TundraSQ
or
Maciah
or
Anyone,
The Escape has three (3) possible types of fuel pump systems: fuel-return type; mechanical fuel returnless type; electronic fuel returnless type. It’s up to the question poster to look, or have some to look, and determine which type of fuel pump system is on their Escape (or, other Ford). The answers to the questions, about finding the causes of the problem the questioner has, is dependent upon having this information.
Hey Hellokit, sorry I don’t have any idea, but here’s my story so far: Last week, on the 22nd, I brought the truck into the dealer and they said that the exhaust pressure was around 10. We replaced the EGR valve of course and they bored out the rear catalytic converter and left the front one alone (as they said it would be really costly to check/replace/repair the front one). Anyhow, I drove back home about (100 Miles back to my city from where I was visiting from) and it’s like I’ve got a new car! I don’t ever recall having the car run so well. All seems fine to this day. We’ve been driving it over the last week and no problems whatsoever, at least yet…
An engine loves fuel. It will run great until the soot and carbon choke the exhaust (and, the catalytic converters). So, the engine will seem to not have a problem.
Your truck engine is running very rich. The fuel that didn’t (doesn’t) burn in the cylinders is burning in the exhaust and is being drawn (and pushed) up the EGR tube. There it melts the EGR valve and causes it to burst. Put your hand near the EGR valve and feel how hot it is.
The dealer is wrong: the fuel pressure regulator is NOT with the fuel pump in the gas tank; nor, is it in the fuel line near the fuel filter. Changing the fuel pump fixed nothing.
Your truck’s fuel pressure is controlled by the engine computer (PCM). The PCM controls by controlling two relays which power the fuel pump. There is no other type of fuel pressure regulator. The PCM knows what the fuel pressure is from the Fuelrail Pressure/Temperature Sensor (FP & T) on the fuel rail, on top of the engine.
There aren’t any DTCs (trouble codes) on the FP & T sensor; so, I think that it is working ok. There are two ways the FP & T Sensor fuel pressure indication can be validated: The fuel pressure can be measured with a direct reading fuel pressure gauge, and with a scan tool. If the two agree, then, they are most likely both correct.
I think the fuel pressure has been checked with a scan tool. Now, all it needs, is to check it with the direct reading pressure gauge.
The amount of fuel sprayed through the fuel injectors into the engine is controlled by how long the fuel injectors are energized. There are a couple of tools which can read this open time. I think that sprays are too long (time) and putting too much fuel into the engine.
The engine computer controls the amount of spray time of the fuel injectors from the information it gets from various sensors. Chief of these sensors are: the MAF (Mass Airflow Sensor), air intake temperature sensor, engine coolant temperature sensor, and the front oxygen sensors. Some, or all, of these sensors are sending erroneous information to the PCM. Their performance can be checked with a digital multimeter and the instructions in the repair manual.
As far as poor fuel mileage, check the lines that go from MAF (Mass Air Flow) Sensor to the throttle body as well as to the PCV (Positive Crank Ventilation). When these rubber components become old, brittle, and pliable, they have enough vacuum going through them to literally collapse the rubber lines.
My wife’s 2000 Ford truck kept putting out one of these codes, I think it was PO171 and PO174.
After stupidly replacing MAF, PCV, fuel cleaners, fuel additives, I finally bought the entire vacuum system to MAF, T.B., and PCV from the dealer. I also learned that the BBK Cold Air Intake didn’t hold the hoses on very well, so I used some clamps. That’s been a year and a half ago.
Hope this helps.
HelloKit, where are you getting this info?? You’re gonna be the first person I ask for a problem!
JP#3
Your engine is running very rich (fuel/air mixture). One of the worst (possible) causes isn’t under computer control: the diaphragm in the vacuum part of the Fuelrail Pressure & Temperature sensor (on top of the engine). If that vacuum diaphragm is leaking, the vacuum could be sucking large amounts of fuel straight into the engine intake and on into the engine cylinders.
This is easy to check: pull the vacuum hose from the F P & T sensor (also, called the FRP sensor) and check it for fuel. Also, you could attach a hand-operated vacuum pump to the F P & T sensor port. If it doesn’t hold vacuum, or does suck fuel, the diaphragm is leaking.
JP#3, Those DTC codes are for lean fuel/air conditions. Leaking vacuum hoses can contribute to that, significantly.
Come on Post. Let’s get you to April 5th at 10:27PM. to show yourself to this other Ford Escape. (It looks like you are related, performance-wise).
Like my fellow Escape owners and as my username suggests, my ford has lived up to its name sake, Found On Roadside Dead (Sorry had to do it). Granted mine is not totally dead, yet. If it matters, I have right around 115K miles on my car. Anyways over the past 6 months I have had 3 separate check engine lights come up as 3 different coils failed along with a noticeable lack of power taking off. The first time one failed I took it to the dealer and they were nice enough to diagnose and fix it for $550. The second two I fixed myself for the cost of the coils, which I believe was $60 each.
It’s been about 3 months since the last one failed and about a week ago I noticed that my engine wasn’t wanting to accelerate past 65mph, and it took it’s time getting up to speed (I do not have a check engine light on and I did check to see if it works). Yesterday I am driving from the house in a 45mph zone to get to a freeway feeder, got on the feeder and noticed that my car didn’t want to go past 50mph. Got on the freeway on a slight downhill and it still didn’t want to go, hit the next overpass and heard a spraying or hissing like noise that progressively got worse within about 60 seconds. Pulled over, opened the hood, and what do you know, I have a hole in the side of the EGR. I decided to drive it off the freeway since it blew outward and not inward so I had reasonable belief that no metal went into the engine. Well, I noticed something, the car actually drove better, so I drove it back home.
Today I replaced the EGR Valve ($50), and test drove the car and it is back to doing what it was doing a week ago. If you don’t already know this the Ford Escape is a sideways six, and on my car all the coils that had failed over 3 months ago were are all in the front side of the engine compartment. The ones on the firewall side are still original, and if I were to replace them requires the removal of the fuel injection system and if I remember correctly the intake manifold. I changed my spark plugs back around 90K miles and it was a pain in the ___. If only I knew then what I know now I would have replaced all 6 coils along with the spark plugs.
Being faced with possibly having to dish out $400 or more dollars per exhaust manifold Cat. not including the cost of any labor (I?m not sure I want to do this one myself) is a little overwhelming when I?ve been looking for work for 5 months now and need a car. I think I will try what the entry where someone took the 3rd Cat. out and inspect it first to see if there is internal damage. I will let everyone know what I find and what I did. Anyone have any suggestion beyond what?s already been posted, please drop a comment.
I attached a picture of my EGR Valve, and as they say a picture is worth at thousand words. On a side note, it?s interesting that this is occurring rather frequently on 2001 and 2002 Ford Escape?s which leads me to suggest either poor manufacturing of the EGR valve itself, or a poorly designed catalytic convertors for this vehicle. Most of the threads I have seen are in relation to those vehicles.
This is in reply to your brake issue, did you check all the hoses in and around the master cylinder? The reason I ask it the position of my EGR Valve blow out hole is in line with the master cylinder area. If a fragment from the EGR valve penetrated one of the lines or the cylinder itself it might have caused your brake problem. Just a thought.
Is this a hopeless situation? Has anyone successfully repaired this problem? The reason I ask is that I have a friend who’s experiencing the same frustration with his 2001 and is hesitating about throwing good money after bad.
Any successful stories to share? Thanks!
i have a 2004 Ford Escape 6 cylinder, 4WD with 64,000 miles. Engine was chugging, brought it to my mechanic. EGR valve had the side blown out which he replaced. Told it need a new catalytic conv. and brought it to Ford for the Fed. Warrantee. They replaced the rear Cat, and O2 sensor which was bent. and said it was misfiring on Cyl 2 and 6, to bring it to my mechanic. He said its not misfiring and the muffler was clogged. My mechanic replaced the muffler. 1 week later I had the same problem. My mechanic said it was the fron Cat. Conv. Brought the car to Ford. They replaced the plugs and coils, computer, and then they said the front Cat. Conv had to be replaced, which they did. They finally cam back and said the car runs fine when it’s cold, but once it gets hot it won’t move. They say that it’s leaking oil and advised that I need a new motor. Do you have any advice?
My 2002 Mazda Tribute blew 2 EGR valves. Prior to the first blowing, I mentioned to my family how sluggish the acceleration was. I am convinced the EGRs blew when we punched the gas. The pressure in the firewall side exhaust manifold must have been very high. Not many mechanics have heard of this problem. Calls by my mechanic to others pointed to the firewall exhaust manifold/cat converter. While under the car, he shook the rear cat converter; it sounded like a baby rattle. They cut off the rear cat and shook out large and small pieces of the ‘honey comb’ material that had come from the firewall cat. So the rear cat was clogged and the front was toast as well. The firewall cat was passing very little exhaust which was the cause of my problem. There is an exhaust tube that connects to the exhaust manifolds, that also connects to the rear cat. The mechanic dropped this pipe and cleaned out the firewall cat and any remaining debris. I did not fix the firewall cat since that would have cost around $800. The car is running fine: $275. The down sides are: Dealing with possible emission rejection in about 7 months. The oxygen sensor has not thrown a code yet since the fix; going on 7 days. Catalytic Converters should not go bad. There are a number of reasons why they do including fuel additives, spark plug or coil issues, fuel delivery issues. Research costs money if you are not the one doing the research and I don’t believe the auto computer provides that level of detail.
I found these posts very helpful; I read every one and others on the net. My first stop was to a ‘reputable’ Ford Dealer. My wife got an estimate for $450 saying they intended to replace the EGR valve only. In 20 minutes + $55, I did that repair. The auto parts place was very kind replacing the second EGR for free. The next stop was to the Mazda dealership. Their diagnostic fee was $90 if I did not repair there. I spoke the the service manager, trying to come up with a reasonable cause. I knew if the cats were out I would be paying $1200+ and I wanted to go on a vacation. Meineke completed the diagnostic and repair.
one or all of your cats is bad. I had the same problem last year, replaced the 2 front cats, left the firewall side. just last month, i started missfiring, replaced my 3 bad coils after 2 weeks. a whistle developed and last night i blew my egr. after looking. the whistle was a hole in the exhaust. i had lost all power, couldnt go over 50 mph all that happy horseish. the misfires cause unburned fuel to enter my cat, destroyed it and now im punching out the honeycomb of the firewall side cat. THIS IS OKAY! the o2 sensor is before the cat on that side! emissions in all states but california are now by computer only, they dont stick the sniffer in the tailpipe anymore! as long as the o2sensor is before the cat its all gravy.
Jameslinx, I have the same problem with my 2002 Escape. Did punching out the honeycomb fix the problem of the EGR valve blowing?
I am having this same problem on my 2004 ford escape. I am on my second valve. My first one blew a hole out of the side put a new one on went to blocks and same thing