HELP!

[Rock_Doctor]

(I originally posted this in Technical, but thought here would get more replies)


Hi everyone.

I'm a new member, but have been checking in since we bought the FTO 6 months ago for my wife's daily driver (from an Impreza - starting to regret it now).

The car's been great until now. The only problems have been:

- Immobiliser stuffed up 2 months ago, would arm but not dis-arm. Replaced batt's in remote - no effect. Haven't had it checked out, looks like generic remote so worried it isn't factory. The flashing light is to the right of the steering wheel, on dash. Anyway, no big deal, just have to use the key in door to get in, and don't use remote. Any ideas on how to fix?

- A (not very bad) ticking sound has developed, which I understand is normal.

BUT a problem arose today, which basically made me say "we're getting rid of it". The wife was driving along a busy road (up here in Townsville, so not Brisbane busy, but still busy) and stopped at some lights. She said it died, and wouldn't start for 5 mins. She was pretty upset, and no-one stopped to help her. Eventually it started. I took it for a drive later, and when I parked and let it idle, it died. It started easy enough. After searching this site, I believe it could be the stepper motor. I'm about to go out and reset computer and clean stepper (if it's not too complicated).

But when idling, occasionally there was a (in my opinion, very very bad) not nice noise coming from the engine. A kind of mechanical 'clank' which I can only describe as something knocking in the engine. But it seemed to coincide with the engine going rough and wanting to cut out, so I'm hoping it's the stepper motor making the noise.

Am I on the ball here, or can it be worse? My missus loves this car, and so do I, but if it costs a fortune to fix I don't think I can keep it. Any help would be appreciated!

Rick & Tania
(Nth QLD)

[NorthQLDFTO]

VERY off topic but just wanted to say Hi to some fellow Townsvillites I'm not sure what your problem is... I had issues with my stepper motor, after cleaning it ran fine for about a month but started playing up again so I ordered a new one from Kempy's in NZ... Since installing it I've had no problems. But I never had a 'clanking' noise when experiencing problems with the stepper motor... Best bet is to have it checked out, don't give up on her just yet Hee hee! I forked out a fortune to have my transmission rebuilt (like several others in this community) and I'm still glad I did... Now that she's running slick as it's an absolute pleasure to drive. With my body kit FINALLY here & some engine work in the pipeline (especially since I can't drive it at the moment) it's only going to get better!

*runs off to dry hump his FTO*

[HiRAEdd]

*runs off to dry hump his FTO*

So THAT's how you get that new car shine!

Knowing the age or k's on your car may help us diagnose. A few points I'll make though.
I had the same problem as you when I bought my FTO, would stall at traffic lights. The previous owner had already replaced the stepper motor so I knew that couldn't be it. I put through a bottle of injector cleaner and she never skipped a beat after that. Mind you, if you find that works, I would very seriously consider getting the injectors taken out and cleaned professionally, it made a world of difference to my car.
Find a mechanic that works on FTO's or at the very least, other performance cars. Look at getting it properly tuned. Once again, this made a big difference to the performance in my car. Between the above two points, I'm getting an extra 10 - 12% power out of the engine.
Is the clanking noise coinciding with the air con coming on/going off? If so, it could be in the air con. The electric clutch on mine is currently on the way out and it makes a "bearings are about to crumble" type noise when I hit high revs. Perfectly harmless for now but I will need to get it fixed soon.
Hope this helps a bit.

[Rock_Doctor]

Hey NthQLDFTO - who does your servicing? Can you recommend anyone? And what colour is your beast? We'll keep an eye out for you. Ours is that deep red colour, the only one here I think.

HiraEDD, thanks for the reply. The car has about 125000k's, and had the timing belt replaced at 100000 (by previous owner). The noise has nothing to do with a/c, as it was not on. The a/c works really well, I often can't believe how good it is (I get in trouble for changing temp from 26 to 25.5 when there's clearly no reason).

I can't really describe the 'clank' any better, but when I re-start the car, I'll see if it does it. Perhaps I should take advice and take it in to a pro. Keep the replies coming in guys, I may fix this yet (after a few beers and a cranky wife).

[SchumieFan]

Hey NthQLDFTO - who does your servicing?

Apparently HiRAEdd does judging by his avatar

So THAT's how you get that new car shine!

I thought that was a question not a comment!

[Teania]

If the bearing in your a/compressor clutch is on the way out - it will make that bearing noise whether the air-con is on or not. Just had mine replaced (made it to the mechanic just as it seized completely) - its on the same belt that drives the power steering. I got mine fixed relatively cheapy by getting parts of a 1/2 cut.

Good luck.

Cheers
Teania & Kaveman

[SchumieFan]

lucky girl.... mine did seize.... little to say the belt was a bit fucked... didnt notice it till i stopped at the lights after a long drive and blue smoke started from my engine bay.... i thought it was the ford pos infront of me till it happened at the next set of lights..... then i turned my stereo down... replaced it myself

[scarecrow]

Yep, stepper motor is the cause of your woes mate The engine sounds bad before cutting out because it's idling much lower then it should be and really struggling to keep firing.

In regards to the immobiliser i'm going to assume the remote is a small black square with two yellow buttons is it not? There's a high likelyhood that it's a brant 2 point immobilser (almost a standard on most imported FTO's). While Brant is a bloody good brand they have notoriously sh*t range and pickup of the remote signal. Brant brush this aside saying it's a "feature" to restrict capture of the signal by, for lack of a better word, enemy recievers.

Two things to do, and one question to answer
a) clean and reattach the battery leads/terminals
b) stand about a foot away from the car on the drivers side, point the keyfob in the general direction of the side indicator and click away, see if she unlocks then

Now the question, just to clarify, does the remote work to lock the door fine but not unlock them? Or did you mean that the system automatically arms itself and the remote doesn't work at all?

If the remote works fine for locking the doors but not unlocking them then you're going to need to have the system checked out.

Also, get your tappets adjusted at your next service, this will stop that troublesome ticking. Ignore the suggestion about the oil and such, that's only for GR models.

[Dr_Jones]

Not just applying to Brant but you can possibly extend the range of the remote by attaching a wire to the antenna lead and running it around the car or similar. Works a treat for mine.

[Rock_Doctor]

Thanks Scarecrow, you were dead right. I had tried booking the car in to get looked at, and it was going to cost over a hundred bucks before someone was going to even look at it. So thanks to FTO-Aus and everyone who replied with advice, I checked it all out, did some tests, and sure enough, the apparently-ever-faithful stepper motor was to blame. The part arrived an hour ago, I'm putting it in as we speak.

And I should have put it all together and realised the knocking was due to low revs, but I drive a diesel that will happily pull a trailer at 500rpm, so I didn't think. But that was a big relief.

If anyone is interested, I got the motor from NARDEK, and they charged $195 delivered. I thought that was a good deal compared to what they're flogging them off for on eBay. Still a very expensive piece of plastic though.

So OK, she can stay a little longer - 2.5 tonnes of diesel is nowhere-near as much fun around a corner as an FTO anyway, so I guess I'd miss the thing too.

[NorthQLDFTO]

Now THAT'S what I like to hear!