02 Lincoln LS V6 Fuel question

[MBRESEE]

Question- have everyone new to the forum, thanks for having me! Have an 02 Lincoln LS V6 that is running rough and smells of gas when sitting. Check engine light will come and go, it sat for a couple months over the summer put a couple fuel treatments in and it ran great. Now Started running the cat full time about 2-1/2 weeks ago, ran rough at first then was great, now back to being rough and smelling of gas. Anyone else thinking it’s the fuel filter? Or am I missing something? Water in the gas? I say that because trunk got flooded also, wonder if water is getting in the tank. New to here. This is my sons car, trying to get it right for him!

[shorod]

I'd suggest you check the diagnostic codes to see the car thinks this is a misfire, and if the misfire is related to a specific cylinder. It's not terribly uncommon for these cars to have leaking valve cover gasket sets which can allow oil into the spark plugs wells and cause the coils in those wells to not fire the spark plugs. Such a misfire will cause the engine to run roughly because he spark plug in that cylinder is not igniting the air/fuel mixture. And therefore you end up with unburned fuel in your exhaust and a smell of gas.

But if the gas smell is very noticeable when the car is sitting and not necessarily just while or shortly after it's been running, then you may have another issue as well.

It's also not terribly uncommon for this car to have a crack in the PCV elbow which can also cause a misfire, but this issue would not trigger a misfire code. It would instead trigger a code related to a vacuum leak.

Knowing if you're looking for a cylinder misfire, a random misfire, or a vacuum leak can help the folks here provide better guidance on what to check next.

Oh, most of the chain automotive parts stores offer a service to pull the diagnostic codes at no charge. Request the actual diagnostic code number (will be something like P0302, P0174, etc.) and not just the parts store's interpretation of the diagnostic code. You'll often be better off to research the code specific to your vehicle rather than to buy the parts that the store will recommend. They shouldn't be offended if you say you want to research the code before coming back to purchase parts.


-Rod

[MBRESEE]

Rob - thank you very much for the info! I got a couple codes P0430 and P0305. Need to figure out the firing order now of this V6 engine.

[aleekat]

142536

[MBRESEE]

Originally Posted by aleekat

142536

Thanks for the response, is that front to back or side to side in order starting from the front left or right side. Sorry for all the questions, it may at the end day be easier to replace all the plugs.

[shorod]

Standing in front of the open hood, looking at the engine, bank 1 is on the left side (passenger side) and bank 2 is on the right (driver's side). The front cylinder on bank 1 is cylinder 1, then 2, and 3 is against the firewall. On bank 2, cylinder 4 is the front most and 6 is next to the firewall.

-Rod