Ok, I’ll TRY to make this as brief as possible… But im at my wits end and need help . This is regarding a 2003 ford escape 3.0 v6 that I purchased in 2014 with 72,000 miles on it from a large Ford dealership here in L. A.
About 2 years ago in a huff, I pulled out of my driveway in reverse and then popped it into drive and floored it… My car backfired which scared me to death. It drove a little strange on my way to the gas station about a mile away. When I opened my gas tank door I noticed a bunch of dirt there which I shrugged off… I got on the freeway but it started stuttering and the check engine light lit up… so I exited and drove home and had to deal with the drama I was trying to run from… Which then got me wondering if “someone” who didn’t want me to leave in the first place had put dirt in my gas tank. Still an outstanding mystery.
I left the car un-driven for 6 months or so until I finally got a code reader and showed codes P0205 P0305 and P0316. I decided to replace the 3 front coils and plugs which would be for injectors 4, 5 and 6 hoping that would solve the problem. I started it up and took it for a ride and everything seemed great… For about 10 miles and then the dreaded check engine light came on. Plugged in the OBD and the same codes came up.
I don’t drive the car often as proven my milage which stands at just over 74,000. Because i couldnt afford to bring it in to get it fixed it just sat in the driveway and maybe driven 2-5 miles a week to the grocery store… With the occasional longer trip but never more than 30 miles … Car honestly runs fine… Occasionally when it hits a certain speed (usually around 50mph) it might start vibrating but lifting my foot off the gas and then pressing it just a little harder fixes the problem. I’ve driven on freeways at 70 miles per hour without a problem but again, short distances.
Today I was forced once again to deal with this as I need to get a smog certificate to renew my registration. I know it’s going to fail and want to take advantage of California’s $500 CAP program to help pay for my repairs. So I took my car to the smog place today to get a FAILED smog result which I need to submit with my application for CAP. The tech tells me I have a different VIN number on my PCM than what the car’s VIN is and can’t perform a smog on it. He says the state recently stopped Smog places from overriding the vin number due to fraud. I explain I never changed the PCM and I bought the car used 4 years earlier and didn’t have a problem getting a smog the last time. Again he said it was a recent change and suggested going back to the dealership and having them flash the PCM with the correct VIN number. I drive over the Galplin Ford where I bought it used and they researched it and said I must of changed the PCM because all their paperwork shows only the correct VIN number. I never changed the PCM… i asked them if they could just flash it with the correct VIN and they said you can’t do that… Its hard coded. Then said go back to the smog place that they most certainly can override the VIN number in the smog system. I said they told me they couldn’t and he assured me they could.
So who’s lying? Does anyone know? I mean how am I going to get my car legal again if I can’t get it smogged? Also, when a dealership buys a used car don’t they verify the VIN on the PCM to ensure its not stolen or that the pcm is the original?
Secondly…I know driving my car on and off for 2 years with a misfiring cylinder can’t be good and from what I’ve been told probably ruined all 3 catalytic converters… But I never see any smoke or smell anything odd from the car. Oh and by the way, I recently went ahead and changed the back 3 coils and plugs to see if that fixed any thing but it didn’t… So could it actually be the fuel injector #5? Everything I’ve read and researched online says it’s usually the plugs or coils on those codes and not the actual injector… But wrapping this whole story up, could it be when it backfired it did in fact damage the fuel injector? It only backfired that one time 2 years ago… And finally… What about the dirt? If someone put some dirt in my gas tank, would it cause these problems? I’ve tried over the years a few injector cleaner products and can’t tell if it helped or not, but that check engine light is on and the codes remain. This weekend I also replaced the fuel filter (which was filthy) but didn’t net me any big changes
Sorry for the long winded post… Im just losing my mind over this. Any insight or advice would be sooooooo welcomed.
Thanks guys.