Egr Valve

[heavychevy901]

Hello fellow car enthusiast..i have a problem..i have a 2001 escape,3.0l...i bought the car in february...the day after i bought it i was driving on the expressway and all of a sudden i lost pressure and acceleration...then i started hearin a hissing noise from under the hood...i pop the hood and theres a hole in the egr valve...i work on cars so i replaced it...and i drove fine all the way up until august...i all of a sudden had a misfire on number 6 cylinder...no power what so ever...it ran better when the egr valve had a hole in it....i jus replaced the plug 2 sundays ago...the car ran fine for a day...and the misfire sode came back up on number 6...so i knew then it was the coil...b4 i even get to change the coil,wut happened in february happened all over again...so now im stumped..instead of jus replacing the egr valve i also need to find out what is causing it to get holes in it...sorry for the long story, i just wanted to give you the full maintanence factors on the car...thanks for your help.

[Davescort97]

Welcome to AF!

The Escape's with the V6 have been known to have plugged cats. The extra pressure is causing the EGR valve to fail. About the only remedy is to put in a new cat.

[heavychevy901]

ok..i kinda figured that...but y didnt the cat code come up on diagnostics????how many cats are there...and if more than one,which one will the most likely to b the problem...thanks

[Davescort97]

There's just the one catalytic converter. Sometimes they won't trigger a diagnostic code. One way to check before you get into it is to put a vacuum gauge on the intake. If the vacuum gauge reads 17 inches or less, the cat is probably plugged up or the muffler is plugged up. Most likely it would be the cat. Good luck!

[danielsatur]

The ECU/ PCU uses two O2 sensors, the upstream is used for Air/Fuel mix, and the down stream is used to check the catalyst in the converters.
If the catalytic coverter doesn't perform, the ECU gets a signal from the down stream O2 sensor, and a code is thrown.
If a catalytic converter is plugged, it usually doesn't throw a code, but causes
heat damage.

I have seen ,a plugged Catalytic coverter choke a 4-cylinder out.

Any local muffler shop should beable to run a back- pressure test on your catalytic converter.

[97explorersport]

My 03 Escape looks like it has a front and rear converter, my guess is that the front is the converter. So what is in the rear is it a resinator then the muffler?? Thanks for amy reply.

[Davescort97]

Yeah, you only have the one cat. The other is probably a resonator.

[65comet]

Well Dave, the 01-06 V-6 Escape/Tributes have 3 cats. Yep, each exhaust header has a cat built in to help burn the extra fuel at startup until warmed up. The problem is that these cats are junk. They burn out pretty quickly and send all their guts into the main cat. If you are under 8 years or 80 thousand miles, you are in luck. The federal govt requires such a warranty on catalytic converters. It only covers the parts, not labor. But at over 500 each for the two headers with cats, and 250 for the main cat, that could help you. Won't help me, 98,000 miles, but 3 months until the 8 year mark. The FordForums site has hundreds of posts with people wanting a class-action lawsuit for this on the Escapes. I got a code on the EGR and did the vacuum test for plugged exhaust because I suspected the cat. Vacuum test was fine, so don't trust it. Get the exhaust back pressure test. My EGR blew a hole in it. Checked with several parts places to find one. Everyone said back to me when I first say the EGR has a hole in it, that I must have a V6 Escape or Tribute. Every exhaust shop I called for prices immediately say I'm probably looking at replacing two or three of the cats when I say what vehicle it is. They are averaging 2 a week and are way behind in deliveries of replacements. This looks to be fun, fun, fun. I'm checking them myself and going to order replacements online. Don't have 1600 for parts and labor to have the exhaust shop do it. Everything is bolt on, no welded connections. Almost like they were expecting it to be a problem.