New Please HELP me.

Hello, my name is Billie. I bought a 96 tauras LX the other day, like 4 days ago. We went for a test, it drove amazing. Like a great car. The next day we went to pick it up. IT WOULD NOT START FOR NOTHING. Sooooo, someone told me it was the coil cause it wouldn;t start and there wasn't a "spark". I know nothing about cars NOTHING. I am a girl.
We get it back yesterday, he fixed the coil and said " it has a bad idle, but put some brand new gas in it and it will run like shit for a couple days, but it will get better". It had sit for a long time, and the gas was bad. Well we went up to a machanic shop and they ran a test and it said p 171 and 174 was bad. We fixed those today. Still is running horrible.
We get it to autozone tonight and he resets the stuff from before and now it is reading the same thing and NOW something about a misfire 4, 5, and 6. Im about ready to take a ball bat to this fricken car.. any ideas whats goin on?

Thank you for reading this.

You need to get the misfire issues addressed before you take on the 171 and 174, those codes have to do with fuel trim problems,, you said the car ran beautiful one day, next time like crap... how could bad gas be the problem??? If you bought it from some used car person, you need to take it back there and have them fix it,,, if you bought it privately, I'm not sure who's responsible... check all the vacuum lines, air cleaner hoses and plumbing, any related electrical connections, make sure nothing is disconnected, that could contribute towards the 171 and 174, post the misfire codes, someone on here probably has ideas..

What did the shop do to "fix" the P0171 and P0174 codes? Does it appear that the plugs or plug wires were recently replaced?

You may also want to try using a bottle of fuel injector cleaner and see if that has any effect on the way the car runs.

-Rod

I would look into the emissions system or vaccuum, this might be an EGR related problem that could certianly cause misfire problems and throw the left and right bank lean codes.

:disappoin The Car sat for like a yr with the gas in it. The guy failed to tell us that before we bought the fricken thing. So when it didn't run the next day (when we went to pick it up) we called him. He had one of his guys look at it and he said that it was the "Coil" cause it would not start. mmmkkay. So when went went to get it he said to put the fuel cleaner in it and it will run like crap but then it will be better once we run that bad gas outta it. so now... Then WE put the 02 sensers in it (cause after the coil, they said it would run great after the 02 sensers).:banghead:
The car is almost out of gas now. I have just been sittin with it and runnin the rpms to like 2gs. It feels like when we were driving it.. it wasn't gettin no power until it hit like 2nd gear. Like I said we did that test thing on it and they said something about the misfiring, today I went to Autozone and bought new spark plugs and wires... Cause a Machainic said that it would do the trick.:banghead: :banghead: :banghead: ... Someone told me not to put the fuel cleaner in UNTIL that old fuel is outta the car? BTW when when it is runnin... it has a horrible smell to it. so I think (I'm prolly not right) that it does have something to do with that gas.
I am sooo frustrated. Thank you for reading this and also for your comments.

First off, please select a different font color for future posts on this forum. Against the background, the color of your text is painful to read.

If the gas is bad, which it may be, you will probably want to replace the fuel filter as well. If the old fuel had a chance to varnish, there will be particles floating around in the tank and possibly even varnish in the fuel filter that will limit the flow.

With the fuel filter off, you could pump let the fuel pump drain the fuel tank, but be careful if you choose to do this. The fuel will be under a lot of pressure and can easily splash, plus even though it's old, it's still flammable. Also, electric fuel pumps don't like to run dry, so as soon as the pump stops pumping fuel, shut it off. Dispose of the fuel properly.

Since the fuel pump will not completely drain the tank, you will want to replace the fuel filter again after a couple of tanks of fuel.

If you want to be very thorough, you could drop the tank once empty, remove the fuel pump, and clean out the tank completely. If you've gone this far, you may want to consider spending the extra $100 or so and put a new fuel pump in as well.

-Rod

This has me totally confused: "We went for a test, it drove amazing. Like a great car. The next day we went to pick it up. IT WOULD NOT START FOR NOTHING."
I can't understand how it ran so good one day and then the next day entirely diferent car. Sort'a makes me wonder if someone wasn't mad at somebody and did something to it, but that would be pointless because they had it sold. It was running on old gas the first day and same gas the second day so old gas shouldn't be the problem. I think Rod is on the right track, change the fuel filter and run a can of injector cleaner through it and see how it does.

Another thing, since it sat so long, take the NEGATIVE battery cable loose and leave it disconnected five minutes then reconnect it. That clears the computer and then it has to relearn how to idle and learn your driving habits and might just help the situation. BTW, that also clears the Check Engine light that might be on.

You went to a "Crazy Al's Discount Used Car" type of place didnt' you?

I agree that I find it odd that it would amazing during the test drive and like crap the next day.

I would get some sea foam and look into getting the oil change, tranny flushed and go ahead and drop the tank the and clean the fuel lines.

Then file a grievance with your local BB.

This is what you get for buying your car at a "Crazy Bill's Wild Car Lot" type place.


Huney1 I do find it odd it went to crap over night but that could be attributed to the sediment stirring up.

I would go to a mechanic (not the car dealer....tell him to piss off and cut your losses) have the tranny fuild and oil changed. Drop the tank and then bleed out the lines, then run a can of sea foam through the engine. All that will probably add up to about $300 or so but it needs to be done. Also a year of sitting has probably caused the brakes to rust over so they will need a good resurfacing if not a replacement.


Then file a grievance with your local BB.

HaHa. I found it in the newspaper. ok. From A Lawyer at that. Said "Runs great, Body Great".
His Machanic told me to put Tranny Fluid in like every whole and it would run and act way better? Im wonderin if he did that before I came to look at it... Im so frustrated with this car.

So.. I have replaced the O2 sensors, Spark Pulggs and wires, the Coil, OH! and the vaccum bag/line (I don't know) was unplugged. Then we put on the egr valve cause someone told me that it would make it work alot better. and it did.. it actually runs but like crap. It don't die. But The idle is still horrible it idles hard and shakes at 500 rms.

I took it to midas cause someone also told me it was a catalitic converter. They said "OOOOHHH Yea thats what it is, its cherry red" Then they wanted to charge me like $1500 to put it on.. nooo. I called a muffler shop and they said bring it down. So I did and they said it wasn't the catilatic converter... they didn't know what it was... they were gonna have someone look at it on Monday.

They told me that my brakes won't work right until the car runs right. has something to do with the computer?:banghead: :banghead:

Its so pretty... it should not be running like this. :frown:

I'm still wondering why and how it could run so well on the test drive then the next day be a totally different, l problematic car. I hope the technician who has it now is a good man and will treat you right because it sounds like a few things suddenly went wrong and the right man should be able to find 'em and fix 'em.

I just got my car back and they said it was the cylinder 5 is gone, not working at all. soooo here we are back to square one. Any comments on this sit-o. How hard are they to replace. but the dude said that it might be the head gaskets? Have no idea I am just gonna take a ball bat to it. then will it work?

thank you for reading this.:banghead: :banghead:

The Idle is much better though. he said another umm vac bag/line was unplugged. And the brakes (yet again) won't be fixed until the cylinder is fixed..

If the # 5 cylinder was 'gone' it would be shaking something fierce like it was all out of balance. "How hard are they to replace." Suffice to say, it is a very big job. "but the dude said that it might be the head gaskets?" They have a tester for blown head gaskets but if it ran real hot it could have a cracked head in which case you'll need a new head.

I still maintain what I said; "I'm still wondering why and how it could run so well on the test drive then the next day be a totally different problematic car." It's OK one day then next day when you crank it up a cylinder blows & head gasket or head cracks and the breakes quit working? ? ? ? :evillol: You got'ta be pullin' my leg.

Anyway, if it were me and I knew nada about cars, I would take it straight to the Ford dealer and pay them to do the diagnostics and get the straight skinny on exactly what is wrong with it because somehow I don't believe you are getting the straight scoop from the mechanics you are dealing with.
That way they can tell you how much to fix it then you'll know if you should go to work on it with the base ball bat.

Dont laugh. I paid a shade tree mechanic $75. to do the diagnostics on mine and next day found out the Ford place charges $54.00 to run diagnostics and give an estimate on whats wrong and how much to repair.

where are you located, if anywhere in the greater detroit area, give me a message, i know a guy who used to be the master mechanic for ford for many, many years, while he is really old, he is the only one i trust with my car, and he knows them inside and out, if he could look at it, you will know EXACTALLY what is wrong with it. And you said the exaust smells funny, what funny are we talking, like a really sweet smell? or what, and if you want bring it to someone who will remove the catalitic converter all it does is rob your car of power cuz of the damn tree huggers, i did it to mine and it runs SOO much smoother without it.

~Ken