SMA Quicky: Ford Escape 1. 6 Turbo Misfire
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Date: 2023-10-26
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Comments and reviews: 19
Buff
I had a problem on my Mk 1 2002 Focus 2. 0 ZETEC for a long time. If it sat and got cold, esp. after several days, it would start like it was flooded, run really rough, and almost die until it warmed up to closed loop. I know of no scanner that would have traced the problem, but an expert on the Focus forum told me long ago to replace the coil, that the output of it needs to be greatest when engine is cold and rich upon starting. I did not believe him so never replaced coil until last month. (wasted-spark ignition, perfect plug color)
It now starts and runs perfect! It can sit for days in the cold and start perfectly. I wonder if a picoscope or something would show the coil being weak. After it warmed a little, the old coil ran fine. But maybe my MPG was not as good as it could have been with a new coil.
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I had a problem on my Mk 1 2002 Focus 2. 0 ZETEC for a long time. If it sat and got cold, esp. after several days, it would start like it was flooded, run really rough, and almost die until it warmed up to closed loop. I know of no scanner that would have traced the problem, but an expert on the Focus forum told me long ago to replace the coil, that the output of it needs to be greatest when engine is cold and rich upon starting. I did not believe him so never replaced coil until last month. (wasted-spark ignition, perfect plug color)
It now starts and runs perfect! It can sit for days in the cold and start perfectly. I wonder if a picoscope or something would show the coil being weak. After it warmed a little, the old coil ran fine. But maybe my MPG was not as good as it could have been with a new coil.
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MANIACALMIKE
Just went thru it, with 2014 escape 1. 6. 70k. P0303. Initially i coil slapped cyl 3. Did nothing. Went to pull plugs, and 2 n 3 were bonded in the head. Ended up with big extraction job for problem hole p0303. Had to get valve cover off, and the di injectors. Put a pressure tester on the coolant system, overnight, no coolant observed next morning (borescoped. Put everything back together (new vc gasket, teflon seals on injectors, new plugs (just chased the head threads/wire brush injector ports, put original coil back in. NO MORE MISFIRE.
(ill add, that while vc was off, i put cams on overlap for cyl 3, remounted all injectors, performed leakdown test, and blew my original teflon seal, lol. Dunno what proper procedure is for leakdown testing a di motor. FEEDBACK APPRECIATED
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Just went thru it, with 2014 escape 1. 6. 70k. P0303. Initially i coil slapped cyl 3. Did nothing. Went to pull plugs, and 2 n 3 were bonded in the head. Ended up with big extraction job for problem hole p0303. Had to get valve cover off, and the di injectors. Put a pressure tester on the coolant system, overnight, no coolant observed next morning (borescoped. Put everything back together (new vc gasket, teflon seals on injectors, new plugs (just chased the head threads/wire brush injector ports, put original coil back in. NO MORE MISFIRE.
(ill add, that while vc was off, i put cams on overlap for cyl 3, remounted all injectors, performed leakdown test, and blew my original teflon seal, lol. Dunno what proper procedure is for leakdown testing a di motor. FEEDBACK APPRECIATED
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fightingfalconfan
Your customer may want to contact Ford with their vin and see if warranty will cover a engine replacement. My former co-worker had this exact issue. Took it to ford and found out he was still within the warranty period. His only complaint with the process was he thought Ford was taking too long with the long block swap. I had to teach him what a long block swap actually was. After that he was a little calmer about the situation. He was a lube tech at my shop that unfortunately got himself fired because he left too many oil filters loose in a row and customers came back complaining about it. Our manager fired him for it and now he's been playing the blame game with why he got fired and not taking responsibility for the issues.
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Your customer may want to contact Ford with their vin and see if warranty will cover a engine replacement. My former co-worker had this exact issue. Took it to ford and found out he was still within the warranty period. His only complaint with the process was he thought Ford was taking too long with the long block swap. I had to teach him what a long block swap actually was. After that he was a little calmer about the situation. He was a lube tech at my shop that unfortunately got himself fired because he left too many oil filters loose in a row and customers came back complaining about it. Our manager fired him for it and now he's been playing the blame game with why he got fired and not taking responsibility for the issues.
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Justin
This is a known issue with the 1. 5L, 1. 6, 2. 0 and some 2. 3 ecoboosts. The reason why the head gasket fails is because the deck of the block has slits between the cylinders to allow coolant to cross from one side to the other and with all the pressure and heat of it being a turbocharged engine, the cylinder deck eventually deform and moves under the head gasket, not allowing it to seal anymore. This is why we are replacing short blocks on the 1. 5s and long blocks in everything else. It's a major issue and there were already millions of these engines on the road before Ford intervened and updated the cylinder blocks to have cross drilled coolant crossovers instead of huge slits. Like saw cuts.
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This is a known issue with the 1. 5L, 1. 6, 2. 0 and some 2. 3 ecoboosts. The reason why the head gasket fails is because the deck of the block has slits between the cylinders to allow coolant to cross from one side to the other and with all the pressure and heat of it being a turbocharged engine, the cylinder deck eventually deform and moves under the head gasket, not allowing it to seal anymore. This is why we are replacing short blocks on the 1. 5s and long blocks in everything else. It's a major issue and there were already millions of these engines on the road before Ford intervened and updated the cylinder blocks to have cross drilled coolant crossovers instead of huge slits. Like saw cuts.
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kens97sto171
A temporary way to get by with most blown head gaskets that only leak after shut down like this. You can loosen the coolant cap. so that it does not build pressure. this works pretty well especially in winter time. could cause a boil over in summer. depends on the car.
Or loosen the cap right after shutdown. be careful with that. just loose enough to hiss, and let pressure out. not take the cap OFF.
Can give you some time to figure out what you want to do. fix or scrap it. Also. will keep the check engine light off. if you need to just get thru an registration emissions test.
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A temporary way to get by with most blown head gaskets that only leak after shut down like this. You can loosen the coolant cap. so that it does not build pressure. this works pretty well especially in winter time. could cause a boil over in summer. depends on the car.
Or loosen the cap right after shutdown. be careful with that. just loose enough to hiss, and let pressure out. not take the cap OFF.
Can give you some time to figure out what you want to do. fix or scrap it. Also. will keep the check engine light off. if you need to just get thru an registration emissions test.
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calholli
Honestly. You can still drive it for years like that here in Oklahoma. Just keep your coolant topped off; as long as it doesn't hydro-lock the cylinder and you're oil isn't getting milky. Just ignore the misfires and keep her screaming. Might be worth the hassle to try and tighten the head bolts a bit. Pump in some anti leak copper crap into the radiator every oil change. :). You might get lucky and it lasts for years. What is there to lose. sucks for you guys though, because you have to pass inspection. smh
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Honestly. You can still drive it for years like that here in Oklahoma. Just keep your coolant topped off; as long as it doesn't hydro-lock the cylinder and you're oil isn't getting milky. Just ignore the misfires and keep her screaming. Might be worth the hassle to try and tighten the head bolts a bit. Pump in some anti leak copper crap into the radiator every oil change. :). You might get lucky and it lasts for years. What is there to lose. sucks for you guys though, because you have to pass inspection. smh
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Jamie
And it the lady doesn't have a new engine installed or sells off the car? Isn't hydrolock eventually possible when the leak gets worse? And if hydrolock occurs, isn't there going to be bits and pieces flying around inside, and out of, that engine?
Ray had an engine that wanted a bit of light to shine on the engine interior. After disassembling the engine, he found more than just a broken connecting rod. The piston had broken into several pieces. All because, he reasoned, of hydrolocking.
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And it the lady doesn't have a new engine installed or sells off the car? Isn't hydrolock eventually possible when the leak gets worse? And if hydrolock occurs, isn't there going to be bits and pieces flying around inside, and out of, that engine?
Ray had an engine that wanted a bit of light to shine on the engine interior. After disassembling the engine, he found more than just a broken connecting rod. The piston had broken into several pieces. All because, he reasoned, of hydrolocking.
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Gunga
Ford has some real stinkers for engines in the past 25 years.
The 5. 4 engines that blow the plugs pout of them when the cam phasers aren't TKOing the engine.
The early 6. 7 Powerstrokes where the glow plug blows up falling into the cylinder.
The twin turbo V-6 with the plastic intake manifolds that go pop or plain just go boom like the 2022 Bronco.
Can't imagine why a head gasket wouldn't fix this 1. 6, but I digress.
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Ford has some real stinkers for engines in the past 25 years.
The 5. 4 engines that blow the plugs pout of them when the cam phasers aren't TKOing the engine.
The early 6. 7 Powerstrokes where the glow plug blows up falling into the cylinder.
The twin turbo V-6 with the plastic intake manifolds that go pop or plain just go boom like the 2022 Bronco.
Can't imagine why a head gasket wouldn't fix this 1. 6, but I digress.
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Some
I own a 2016 Edge with the big o'l 2. 0T engine. 142, 000KM and it developed a cylinder 3 misfire. Cylinder wall between 2 and 3 actually cracked and allowed coolant to enter. Thankfully, my local Ford dealer has good willed me a new 2. 0T with the updated block design. Should be getting it back here in about a weeks time after about a month wait. Suuuper common on these small engines from Ford between 15-19 model years.
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I own a 2016 Edge with the big o'l 2. 0T engine. 142, 000KM and it developed a cylinder 3 misfire. Cylinder wall between 2 and 3 actually cracked and allowed coolant to enter. Thankfully, my local Ford dealer has good willed me a new 2. 0T with the updated block design. Should be getting it back here in about a weeks time after about a month wait. Suuuper common on these small engines from Ford between 15-19 model years.
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Doc
Nice to see it! I had a 2017 Focus with a 1. 5 ecoboost, but here in the UK Ford denied all knowledge of the head issues. But was told I needed a new engine after only 11K but all 1. 5 production was going to the US and it would be months before a new engine was available. I sold it back to Ford and went to BMW after being a life long Ford customer, such a shame it went that way.
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Nice to see it! I had a 2017 Focus with a 1. 5 ecoboost, but here in the UK Ford denied all knowledge of the head issues. But was told I needed a new engine after only 11K but all 1. 5 production was going to the US and it would be months before a new engine was available. I sold it back to Ford and went to BMW after being a life long Ford customer, such a shame it went that way.
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emcque
My wife's 2004 4Runner has a similar only at startup misfire on cylinder 6. Supposedly there is a known issue with the head gaskets on these. We have just been driving it. Runs like a top (as you say) after the first few seconds and it clears out the junky cylinder. I may one day fix it, but living in PA, the frame will rot out before the engine finally gives up the ghost.
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My wife's 2004 4Runner has a similar only at startup misfire on cylinder 6. Supposedly there is a known issue with the head gaskets on these. We have just been driving it. Runs like a top (as you say) after the first few seconds and it clears out the junky cylinder. I may one day fix it, but living in PA, the frame will rot out before the engine finally gives up the ghost.
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Lee
My mom has the same vehicle and I have to add coolant every week or 2 but no misfires yet but I'm thinking about just replacing the head gasket and doing a timing belt job instead of updating the engine block since it's such a pain and just driving it another 100k and next time it fails just junk the car cause with 200k the rest of the vehicle is gunna be toast by then
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My mom has the same vehicle and I have to add coolant every week or 2 but no misfires yet but I'm thinking about just replacing the head gasket and doing a timing belt job instead of updating the engine block since it's such a pain and just driving it another 100k and next time it fails just junk the car cause with 200k the rest of the vehicle is gunna be toast by then
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Justin
Just happened to ours after 199k miles. Perfect maintenance record: All fluid changes on time, waterpump/timing belt on time and it atill failed. Got a few more miles out of it after some gimmicky head gasket sealer but ultimately we sold it to someone who put a new engine in it. Mind you, this was right after we rebuilt the transmission.
Terrible design.
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Just happened to ours after 199k miles. Perfect maintenance record: All fluid changes on time, waterpump/timing belt on time and it atill failed. Got a few more miles out of it after some gimmicky head gasket sealer but ultimately we sold it to someone who put a new engine in it. Mind you, this was right after we rebuilt the transmission.
Terrible design.
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autos
That side camera on the endoscope is how I confirmed a cracked block on my '07 Volvo V70R. A TCV failure led to an overboost, and it cracked between #2 and #3. The B5254T4 2. 5L engines have the same relief cut between cylinders as described by fargenvonwitbier below. I now have a shimmed block which takes up that space between which strengthens it.
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That side camera on the endoscope is how I confirmed a cracked block on my '07 Volvo V70R. A TCV failure led to an overboost, and it cracked between #2 and #3. The B5254T4 2. 5L engines have the same relief cut between cylinders as described by fargenvonwitbier below. I now have a shimmed block which takes up that space between which strengthens it.
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Cliff
I think, believe its great to have an honest mechanic/technician and a person of your talents, Eric. You could had talked them into head gaskets, made money, but you didnt. Hats off to you Sir. I have met many machanics that just dont seem to care about the customer. You, from what i have watched get right down to the cause of the probem.
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I think, believe its great to have an honest mechanic/technician and a person of your talents, Eric. You could had talked them into head gaskets, made money, but you didnt. Hats off to you Sir. I have met many machanics that just dont seem to care about the customer. You, from what i have watched get right down to the cause of the probem.
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calholli
I grabbed that same scope (well ds300, rather than the 350- but it's essentially the exact same one. It was used on fleebay for only 40 dollen, shipped. It has already paid for itself. :). I wasn't sure if I was going to get it, but then I watched your review on the thing; so it was a no brainer. Best 40 duckets I've spent in a while.
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I grabbed that same scope (well ds300, rather than the 350- but it's essentially the exact same one. It was used on fleebay for only 40 dollen, shipped. It has already paid for itself. :). I wasn't sure if I was going to get it, but then I watched your review on the thing; so it was a no brainer. Best 40 duckets I've spent in a while.
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Kris
No bulletin on the 1. 6L, just the 1. 5 and 2. 0. I just had the same issue on a customers 1. 6L escape, ended up doing a head gasket and getting the cylinder head machined. Checked the block with a straight edge, no issues with it. Been a month or two since the repair and haven't heard of the cold start misfire occurring again.
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No bulletin on the 1. 6L, just the 1. 5 and 2. 0. I just had the same issue on a customers 1. 6L escape, ended up doing a head gasket and getting the cylinder head machined. Checked the block with a straight edge, no issues with it. Been a month or two since the repair and haven't heard of the cold start misfire occurring again.
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Keith
I had a customer ask me to do a head gasket on her Ford of similar nature. After a little bit of research I found that Ford recommends engine replacement rather than head work because most of the time by the time people realize there is a problem too much damage has been done to guarantee a successful repair.
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I had a customer ask me to do a head gasket on her Ford of similar nature. After a little bit of research I found that Ford recommends engine replacement rather than head work because most of the time by the time people realize there is a problem too much damage has been done to guarantee a successful repair.
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Nate's
This is exactly why I think trying to turbo all these tiny engines and get 250+hp out of them is the dumbest trend auto makes have been doing. Turbo's will eventually break themselves or something internally. You wont get 175-250K miles out of these engines, like you do a naturally aspirated engine.
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This is exactly why I think trying to turbo all these tiny engines and get 250+hp out of them is the dumbest trend auto makes have been doing. Turbo's will eventually break themselves or something internally. You wont get 175-250K miles out of these engines, like you do a naturally aspirated engine.
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