I am having the above codes come up P0316 and PO305. The car is running rough…just started tonight. The check engine light started flashing but it’s on continuously. Of course when I had the codes read at a Firestone they gave absolutely no help as to what it could be.
Because it’s probably a V6, I’m leaning towards coils
Are you due or overdue for plugs?
Please tell us the model year and engine
I have owned the car for a year, haven’t changed the plugs in that time, and not sure about the prior owner. It has about 127,000 miles on it. It’s a 2004 Ford Escape 3.0L. V6
You’re definitely overdue for plugs
I have a strong suspicion, based on professional experience, that the previous owner did not change the plugs. If they had, they probably would have kept the car
Code P0316 indicates a problem with the Crankshaft Position Sensor circuit. Code P0305 indicates a problem with a misfire in cylinder #5.
I would first find out what is causing code P0316 as this can cause code P0305.
Tester
From what I have read online they give a wide range of issues for the code PO316. Anything from bad gas, to spark plugs, on and on it goes.
A faulty crankshaft pos sensor is not an uncommon problem reported here. Not just on Fords, but in general these parts seem to be prone to failure.
I read the wrong definition.
Code P0316 indictes a misfire in the first 1,000 revolutions when the engine is started.
Do the spark plugs.
Tester
I think we had a similar code on our 03 windstar, at the dealer it was a lean something or other, and to the tune of $500 we had plenum o rings replaced. been fine since, dealer said they can read codes others cannot, no idea about that.
Had the plugs checked, they said they were fine. They said the coils look like they were fixed recently. It misfired on them when it was cold, but once it warmed up it stopped. When I drove it this morning to the shop it didn’t misfire, drove fine. Any other ideas? My dad is thinking bad fuel.
Think about it this way. What are the ingredients for a proper firing?
- Proper fuel air mixture for the temperature.
- Proper compression.
- Proper spark
- At the right time
If you have all those ingredients in place, there will be no misfire. So at least one of those isn’t in place. The question is “which one”? The answer is just a simple matter of elimination. And you have a clue, it varies with temperature.
“Had the plugs checked, they said they were fine.”
What does that mean?
They’re old and worn, but not causing the misfire?
They’re new?
If it misfired when cold, then smoothed out, you may have vacuum leaks. Bad intake gaskets, for example, tend to swell up a little as the engine warms up
Just throwing an idea out there
I would be thinking about two things, two of which are reasonably easy to check. When you start the car cold the computer uses what is basically a preset table of numbers to decide upon fuel delivery. The fuel delivery is, as GeorgeSanJose mentioned heavily influenced by temperature. There is the coolant temp and the ambient air temp and there is a sensor for both of those. So both of those temp sensors need to be checked.
The second thing I would wonder about is fuel injector that either gets very leaky or doesn’t like to open or energize when cold. This is less easy, but not that big a deal - one could swap the #5 injector with another one and see if the misfire code moves to that cylinder. (E.g. if the injector is the issue and you move it to cylinder six, you’d then get P0316 with P0306). Of course, this will not help if there is an issue is on the electrical supply side.
One other thought is a possible interaction between the two - temp readings that are somewhat off with a marginal fuel injector.
Final thought. I recently had a weird issue with my own car. On cold mornings (figure 25F or lower) when I first started the car I would get the typical cloud of cold-morning steam, but within the first 30 seconds-minute would also get one somewhat large cloud of acrid smelling whitish/gray smoke - burning carbon. My assumption was that one of the injectors was sticking open in the cold. I don’t know if it was or not, but I happened to have most of can of Berryman’s Chemtool (a fairly powerful fuel system cleaner) in the garage. I dumped that in one day on top of a 1/4 tank of gas and ran it down to almost empty. I haven’t had the problem since. So maybe try that - I’d go with Berryman’s, SeaFoam, or Chevron’s Techron. However, not that this would also not help if there is an electrical issue.
db4690.They took of the plugs and said they looked new, and they checked the coils and said they looked as though they had recently been changed.
They are going to leave it sit overnight in the cold, which is cold in MN, and see what it does in the morning. They are going to let it warm up and see if it’s a cold related issue, or a warm related issue.
Is it fixed?
Just got it fixed. Ignition coil.
Thanks for the update?
So I gather you replaced the #5 coil . . .
Did you install a genuine Ford motorcraft part?