A buddies 2003 ford escape cranks and almost starts but doesn’t. I got it to run about 5 seconds one time but pumping the pedal fast. Plugged in my code reader and had alot of low voltage codes and noticed the battery was dead so I got it recharged at AutoZone and tightened the cables down good. Now all codes are gone except one for emissions system not ready. Pressure tested fuel pump at the fuel rail. I connected the gauge and turned the key on and off about 4 times and it reached around 50psi which seemed good. I found what looked to be a pcv hose under the intake boot that had fallen off so I put that back on but didn’t seem to make a difference. I think it’s getting too much fuel because after trying to start for a while it quit wanting to run at all and just kept cranking and maybe sputter for a fraction of a second with the pedal all of the way down like it had flooded. Gas is a year old by didn’t smell all that bad at the test port. One thing I noticed was a steam like vapor coming up from the left side of the engine and also from the oil cap if I removed it after cranking the engine. Could this be a blown head gasket or is this normal? Coolant was low but the oil was not milky at all.
I didn’t have time to pull the plugs but could worn out spark plugs cause this?
