svtlincoln
Registered
So this weekend I got volunteered to help my friend replace the valve cover gaskets on his wife's 2004 Ford Escape(actually it's a mazda tribute according to the grill and badges, but it's all FORD) Anyway he'd already done the front gasket by the time I got there. To do the rear cover you have to pull throttle cables, upper intake, all vaccuum hoses, some wiring etc. Anways, I pulled everything on the rear and let him put it back together and I contested but he INSISTED on spraying the intake hose with WD-40 so it'd "slide on easier" and he did. Then we fired it up and it had a dead miss. hmmmm. So I grab a can of brake cleaner and spray the intake and the revs pick up.... he didn't follow the torque sequence. 
So I pull the upper intake back off and sure enough there's gas outside the gasket. I clean off the lower intake, wipe off the new gaskets(rubber o-rings) put everything back on and torque it back down IN SEQUENCE and no more intake leak and it ran smoother but there was still a nice vaccuum leak. I hunt that down to the brake booster hose, fix that and it idles fine til it gets warm. Then the miss comes back. Start pulling coils, find that two of the cylinder are practically dead. Swap known good coils and plugs to where the misfiring cylinders are and no change. So then I tested the wiring to those cylinders and it all comes back normal. Let it cool off, fire it up and it's smooth again. Warms up, misses again. He then pulls the connector off the MAF and idle increases and the engine smooths out. To him this "proves" the MAF is the issue. He goes and gets a new one, slaps it on and it idles GREAT! til it gets warm. Still dead, on two cylinders. Any ideas? I know there's spark at those two cylinders and I know there's fuel(plugs were wet when I pulled them) I told him to leave the battery disconnected tonight and maybe the puter is just having problems relearning everything and it'll be fine in the morning but I doubt it. I'm really stumped. Any help is greatly appreciated. Don't want my buddy having to sleep on the couch :thumbsup:
So I pull the upper intake back off and sure enough there's gas outside the gasket. I clean off the lower intake, wipe off the new gaskets(rubber o-rings) put everything back on and torque it back down IN SEQUENCE and no more intake leak and it ran smoother but there was still a nice vaccuum leak. I hunt that down to the brake booster hose, fix that and it idles fine til it gets warm. Then the miss comes back. Start pulling coils, find that two of the cylinder are practically dead. Swap known good coils and plugs to where the misfiring cylinders are and no change. So then I tested the wiring to those cylinders and it all comes back normal. Let it cool off, fire it up and it's smooth again. Warms up, misses again. He then pulls the connector off the MAF and idle increases and the engine smooths out. To him this "proves" the MAF is the issue. He goes and gets a new one, slaps it on and it idles GREAT! til it gets warm. Still dead, on two cylinders. Any ideas? I know there's spark at those two cylinders and I know there's fuel(plugs were wet when I pulled them) I told him to leave the battery disconnected tonight and maybe the puter is just having problems relearning everything and it'll be fine in the morning but I doubt it. I'm really stumped. Any help is greatly appreciated. Don't want my buddy having to sleep on the couch :thumbsup: