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Car Forum / Ford / Ford Cars / July 2008

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2006 Taurus Engine problems no Trouble Light or Codes

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DMF - 10 Jul 2008 00:07 GMT
All,

I have a 2006 Taurus with the 3.0L V6 Engine, autotrans.
Lately (past few months) the gas mileage has dropped from
about ~300 mi per tank to about ~200 mi per tank (it works
out to be around 20mpg down to 13mpg) with no change in
terrain, load or driving habits (just me). Also, the idle is uneven,
not rough but surges up and down erratically. Occasionally I
smell raw gas on hot start but that is not reproducable.  Anyway,
I took it in to Ford today to get the AC Fan fixed under warranty
and ask that they check the engine.

They fixed the fan, road tested and checked the computer for
trouble codes (none found), found no TSBs on this issue and
patted me on the head and told me the uneven idle is normal
when the AC kicks on and off. The fact that it does it even
when the AC is not cycling did not sway them. (You can hear
the compressor kick in so its pretty obvious when that happens).
They ended with logical fallacy that "there is nothing wrong with
your engine since the Check Engine light is not on" and left it at
that.  

I am happy to report that they atleast did not charge me for the
engine diagnostic but I am somewhat disappointed in the passive
attitude that nothing is wrong when clearly something is wrong.
Any helpful hints here?  Do I just wait (wasting gas and $$, all
the while) until the computer finally thows a code?  Anyone else
experience something similar or might know of a failing component
that would cause these symptoms without generating a code?  
TIA

Regards,
David
Arnie Quarry - 13 Jul 2008 03:43 GMT
since the diagnostic found nothing wrong, you need to replace your ECM and
the oil pump to get the gas mileage back up to 20 again.

> All,
>
[quoted text clipped - 29 lines]
> Regards,
> David
SC Tom - 13 Jul 2008 13:21 GMT
> since the diagnostic found nothing wrong, you need to replace your ECM and
> the oil pump to get the gas mileage back up to 20 again.

Why the oil pump? Oh wait; Chevytough, MSN, spam. . . never mind. I forgot
that's how chevy's are fixed- throw out all known good parts, then sell the
POS.

SC Tom
bob urz - 13 Jul 2008 17:54 GMT
> since the diagnostic found nothing wrong, you need to replace your ECM and
> the oil pump to get the gas mileage back up to 20 again.

What does the ECM and oil pump have to do with it?

If you smell gas, your probably got a leak. You need to localize the
smell to under the hood or the rear by the gas tank.

You could have a leaking fuel injector that bleeds down into a cylinder
when the car is not running. You should be able to attach a fuel
pressure gage to the fuel rail and see how fast the pressure bleeds
down.

I would at a minimum run some fuel injection cleaner through the gas,
maybe take it to a shop and have the good techron clean or such.

have the fuel filter replaced. maybe have the gas tank inspected to
make sure your filler neck is not leaking or such.

Also, make sure you don't have something like a stuck emergency brake
or caliper haning up.

bob

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DMF - 14 Jul 2008 05:44 GMT
"bob urz" wrote in message
>> since the diagnostic found nothing wrong, you need
>> to replace your ECM and the oil pump to get the gas
>> mileage back up to 20 again.
>
> What does the ECM and oil pump have to do with it?

I think Arnie is a troll.

> If you smell gas, your probably got a leak. You need to
> localize the smell to under the hood or the rear by the
> gas tank.

Actually, its more like a puff of raw gas smell on hot
start.  Doesn't happen every time.

> You could have a leaking fuel injector that bleeds down
> into a cylinder when the car is not running. You should be
> able to attach a fuel pressure gage to the fuel rail and see
> how fast the pressure bleeds down.

That makes sense if a leaking fuel injector would not cause
a failure code.  Could it also be the source of gas smell on
hot start?

> I would at a minimum run some fuel injection cleaner
> through the gas, maybe take it to a shop and have the
> good techron clean or such.

That is a good idea. I'll talk to my independent (non-Ford)
mechanice about that.  As mentioned in my original post
Ford has no interest in troubleshooting this until the check
engine light is on.

> have the fuel filter replaced. maybe have the gas tank
> inspected to make sure your filler neck is not leaking
> or such. Also, make sure you don't have something like
> a stuck emergency brake or caliper haning up.

Gas smell is definitely coming from engine area.  Brakes
seem okay and were recently inspected.

Thanks for your reply Bob.

Regards,
David
DMF - 26 Jul 2008 19:22 GMT
DMF wrote...
> I have a 2006 Taurus with the 3.0L V6 Engine, autotrans.
> Lately (past few months) the gas mileage has dropped from
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
> I took it in to Ford today to get the AC Fan fixed under warranty
> and ask that they check the engine.
<snip - see the original post>

Update.  New symptom -- last week failed to cold start in the
morning.  It finally started after 4-5 tries.  Took it back to Ford
who had it for TWO DAYS to .... drum roll... replace a plugged
fuel filter. Okay, to be fair they ran a bunch of other diags as well
but did not find anything. Later I realized the plugged filter is a
result of the low gas mileage.  This car has a low-fuel warning
that chronically beeps at you and you have to push a button to clear
it. And it kicks on WAAAAAY too soon, usually when the tank has
more than an 1/8th of gas. (what was wrong with a low-fuel light?)
When I was getting ~300 miles to the tank I almost always filled up
before the buzzer kicked on to avoid the irritation. Now that I am
getting ~200 MPT I am required to run the tank all the way down
to E to get decent range. Running to E sucked all the crud off the
bottom of the tank that has been building up since the car was new.
This plugged the fuel filter and thus caused the cold start issues (it
also has stalled in traffic which I forgot to mention in the original
post).

Anyway, I emailed the service manager and advisor and explained
the above and have not heard back from them. The idle is still bad
and I haven't run a full tank through yet but I can tell that the gas
mileage still sucks. I will probably have to take it back again next
week.

Regards,
David
SC Tom - 26 Jul 2008 20:17 GMT
> DMF wrote...
>> I have a 2006 Taurus with the 3.0L V6 Engine, autotrans.
[quoted text clipped - 34 lines]
> Regards,
> David

Well, I'm certainly glad you didn't need to rip out the oil pump and the
ECM, LOL!!!!

SC Tom
MasterBlaster - 27 Jul 2008 20:22 GMT
> Took it back to Ford who had it for TWO DAYS to .... drum roll...
> replace a plugged fuel filter.

> Running to E sucked all the crud off the bottom of the tank that
> has been building up since the car was new. This plugged the fuel
> filter and thus caused the cold start issues (it also has stalled in
> traffic which I forgot to mention in the original post).

Your "main" fuel filter is external. The fuel first has to make it through the
fuel pump's "sock" in the tank, then through the pump itself, which also
has a screen inside it.

We recently did a Contour with complaints of stalling in turns when the fuel
was at less than 1/2 a tank. The pickup screen on the outside of the fuel
pump's plastic housing/reservoir was half plugged, the pump's sock inside
the housing was half plugged, the pump had a pile of crud in its screen,
and the external filter had some crud in it too.

Did your shop only change the external filter, or did they pull the tank and
check for blockages everywhere?
 
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