1997 Ford Festiva stalls when acclerating

[northcorner]

Hi Everyone - I have a 1997 Ford Festiva that loses power when you accelerate... I have cleaned out the distributor, plugs, tested the plug cables and I have replaced the fuel filter but still not joy. I took it down to the local garage and they put their diagnostic analyser onto it (the one that plugs into the Festiva) and it passed all the diagnostic tests!! So the mechanic reckons that their might be moisture down a wiring loom somewhere.. Oddly enough it gets worse when you go up a hill which I realise is 'loading' the engine but surely not that much!! I am awaiting for a 2nd hand distributor but does ANYONE have ANY suggestions, no matter how small.. I would appreciate it IMMENSELY... Thanks in advance.. Chz. David Auckland New Zealand

[xfben]

How about the airfilter? more help with your car check out this site it relates more to your year model even though the 97's were called Festiva's in Australia & I am guessing NZ the were Aspires in the States great site & friendly people http://www.fordaspire.com/
have a look at the featured projects section mine is under benstiva aussie aspire heading. Have a look around maybe some helpful bits of info

[jlgreen8]

I would guess a new distributor will fix it. Sounds to me like you have a bad rotor in the dizzy. It is shorting high voltage to ground through the rotor plastic. $4 part. Idles ok but cant accelerate. Cant load the engine even if at high RPM. Look at the rotor for signs of burning near the center.

[0z0ne]

I'm sorry I do not know how to appropriately address the problem at hand, but Northcorner, you're from Auckland!

GO HOBBIT GO!

pm me!

Have faith in the members of this community though; they are very knowledgeable and can offer better help than anyone else on the web.
Festiva ftw!

[FestYboy]

My GFs 96 has the same issue and apparently this is NORMAL... i.e. there;s not enough head flow to draw enough air through the MAF to tell the ECM to add more fuel. Another thing i noticed is that you really can't get a WOT signal from the TPS. At this point, i'm in the midst of a BP build for her so that there;s some semblance of power.

[ericsmith32]

My 97 Aspire basically the same as yours has the same problem. I did advance the timing and it helped a bit. Still not right though compared to the Festiva. You might check the TPS and the MAF. I haven't got around to checking those yet. I won't accept the normal if it's not getting enough fuel, although mine smells like it's running rich, there has to be a sensor out of wack. Maybe not enough to trip a code but still not quite right.

[gotrootdude]

Check the wiring harness connection to the oxygen sensor on front of the exhaust manifold. Mine was worn to hanging by a single copper thread and caused this problem.

[FestYboy]

was that on an Asipre?