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Old 05-26-2009, 05:54 PM
wiswind wiswind is offline
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Re: Attempts stall, Idle Pulses 600-800 rpms, horrible MPG

OK.....I put a post in your new thread about what can cause gasoline to show up in the exhaust......

What I would do......is get your hands on a timing light (while you may not have seen those 2 words together in some years.....I'll bet that (like me) you are old enough to know what one is).

Once you locate a timing light. Disable the fuel pump......no fuel pressure.
Then.....one cylinder at a time......clamp the timing light pick up onto each spark plug wire......and have someone crank the engine, like they are trying to start it.
You are looking for the timing light to flash.....indicating a spark.
No flash......no spark.
The timing light pickup is activated by current (not voltage) through the spark plug wire.
Take your time and check all 6 cylinders.

If you have 1 or more cylinders without a spark.....correct that problem before moving on.

You might consider putting in a OEM style coil pack.
I don't think that a "performance" coil pack would be the cause of this problem....however, I have seen some things listed in catalogs that do not match up with our windstars......so the concern would be if the coil pack is wired correctly for the windstar.......

I cannot see why you would have fuel spraying out at the exhaust manifold / exhaust pipe junction......
The only thing that comes to mind is some obstruction.
On your new catalytic converters......I really hesitate to say it.......if I were standing there in person.....I would have a quick escape route planned out before I said it.
But......it does need to the considered.
Raw fuel into a catalytic converter causes it to get very hot (as you had happen before with your "red hot" situation a number of pages back).
So.....now that I have said it.....I would eliminate a obstructed exhaust situation before moving from the spark issue to adding more fuel.

YES....it is possible....but not certain, that you have fuel coming out of the rear exhaust manifold / tail pipe junction.
DO NOT get under the vehicle while it is running to try to determine this......as I don't want you to get fuel in your face (and end up getting burned, should it ignite).
Each exhaust manifold has its own catalytic converter.......and they merge after the converter....
I am sure that you know this by now, having been under there as much as you have.
But.....it is possible that 1 bank is OK, while the other bank is not.......or that both banks are blocked.
What you DO know for sure is that you have the fuel issue on the front bank of cylinders......it is the rear bank that you don't know about.

One might be able to probe the pins on the fuel injector electrical plugs.
When connected to the injector, ignition ON, but motor NOT running, you should measure the +12V to ground at BOTH wires.
1 wire stays at +12V, the other wire goes to the PCM......and the PCM MOMENTARILY grounds (around 0V) that wire to cause the injector to spray.
You will not "see" this on a meter because the sample time of the meter is much slower than the ground (0V) pulse.
So.....if you see a low value......you have a problem.
At this point, you can see where a pinched wire harness for the fuel injectors can cause a injector to stay "ON" and spray fuel constantly.

Now.....once you know that you have spark at all plugs.....no exhaust obstruction......and no low pin at any of the fuel injectors with the ingnition ON, motor OFF.....you are ready to proceed from there.

If you think only 1 injector is spraying too much....and you do not find a low line to any injector....you can unplug the injectors 1 at a time.....to see if that will narrow down the leaker.

Needless to say......if you have fuel spewing out the exhaust......you likely have fuel leaking past the rings and down into the crankcase........so you are looking at needing to change the motor oil.
I am just not getting past the pressure at a level to have you see fuel come out at that point......some pressure is normal.....but that much raw fuel?
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