[coachlee12]

Engine light continues to blink. Have replace all plugs and wires, replaced coil pack and had several tune ups. O2 senors are next. Some reason the plugs keep fouling out. Engine light starts blinking and van will hardly move at times then accelerates real quickly. Not sure what to do next. Luckily I teach school and the vocational department automotive classes can work on it. What to do next. Please help.

 

[cjones]

have you checked for codes??

 

[coachlee12]

I will get them tomorrow from the vocational school. They are putting two o2 sensors on tomorrow and I will get the codes from the tech. Thanks.

 

[cjones]

why are you installing O2 sensors before you diagnose the problem??

 

[80 maytag]

Please let us know what you find out. My neighbor is having the same problem. Plugs, wires, coil pack, fuel pump, cleaned egr ports, pcv, Drained an extra THIRTEEN (13!) quarts from the oil pan(it was all oil, hubby isn't allowed to work on it anymore), and a new injector on #1. All of this makes it go away a little bit more, but still has a dead miss on #1 instead of #1 #5 & #7. All cylinders have 130-145 on the compression test. Runs fine past 2000 rpm, but the gearing is set up so you never see 2k at cruise, not even on the highway at 70 in drive. Inquiring minds need to know. Rich

 

[phantom]

try cleaning the egr ports. replace the isolator bolts and intake o-rings while you are there.

 

[MissInformation]

try cleaning the egr ports. replace the isolator bolts and intake o-rings while you are there.

Good call!!

I was just about to post Article 03-16-1 which supersedes TSB 03-4-7 and 00-21-8 pertaining to the replacement of the Upper Intake & Port Gaskets and Isolator Bolts.

 

[oldtimer35]

A blinking check engine light tells you that the engine is miss firing enough to dump raw fuel into the catalytic convertor, which can ruin the convertor. That is why the OBD II system initiated that warning. If you are having this problem, then you need to have someone that is competent in electronic diagnosis look at you vehicle to see what is causing the problem, before it gets really expensive to fix. I'm not saying the the teacher in your vocational department is not the best guy to go to, but I would try the dealer, instead. The cost of the two O2 sensors would have paid for the diagnosis, and I sincerely doubt that they were the cause of your problem. They are a tattle tale sensor that informs the ECM of the final output of the engine. They are the most misdiagnosed sensor on the vehicle. I just hate to see folks spend their money needlessly on items to fix their cars, when the proper diagnosis would be a cheaper route.

 

[Boghog]

Your right on the money there OldTimer.Nothing worse than spending $2000. on Cats when all you needed was a $7.00 intake gasket or a $1.00 vac hose.

 

[coachlee12]

I will have to try a new dealer then. I took to a local ford dealer and they ran diagnostics on it and said needed a tune up and #1 coil pack was bad. So I got the tune up and had the voc school do the coil pack for free. So I decided to let the voc school keep looking at it because the bogus tune up that didn't help cost me more than the coil pack, O2 sensors and new plugs and wires. If this doesn't clear it up I will try a new dealer. Thanks so much for the advice and I will keep you updated.
The new O2 sensors did clear it up some. The engine light is not blinking any more but did come back on this evening.

 

[coachlee12]

Good call!!

I was just about to post Article 03-16-1 which supersedes TSB 03-4-7 and 00-21-8 pertaining to the replacement of the Upper Intake & Port Gaskets and Isolator Bolts.

Thanks so much for posting that article. Very good to read and research the appropriate parts.

 

[coachlee12]

OK here are the codes. P0174, po301, po304, po305. Van already has new engine coil, new plugs and vires, new 02 censors. What would be the next step. Old Timer and any one else please advise. Thanks.

 

[cjones]

the 174 is probably caused by the misfires in cyls 1, 4, and 5.

time to do a compression check. remember to remove all the plugs, throttle at WOT, and the battery fully charged before starting the check.

 

[Poppy]

I believe that Really plugged egr ports in cyls 2, 3, and 6 could cause the missfires also,

 

[Canuck623]

#'s 1, 4 and 5 are not all on the same bank so I would do the intake gaskets as per the TSB supplied by Missinformation. The 174 is for bank 2, front of engine. If you can do pending codes as well there is probably a 171 in there as well just waiting. Since it only has #1 feeding it that could take a while longer to show up. Plugged EGR ports will cause misfires but not at idle. If it is smooth at idle but misses on acceleration then EGR ports could be the culprit. If it is rough at idle it's something else. If your scan tool can monitor injector faults do that while it idles. If they are all 0 it's intakes.

 

[Poppy]

Man! Do we have a team working here?!

Canuck623, I am soooo happy that you jumped in.

Coach, I always learn stuff from Canuck, please do your best to answer his questions, because depending upon the answers, they will lead him down one diagnostic path or another.

For example he mentioned "#'s 1, 4 and 5 are not all on the same bank" I noted that but didn't know the relevance.

 

[coachlee12]

Did compression test and it was fine. Monday we are going to pull intakes according to the TSB supplied by missinformation and follow it step for step. I will let you know next week how it goes. Thanks for all your help on my van of doom.

 

[coachlee12]

Ok here is the latest with no solution. Followed the Tsb from misinformation and replace intake gaskets, cleaned and inspected the egr (nothing there). Inspected and check for vaccum leaks on all the pvc hoses. Went ahead and did another compression check and everything is still good, fuel pressure and regulator checked ok. It acts as if there is a vaccum leak but we can't find one. #1 spark plug was fuel fouled again. Not sure where to go from here. Right side catalytic converter is going bad and I will get that replaced shortly. any help.
What is so puzzling is that sometimes the van will idle, accelerate and fun fine for a while and then engine light starts blinking, won't acclerate. Catalyic converter starts rattling.

 

[phantom]

You never mentioned what kind of spark plugs you installed. I recommend oem Motorcraft.

 

[oldtimer35]

Ok, lets start with the rattling cat. With the vehicle up in the air, take a small rubber mallet and bang on the cats. If you here something rattle inside the cat, then the material inside the cat is coming apart. There are situations where that material can move around and cause the exhaust to plug. This can cause an engine to misfire, as the exhaust cannot escape. Have someone remove the cat, try to "dump" the material out of the cat and reinstall it and see if it runs better. If so, then part of the problem is solved.
Second, you said you didn't find anything wrong with the egr. You did check the egr ports in the lower intake when you had the upper off, right. These are the ones we meant when we said to check the ports. I don't know if that was clear, if not, sorry about that. check these things and then we can go from there.