97 escort dies?
msdz
10-29-2008, 05:54 PM
OK, as it says in the title description, my 97 escort I just got dies after starting it up. It will continue to run as long as I am giving it gas but if I let up it will die or until it is warm. It does run a bit rough sometimes when I pull up to a stop, this is after it is warm.
I have only had this car for about 1 week, I traded off an old diesel Chevy truck for 2 vehicles and the Escort was part of the trade. The car had a check engine light(CEL) on and I used my scanner and got codes P0171 and I believe the second one was P1443. I then cleared the codes which the car instantly seemed to run a lot better. The young boy I traded had removed the original air filter boz and installed an aftermarket air filter on it. I do plan on getting the original back as soon as I can though.
We have drove the car about 60 miles and today was the first time I had issues with it dieing on me as soon as I started it up. The car had only ran about 20 minutes an hour before this happened so had time to cool down quite a bit.
The young boy claimed the reason why it ran rough was the MAF sensor was probably getting dirty due to the aftermarket air filter cause it does not make a perfect seal. The car does have new plug wires on it from what I can see but not sure about the plugs themselves. He also claimed it had a new fuel filter but I haven't checked. Besides the roughness it has sometimes and the dying of the car today it seems to be a good running little car but I would liek some ideas of what could be causing these problems. Oh, the 60 miles we have put on the vehicle has not been good driving miles, city driving and short distnce at that. maybe the car has ran a total of 30 minutes at a time and 3 miles. They have not been consistent speed for any distance. I read that the car has to run at least 10 miles at about 40 MPH to get any good code readings if any appear. So far the CEl is staying off but planned on takign it for a longer drive to see if any CEl will come on. I figure it may be something simple liek a vacuum line leaking or had came off but haven't really done any looking around in the engine compartment YET.
Still I would like some other ideas of what COULD be the problem(s).
I have only had this car for about 1 week, I traded off an old diesel Chevy truck for 2 vehicles and the Escort was part of the trade. The car had a check engine light(CEL) on and I used my scanner and got codes P0171 and I believe the second one was P1443. I then cleared the codes which the car instantly seemed to run a lot better. The young boy I traded had removed the original air filter boz and installed an aftermarket air filter on it. I do plan on getting the original back as soon as I can though.
We have drove the car about 60 miles and today was the first time I had issues with it dieing on me as soon as I started it up. The car had only ran about 20 minutes an hour before this happened so had time to cool down quite a bit.
The young boy claimed the reason why it ran rough was the MAF sensor was probably getting dirty due to the aftermarket air filter cause it does not make a perfect seal. The car does have new plug wires on it from what I can see but not sure about the plugs themselves. He also claimed it had a new fuel filter but I haven't checked. Besides the roughness it has sometimes and the dying of the car today it seems to be a good running little car but I would liek some ideas of what could be causing these problems. Oh, the 60 miles we have put on the vehicle has not been good driving miles, city driving and short distnce at that. maybe the car has ran a total of 30 minutes at a time and 3 miles. They have not been consistent speed for any distance. I read that the car has to run at least 10 miles at about 40 MPH to get any good code readings if any appear. So far the CEl is staying off but planned on takign it for a longer drive to see if any CEl will come on. I figure it may be something simple liek a vacuum line leaking or had came off but haven't really done any looking around in the engine compartment YET.
Still I would like some other ideas of what COULD be the problem(s).
Scrapper
10-29-2008, 06:42 PM
if you take off of radiator when it's cold can you see if is circulating or does it come out of top radiator if so you got problems with head gasket or cracked head? mine blew and craked head these things i'm telling you about. and i will not buy another escort even if somone gave me one i would run. just like a probe.
mightymoose_22
10-29-2008, 07:07 PM
It sounds like a typical vacuum leak. Check the hoses leading from the top of your intake manifold for cracks/holes. If they check out ok then you will have to dig deeper... possibly the intake manifold itself leaking.
It doesn't sound like anything a new hose or gasket can't fix though.
It doesn't sound like anything a new hose or gasket can't fix though.
Davescort97
10-30-2008, 12:31 AM
I had the same thing on my 97. The MAF sensor was getting oil on it from the aftermaket cold air intake. Actually, I had multiple problems. The elbow of the vacuum line going to the PCV was cracked and the IAC (Idle Air Control) valve was faulty. I got a new PCV valve, new elbow, new IAC and cleaned the fine wire of the MAF with electronics spray cleaner. You may have 1 or more of these items that are causing it not to run so good.
msdz
10-30-2008, 08:03 AM
I forgot to let you all know, yesterday as I was pulling in to park the car it died on me but started right back up.
This morning the car started up but would not stay running at all. It acts like I am just turning the key off. I could try to steady the gas pedal to get an idle and of course that was hard to do(any fuel injected vehicle I have had has been like that) but would run as long as I was feathering the gas pedal. As soon as I would let up on the gas pedal it would die instantly. Had just the tiniest little bit of an extra rumble to the engine like it wanted to try to keep running though. I also put $10 worth of gas in it yesterday, 89 octane. I was thinking maybe the gas I put in it stirred up some dirt in the tank and the filter is clogged, any thoughts on that? I will check it out anyway, I think I better check the fuel filter and see if it is new, even if it is I will probably still put a new one on that way I know for a fact it is new and clean.
I was also thinking it may be the IAC, I had problems from 94 Jeep Grand Cherokee acting the same way and it was the IAC with it. As for the head being cracked or warped, I have heard a lot of the horror stories about Escorts being really bad with this and one reason why I have always steered clear of them but this Escort had to be better than the old diesel truck I traded off for it and heads are fairly cheap and easy to replace, at least by what I have checked around on and what I can see of the engine compartment. I may be able to machine it down if the head is warped anyway, I had used a regular metal rasp file and a level before to get them back into shape before, on ones that were not that bad though. Gotta be easier than my 94 Jeep with the 318(5.2L) V8 in it, the Jeep doesn't have room in the engine compartment to cuss a cat without getting hair in your mouth, lol.
Sure I will figure it out just has me a little depressed cause this is the wifes car and she will be hot. I won't let her drive the car if I don't feel safe for her to do so. She doesn't like the Jeep cause it isn't a standard like the Escort which if all goes as planned I hope to put a 5 speed in the JGC.
UPDATE QUESTION:
Reading some other post on the internet I found I was wondering since the vehicle DID have the P1443 DTC could it also cause the car not to run properly if the GAS CAP WAS BAD? On one forum I was reading a person had this DTC and they replaced the gas cap which is a part of the EVAP system according to a lot of the replies from the persons original post. I have not had the opportunity to check it out yet. I was going to remove it completely and see if that helped it run at all.
UPDATE:
I did take gas cap off and it did not help any. On the same forums I read as well that the PCV could cause this DTC, I didn't think that had anything to do with the EVAP system? Anyway, I figure I would start out cheap and work my way up. PCV, fuel filter, check and replace any vacuum lines that look bad. I was thinking of getting a vacuum gauge and putting some vacuum on the lines to see if they collaspe easy. Also cleaning anything that may need to be, engine looks fairly clean but I also read using electronics spray on the MAF sensor may help.
This morning the car started up but would not stay running at all. It acts like I am just turning the key off. I could try to steady the gas pedal to get an idle and of course that was hard to do(any fuel injected vehicle I have had has been like that) but would run as long as I was feathering the gas pedal. As soon as I would let up on the gas pedal it would die instantly. Had just the tiniest little bit of an extra rumble to the engine like it wanted to try to keep running though. I also put $10 worth of gas in it yesterday, 89 octane. I was thinking maybe the gas I put in it stirred up some dirt in the tank and the filter is clogged, any thoughts on that? I will check it out anyway, I think I better check the fuel filter and see if it is new, even if it is I will probably still put a new one on that way I know for a fact it is new and clean.
I was also thinking it may be the IAC, I had problems from 94 Jeep Grand Cherokee acting the same way and it was the IAC with it. As for the head being cracked or warped, I have heard a lot of the horror stories about Escorts being really bad with this and one reason why I have always steered clear of them but this Escort had to be better than the old diesel truck I traded off for it and heads are fairly cheap and easy to replace, at least by what I have checked around on and what I can see of the engine compartment. I may be able to machine it down if the head is warped anyway, I had used a regular metal rasp file and a level before to get them back into shape before, on ones that were not that bad though. Gotta be easier than my 94 Jeep with the 318(5.2L) V8 in it, the Jeep doesn't have room in the engine compartment to cuss a cat without getting hair in your mouth, lol.
Sure I will figure it out just has me a little depressed cause this is the wifes car and she will be hot. I won't let her drive the car if I don't feel safe for her to do so. She doesn't like the Jeep cause it isn't a standard like the Escort which if all goes as planned I hope to put a 5 speed in the JGC.
UPDATE QUESTION:
Reading some other post on the internet I found I was wondering since the vehicle DID have the P1443 DTC could it also cause the car not to run properly if the GAS CAP WAS BAD? On one forum I was reading a person had this DTC and they replaced the gas cap which is a part of the EVAP system according to a lot of the replies from the persons original post. I have not had the opportunity to check it out yet. I was going to remove it completely and see if that helped it run at all.
UPDATE:
I did take gas cap off and it did not help any. On the same forums I read as well that the PCV could cause this DTC, I didn't think that had anything to do with the EVAP system? Anyway, I figure I would start out cheap and work my way up. PCV, fuel filter, check and replace any vacuum lines that look bad. I was thinking of getting a vacuum gauge and putting some vacuum on the lines to see if they collaspe easy. Also cleaning anything that may need to be, engine looks fairly clean but I also read using electronics spray on the MAF sensor may help.
msdz
11-04-2008, 12:49 PM
I thought I would let you know I found out the problem.
I was talkignto the boy who owned the car before I did and he said the problem was the aftermarket air cleaner assembly he installed causing the car to die when idling. So, I am looking for the original style air cleaner assembly that goes in the car. Any ideas where I may be able to find one cheap online? Local junk yards think they are made of gold, I found one on Ebay for about $24 plus $15 for S&H.
I was thinking of taking some silicone and sealing it off for a temporary fix till I can get the original if I can find it cheap enough. I will check all my other vacuum lines while I am at it and replce the PCV while at it too just to make sure everythign else is OK.
I was talkignto the boy who owned the car before I did and he said the problem was the aftermarket air cleaner assembly he installed causing the car to die when idling. So, I am looking for the original style air cleaner assembly that goes in the car. Any ideas where I may be able to find one cheap online? Local junk yards think they are made of gold, I found one on Ebay for about $24 plus $15 for S&H.
I was thinking of taking some silicone and sealing it off for a temporary fix till I can get the original if I can find it cheap enough. I will check all my other vacuum lines while I am at it and replce the PCV while at it too just to make sure everythign else is OK.
Automotive Network, Inc., Copyright ©2026