#6 misfire with 24v duratech

Hi, I'm new to the board, and I hope someone can help me out. I got a blinking check engine light that turned out to be a #6 misfire code (read by AutoZone). After more diagnostics from a local garage it appeared to be a faulty fuel injector (no pressure at idle). After replacing the # 6 injector, I find myself with the same problem. While driving the car is fine. Let the car idle for more the a couple of minutes and the car starts to hesitate and the check engine light comes back on. Once I'm back underway the car starts running fine again. Has anyone experienced anything like this? I should mention that I have a 2000 Sable LS, 24v duratech with 54000 miles.

Thanks in advance!
Mike

Yes, our 01 Taurus, 24v with 60,000 miles has had the engine light on since late summer. Ford said it needed a valve replaced, carbon build up. Had gas cap replaced recently, cheapest option, ran worse. Took in to have EGR valve replaced, 2nd cheapest option, and they insisted on diagnosing it again and said the same thing, code showed #5 valve misfiring. After gas cap replaced it ran worse, rough idle then acceleration very rough, light blinking. Drive for a little while and rides fine until you idle again. Read that driving with light blinking can cause a lot of damage. Getting worse each day. Don't know whether to have them do the work or take it somewhere else for another opinion. Light is not always on, but about 90% of the time.

dealer rarely if ever knows what they're doing and has no pressure to actually fix it because people will still go there no matter how crappy of a job they do.

That being said, this is also a very hard problem to diagnose. I would call around to various shops asking them about the problem and listen to how educated they might sound about it. Be aware that alot of shops also don't like working on the duratec because of how shoehorned into the engine bay it is.

I'm also new to the Board. Same problem though. I have a 2000 Ford Taurus, 3.0 L FFV engine. The check engine light came on last month (at 60621 miles), was diagnosed by local garage to be misfiring of #3 & 6 cylinders. Plugs were inspected, tested, and cleaned - no effect. Further testing yeilded EGR valve tube disconnected. Reconnected line and it ran fine. Until 32 days later... yesterday the same feel of a rough ride returned, along with the blinking light. Today it changed to a solid light, but the ride is fine. Any ideas?

Thanks in advance!
James in Iowa

Does anyone know what was wrong with their cars or are you all continuing to drive your Taurus in the degraded mode. Continued driving will only cause additional damage. As Mr. Goodwrench says, "Pay me now, or pay me a lot later.

Let see, what do we need for # 6 to fire.

Air,
Gas,
Spark
Compression.

That's it.

Tom
HardFord.

That being said, this is also a very hard problem to diagnose. I would call around to various shops asking them about the problem and listen to how educated they might sound about it. Be aware that alot of shops also don't like working on the duratec because of how shoehorned into the engine bay it is.

I was just posting about how hard it is to get at those back three plugs. That's why a tune-up with plug change is so much more expensive on the Taurus. You'd think you were tuning a Vett.

That's a nice crest you guys have there in ZBT. Check ours out at www.alphasigmachi.com. In order to put that avitar up it had to reside someplace on the web, right? Or, is there a place at automotiveforums to paste your avitar?

I have experienced a similar problem with my 2000 Taurus with the 24 V engine. I have never seen this with the other 3.0l. none 24 v, Taurus' I have had. The CEL will flash while at idle , especially when the car is warm. I had it diagnosed and determined there was a vacuum leak. The next time the spark plugs were replaced and the #4 coil. The problem continues to re-occur. Has any one been able to solve the problem? The codes show cylinder 4 mis-fire, even after the plug and coil replacement. Should I replace the injector? The CEL will reset as if there is not a problem. Other times it may just flash at idle, or it may stay on afterward. I don't want to drive oit this way however it has been hard to nail down the cause. I have also seen discussions of potential damaged valves. The car has 94,000 miles.

I just got my 2000 taurus a few weeks ago and was never told that it was a FFV engine. I hear that this car is made to use #85 gas in it if possible - i am not sure if the past owners used this type of gas. Will it make a difference if i start using this gas or SHOULD i start using this gas in it??
My check engine light turned on for 1 1/2 days and has been off since. Not knowing too much about cars, Can i still get this checked for a code if the light is off now?

thanks!
Rebecca in IA

I have experienced a similar problem with my 2000 Taurus with the 24 V engine. I have never seen this with the other 3.0l. none 24 v, Taurus' I have had. The CEL will flash while at idle , especially when the car is warm. I had it diagnosed and determined there was a vacuum leak. The next time the spark plugs were replaced and the #4 coil. The problem continues to re-occur. Has any one been able to solve the problem? The codes show cylinder 4 mis-fire, even after the plug and coil replacement. Should I replace the injector? The CEL will reset as if there is not a problem. Other times it may just flash at idle, or it may stay on afterward. I don't want to drive oit this way however it has been hard to nail down the cause. I have also seen discussions of potential damaged valves. The car has 94,000 miles.

Find a shop with a scan tool that can monitor critical parameters in real time. I have an OTC Genisys that works very well for this. My 1996 Taurus SHO was misfiring and since the 8 coil packs go for around $180 each, I wanted to be sure I knew where my problem was. The Genisys will record various parameters at the moment a Diagnostic Trouble Code (DTC) is reported. It also allows me to monitor and display multiple parameters at once while driving. So, while driving, I monitored cylinder misfire counts for the 8 cylinders as well as the air-fuel ratio. I was able to see that each time cylinder #2 missed, the air-fuel ratio went rich, indicating that I had plenty of fuel and probably not enough spark to ignite the fuel. I replaced the cylinder #2 coil pack (not much fun with a V-8 stuffed in the Taurus engine bay!) and my problem went away.

If you can determine whether you have a fuel miss or a spark miss, then you will be able to narrow your focus. You may also want to monitor the engine coolant temperature sensor to make sure that the coolant temp report seems reasonable, as well as the O2 sensors. Both of these sensors can dramatically effect the air-fuel mixture. If the O2 sensors are reading slowly, or the Bank 2 sensors are seeing a rapid change in the ratio, then your sensors or catalytic converters may need replacing.

-Rod

Guys,
Try this for a #6 misfire fix:
1. Remove the main EEC plug from the firewall. It’s located just above the rear coil pack on the Duratec, you’ll need a 10mm socket.
2. Using a scribe remove the blue gasket from the firewall plug (be careful not to bend any pins).
3. Examine the gasket and the mating surface of both plugs for moisture or a oily residue. If any is present that’s the problem.
4. Using compressed air, alcohol or electrical contact cleaner clean and dry all parts reassemble and I bet ya a coke the CEL and misfires will clear.

I bought my wife a 01 w/Duratec last year and it had the #3 misfire problem. Plugs, wires, coil pack and about a month later I found the above problem (actually I read about it on the web somewhere?). Well July was one of the rainiest on record here in the south and yea the problem returned this week – dryed it again and the CEL disappeared.
alan

Had a similar problem with a 2002 24v engine. Misfire code at startup. Cleared code, seemed fine.
She drove it home and it came back on, this time for #5 cylinder.
They took to shop, and found cylinder had only 50 psi compression.
Wet test of cylinder with oil didn't make it come up at all.
They decided to pull engine, and we found a thick gummy wad of crap in the coolant pipe.
I said, it could be a headgasket rusted thru.
Wanted to use a borescope to look into cylinder, to see if piston had been hit by valve, and maybe cracked the head.
They chose not to do it.
Now they have real problems...

I had the same problem with my 2001 Taurus and it took a long time to get rid of it. Changed the coil pack, plugs and wires and still had the issue. It finally went away when I replaced the intake manifold gasket and pvc elbow hose. I am guessing it was caused by a vacuum leak so you might want to check for vacuum leaks