained.

Basically sometimes when you would come to a stop, it would hunt and sometimes stall. When cold it was fine but after about 5 to 10 min of driving, on cold mornings is would have a regular stall and after that random hunts and stalls.

Well a few weeks ago I added another earth from the battery to the body of the car. It stopped stalling but still would drop idle a little.

Over the weekend I added two more earths. One to the manifold and another from auto trans to body. Seems to have kept the idle pretty solid.

So it has definately helped stop the stalling but the revs do sometimes drop a teeny but recover very quickly.

I have read others having a similar issue to mine so I am just posting this as adding earths is a very simple thing to do to see if it helps.

I still think Fords factory tune is a bit phucked when it does not take into consideration a little bit of a poor earth.

Two white earth leads. One to the ECU earth. Had to remove that security bolt which was a -itch. Did it with vice grips from under the fender.

This is from the trans to the body

I have no clue where the good earth is failing but this helps.

[Wingnut]

My car has these exact same issues. Good to see someone has it sussed!

[turbotrana]

Stalling in the FG could be caused by a number of things. As I had my battery relocated and there was not the traditional earth from the bat+tve to body I thought that it could do with one.

The fact that it substantially rectified the stalling issue I had indicates that something is not getting a good earth. Either the engine ECU and even the transmission ECU or even the IAC valve.

Anyway if you try it and it helps do post your results as even those who just suffer a hunting when you roll up to a set of lights, if it helps this then we may be onto something.

Untill I get to an FG wiring diagram I wont be able to work it out.

[Ralph Wiggum]

There's no IAC valve on these cars. Idle airflow/speed control is via the throttle butterfly.

[GTOrange.]

Found this super helpful so thought I should add my experience.

 

bought an 08 FG xr6 turbo and it was running perfectly fine until I bought a new battery for it.

Immediately it began hunting once warm, getting down around 250rpm and then recovering. Sometimes stalling.

literally every stop sign It would stall if I didn’t put it in neutral quick enough.

swapped the old battery back in and the issue remained.

 

no fault codes coming up.

found this thread and added the extra earth cables one at a time. It was the earth strap from the intake manifold to the chassis (air box bolt) that made all the difference.

immediatly, the engine wasn’t stalling anymore. The hunting however had reduced to almost non existent.

 

I then cleaned the throttle body with a good throttle body cleaner and put in new plugs and its completely fixed.

 

hope this helps someone like it helped me!

[PAH]

Guys,

 

If your fixes above work, you're worth your weight in platinum recovered from restrictive factory cataclysmic convertors.  I'm off on a mission to give your suggestions a go.  What you're suggesting sounds easy enough to do.  

 

The stalling issue described above is pretty much an exact description of the very irritating problem that I've endured for the last year or more.  I should have checked the forum for a solution earlier.  I'll let you know how I go.

 

 

PAH

[PAH]

Guys,

 

I cleaned the throttle body.  It wasn't quite as black as the La Brea Tar Pits but it wasn't much better.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Brea_Tar_Pits.

I also added one earth from Battery Neg to the inlet manifold.  It looks like that's cured the Battery Fail warning lights on the dashboard and the idle is a lot more stable.   After adding only the one extra earth cable the car has stalled once at a red light with the engine at idle.  I've just added another earth and hope that this totally nails the issue.  With the one earth, the improvement is significant.  I ran the second earth from Battery Neg to the fuse box earth.  It's connected to a hole in the (painted) inner guard so I'm wondering if that's the poor earth point?  It'd be nice to know where the factory earth is failing so it could be fixed at the source.

 

Thanks heaps for this thread.  Very helpful!  And I now know to clean the throttle body every 20k or so.  PAH

 

 

PS:  I've been told that injector cleaner kills oxy sensors so I don't use it any more.  Does Throttle Body Cleaner kill oxy sensors?

 

[k31th]

probably shouldn't use throttle body cleaner on the hot parts like where an oxygen sensor sits. brake cleaner is a better option as it evaporates before use so it doesn't cause potential fire issues.

 

if any earth point is painted then you should scrape away the paint underneath the mount to the bare metal so that there's a signficantly better electrical connection, but be careful of exposing any bare metal to the atmosphere as it'll surely rust, so a bit of paint to cover any accidentally exposed bits (if you have any) is a good idea.

[PAH]

Thanks K31TH.  I limited the cleaner to the throttle body.  Just wondering what happens after it's sucked through the engine and tasted by the oxy sensor.  NIZPRO told me not to use fuel injector cleaner because it poisons the oxy sensor so I'm wondering about the throttle body cleaner.

 

After I added the extra earth cables the can ran well on short trips.  I've since taken it for a 2hr drive and the Batt Fail and stalling issue is still there after so I am looking for other issues.  AND ALL EARS if anybody has any suggestions.  I had a poke around the net and found this Youtube video that shows how the factory wires in the steering column tend to sheer off in BFs.  It might be an issue in FGs too?: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=S7QFEVWShvc 

 

Just in case I need one after I exhaust all avenues can anybody recommend an auto electrician who has experience with FG Falcons?

[k31th]

throttle body cleaner is fine to run through the intake and will be burnt in the combustion process and as far as I know will have little to no effect on the oxygen sensor.

 

any auto-elec nearby to you should be able to sort you out as the wiring diagrams that they would use are not difficult to acquire and don't require any super-special knowledge with FG's (even though they FG taxi's are so common that all auto-elecs have probably worked on one or two).