NighEve

I did this the other day on an early model BA XRT ute. One thing I would stress that has not neem mentioned here is that the standard pickup filter sock that is provided with the universial GSS341 Walbro is very orindary. Specifically, the way that you have to mount the pump and filter in the canister means that there is a tendancy for the pump to suck the filter inside toward the inlet of the pump (consequently this is where you will find the greatest concentration of crap buildup thus restricting flow considerably until the point where it needs to be replaced if you don't want to burn out your pump - I have just been through this). To add to the drama of having to replace this in the ute I will also give people the not so good news that other than a nonresponsive online store in the states, I was unable to track down a replacement pickup filters on its own (ie genuine Walbro part). Not that I really wanted to use this filter again after I realised that the lack of internal structure in the pickup filter means this is likely to happen often if you are unlucky enough to get a few doses of bad fuel. My only resolution was to retrofit a bosch pickup filter that I found that was made as a high flow pickup replacement (ie also has an internal skeleton that can be flexed to fit in the canister whilst reducing the likelihood of it sucking in on itself). Please learn from my misfortune and hunt around for one of these filters in the first place before installing one (especially in a ute!). Joel.

As much as it would make sense that "it can't be right" for ford not to sell the filter on its own, I can assure you that - unfortunately for me - it is right. I have tried a number of QLD ford dealerships and have also had someone check a VIC dealer as well. I managed to adapt a far better design to the Walbro in the end (it has an internal skelton so that it can't suck itself inside towards the inlet of the pump and subsequently build up crap in one area and ultimately restrict flow). Nethertheless, many hours later after the 'chance-find' filter was acquired, specially tracked down submersible fuel hose from Victoria [uS company called 'Gates' makes this hose], stainless EFI clamps and many hours of labour later I tested it tonight - went very well for 10 minutes (all 296rwkw on tap), and just when I thought it was good it screwed up again. Pulled it apart again - in the process snapping the connector to the fuel tank - and changed to the second Walbro pump I have here [in case the other one is buggered from having that nasty clogged up filter restrict it]. Now have to wait for tomorrow when I can get a decent connector and probably buy a pressure gauge to test it whilst under load (I will not let this beat me!) Joel.

I am after a replacement pickup filter for the Walbro GSS341 in tank pump. Unfortunately after having surging issues I removed the fuel pump to find the old is full of crap (damm fuel stations!). I have found a place in the states and contacted them but they have not returned my message yet. I have been told the OEM will fit, but Ford will only sell me the whole fuel pump unit! If someone knows where I can get one ASAP I would love to know otherwise my ute will remain parked in the shed :( If I can't find one I will get the sh*ts and replace the whole unit with an external and surge tank (I would rather not though). Joel.

I might have just solved the puzzle... Spent all morning taking off the exhaust test driving (no difference with cat removed). Back to the drawing board... Despite the bad advice from Ford that the throttle body was fine, I have returned to investigate it as it was my original theory (used a new method to establish the degree the butterfly opens with the pedal action, and now have determined that the butterfly does not operate properly at all times - seems when I tested it last time I was unlucky enough for it to work properly). My electrical guru mate is coming around now and we will test some voltages etc from the motor that drives it. I will now return the injectors to standard spec and load the factory map and return to Ford demanding they test codes again (to ensure that the flash tune is taken out of the equation). My intention will to get some restitution from these wankers now that it seems I have to buy another throttle body. Lesson here has been either be prepared to do your own diagnosis and fix the problems yourself, or sell your Ford before it is out of warranty. This little exercise has all but convinced me to sell my ute and give up on the whole "fast car" routine. Will keep you informed on what happens. Joel.

Update 640 dollars poorer and still f*cked! I am seriously angry... Took it to ford, got the codes read - pedal assessmbly apparently needed to be replaced (didn't seem to far off the money in view of my initial theory). Go back later in the evening to pick it up, mechanic gone, paperwork saying it is all fixed and the car test drive fine. I pay the money and take the car as they are closing the service counter, NO f*ckING DIFFERENCE!!!!!!!!! I am going to pull the CAT out tomorrow and I will strip the whole f*cking thing if I have to, clearly I cannot rely on the so called experts to diagnose and fix a problem. They will be hearing from me on Tuesday... Joel.

Really appreciate the ideas and the advice guys - I think with some of the ideas thus far I should be able to nut it out. Kawerx, I am definitely keen to try your suggestion tomorrow if I can get the car into a Ford servuce agent (I am sure some of them would be hesitent given it is moded). If I cannot get a conclusive result from the scan I will be trying a number of the other suggestions. If anything my pain with this may end up helping others quickly diagnose this kind of problem in the future (my car is a 11/02 model, has done 96K and has prototype stickers on particular parts so must have been on of the first ones built). I thought about the cat convertor since a few times I thought it My initiat theory re: the throttle was supported by something I saw on the way home tonight (the engine light came on for a fewseconds under full throttle which BTW was pathettically slow). I have read in the manual that this light is

coil pack is something I have not changed but certainly considered (since they have been unplugged a number of times now this would not be totally unfesiable). I would like to be a little more certain before going out and trying to replace all of the coil packs (can't imagine that would be cheap).

Yes plusg were regapped when I first got the Edit in december 2004. Since replaced the plugs again and regapped again (tuner checked these again to ensure this was out of the question)

I am not sugesting the actual tune is a dud in terms of basic air/boost, fuel and ignition - I am more talking about some parametre perhaps that has been manipulated or one that has not been manipulated to be compatiable with these mods without cutting into some kind of error/fault (purely speculative ofcourse)

It does it almost all the time now. That is, VERY unresponsive pedal (even in vacuum before boost comes in you need like 3/4 throttle just to move), then either very little or no boost, with occassional boost kicking in but then instantly breaking down with what seems to be like ignition dying (maybe).

HI guys - sorry about the length..... I have about exhausted all options to diagnose and fix a problem I have with my ute. Problem is basically that it intermittedly feels like there is no boost and you have to press the accelerator through the firewall to get the car to build rpm (sometimes if it does get onto boost, almost instantly after this is breaks down as if ignition is drastically retarded). Mods are - Edit, exhaust, CAI, 968s, Walbro pump, moded acutator, Nizpro springs, Mal Wood T56. I had the same problem prior to changing the actuator, at such time a generic CAPA map suited to the 968s was sourced due to significant problems the tuner was having with erratic boost. On this map (about 270 rwkw) I drove to Adeliade and back in a matter of a few days and the car did not miss a beat. Came back had the springs put in and immediately the problem was back. After a rather longwinded process of diagnosis with the removal and replacement of most parts it was suggested there was a problem with the TPS (however upon reinstallation of the old one the problem disappeared). More tuning was done and the result was 3 maps; the generic CAPA one, 275rwkw (more mid range boost), and 290rwkw (same again with aggressive timing). Worked great for about 2 weeks - only problem being a slipping clutch at peak boost in the high power map (to compliment my buggered LSD!). I even got talked into going to Willowbank; babied it off the line in fear of a dying clucth, ran 2.6 60ft, 13.8@109 (only just getting into 4th gear before the line - hence very poor use of the earlier gears). Reloaded the 275 map and had no trouble for a couple of days and then the problem returned sporadically for a moment here and there over a couple of days and started to get worse and finally got that bad that now it is almost always off boost the whole time (this escalation effect also happened during the 2 weeks they tried fixing it). In the last two days I have tried the following things: - disconnected battery for 30mins and reloaded the CAPA map - replaced old TPS with new one [Ford tech admitted the old ones had been superceded due to significant faults] - pulled apart and cleaned the throttle body [had read these were the root of trouble sometimes] - removed air filter and tried without - checked the actuator arm to ensure it had tension All of these things were useless. I have started speculating all sorts of things, with faulty O2 and/or knock sensors, and feel that there is possibly an ECU issue (ie the PCM is picking up some kind of read off a sensor and telling the motor to retard ignition and/or is unable to regulate boost with the actuator - whether this be a fault in the tuning parameters or a component I am not sure). Of interest, when I was testing the throttle body, in full accessories when placing your foot on the accelerator the boost solenoid is opening and closing like crazy even though the engine is not running. It would be highly useful to have the ECU read in real time to see what the hell is going on and what errors are occuring. For now it would be very useful to understand a little more about the CAPA tuning parametres to know if something may be inputted that is incompatiable with a safety feature (if this is what the root of the problem is). When this problem occured last time the tuner advised me that he had attempted to contact CAPA (Street Tuner) to gain some insight into possible ECU/tuning issues and yet it would appear that advice has not been forthcoming in view of the inconclusive fix employed the first time and the end result now being I have a dud of a vehicle to drive. I really need some help/information and cannot afford to have my car sitting at a shop for weeks when no-one seems to know for sure what the problem is. Aside from the ECU side of things I am confident to remove and replace parts on my own. I am nearly thinking of driving to VIC or SA again in the hope someone there knows what the hell to do! Joel.

...For those who are serious about investigating LPG injection and how it goes with a moded XRT, the guy to speak to is Brett West from Graham West Worshops, Marion Rd Parkside Adeliade, SA. Check out their number, or if you are in Adeliade go to the workshop; I was impressed by Brett's knowledge and the worhsop setup. I suspect that anyone in a position to let him tinker with their XRT would come away very happy... Joel.

Interesting topic When I was in Adeliade my mate took me to his tuner (the name escapes me at the moment but I will find out). Anyway, he owned a XR6T that ran the LPG injector system as wll as petrol similarly described above. He appeared very switched on and helpful with his advice. His XR was a 300+rwkw torque beast (I saw its dyno graphs from the Mainline dyno he runs at the shop). At the moment he said that the LPG injectors were maxed out and this was the only reason it made more on petrol. He relayed the same benefits detailed above (downside being initial cost of setup). I was pretty sure this guy had visited the site before but cannot remember his name at the moment. Perhaps someone from SA could help, unless I will find out later.... Joel.

Started in Adeliade at 7am for the trip home and went hard all the way to Brisbane - home at 4:30am. Only stopped for fuel and bladder relief (3 fuel stops with at least 500km's still in range from the last stop at Goondawindi). It was like the car was made for the trip; filled up at Forbes with BP98 and got all the way to Goondawindi for BP98 (with 15ks left in range - was starting to stress a little ). Got to the range at Warwick and started to feel it, so just cranked the stereo a little more to keep me awake and alert (temporary hearing damage the unfortunate side-effect lol). Avoided speeding fines, had possibly two near death experiences involving a wild dog and a truckie on speed, but overall was pretty good. Average fuel usage for a total of 5300kms was 9.7L/100 (about 700 worth of city/traffic/mountain fun driving and the rest highway). Best highway was 8.8/100 (before serious boost fun was had Not once did the ute miss a beat in the week, cruised like a "real"Grand Tourer, overtook like a champion (keeps pulling like a train regardless of what gear), used fuel like a Barina, and was comfortable enough to allow me to do 5300kms in one week and see a good portion of East/South Australia. Would I do it again? Definitely if it was in one of these awesome cars! Now I am off to Willowbank with my mate from Adeliade; the XRT continues to love it Joel.

Thanks for the offer Geea, although in Adeliade now. Would love to come down for a drink or 12 one day in the future (I absolutely loved Melbourne, and will be back again for sure). Gogo, I saw a couple of silver XRs in Melbourne, but there were no handsome dudes driving them though? Phantom Chick, thanks, I'm enjoying the trip. I've racked up 2900kms since Saturday and I am surprisingly not sick of it yet. In fact I have caught the road trip bug and will have to stop myself from goingg further. Will be in Adeliade for a couple of rest days staying at my mate's place. Walked all around the city today for hours and only counted 3 XRTs - what's wrong with you Adeliadians! As for some feedback on the way the car is traveling, my mate that is doing the trip with me owns a fully optioned E46 330i and has high expectations of vehicles. He's done a few hundred clicks driving my car. He now wants to buy one, he loves it and cannot believe how well it drives, the smoothness/power/torque/etc, and cannot get over the economy it is making (I got 880kms out of a tank yesterday and it still had some range left). We are both arguing about driver swaps between trips because each of us are enjoying the drive. Wish I could say that these result were all thanks to Ford. Seriously they have a good base to start with, but there has to be a lot of kudos to Mal Wood for an awesome box that loves long hauls, SCT for creating a way to reverse the shanky ford tuning, and last but certainly not least Jeff, Alistar, and Von at FIST for top quality service (and will see you guys next week). Joel.

Decided it was time for a break and also a chance to catch up with some interstate pals and do some serious k's to make up my lease deficit. I will provide a more detailed log of the experience later (as it is currently 2am and 2000km's of driving in 22hrs). The short version is that the ute is fabulous! The latest tune/mods from FIST must be rather effective (wow does it like Victorian cool nights!). 8.8L/100 for the first part and now about 9.4 with plenty of sydney traffic chaos. Looking out the window to the Crown Casino, and very keen to explore Melbourne tomorrow. Then on to SA after that (might stop into Cappa to see what the fuss is all about).... Not tired, super happy with the trip and the car. Maybe I will see some of the VIC xr's on the road tomorrow if I look carefully Over and out. Joel.

Sorry to hear you have had such dramas Sixfan. I get what you are saying from a principal point of view and would say all you can do is keep making Ford honour your warranty until you either decided to move on or they fix the real issue (which is largely unlikely!). Despite my sympathy for you mate I also understand the other side of the debate re: entering the upper threshold of these cars for sustained periods. The bottom line is that a XRT (stock or general mods, it doesn't matter) is still a mass produced falcon with a turbo bunged on to tart up performance levels a little compared to the taxi version. It is still a $40ishK passengar car 4.0 straight 6 with a driveline, aerodyamics, chasis etc primarily designed to operate "faultlessly" (I use that word cautiously!) within the range of 0-110km/h (to meet the mass market demand and driving conditions in most parts of australia whilst keeping costs down). This is not a $150K+ BMW/Merc/Porsche that must be designed in mind of almost certainly handling excessive speed on a german autobahn or race track (at much lower ambient temps I might add). As soon as you push the envelop beyond this you have to remember that you are not dealing with a package that speeds along at 200 clicks effortlessly - even a modified one with more boost/fuel etc is only just getting there quicker and putting the driveline under more strain to achieve this (simple physics tells us that there is a cost and nasty byproducts associated like excessive heat). My ute is currently making 270 odd rwkw and gets to 200 in a sprint rather easily but I honestly know the car is "feeling" it from beyond here (from everything from brakes to aero - it was just not designed to go along at this speed especially for sustained periods). At that speed this fat bulking bas*ard is up in the "not crusing anymore region"of top gear getting a red hot buggering! It might have got there pretty smartly but in comparison to other cars, but if you jump in a lazy old school unstressed (read "atmo") V12, due to its inherent load handling capacity/design advantage (ie twice the cylinders to share the load in a V configuration) and originally designed to handle higher speed limits (final drive and overdrive ratios, brakes, cooling etc) and then the margin left for failure does not push the issue of friction/heat/tolrances as much as the XRT does. Original engineering costs and according final purchase price when new (in relativity to today's XRT) will also speak volumes to the comparison you have suggested. Sorry but I think you need to consider buying a vehicle that was designed for sustained high speeds if you want to drive like that (maybe a M5?). Otherwise spends countless dollars and time nutting out and modifying the falc to try and achieve the same (ultimately it will still be plagued by some unavoidable characteristics - weight, general aero etc). Some have gone down this route and yet despite power and the abilty to handle this without breaking - it will never be a Bugatti for eg. Joel.

Have to take it to the assessor next Friday... will keep posted on outcomes. Joel.

Blankets? haha - Seriously you have to see some of these dents - they are comical in shape. Maybe 4 inches of high density, impact foam might have helped? There are 3 that I think I would struggle replicating with decent swing on a 9kg sledge hammer. Typical the assessor never called back and I have to go chasing for them tomorrow... Joel.

Thanks for the words of support fellas I had the windscreen replaced today so that it is driveable again. There is some seriously massive dents that I would love to show but I do not have a digi cam (other than on the phone), or do I know how to load them on here. The windscreen repairer was stunned at some of the dents and stated that in his opinion the roof, bonnett, both front guards, and one B pillar would need to be cut out/replaced, and lots of labour on one door and possible replacement of the other. $€ There would be at close to 50 large dents and perhaps more smaller ones that are difficult to see now that the surface is not flat anymore (this is a fari bit considering it is only a ute surface area). Three in particular on the bodywork are surprisingly bad - one that took paint off and made a 100mm long dent on the slope of the B pillar as it glanced off, one/several that has pushed the bonnett and passenger side guard in at least 15mm for a length of 200mm, and one that has about a 30mm dent on the strongest part of the guard where it bends. I think that they will fix it from what I am hearing. The assessor will be looking into it early in the week. I suspect the bill will be large indeed, and could only imagine how much more it would be if it were a sedan! Joel.

Well 2006 is looking just as fun as last year.... I just had an interesting time being smashed by cricket ball sized hail stones on my way home (complete with bits of shattered glass in my face and every panel except the tail gate on my ute being absolutely bent out of shape). So I figure that with the glass, cabin roof, both doors, bonnet, both front guards and possibly the stylesides; there would be a very large bill to fix the thing. I have full comp through AAMI - anyone else ever had a serious hail damage claim before? At what point do they decide that it cost too much to fix? Any guess how much this would be to fix? Any other similar experiences shared would be appreciated. Joel.

I have massive problems with control of boost (either surging when it is working half decently, or serious dips and spikes which will not go higher than 10.5psi). I will have an upgraded actuator installed later in the week.... I'll let you know how it goes.

short answer... No they can't find it, or anything else for that matter. I know from experience just days ago from a major service agent who was looking for this kind of thing.

What model Bosch, where from, and how much? The surge tank and second pump sounds good - but I wouldn't know where to start to get this happening in the short term (being without a car is not fun!)

As a follow-on from my problems described in my other topic, I need some ideas and possible supplier info for an aftermarket performance fuel pump for my ute. Had a Walbro in tank installed that died in less then 4 months and now has cost me enough to tell me to make sure that I get a more quality component. My options are: Use the factory pump in tank and install an inline one in addition. Or simply replace it with a better in tank one. Suggestions please?????? Need to sort this out ASAP..... Joel