Hey All. I'm new here and have been following things since Thursday since I started have problems with my 2004, 3.0, Automatic, Edge, 2WD with 63,000 miles. About to pull into work the other morning and al of a sudden engine is missing and the CEL comes on and a ticking sounf. Have it diagnosed at AutoZone and get a P0301 Random Miss and others with Random Miss at Cylinders 1,2,3,4,5,6. I'm suprised it's running. Anyway I get a coil pack, plug and wires. I put in the coil pack and plugs, reset the computer. Fire it up and still missing. Check the codes again once the CEL comes back on. I get a P0171. MAF, EGR. Vacuum leaks. Clean the MAF with the correct cleaner and change the dirty air filter. Well still misses and also smells of sulfer. I guess my next step is check for vacuum leaks change the plug wires. I may try the compression check to see if I have a valve problem. Any words of wisdom after that.

 

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The only other thing I can think of is maybe the dpfe

 

Not sure what to make of the sulfer, sure your batteries good? Bad connections can cause weird problems and a bad battery can give a sulfate smell... Come to think of it, burning coolant will also give off a sulfer smell, check your plugs while your at it..

 

Vista4.0 - So where is the DPFE located? I looked all over last night and couldn,t find it or an EGR. The manual says some models the EGR was deleted. Whats with that? always dirty - The sulfer smell is coming from the exhaust. I suspect since the Po171 code is a lean condition, that the emissions is causing the smell.

 

Also went to change the plug wire and had one hell of a time getting them off the clips. Well before pulling them I checked from what cylinder and what position they were per the manual. They are like a 4.0 setup. Left it the way it was and didn't change the wires. This getting crazy.

 

P0171 is lean code for bank 1. The DPFE should be located to the right of the intake manifold. It will have an electrical plug and two 3/8" vacuum lines running to it.

 

By right side, you mean on the passenger side?

 

my bad still kinda early. Drivers side.

 

Just looked and no such thing on the driver side that looks like it. Just did a search for a DPFE for location and came up it is not on 3.0 for my year. Only on 2.3 and 4.0.

 

well then, maybe replace the fuel filter and check for vacuum leaks.

 

I'll be doing the fuel filter and vacuum tonight. Here is the link that says no DPFE on 3.0 http://www.justanswer.com/ford/0seqi...installed.html Thanks. Also the plug wires are correct and the Haynes manual is wrong.

 

My guess....and im not a pro by any means....maybe the ECU went bad..? girlfriends mom's accord did this sunday (random codes, no start, lights on and off randomly, misfire, entire cluster went haywire etc) idk just saying

 

I still need to do the wires, then MAF clean. If still there I will be doing the compression/leak down test. Apparently by looking through this Forum there are problems with the 2004-2006 3.0 heads. Soft castings that cause valve recession at around 60K miles. Thats where mine is at 63K and out of warranty. The adventure continues. rangerunner11 - Had similiar problems with an 89' Accord. It turned out to be the main relay. Bad solder joints that will crack over time and cause all kinds of problems. It's under the dash behind the cruise control. Cheaper fix than a ECU.

 

Here's the link for the Honda Relay as well as ECU. http://techauto.awardspace.com/ecu.html

 

have your catalytic converters checked out they might be getting clogged up this would also cause miss fire codes

 

The miss was instant. Running smooth and then the miss and a slight ticking sound like in the valve train like a tappet.

 

you mentioned the smell of sulfer that from my experience is a catalytic converter going bad

 

That was gonna be my suggestion, Check the Catalytic. It deffinatly sounds like some kind of Emissions thing, not ECU

 

Okay. So how do I check a Catalytic Converter? Oh Buy the way. Last night I unplugged the MAF and there was no chage in how it ran at idle. Can this be bad?

 

the cats will actually come apart inside. If you have a rubber mallet or someting similar. with the truck not running, lay underneath it and tap the cats and listen for a rattle.its not 100% becasue sometimes the chunk will get jammed in and not rattle, but if one sounds like it has rocks in it, its def. bad. try this first. otherwise you can unbolt the exhaust ahead of the cats and see if it straitens out. obviously with the exhaust dropped it will be very loud. lol just a heads up.

 

Just FYI when the cat comes apart, it plugs the exhaust. so it will force itself back in the ehxaust valve causing the misfires and running condition.

 

Tapped around on it last night and all sounds solid. Changed the fuel filter. Checked for vacuum leaks and none found. Reset the ECU and drove it to see if it gave a new code and nothing came up until this morning. Still has a loping idle and ticking sound. I'll see what the code is later today.

 

try this unbolt the y pipe from the catalytic converter turn on the truck DO THIS BEFORE IT GETS TOO HOT AND BEWARE it will be loud put your hand on the holes coming from the y pipe if you notice a difference in pressure from the holes one of your catalytic converters is bad thats how I found out I had a bad one it did not rattle at all it was plugged up pretty good.

 

UPDATE, UPDATE. Finally took it in to have it repaired. You remember it immediately went to rough idle and a ticking sound. Problem was a broken exhaust valve spring. The smeel was from to much fuel due to the computor trying to compensate for the cylinder misfire. $40 in parts and 12 hrs labor. At least it was the valve recession I have read about. The neighbor across the street had the same thing and same cylinder on his Taures 3.0. Thanks all for your input.

 

i just did the same thing to the fathers 2000 f150 with 4.2, broken valve spring, it was like a 1 hour job, all you go to do is take the valve cover off and put compressed air into that cylinder to hold up the valve, and be careful not to drop one of those tiny valve locks down an oil gallery or something.