fuel injector or vacuum leak?

I've just started having trouble with my '97 Escort. The past couple of days it has had a rough idle. Usually, the car will shake about every 2 seconds as though it was about to stall and rev's slightly in between. Yesterday on the highway, I got two error codes P0300 (random cylinder misfire) and P1132 (fuel air problem). Auto zone computer says that the P1132 suggests a leaking injector in bank one.

Has anyone had this happen before? Is there a known/common problem with the fuel-air mix in Escorts?

Is is possible that this is a vacuum leak (which I had suspected previously)? If so, could I disconnect a vacuum hose, connect it to a bicycle pump, and soak the tubes to try to find the leak at low PSI?

Thank you very much for your help.

well if you want to find a vacuum leak start the car let it warm up so everything expands. then take a can of CARB clean and spray short burst around and on the vacuum hoses. if the motor acts like its chokeing and sputtering out then its very possible that you have a vacuum leak. possible intake as well.. (note : make sure not to spray in the throttle body becuase it will cause this "choking" and give faulse readings. If there is an injecter leak you would most likely smell fuel around the motor area. you might have a pluged injecter and that misfire code is due from lack of fuel. (to find which cylender is misfireing when the engine is running try pulling off the spark plug caps 1 b y 1 and see if the idle changes. if there is no vacuum leak try having a FIC(fuel injection cleaning) or a motorvac done on ur car. it should clean out all the injecters and that will iliminate that area to look, it could also be from a mass air flow sensor or even running bad fuel or having a clogged fuel filter..

if none of this helps. reply with more simptoms

if none of this helps. reply with more simptoms

alright. havent done any work on the car yet, but here are a few more things i thoguht of-

the error code is a rich fuel mix code, apparently, for 'bank 1'. does 'bank 1' refer to a specific injector? i didnt think there would be a sensor for each, but i dont know. if the error code really is saying that the bank one injector is seeing a rich mix, presumably only one injector is being affected, so that would rule out air intake problems.

one the highway i get a periodic rough run, car shakes a little, then for no reason that i can figure out will start running smooth again. feels like an automatic transmission downshifting (i have a manual).

if 'bank 1' actually refers to a specific injector, which one is it, out of curiosity?

and finally, i had a good look at the injectors when the code was read. didnt see any leaks, and didnt notice any fuel smell. gas mileage is pretty similar (over a tank and a half) to normal operation.

i plan to take the injector rail apart tomorrow and check the o-rings on the injectors, check the air intake to make sure there is no mouse nest (its happened before), and read the new code thats up (i cleared the originals).

anything else i should look for?

thanks,
anthony

i wouldnt tare apart the rack.. if you dont smell gas or see gas leaking then its most likly not your injecters leaking.

the BANK reference is depending on motor.. like a V12 V10 V8 V6 V4. all have 2 banks. the left set of cylenders.. and the right set of cylenders. well the I4 I6 etc. only have 1 bank so the richness is being read from the hole motor.

FIRST THING: check your O2 senser make sure they are swinging(bring to a shop or someone with a datastream program and can hook up to the car. it starting to sound like a dead O2 senser.

if they seem to be working fine. check plugs and see which ones are fauld out or which ones are light brown to white... check the plugs and get back to me .. ill have a better idea of where to go.

not a problem,
Also Anthony

had the new codes read at autozone this morning. this time its the 1132 code again, and a new code- 1132. both are manufacturer codes-

the autozone computer says : 1131 'man. controlled fuel air meter'. "lack of H02S switch - sensor indicates lean"

i cant seem to find anyone who can test out the 02 sensor, except the dealer who will do it as part of their diagnostic package.

i havent pulled the plugs because the haynes manual says to do it when the engine is cool (of course i found that out after i had driven around all morning) but i guess ill get around to it later and report back if that still seems like a good idea.

i find this really frustrating. electronic sensor systems. i have no idea whats going on and cant just take it apart and see with my eyes what isnt working right. i really appreciate the help,

anthony


i wouldnt tare apart the rack.. if you dont smell gas or see gas leaking then its most likly not your injecters leaking.

the BANK reference is depending on motor.. like a V12 V10 V8 V6 V4. all have 2 banks. the left set of cylenders.. and the right set of cylenders. well the I4 I6 etc. only have 1 bank so the richness is being read from the hole motor.

FIRST THING: check your O2 senser make sure they are swinging(bring to a shop or someone with a datastream program and can hook up to the car. it starting to sound like a dead O2 senser.

if they seem to be working fine. check plugs and see which ones are fauld out or which ones are light brown to white... check the plugs and get back to me .. ill have a better idea of where to go.

not a problem,
Also Anthony

just found a site online with the ford error codes:

http://www.obd-codes.com/trouble_codes/ford/

one note: the two recent error codes are for both lean and rich mix states. dont know what this means, but the codes make more sense when written out in real english..

1131 Lack of Upstream Heated Oxygen Sensor Switch - Sensor Indicates Lean - Bank No. 1

1132 Lack of Upstream Heated Oxygen Sensor Switch - Sensor Indicates Rich - Bank No. 1

first- thanks to AlaskanWrench (and all the other folks who over the years have helped me out).

a quick run-down on the recent history with my car, to clear up the mystery..

im on the road right now, traveling around the country. i started getting odd emissions/fuel mix codes at various times, no external indicators of problems, except for frequent missing and shaking for no obvious reasons and a cycling rough idle. i did a lot of reading, posted here, and spent some time prodding some car parts store employees and the consensus seemed that it was an electrical/sensor problem that generally requires specialized equipment to diagnose correctly.

my mpg had not gone done much, maybe 5 mpg, so i picked the cheapest dealer on my way and dropped it off for a diagnosis. first time ever at a dealer. second time ever paying anyone to do anything for my car, except mount tires on rims. it hurt my pride, but i was in over my head.

well, the mechanic calls me into the shop and tells me he cant even get the diagnostic computer to communicate with the car. he shows me the bad grounds that go into the little black plastic box that attaches to the neg batt terminal and says that that will have to be replaced to even diagnose the problem, and further- that that might be the problem in the first place.

a while back, i had had some recurrent corrosion problems and despite repeated cleanings and attempted greasings, etc, it kept coming back. the wires were pretty corroded, and i wanted to rip out the entire box and splice in new pretty wire. i dropped by a dealer in utah whose mechanic was on break (ok, so im cheap) and asked him what the box was. he said it was a charge controller and that if i removed it the car would not work, but that it woudl be fine if i cleaned it.

so i cleaned it and three weeks later started having these problems. it turns out the small wires entering the box were very corroded, far more so than the exterior main ground, and i hadnt been able to see these.

the dealer mech im actually paying says to rip it out and splice in new stuff. he assures me it is just a junction box, which is waht i originally suspected.

so i ripped it out, wired in a new terminal, spliced in new wires (four or five sensors or other wires ground here) and bolted on the main ground. it worked fine, and the check engine light has not resurfaced since.

i also replaced the battery, as i suspected that my repeat corrosion problems, as mentioned elsewhere, were due to a battery that was spewing acid all over the place. this was reinforced by a acid-sensing battery cleaned spray i picked up for a couple bucks. every drive would find more acid on top of the battery.

but the jury is still out- i did have some very weird starting problems soon after i replaced the ground hardware. i was using a lead terminal and everything else bolted on. the battery and terminal were wirebrushed clean, and silicone dilectric grease put between the faces, and the external parts were spray painted. three or four times within two days of the new parts i would go to turn the car on, and it would (for a fraction of a second) start (with the engine turning, fuel pump running, etc) and then would die completely. completely dead. like the car coughed and died. no power whatsoever after that. no lights. no radio. no warning lights. the only thing that woudl bring it back is if i took the terminal off, looked at it with a grumpy face, and put it back on. sometimes i had to do this several times. multimeter readings would read weird stuff. ground/pos voltage: 12.6. lead battery terminal/pos voltage: one or two volts. repeatedly. it did not rationally or regularly respond to tightening, wiggling, cleaning, re-cleaning, etc. totally weird. the lead terminal was somehow not making a good connection. sometimes it took me fifteen minutes of taking things apart and being grumpy and putting them back together before the car woudl work again. at least once the ground terminal smoked (arcing?) when it 'coughed' and died.

finally, i switched the lead terminal for a cheaper stamped steel one and it has not had problems since, althouhg it has only driven around 10 hours since the second terminal change-out.

i have the black box, and if i have no problems within the next month, i will cut it open and see if it is just a junction box for sure.

thanks for your help, everyone.

anthony