morzine - going south - not near Montceau les Mines or Toulouse - but if you can give me the names I'll keep them for sure. route is Annecy, Chambery, Grenoble , Aix en Provence, Nice

The metallic 'tinkle' you describe could well be the Cat as others have discussed or a collapsed baffle internally as they only look to be spot welded

I also had the ” tinkle” with the failed cat on the Ford Escort. Possibly a garage could stick their exhaust analyser up each pipe which may give a clue as to whether the cat is performing properly. Finding a replacement will be the issue as I guess if you just temporarily replace it with a bit of plain pipe, it will upset the ecu.

But sound good. Maybe they empty out the bits and the rest stays in. Other a roadster in for sale and would that cat for yours?

Montceau les mines is https://www.garage-bobin.com/

Toulouse is https://www.marcassus-sport.com/

I’m 40 mins west of Dijon, have basic facilities, and a very good classic car specialist nearby if it’s of any help.

keep us posted.

Michael

Hi Michael , I may well take you up!! Just done some investigation with a great classic cat specialist garage down here and it seems the cyclinder / exhaust branch temperatures are very different on one side . If the cat was blocked i would expect all the temperatures to be up on one side but I’m not sure now whether it is the cat. We tried to change a couple of the coil packs round but the nuts in the plastic ford cylinder head cover have decoed
To start spinning around so we can’t even undo the bolts that hold the coil pack assembly
In place!!

I must say I’m rapidly falling out of love. The build quality on mine is beyond incompetent

I’ll keep you posted when we leave Golf Juan

Thanks

An unexpected outcome indeed!
In view of different temperatures on the same side, and the tinkle sound, I would get a compression test carried out in case a valve spring has broken or valve has bent, maybe?

Really sorry to read of your issues... If found to be the cat, and replacing with a straight through, I wonder if it could be possible to put in a parallel jumper in to provide the reading from the good cat to the ECU, to create fuelling solutions for the side with the issue.... Yeah for sure I have no idea what I`m typing about when it comes to EFI..

As for determining if any one cylinder has an issue with the engine cold then fired up, if possible you could quickly try to check the temps of each outlet point into the exhaust manifold before heat soak has an opportunity to mask the issue..? With no temp available, spit on your fingers and quickly dab on each outlet.. (-:

Wishing you the very best of luck in resolving your issue. Having recently read of a non-Morgan that would start misfiring when only when hitting a point in the rev range after which it threw up fault codes and went into some sort of limp mode.... Apparently the fault was thought to be caused by an after market air con, water-pump, alternator drive belt...Go figure as our cousins across the water might say..?

A couple of issues on the internet about the 3.7 engine.

3.7 Cyclone Cam Torque Actuated Phasers Problems
Cam torque actuated phasers, primarily affect the later Ford 3.7 Ti-VCT engines. Dual variable cam timing (Ti-VCT) is somewhat complex technology involving many moving parts. The idea is to adjust cam/valve timing to allow for a better power band and fuel economy. It’s great tech that many modern engines use.

However, problems can and do occur with these systems. The Ford 3.7L Cyclone cam torque actuated phasers (cam phasers for short) are one of those issues that pops up. Cam phasers rotate each camshaft relative to the timing. When the 3.7 Duratec cam torque actuated phasers fail they can cause a handful of symptoms and other issues if not fixed in a timely manner. It’s also a pretty expensive fix.

Look for the following symptoms that may indicate an issue with the 3.7 Cyclone cam torque actuated phasers:

Check engine light
Rattling sound from engine
Power loss
Rough running
When the cam phasers fail you’ll usually get a check engine light and hear a rattling sound from the Ford 3.7 engine. It can also cause improper ignition timing, which can lead to a loss of power and rough running.

Ford 3.7 Cyclone Ignition Coil Issues
The 3.7 V6 is a solid engine, overall. We’re mostly talking about ignition coils here since there aren’t many other major common problems. Ignition coils are really a standard wear and tear part that usually require replacement at some point during an engines life. However, the 3.7 Duratec ignition coils sometimes fail earlier than normal.

Look for these problems to pop up somewhere in the 70,000 to 100,000 mile ballpark. It’s really not a huge deal all things considered. Ignition coil replacement is usually required by 150,000 miles, anyways. It’s also not a serious issue by any means, though ignition coil problems can cause some drivability issues.

3.7L V6 Duratec Ignition Coil Symptoms
Symptoms of ignition coil faults on the Ford 3.7L V6 include:

Misfires
Rough running
Check engine light
Stuttering
Misfires are the number one symptom of spark plug or ignition coil problems. Though, misfires can have many other causes. When the 3.7 Cyclone ignition coils go bad it will prevent the air/fuel mixture from properly igniting. In turn, you may notice the Ford 3.7 engine is running rough or stuttering. Misfires can sometimes trigger a check engine light, too.