OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums General Discussion Forum Off Topics Laser Manual for Mowerfreak

Hi MF

As promised, here are some pages of the repair manuals (both gregory's and factory) for the KE Laser

I ended up taking photos of the pages, as the big book wouldn't fit into the scanner without bending it

Might take a few posts to get all the pages on

part 2

Part 3

part 4 - last bit

Hopefully they are all readable
Regards
Tyler

Hi Tyler, just looked through them all and I think a fuel injection service is in order for the weak acceleration and heavy fuel use that a car of this size and engine capacity just shouldn't do.
I might try my hand at testing the O2 sensor any way. Thanks for putting up those pictures. It saved me the trouble of looking them up myself

You're welcome MF

Out of interest, what colour are the spark plug electrodes? And how long does it take to come to temperature on the temp gauge?

The water temp sensor controls the enrichment system - therefore if the thermostat is stuck, the fuel consumption will go up significantly.

Definitely a good idea to check the O2 sensor. Or even the voltages at the injectors. It isn't always immediately clear how much more fuel is required in those upper rev ranges.
For example, I remember seeing a old Gemini (TC or TD) that had the fuel lines crossed, and the return was being used as the supply. Started great, ran fine, until you got over 3/4 throttle - it would simply die.

Looks like a nice laser, lots of them came in the reds and yellows. The silver and the alloys really makes the model look good in my opinion.

Thanks Tyler, I only fitted the TX3 rims recently (three months). I had always wanted to get a set since I bought the car in 2010 as a one owner with only 112,000km (now 175,000km) and finally got a set from Melbourne on Ebay this year in time for the it's first tyre replacement since I got the car. I had the faces machined as they were looking tired with pitting, scratches and peeled clear coat.
I polish them with aluminium Autosol once a month rather than put on new clearcoat. It looks far better than the original factory plastic wheel covers , of which I had lost a couple. I've always thought Ford should have used these wheels in the first place on their flagship Ghia model. The previous generation KA and KB Ghia trim level had alloys as standard. The plastic wheel covers didn't do the KE justice. Even the KC Ghia received more classy looking shiny steel covers.

As for your question how long for getting to full temperature, do you mean idling or driving? It takes a pretty short amount of time, about five minutes or less (about 2 km) of driving. I'll have to test it tomorrow and pull outa spark plug as well.

I was thinking they were TX3. Always found it strange that Ford went from Ghia models having alloys in the KB, to metallic hubcaps in the KC, and plain plastic in the KE.
But then again, Holden did the same thing with the astra - the SLE ended up with SLX hubcaps.

With regards to warm up, I just meant driving. I presume you start it, and wait 10 to 30 seconds before it goes in gear (ie don't put it in gear until the revs drop from the initial flare).

Five mins sounds fine - quite reasonable actually.

And remember, don't pull the plug out of a hot engine - those 80s alloys love stripping threads. Wait for it to fully cool. Basically, if it idles fine, we are trying to see the colour at regular driving. If you idle it more than a minute after driving, the colour may change a bit. No problem in regular use, but when you are trying to see the plug colour, it will change it.

Thanks for the tips. My previous KE had just that problem with a stripped plug bore. Fortunately a friend of my dad got us onto a guy who specialises in helicoiling these. Back on the road in 10 minutes. Phew!
I do indeed let it idle down to below 1500rpm at least unless I'm pressed for time. I used to be retentive about warming up until someone told me this isn't the 70s anymore and you can glaze the bores idling up to 5 minutes like I used to.
BTW what did you think of the Corollas of that era with their 16 valve "o2 advantage" engines? They were certainly a refined unit, if lacking in low end grunt.

I can think of the twin cams 16v, and before that the Super Responsive Series on the 4-KC (or maybe 4 AC) engine, can't think of the O2 advantage models specifically though.
A neighbour had a 86 or 87 twin cam until 2015 (rust), definitely sounded nice, but rust took hold.

It pains me when people (like the woman over the road with a near new BMW 3 series turbo something) start the engine and slap the car in reverse.

It was an ad campaign Toyota ran in the early 1990s for their Corollas of the time highlighting their twin cam 16 valve engines. They had a badge on the guard from memory, with an emblem showing four valves pointing upwards at an angle, resembling four trumpets being played. Slick marketing, even though the technology existed for decades, but was only beginning to become more and more standard in normal passenger cars.
Back to the little Laser/Meteor, sometimes it takes ages to idle down and I lose patience. Doesn't seem to harm it. It glides rather than bangs into gear thankfully.
I have to mention that I have muddled with the idle adjustment screw and air mixture screw in the past to try and make a difference, to little avail. That might not have been a good idea after viewing those excerpts you posted.

This Corolla ad has it

I now have that camry chicken ad in my head haha

It's just people that put the car in gear the millisecond it starts that annoy me. Anyway, cars now barely flare on startup at all - really noticeable over the past few years. Eg, 2003 Corolla revs at 2100 at startup, but 2010 Aurion V6 - rarely over 1400, and straight down to 1200.

With regard to the adjustments - usually that is idle mixture - shouldn't make a difference majorly.
What you can do as well, is start the engine, drive 10 minutes and then idle for 5-10, and see if the plugs are vastly different (rich or lean) to the other driving/no end idle plug colour check. Helps see if idle is rich, meaning wasted fuel and possibly fouled plugs causing lackluster performance

Yah, you nailed it. The AWD bit was misleading. Some would think that safely feature was across the board and the "boogeyman" Fairlane would be worth more than any of those products being spruiked, now.
Different world!
Thanks for following up on what really is not the territory covered on ODK, though undeniably related.

Anything with motors and wheels, I can't help myself and the Laser is not much bigger than most ride ons anyway.

Bye for now.

AWD was a bit of a stretch - i always thought you had to manually select 4wd in those ones

Cars were definitely smaller back then, there was a big size reduction in the 80s. Fuel crisis and all I suppose

I just noticed the time as well

Have a good night (or morning haha)

Regards
Tyler

Hi Tyler, I paid close attention in the afternoon and it took 5 mins to reach full op temp and just over 2km just as I thought . That included about a min warm up at the beginning as I had to run across to wash my hands. I had a passenger in the car. I doubt the extra long warm up had an impact. I guess the next step will be to look at one of the plugs. That will be tomorrow hopefully.

Well that sounds like the thermostat is fine. As you stated, a 1 min idle wouldn't make much difference.

Will be interesting to see the colour of the plug